UPDATE: I have dealt with chronic health issues for decades and have recently been diagnosed with a neuro-immunological disorder which makes everyday activities very difficult. My apologies in advance if I do not respond to your convo right away... Mahalo for your understanding.
***Every sale in my print shop here makes a really big difference as I am now unable to take on other types of work or even paint new pieces due to my disability***


I love the quote by Henry Ward Beecher: ‘Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.’ I feel that is definitely true, at least for myself. My internal world is absolutely vital to my creative process.

After graduating from university with a degree in Studio Art, I threw myself headlong into building my career as a self-employed artist. I also taught art part time several years for VSA Arts – a non-profit organization that provides art classes for special needs populations – be they veterans, rehab patients, or children with physical, mental, or emotional disabilities.

Over the course of 6 years I moved from the US to Greece to Spain to Italy, back to Greece and then to the Cook Islands before settling back in the US on the island of Kauai in Hawaii (after struggling with circuitous modern international immigration law).

My artwork hangs in dozens of collections across North and South America, Europe, and Oceania. I have won awards and honors from various arts organizations and arts publications, such as The Pastel Journal, and Pastel Artists of Hawaii, and am included in the archives of the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington D.C.

I create with many media – including acrylics, charcoal, and watercolor, but pastels are my true love. My passion for partner dancing lends a great metaphor for my artistic process: Using pastels is to draw and paint in the same instant; they are a ‘refined’ sort of finger painting – although they are much more than messy children’s play. The activity of drawing, witnessing the textures and forms emerge from beneath my fingers in spontaneous choreography – is much like dancing. With practice, the hands and the medium communicate silently with each other, responding, resonating, and enhancing the dance – the drawing. Watching it happen is never quite as satisfying as participating, creating.
_____________________________


If you are interested in finding out about more of my biography and how it affects my artistic process you can read my full bio (a little bit is excerpted above) on my website: DoniaLilly.com

I also have a shop just for my Moon Art here: http://MoonPaintings.etsy.com
Please visit if you love images of the moon!

You can also find me on:
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/DoniaLilly

Twitter: http://twitter.com/DoniaLilly

Facebook: http://facebook.com/Donia.Original.Art

(And if you are wondering what "ethyrical" means: I invented the word back in 2000 -- it's a combination of "ethereal" and "lyrical" to capture the essence of my art)