Location: Canada
I’m a Victoria-based artist. For as long as I can remember I have been able to draw, even from a very young age. In my early 20’s I took courses at art college without having a clear path on what to focus a career on. Then I decided to take Interior Design which lead to a long career in design, focused mainly in kitchen design. I have had the amazing opportunity to live in multiple cities throughout Canada and the world Calgary, Montreal, Hong Kong, Toronto, Madrid, and London, until returning to Canada five years ago and settling on Vancouver Island near family.
While living in Madrid for two years I took up water colour painting I loved painting the scenery in and around the city. It was very inspiring to see all the beautiful architecture and how different the Spanish lifestyle was from Canada.
Then we moved to the UK near London where we lived for 13 years. Once there I started to work full-time and with other responsibilities this left little time to pursue any type of art that wasn’t work related so I didn’t start painting again until 2016 on our return to Canada and have been regularly painting ever since.
I feel that my many travels have definitely contributed to my love of art and style of painting, having had the opportunity to regularly visit galleries like the Prado in Madrid, V&A In London, Museum d’Orsay in Paris and The Rijks Museum in Amsterdam. I’ve become very fond of the Impressionism art movement and the Dutch Golden Age, seeing the masters’ artwork in person has definitely helped find my own style of painting. This seems interesting to me because what I appreciate is the loose brushstrokes, strong light source and shadows.
Publications:
International Artist Magazine February/March 2022
Master Painters of the world
"Seeing Shapes"
https://www.internationalartist.com/issues/143/Seeing-shapes
http://www.instagram.com/dawnburtonreedart/
My inspiration for my work comes from my daily activities and the environment around me, what I had to eat, a cocktail I enjoyed, or something that caught my eye while travelling. I look at the structure, shape and shadows in everyday life for my next stilllife.
I love painting shapes and shadows I feel it adds depth to my paintings. The vase is picking up bright coloured reflections from the foreground.
Sloe gin cocktail with orange, behind is the reflection of my cocktail in the mirror.
All of Juliet’s favourites, local wine, fresh flowers picked from her garden, green depression glass, and black and white table cloth perfect combination.
I find that I’m most inspired by subjects that are close my heart that have sentimental meaning. One of my favourite series that I’ve painted is of my Auntie’s cabin “Turtle Lake” — it’s as if I captured much treasured memories in time. In this painting the large mural draws your eye into the room past the many collected furnishings of the past.
“Lunch peanut butter and banana ”
Something about painting banana great texture and colour, I couldn’t resist!
Vase of daffodils in my kitchen, creating strong shadows my my island worktop. The neutral background makes the flowers my main focal point.
“Vase of greenery ”
“Time to sloe down”
“All my favourites ”
“All settled in”
“That which comes early”
