Darin Dykstra's Art Exhibition held at the Hannibal Alliance Art Gallery December 17th, 2011

It has been over 2 months since I wrote last, but it was due to a very hectic time of traveling and preparing for my art exhibition held at the Hannibal Alliance Art Gallery December 17th, 2011.  See the article in the Hannibal Courier.  As many of you know, Hannibal is known for a very famous author and character by the name of Mark Twain..........or Samuel Clemens.  The exhibition was held in the historic downtown area of Hannibal just a few blocks from Clemens' boyhood home.

This is a picture of me during the show printed in the Press News Journal's December 29th issue.  It is a PDF file with the picture on Page 7.  The PNJ is a local paper from my childhood hometown of Canton, MO.  The pictures can also be seen on the Hannibal Alliance Art Gallery link above. 

The turn out was good considering Christmas was the following weekend.  As any artist, I was hoping to sell all my paintings!  It didn't happen of course, but I went in with the idea that if I only sell 1 painting, it would be worth it, just for the experience alone.  Well, I can say that I feel extremely blessed and was able to sell much more than 1.  I had a total of 30 paintings, but I only had room to display 17.  Needless to say, I still have plenty of paintings available for sale!  :)  The feedback I received was very encouraging and I particularly enjoyed speaking with people answering questions about Malta and discussing my techniques and style of painting. I have just been informed that 2 of my paintings were selected to be on display until March in Hannibal at the Hannibal Arts Council.  The title of the show is Winter Blues.  This is a great honor as well and I hope to be able to enter in other exhibitions or competitions in the near future. 

The above book is a collection of a majority of the paintings I had on display or available for display.  This book can be viewed on Shutterfly.  You will need Adobe Flash to view it.  You do have the option to order if you like, but I do not receive any profits from this.  This is strictly through Shutterfly.  What I can say is that however hectic the preparation was, the outcome was more than I could have expected.  I would sincerely like to thank Brenda Beck Fisher, Ann Miller Titus, Pat Kerns and all the artists at the Hannibal Alliance Art Gallery for all their help. 

I am excited to get back to painting after returning home and to start planning for the next time I will be able to exhibit my work.  I hope the next time I will be able to exhibit in Malta.  Stay tuned and until then, enjoy. 

Darin

Recent Paintings

Hello everyone. It has been too long since I have posted or commented on my blog. Painting is one of my passions, but the other is music. I play guitar and I was unable to play until recently due to some issues with my wrists over the past 4-5 years. My passion for playing has been re-kindled, so this has taken some time away from my painting. I have to try and balance it out, but it is very difficult. These are only a few of the watercolor paintings I have done in the first 6 months of this year.

The first painting is a wild flower found during winter in Malta called Borage. It originates from Syria but various forms are found throughout the Mediterranean and Northern Africa.

The second painting is of Marsamxett Harbour in Valletta. Marsamxett is pronounced Mar-sam-shett. This is a view of the Carmelite Church (with the dome) and St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral in Valletta (Il-Belt) or the City.

The third painting is a sea view on the coast not far from the village of Bahrija pronounced (Bah-ree-yah). This was a wonderful hike my family and I took during the winter last year. Beautiful views indeed.

The fourth and last painting is of Tas-Salib pronounced (Tahs-Sa-leebp). This means Of The Cross or The Cross. This is located between Rabat and Mtarfa on the back roads heading towards Mgarr.

These are approximately 10 x 12 inches on a Matting or Backing that is 16 x 20 inches.

Under the Tuscan Sun

What a hot summer it has been! I love sunflowers for their color, shape and texture and especially the fields and fields of yellow when you are driving down a road through Tuscany or riding on a train. They seem to never end. I painted this watercolor starting in August in the height of the heat season and this one took me a bit longer due to the humid days and nights throughout the month. There was a lot of work in this 11x15 inch painting, but it was enjoyable and challenging with a lot of work on each flower. Now on to my next painting. Until next time, enjoy!

Cabo San Lucas - Crashing Waves!!!

It has been a couple weeks since I last posted. I have been trying to improve my technique and unfortunately, the local teachers(artists) weren't of much help, at least from what I have found so far. I hope I will be able to find a local teacher that are willing to share their techniques & knowledge with me. So....I have been studying a number of different books, styles, DVD's and trying to copy a bit as well, which I find as a useful tool for learning.

I have really been influenced and taken to Arnold Lowrey's painting's, DVD, and book, Sea and Sky in Watercolour. It is straight forward, although he makes it look so simple, it is not! I have really enjoyed painting a number of exercises in his book and some of the paintings as well.

So onto my painting. This is a photo of a beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. A great place for sun, fishing and relaxing. Beautiful scenery as well. This is on Conda 8.5 x 11.5 inch Cold Press, 300 gsm/140 lb Watercolor paper. All paints were W&N including, raw umber, burnt sienna, burnt umber, cerulean blue, ultramarine, veridian and finishing touches for the sea spray using Chinese White.

The second picture is a detail picture of the wave. I thoroughly enjoyed painting this one.

Retired Gondola

Venice is one of those places that you hear about all of your life that stirs up visions and thoughts of the "Old World". Upon visiting my first time, I can now say that all the things you hear about Venice are real. It is a wonderful old world city with a twist of the new. The canals, although sometimes stagnant, have a life of their own and add to the charm and mystery that surrounds this inspiring place. As an artist, everywhere I looked I would see something amazing or breath taking wanting to take a picture with the thought of "Some day I will get around to painting that!"

Well, I have started 3 paintings of Venice & Burano and I have finished 2 of the 3. The watercolor above titled Retired Gondola is from a picture taken by my wife on a trip where we took my parents to see the wonderful sights. We stayed in the Dorsorduro district of Venice, which is one of the oldest areas in Venice(to view pictures & tourist information on my wifes blog Stories & Scribbles). We were walking along when we stopped to take a look at this wonderful Gondola that had seen better days. The backdrop and the reflections made this a picture and sight to treasure. This is a watercolor on 140 lb or 300 g/m Arches Watercolor paper using Windsor and Newton watercolor paints. This particular painting was time consuming due to the brick work and it was a challenge to capture what was in the picture, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I am off now to continue working on another painting, but I will soon be back with additional paintings, pictures and thoughts.