Rainbow Fish

24" x 48" x 1.5"
Acrylic and Collage on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

"I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone." Rainer Maria Rilke

This painting had been out in the studio for several months and I never quite felt like it was finished. Often people would come to the studio and comment on it, but to me it was never ready to be shown to the public. I got the chance to rework it and am finally happy with it. Each scale has been individually cut, collaged, and worked on its own, almost like tons of tiiny paintings assembled into one large body. It will be on display at my Spring Show at Artisan Style Gallery in March. To me it represents a fairy tale, a departure from reality into a dreamlike state where anything is possible.

Across the Blue

20" x 24"x 1.5"
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas

This is a special piece because I started it before my son was born and finished it afterwards. I named it "Across the Blue" after some lyrics in one of my favorite Coldplay songs, "Yellow". I feel like the birth of my third child was a long and miraculous journey and I have now crossed over to the other side. Lead singer Chris Martin has said that the lyrics to "Yellow" are about being devoted to someone, wanting to do anything for them - writing a song for them, swimming across the sea for them and so on. He said that it's not necessarily a romantic devotion, but someone that you look up to and would do anything for...someone like my beautiful new baby boy. :)

Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah, they were all yellow.

I came along,
I wrote a song for you,
And all the things you do,
And it was called "Yellow."

So then I took my turn,
Oh what a thing to have done,
And it was all "Yellow."

Your skin
Oh yeah, your skin and bones,
Turn into something beautiful,
You know, you know I love you so,
You know I love you so.

I swam across,
I jumped across for you,
Oh what a thing to do.

Cos you were all "Yellow,"
I drew a line,
I drew a line for you,
Oh what a thing to do,
And it was all "Yellow."

Your skin,
Oh yeah your skin and bones,

Turn into something beautiful,
And you know for you,
I'd bleed myself dry for you,
I'd bleed myself dry.

It's true, look how they shine for you,
Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And all the things that you do.

I made the front page of Etsy!

Effervescence
8" x 12"
Watercolor and Ink on Paper

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=34351338

In the midst of celebrating the arrival of our beautiful baby boy this weekend, it was fun to learn that my painting, Effervescence, was featured on the front page of Etsy. It was like the icing on the cake of one of the most wonderful weekends of my life. The exposure was great and my art reached so many people who otherwise would not have seen it.

These little circles remind me of bubbles, or pebbles, and these circular images have always been a part of what I create. This painting was done on heavy watercolor paper. I don't often work on paper, but when I do, I find that it is often a freer way to express my ideas. There's something about getting a painting started on a blank gallery-wrapped canvas that always intimidates me...I wonder if that will ever go away? Probably not, but it's those creative butterflies that I can't live without.

My Upcoming Show: "Nine Months' Time"...Save the Date!

“Nine Months’ Time”: The Art of Gina Marie Dunn

Feb. 1- 28, 2010

Artist's Reception: Feb. 5, 6-8 p.m.

The Pearl Cup
1900 North Henderson Avenue
Dallas TX 75206-7320
(214) 824-9500

In her upcoming exhibition, artist Gina Dunn combines paintings with subject matter varying from cellular abstractions, modern landscapes and abstract florals in a show that "comprises and defines my third pregnancy, a time of drastic change and life-altering decisions, both personal and professional.”

"My paintings explore the ideas of natural beauty, femininity, motherhood, love, lost love, and the elusive nature of dreams, to name a few. I am continually amazed by the subconscious that is often suppressed but somehow demands to be listened to and try to capture that essence in each work of art. My paintings put my own feelings under the microscope, examine them, and draw inspiration from the magnitude of emotions on display. Each work in its own way addresses the vulnerability that stems from being at the mercy of powers greater than us but also from the knowledge that life is precious and beautiful."

With past art exhibitions throughout Dallas as well as being an art teacher for several years at both Art Stop and The Dallas Museum of Art, Gina Marie Dunn’s creative background runs the gamut. Her work has an organic, earthy feel that is truly captivating.

Allwork is available for pre-sale. Ten percent of sales will be donated to help the victims in Haiti.
Please email utopiapkwyarts@yahoo.com or visit web.mac.com/utopiapkwy for more info.

Dance in the Sun

12" x 24"
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas

I thought I was done painting until after baby arrives on Thursday, but somehow this one just sort of finished itself. I think the excited energy of all the changes about to take place crept out through my fingertips and manifested itself in this vibrant image. I applied a thick layer of texture to the canvas and basically carved in the images before I painted them and then I added the paint.

