Ms. Dana Elizabeth

I am shooting for one post a year it looks like. In my defense 2010 was full of moving countries, getting married twice and starting a new life. So painting had to be squeezed into spare moments. However, this piece was not rushed. This is a story of passion, passion flowers. They were my cousin's wedding flower and he asked me to do a piece for his wife for their anniversary. Now of course any painting has to come with a story and this painting has a worldy story. We were living in Chile when I got this commission. And right outside out apartment a passion vine was exploding with blooms. Not only did I get to pick the lighting for my models but I got to choose the perfect flowers for Eric and Liz. And of course because they have a budding baby boy, I had to include him in the painting. This painting has survived an 8.8 earthquake, the chaos of moving continents, and customs officials. So Happy Anniversary Liz just in time for Christmas! Passion Watercolor

Past and Present Watercolor While my imagination runs wild with color and images, I usually tend to stick to painting from photographs that I have taken. I wish I could just paint from my mind, but my detailed obsessive brain wants the image right in front of me. That is why, when my cousin sent me various photos to collage and turn into a painting I was nervous to say the least. I love painting people up close, but she didn´t want people to be the main focus. I don´t do landscape, but she wanted wide open spaces with wind and water and color. So this is me stepping out of my comfort bubble. Two of her children help create the story and one very special character from the past is painted in. She is our grandmother who with her family visited this same beach every summer. Grandma, you have the best seat in the house now. Sitting high above the livingroom, a window into our lives from the beach you loved the most. We love you.

The recycling story *I am in the middle of a commision painting for a family member, sneak peak to come, but in the meantime: plastic bottle art! It started with the plastic waters bottles that he bought right before coming to Chile so the change in water and bacterias wouldn't upset a sensetive stomach. Then a plastic bottle or two started showing up at the dinner table filled with nectarine juice. The epidemic continued from there with a coca-cola bottle one night when the boterleria wasn't open and the empty glass bottle coudldn't be exchanged for a new full one. With each new edition to the broken bathroom turned storage area a growing fear creeped into the hearts of the bottles, the possibility of being tossed mindlessly into the dumpster bristled their necks. As the numbers rose, bottles were condemed to plastic bags to control the chaos. They continued to pile up until one day a notice was posted that they just couldn't stay there wasn't enough room for all t...

Cynthia's Story : "Cynthia?," I would ask as she ran around the house on all fours mopping the concrete floor, "how was school today?" Looking up with her dark brown bottomless eyes, she would flash her giganitc mischevious smile, giggle, and weave away backwards with her mop rag. After school and house chores and before cooking ugali and sukuma the night's dinner, Cynthia and several other girls would roll up their play dresses tucking them into their underwear to play dodge ball. You can't properly dive out of the ways of a whizzing plastic bag ball without your dress wodded up into your underwear! Leaning up against the white concrete church wall, 35 mm camera perched on my knee, I tried to capture the long legged leaps and soring lace. Laughter, shreiks and frequent "who is out and who is safe" quarrels filled my Kenyan afternoons. Now if only that moment could be frozen forever, soaked color by color onto a piece of watercolor paper. Then ...

Valparaiso by Night Watercolor A small number of prints of Valparaiso by Night, Marcela and To Cynthia are avaliable please contact dana(dot)cuykendall(at)gmail(dot)com for more information!

This was a thank you for my mentor who got me through my senior year of high school. Marit's Girls Watercolor Detail Lexi Detail Kata The following were for my Aunt, one for her and one for my Uncle. Thank you to my cousin Travis for photographing them! Travis and Chelsea Watercolor Grandpa and Travis Watercolor

I was on a bus, my first time out of the country and I caught a quick glimpse of a couple slow dancing in the blue florecent light of a bar in Managua, Nicaragua. A year or so later I painted The Blue Light Dance from a magazine article I found. The Blue Light Dance Watercolor Marcela is my host sister from Ometepe, Nicaragua. This painting is my promise to return. I can't say when, but a promise is a promise. Marcela Watercolor