Dana in nature, her muse
I am a diverse and flexible artist working in a nature-themed, whimsical and spiritual artistic style. I live in the beautiful wooded Allegheny Mountains of Western Pennsylvania. Much of my artwork focuses on my relationship with nature, and expressing that relationship through whimsical paintings of beautiful trees, pyrography (woodburning), and other inspired artwork. Unfortunately, our culture as a whole has turned away from nature. People have stopped listening to the voices of the natural world, the stories and songs that the trees and plants have to tell, and the lessons that our landscape have to teach us. I try to share some of those stories of the land here in the Alleghenies and my reverence for the natural world through my paintings, jewelry, handcrafted books, pyrography, leatherworking, and more. In addition to traditional artistic media, I also work with natural artistic materials that I wildcraft from the surrounding landscape—handcrafted paper from cattails, berry inks, local clays, local wood, leather, and more.
To learn more about my artistic process, you can visit the Tarot of Trees page where I shared a walkthrough of a painting. I also have some videos on YouTube through ArtTrader Magazine you might want to check out (these are all really old, like pre 2011, but good!)
- “Paper Scraps” (turning scraps into treasure). Somehow, this almost hast 500,000 views on Youtube. I have no idea why.
- Watercolor Pencil Walkthrough
- Tree of Knowledge Walkthrough (Mixed Media)
- Art Journal Walkthrough (Mixed Media)
I am guided in all aspects of my life by permaculture design principles, a design theory that encourages us to engage in care for persons, care for the land, and redistribute surplus into our surrounding community. I see this both as a practice necessary for the sustaining and thriving of all life on this planet as well as a spiritual and artistic practice. I document much of my work on the land on my blog, found at druidgarden.wordpress.com.
I have been seriously dedicated to my artwork since 2006, after losing a dear friend to cancer. I began to paint my way through that pain, and realized how important art had been to me since I was a child, and have been making art almost every day since. You can learn more about my own artistic development on this page on my Druid’s Garden blog.
Tarot of Trees
I have had my artwork featured in several places, including Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine, 1000 Jewelry Designs (book), yearly compilations from IllustratedATCs.com, and more. I am the artist and writer of the Tarot of Trees, a whimsical themed tarot deck with a tree theme that I completed in 2009. I am currently working on a new oracle project, the Healing Plant Spirit Oracle, which you can learn more about on this website.
I occasionally sell my work at various gatherings and occasionally take comissions, so feel free to contact me if you are interested.
I hope that my artwork speaks to you, and that it encourages you to seek comfort and peace in the natural world.