This pregnancy has been so difficult, full of surprises and ups and downs. I feel so thankful I have my artwork to channel all of this tension. The past six months or so I have taken the term "art therapy" to a whole new level.

I'm making a CD to listen to when baby is arriving, and this song will definitely be on it: "Dancing Nancies" by DMB

Sing and dance I'll play for you tonight
And thrill at it all
Dark clouds may hang on me sometimes
But I'll work it out then I

Look up at the sky
My mouth is open wide, lick and taste
What's the use in worrying, what's the use in hurrying
Turn, turn we almost become dizzy

Somewhere I Have Never Travelled

20" x 30" x 1.5"
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas

Just finished this painting. I wonder if it going to be the last one before baby arrives next week. I decided to call it
"Somewhere I Have Never Travelled", after my favorite ee cummings love poem. The piece has a dreamlike serenity that reminds me of tide pools and sea glass. It combines elements of my cellular abstractions with a lot of the modern landscapes I have been working on. I feel like it captured exactly where I am as an artist right now.

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

Happy Words from a Collector

Love is the Answer
8" x 10" x 1.5"
SOLD

"Gina, the painting is fantastic! I love the textures in it. I will have to find the perfect spot--in our apartment in the Irish Channel! I'll have to send you a picture when the painting has a little home. Thank you so much for creating it. It's amazing how a little bit of paint on a canvas can bring so much joy. Good luck with the rest of your paintings...I love the colors in your newest pieces!"
Margaret Peters, Metairie, LA

I love hearing happy words from people who buy my art! Marg purchased one from my current Valentine's series. Many paintings and velvet giclee prints are still available through Etsy as well as at Artisan Style Gallery Uptown.

This Valentine's Day, I invite you to ignore all the commercial marketing of the season and select a truly personal gift--an original painting--that expresses your genuine affection. I have started early this year creating a series of artwork which especially fits this occasion, paintings that come straight from the heart and illustrate love in its purest, most organic sense.

These paintings are created using acrylic and mixed media, and each one has a particular love story, song or sentiment which inspired it. Paintings are highly textured, containing multiple layers of handwritten love letters, parchment paper and mixed media collage. They are fully wired and painted on all sides so there is no need to frame.

Flowers in a Vase

8" x 14"
Oil Pastel on Paper
This is an original work on Canson 140lb coldpress paper.

"Seeing beauty in a flower can awaken you, however briefly, to the beauty that is an essential part of your own innermost being, your true nature. Joy and love are intrinsically connected to that recognition. Flowers can become for us an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred, and ultimately formless within ourselves. Flowers are like messengers from another realm, like a bridge between the world of physical forms and the formless." Eckhart Tolle

My Valentine's Series at Artisan Style Gallery!

I have had great success with this series, as the timing of my desire to paint hearts and the impending arrival of Valentine's Day could not have worked out better. The paintings make wonderful gifts, and I feel blessed to share the love I feel with so many.

Artisan Style is wonderful and eclectic space in the Uptown area by the Crescent Hotel. The gallery is situated in a lovely Victorian home dating back to the early 1900's and is filled with colorful, energetic art carefully curated by owners Brandon Lynch & Steve Iha. Their goal? To provide a twist on the traditional gallery and offer affordable artwork to everyone.
www.artisanstyle.net

For more info or to purchase one, please stop by the gallery, visit my Etsy site or email me at utopiapkwyarts@yahoo.com

"You Make My Dreams Come True"

This is Wally Linebarger. I had the pleasure of having him as my high school art teacher. He was one of those talented instructors who changed your life, shaped you as a person, and left footprints on your soul--not to mention an incredible artist. He let me "hide" in the art room during boring assemblies, dramatic high school crises, and lunch breaks, and while I worked, he listened and guided and helped me grow in so many ways. I can only hope to impact my art students the same way he has impacted me. We have kept in touch over the years and last night I received the most touching email from him:

"Gina, I love, love love your new work. You make my dreams come true, as Hall and Oates said. I once had a dream that I would be an inspiration to at least one student to aspire to greatness. You made my dream come true."

I could live off this validation for months! Thanks Wally, I love you!

We Belong Together

11" x 14"
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas

This painting is a continuation of my Valentine's series. It was inspired by one of my all-time favorite love songs, Edwin McCain's "I'll Be". I love how listening to a special song can be like stepping into a time machine that takes you right back to a significant moment.

