About Danielle
I'm an abstract landscape painter living in Spirit Lake, Iowa with my husband, Will, and our family. My studio is based in my home, and we also feature a "gallery garage" on our property, often available to view during the milder seasons in here Iowa.
I received my Associate of Arts Degree from Iowa Lakes Community College in 2004 and then my Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Northwest Missouri State University in 2007 with an emphasis in painting and ceramics. After college, I returned to the Okoboji area, and fell in love with the Iowa landscape - taking it to canvas, and exploring the possibilities ever since. It has been a joy to explore these gravel roads as inspiration for my work.
I am self-represented, selling directly from my studio here in Spirit Lake. You can also find my work at various galleries throughout the Midwest and collaborations with local designers.
About the art
Field Notes: About the Rural Abstraction Series
In 2008, when a brief introduction to plein air landscape painting collided with undergraduate large scale abstract works, I launched into abstract landscapes as my own studio project.
Landscapes were a classic subject matter for me to fall in love with, both as a collector and painter. I find that the Iowa landscape in particular - changing from season to season (and perhaps over time) - continues to remain familiar yet fresh, and routes to and from different towns have almost been set to my memory.
Compositions on canvas are often comprised of a recognizable, structural component that provides the framework for the painting: shadows running down a ditch, fence posts reaching up into the horizon, and frequently, wonderfully organized grove lines and field rows whose placement en mass easily become graphic points of interest. The same routes, the same landscapes, viewed at different times of day and different times of year become points of study on canvas.
Views from a Cessna 140 has given a new perspective by opening up doors of new compositions and color possibilities - and most importantly - emphasized the style I usually employ in my paintings: organized, geometric lines and breakdown of the familiar landscape.
Due to this focus, venturing from small town to small town usually lends itself more to research than travel.
