About
I’ve been an artist since I was a little girl growing up in central North Dakota. My artistic pursuits of drawing, painting, writing, and singing have brought me great joy throughout my life. Hours fly by when you can lose yourself in doing something you love!
I channeled my interest in writing and visual arts into a rewarding career as a public relations professional and rose through the ranks in communications and marketing departments in energy, healthcare and higher education. My spare time was spent honing my skills as a painter and singer. My formal education focused on communications and business, but I took drawing and painting classes whenever possible from local and regional artists and online, as I searched for a style that I preferred. I fell in love with impressionistic, impasto paintings, done primarily with a palette knife.
I launched my art career in 2017, and have been going full speed ahead since then. I work mostly in acrylic and oil and enjoy painting subjects that relate to things I love: nature, the arts, and the beauty of the Upper Midwest. I am pleased to be represented by The Capital Gallery in Bismarck, ND, and its sister galleries in Medora, ND, and Fargo, ND. I currently operate out of studios in North Dakota and Arizona.
My paintings are vibrant with soft edges; dimensional with texture, layers and highlights; and true in shape and form. They are more impressionistic than detailed and precise. As I have grown as an artist, my style has evolved to what I call the cross-section between sculpture and painting.
In preparation for my hometown’s all-school reunion, I painted a series of scenes from around Sykeston, North Dakota. The process made me realize how precious our memories are, and that the best way to capture those feelings is in a painting. Each person views a painting in a different way, and the feelings they stir are unique and meaningful. This holds true for every piece of art: What emotion does it stir? What feeling, what memory do we want to capture? We savor every time we look at this visual representation of ourselves – our past, present and future.
Each piece of art I create comes from a place deep inside, springing from the gifts God gave me and flowing through my fingers onto the canvas to shape a work that I am hopeful will be meaningful in some way to those who view it, appreciate it, and choose to make it a part of their lives in one way or another.
So exciting! I wrote and illustrated a book about Medora, our state's historic tourist attraction. It is called "The Magic of Medora" and has been endorsed by the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation. It was released in a big splash in Medora in August and book sales have been going well!
Check out my Gallery of paintings and let me know what you think!
Linda Donlin
"The Magic of Medora" book is available here.