ARTIST STATEMENT

A PLAY OF LIGHT AND SHADOWS

Donna LaBeau

When I was in my late thirties, I remembered what I had forgotten, and that was that I wanted to be an artist. I was busy raising my four children and my artistic side showed up in crafts, sewing, and home decorating.

I have been a practicing artist now for over 40 years in watercolors, oils, and pastels. The paintings in this show were created over the course of those four decades. They are impressionistic landscapes painted “en plein air,” meaning completed outdoors. They are flowers picked from my garden and still lifes painted of items I loved — things that caught my eye and I just had to capture in paint.

I dream about putting the watercolor down on paper at just the right time. I also ruminate about layering pastel or oil. I guess that is what makes me an artist – the fact that I am obsessed with doing the art!

How fast the years have gone, and how my painting style has changed.  I never stopped needing to play with different mediums. I hope the viewer gets as much enjoyment in viewing my art as I get in creating in.

It’s my heaven on earth.

About the Artist

Donna LaBeau is an artist living in Grand Rapids, MN. Throughout her 45-year career in painting, she has exhibited and taught at art centers and galleries in communities across Minnesota. She is currently one of the Artists in Residence through the City of Grand Rapids, with a studio space on the third floor of Old Central School.