Donald Athey
This I believe
Art should speak to you. “Hey, I’m beautiful.” “I may not be beautiful but I speak for justice” “Don’t destroy Mother Nature” “Wake up, this is happening” “Remember when… “ “Smile”. Art should touch the heart, the mind, the soul. I want my work to do that. If it doesn’t speak to you, pass it by.
The desire to create paintings began when my older brother gave me a set of oil paint when I was 13 or 14. He thought I had talent. I painted a few “masterpieces” that hung on my mother’s walls but then life got in the way. I put aside my art ambitions until I retired from the Montgomery County, MD school system and took my first watercolor class from Elizabeth Smith Carlson in Charles Town sponsored by a group of two called The Summer Sampler.
Jo, my wife, developed an interest in art also and we spend vacations going to art workshops with prominent artist locally and from across the USA, England, and Canada. We’ve been painting nearly 20 years.
You never stop experimenting and learning. Though I enjoy painting landscapes and still life lately I have been doing faces. I work with watercolor and acrylic media. Most of my paintings are done on art paper but I also enjoy using canvas and a synthetic plastic paper called YUPO.
I am a charter member of the Potomac River Artist Guild (PRAG) and a member of the Arts and Humanity Alliance of Jefferson county. I have participated in shows in Shepherdstown, Charles Town and Berkeley Springs WV and in shows in Maryland and Virginia.
Art should speak to you. “Hey, I’m beautiful.” “I may not be beautiful but I speak for justice” “Don’t destroy Mother Nature” “Wake up, this is happening” “Remember when… “ “Smile”. Art should touch the heart, the mind, the soul. I want my work to do that. If it doesn’t speak to you, pass it by.
The desire to create paintings began when my older brother gave me a set of oil paint when I was 13 or 14. He thought I had talent. I painted a few “masterpieces” that hung on my mother’s walls but then life got in the way. I put aside my art ambitions until I retired from the Montgomery County, MD school system and took my first watercolor class from Elizabeth Smith Carlson in Charles Town sponsored by a group of two called The Summer Sampler.
Jo, my wife, developed an interest in art also and we spend vacations going to art workshops with prominent artist locally and from across the USA, England, and Canada. We’ve been painting nearly 20 years.
You never stop experimenting and learning. Though I enjoy painting landscapes and still life lately I have been doing faces. I work with watercolor and acrylic media. Most of my paintings are done on art paper but I also enjoy using canvas and a synthetic plastic paper called YUPO.
I am a charter member of the Potomac River Artist Guild (PRAG) and a member of the Arts and Humanity Alliance of Jefferson county. I have participated in shows in Shepherdstown, Charles Town and Berkeley Springs WV and in shows in Maryland and Virginia.
