This month, Shepard Hall Gallery in the Santa Maria Public Library will be host to a body of works that create a sense of place that should be familiar to locals. Donalee Nelson’s exhibit—“Got Wine?”—explores the vineyards that roll on hills across the Central Coast landscape, the lush wine that fills glasses, and the incredible architecture of many of the area’s wineries.
“I’m a native Californian, and I love all the buildings and the architecture,” Nelson said. “I really love the Moorish/Spanish architecture of Santa Barbara, so you’ll see a lot of that.”
What she really loves to use in her work more than anything is color. And inspiration for that color comes from anywhere.
“In one painting [called Celebration], my inspiration came from an old movie called Star,” Nelson explained. “It was a Julie Andrews movie, and I don’t think it was a very good movie, but it had this fashion designer, and the colors in it were spectacular. It had these grays and salmon colors, and so I was inspired.”
Another time she was inspired by a card a friend had given her. It featured poppies in a field, and the blues, greens, and oranges were too much to resist.
“I don’t remember what I painted, but I remember the colors,” Nelson said. “They were spectacular.”
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Originally from Long Beach, Nelson had a career in the film and television industry, working with costumes, then as a marketing research director. However, she’d always been artistically inclined. Then she moved to Morro Bay in 1991, and moved again, 15 years ago, to Santa Maria. That’s when she began painting, creating cards for friends before moving on to larger formats.
Nelson studied art and art history at California State University at Long Beach, then State University of New York at Albany, and the University of Michigan. She’s studied with such contemporary artists as Dennis Bying, Robert Burridge, Sandra Kaye Johnson, and Catherine Neifing, as well as with Dr. Richard H. Axson, the well-known author and curator of collections at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.
She likes to use oils on paper and canvas, acrylics, pastels, and even silks. “Got Wine?” features vineyards, wineries, some still life in acrylics, and some silk.
Nelson’s paintings have appeared in TV shows, movies, and in private collections around the world. Most recently, her diptych Cruisin’ was selected to be installed at the University of Southern California Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Catch her local show while you can.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone remembers spectacular colors. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 1-8, 2011.
