gone awry

new oil paintings

Perkins was not able to create the exhibition she planned, of larger oil paintings. She intended for these paintings to be abstracted, but recognizable as the study of bodies. When a vertebra collapsed, she could no longer stand at her easel for any length of time so, she returned to her watercolor and pen drawings. It had all “Gone Awry”.
Perkins’ oil paintings are based on studies of the figure. Using water-soluble graphite on canvas, she quickly captures lines that, later in her studio, she smears and fixes with matte medium. These lines serve as the bones for her abstract paintings. Often the finished painting has little of the figure.

watercolor drawings

Perkins was not able to create the exhibition she planned, of larger oil paintings. When a vertebra collapsed, she could no longer stand at her easel for any length of time, she returned to her watercolor and pen drawings. It had all “Gone Awry”.
The watercolor drawings are a way of working which is portable and can be done while sitting. On a watercolor block, Perkins lays down watercolor and allows it to run and bleed. In pen she traces the fractal-like lines created by the drying edges of the pigment. She then compulsively adds more lines to complete the composition.

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Gone Awry
 Archway Gallery May 2025, paintings and watercolor drawings by donna e perkins, video by Margo Sutts Toombs. Opening Reception, Saturday, May 3, 5 – 8 p.m. Artists' Talk at 6:30 p.m.