Artist Bio: Lois Donaghey
I grew up in the small California Sierra village of Blue Canyon. Both my mother and brother were artists. I have been a life-long student of art making, and was often enrolled at San Francisco Art Institute taking painting, metal sculpting, and print making courses. I usually paint with oils and cold wax, and sometimes acrylic, although I do enjoy making digital paintings, as well as working in other mediums. Listed here are some of the Juried shows I have been fortunate enough to be accepted into….awards are also included: The deYoung Museum 2023 Open September 2023 Sebastopol Center for the Arts, “Color of Water” Jurors Choice Award, March 2023. -San Francisco Women Artists’ Gallery “Edge of Abstraction” November 2022 Juror’s Choice Award -San Francisco Women Artists’ Gallery “Intense Color” May 2022; Juror’s Choice Award -Triton Museum of Art’s statewide 2D Art Competition & Exhibition-Santa Clara, CA; 2021; jurors: Jeff Bramschreiber, Elke Groves, and Francisco Pancho Jiménez -Falkirk Cultural Museum-San Rafael, “Summer 2021 Juried Show” -Crocker/Kingsley National Art Competition, 2021, Juror: Carrie Lederer -San Francisco Women Artists’ Gallery “Scapes” April, 2021. -San Francisco Women Artists’ Gallery “Abstract Thinking” August 2020 Juror Philip M Bewley -San Francisco Open Studios, ArtSpan SF, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 -Sonoma County Art Trails Juried Open Studio, 2017 thru 2023. -San Francisco Women Artists Gallery “Hidden Figures” -Open Exhibition March 2020, Juror: Shintani San Francisco Women Artists Gallery “Out of the Box” February 2020 Annette Schultz Juror -San Francisco Women Artists Gallery “2020 Leap Year” Open January 2020 -O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, CA “Pixels to Print” September 2019 -TWIRL Project – A Decade of Artist Interviews “artists blossoming over Time. -NUMU Los Gatos AA, “Greater Bay Area Open” July-Sept 2019 Juror: Ric Ambrose
I grew up in the small California Sierra village of Blue Canyon. Both my mother and brother were artists. I have been a life-long student of art making, and was often enrolled at San Francisco Art Institute taking painting, metal sculpting, and print making courses. I usually paint with oils and cold wax, and sometimes acrylic, although I do enjoy making digital paintings, as well as working in other mediums. Listed here are some of the Juried shows I have been fortunate enough to be accepted into….awards are also included: The deYoung Museum 2023 Open September 2023 Sebastopol Center for the Arts, “Color of Water” Jurors Choice Award, March 2023. -San Francisco Women Artists’ Gallery “Edge of Abstraction” November 2022 Juror’s Choice Award -San Francisco Women Artists’ Gallery “Intense Color” May 2022; Juror’s Choice Award -Triton Museum of Art’s statewide 2D Art Competition & Exhibition-Santa Clara, CA; 2021; jurors: Jeff Bramschreiber, Elke Groves, and Francisco Pancho Jiménez -Falkirk Cultural Museum-San Rafael, “Summer 2021 Juried Show” -Crocker/Kingsley National Art Competition, 2021, Juror: Carrie Lederer -San Francisco Women Artists’ Gallery “Scapes” April, 2021. -San Francisco Women Artists’ Gallery “Abstract Thinking” August 2020 Juror Philip M Bewley -San Francisco Open Studios, ArtSpan SF, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 -Sonoma County Art Trails Juried Open Studio, 2017 thru 2023. -San Francisco Women Artists Gallery “Hidden Figures” -Open Exhibition March 2020, Juror: Shintani San Francisco Women Artists Gallery “Out of the Box” February 2020 Annette Schultz Juror -San Francisco Women Artists Gallery “2020 Leap Year” Open January 2020 -O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, CA “Pixels to Print” September 2019 -TWIRL Project – A Decade of Artist Interviews “artists blossoming over Time. -NUMU Los Gatos AA, “Greater Bay Area Open” July-Sept 2019 Juror: Ric Ambrose
Published on March 3rd, 2024. Artist responses collected in months previous.
What are you working on these days?
A year or so ago I picked up a palette knife and began painting and began using it to apply paint to my canvases. This one tool has freed me up completely and my paintings are much more abstract, open, and loose, and I am loving it! My current body of work speaks to me in a new way, and these paintings personally feel like abstract expressionism that are definitely recognizable as landscapes. I have also begun incorporating cold wax medium into my painting and I love the rich creamy feel of the combination oil and cold wax when I use the palette knife to apply my paint colors.
What has been going well for you in your art career and life recently?
