ABOUT

Dana Winder is an Irish landscape painter. She was born in Dublin in 1965. She studied History of Art at Trinity College Dublin. Studying the old masters like Rembrandt, Vermeer, Velazquez, and their traditional styles of painting has had an affect on her painting which in many ways is quite formal. She was also exposed to the paintings of the Impressionists and Post Impressionists and is particularily in awe of Gaugin, Matisse, Pisarro, Degas, Van Gogh and Klimt for their brilliant use of colour and motif which has had a lasting impact on her work.

 A self taught painter she began her artistic career using gouache and chalk pastels. Choosing chalk pastel for its vivid and wide range of colours. She now works mainly in oil on linen. Linen has a lovely strong grain for painting on and using a transparent gesso and primer it provides a wonderful grain and colour tones to work on. The effect of this raw linen can be seen in many of her landscape paintings. Dana paints using palette knives and brushes or a mix of both. See these landscape paintings in the Gallery 

The inspiration for her work comes largely from the spectacular surroundings where she lives in South Kerry the sea, beaches, coastline, rock-pools, hillsides, trees, plants and gardens. She likes to paint outdoors on location (en plein air) when possible and then develop the paintings further in the studio.  These contemporary landscape paintings are painted over many months sometimes years. Her work explores the colour of the landscape and it’s changes through seasons.  “When I paint I source my colours as closely as possible to the scene I’m painting. I continually match the colour on the brush to what I’m looking at. The landscape in Kerry is wonderful for colour because in winter it’s full of purple, red and ochre and in summer all the shades of green come out.”

Scenes from near my home in Castlecove, Co. Kerry feature in many of my paintings. This west of Ireland landscape of rugged mountains with purple slate, ever changing atlantic coastline that can be wild and stormy one day then calm and still the next, along with it’s majestic bogland and rich array of plants and trees provide an endless source of inspiration. Depicting these places and their mood in oil on canvas has been the focus of my artwork for many years. Please see examples of these plein air landscape paintings in my  Gallery

My work can also be seen in the

Purcell Gallery, Kenmare,    https://www.purcellgallerykenmare.com/ 

Open Window Gallery, Rathmines, Dublin 6. https://www.theopenwindowgallery.com/