Many things seem to be coming together in my art career, with my hard work at making paintings seems to be paying off. I am getting into more museum shows and am fortunate enough to have received several lovely awards/recognitions for my paintings. Most recently and huge for me has been my painting Foundation’s acceptance into The DeYoung 2023 Open Exhibition. I have also recently gained representation thru the Lori Austin Gallery in Healdsburg CA, which I am pleased to say I am selling well at.
What is something new that you have discovered this past year that is meaningful or helpful for you?
I am a student of meditation and Spirit. And, although I have always been aware of the significance my meditation practice has had on my painting process, this year I became acutely aware of the significance of Spirit in my painting process. I’m not sure exactly how this happened but at some point within the last two years my meditation process gave way completely, or surrendered completely, to the Spirit or to the Spirit me, and I had open and easy access to something that feels like it is beyond this human soul that I am.
Briefly walk us through your process of making art or thinking through a new project, focusing on what's most important to you as you create.
Most all of my recent paintings begin without planning or forethought. No ideas flow before I put the initial pieces of paint on my panel boards. I have no idea of where a painting is headed, but head it does. I always begin by placing/putting up a color (could be any color), and I move from there through feeling and trust, from that point forward….until the end of the first day of painting. I paint almost non-stop for the first day of working on a new piece. My planning comes after the end of that first day of painting. It’s at that point that I view and review that first day’s work, and make decisions on how to make what I have already laid down with oil and cold wax, into a good/strong painting. I do this every day after that first day…..day after day, until the painting is finished/complete/done. I also take photos at the end of every day, so I have a small phone size image to review (or ipad size image) at the end of each day of painting. I love chronicling my paintings’ journeys this way.
Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers?
I am an old lady. An old lady that has been painting forever. AND my message is never give up and never doubt that you can create. Although I've painted forever, it was not always easy to get to do that, and there was never a dedicated place for me to engage in this activity of creating-loving my Spirit. I was 70 before I let myself have a dedicated space for creating and really be a painter. I was 70...NEVER give up. I am so grateful to get to be here, be an artist, be in Spirit, and be involved with TWIRL Project. So very grateful!
What are you working on these days?
A year or so ago I picked up a palette knife and began painting and began using it to apply paint to my canvases. This one tool has freed me up completely and my paintings are much more abstract, open, and loose, and I am loving it! My current body of work speaks to me in a new way, and these paintings personally feel like abstract expressionism that are definitely recognizable as landscapes. I have also begun incorporating cold wax medium into my painting and I love the rich creamy feel of the combination oil and cold wax when I use the palette knife to apply my paint colors.
What has been going well for you in your art career and life recently?
Many things seem to be coming together in my art career, with my hard work at making paintings seems to be paying off. I am getting into more museum shows and am fortunate enough to have received several lovely awards/recognitions for my paintings. Most recently and huge for me has been my painting Foundation’s acceptance into The DeYoung 2023 Open Exhibition. I have also recently gained representation thru the Lori Austin Gallery in Healdsburg CA, which I am pleased to say I am selling well at.
What is something new that you have discovered this past year that is meaningful or helpful for you?
I am a student of meditation and Spirit. And, although I have always been aware of the significance my meditation practice has had on my painting process, this year I became acutely aware of the significance of Spirit in my painting process. I’m not sure exactly how this happened but at some point within the last two years my meditation process gave way completely, or surrendered completely, to the Spirit or to the Spirit me, and I had open and easy access to something that feels like it is beyond this human soul that I am.
Briefly walk us through your process of making art or thinking through a new project, focusing on what's most important to you as you create.
Most all of my recent paintings begin without planning or forethought. No ideas flow before I put the initial pieces of paint on my panel boards. I have no idea of where a painting is headed, but head it does. I always begin by placing/putting up a color (could be any color), and I move from there through feeling and trust, from that point forward….until the end of the first day of painting. I paint almost non-stop for the first day of working on a new piece. My planning comes after the end of that first day of painting. It’s at that point that I view and review that first day’s work, and make decisions on how to make what I have already laid down with oil and cold wax, into a good/strong painting. I do this every day after that first day…..day after day, until the painting is finished/complete/done. I also take photos at the end of every day, so I have a small phone size image to review (or ipad size image) at the end of each day of painting. I love chronicling my paintings’ journeys this way.
Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers?
I am an old lady. An old lady that has been painting forever. AND my message is never give up and never doubt that you can create. Although I've painted forever, it was not always easy to get to do that, and there was never a dedicated place for me to engage in this activity of creating-loving my Spirit. I was 70 before I let myself have a dedicated space for creating and really be a painter. I was 70...NEVER give up. I am so grateful to get to be here, be an artist, be in Spirit, and be involved with TWIRL Project. So very grateful!
Find Lois Donaghey on Instagram