The strands in your eyes that color them wonderful
Stop me and steal my breath
And emeralds from mountains thrust towards the sky
Never revealing their depth

And tell me that we belong together
Dress it up with the trappings of love
I'll be captivated, I'll hang from your lips
Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above

And I'll be your cryin' shoulder
I'll be love suicide
And I'll be better when I'm older
I'll be the greatest fan of your life

And rain falls angry on the tin roof
As we lie awake in my bed
And you're my survival, you're my living proof
My love is alive, and not dead

And tell me that we belong together
Dress it up with the trappings of love.
I'll be captivated, I'll hang from your lips
Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above

And I'll be your cryin' shoulder
I`ll be love suicide
And I'll be better when I'm older
I'll be the greatest fan of your life

And I dropped out, I burned up, I fought my way back from the dead,
I tuned in, I turned on, remembered the thing that you said.

And I'll be your cryin' shoulder
I'll be love suicide
And I'll be better when I'm older
I'll be the greatest fan of your life

This Valentine's Day, I invite you to ignore all the commercial marketing of the season and select a truly personal gift--an original painting--that expresses your genuine affection. I have started early this year creating a series of artwork which especially fits this occasion, paintings that come straight from the heart and illustrate love in its purest, most organic sense.

These paintings are created using acrylic and mixed media, and each one has a particular love story, song or sentiment which inspired it. Paintings are highly textured, containing multiple layers of handwritten love letters, parchment paper and mixed media collage. They are fully wired and painted on all sides so there is no need to frame.

I am also able to create custom commission works featuring any personal handwritten notes, love letters, or lyrics to special songs that you would like to present to your loved one in a truly unique way, as long as you place your order to me by January 15.

©2009 Gina Marie Dunn

Free delivery in Dallas.

You and Me

11" x 14"
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas

This painting is a continuation of my Valentine's series. I love the Dave Matthews Song, "You and Me". It's one of the few love songs that I can think of that talks about loving your spouse AND your children. It always makes me think of my sweet husband, who is so supportive of my artistic endeavors and helpful with our growing family. We both know that one day the kids will be older and life won't be quite so hectic, and we try to enjoy these days when everyone is so small while at the same time looking forward to our family growing up together. He also knows that if I don't get out into the studio to paint I just don't have a "balanced" day and I love him so much for recognizing that.

Wanna pack your bags, Something small
Take what you need and we disappear
Without a trace we'll be gone, gone
The moon and the stars can follow the car
and then when we get to the ocean
We gonna take a boat to the end of the world
All the way to the end of the world

Oh, and when the kids are old enough
We're gonna teach them to fly

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yes, yes

You and I, we're not tied to the ground
Not falling but rising like rolling around
Eyes closed above the rooftops
Eyes closed, we're gonna spin through the stars
Our arms wide as the sky
We gonna ride the blue all the way to the end of the world
To the end of the world

We can always look back at what we did
All these memories of you and me baby
But right now it's you and me forever girl
And you know we could do better than anything that we did
You know that you and me, we could do anything

Til Kingdom Come

12" x 12"
Watercolor and Mixed Media on Paper

Here is a continuation of my Valentine's Day Series. Listening to comforting music is essential when I'm working in the studio, and this little watercolor just sort of poured out of me while Coldplay was playing. It was almost like the song was working through me...I love when that happens.

Til Kingdom Come, Coldplay

Still my heart and hold my tongue
I feel my time , My time has come
Let me in, Unlock the door
I never felt this way before

And the wheel just keeps on turning
The drummer begins to drum
I don’t know which way I’m going
I don’t know which way I’ve come

Hold my head inside your hands
I need someone who understands
I need someone, someone who hears
For you I’ve waited all these years

For you I’d wait 'til kingdom come
Until my day, my day is done
And say you'll come and set me free
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me

In your tears and in your blood
In your fire and in your flood
I hear you laugh, I heard you sing
I wouldn’t change a single thing

For you I’d wait 'til kingdom come
Until my days, my days are done
And say you'll come and set me free
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me

Beautiful Soul

11" x 14"
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Gallery-Wrapped Canvas

"Love is the beauty of the soul." St. Augustine

This painting is one of my series of Valentine's Day-inspired abstract poppies/hearts.

This Valentine's Day, I invite you to ignore all the commercial marketing of the season and select a truly personal gift--an original painting--that expresses your genuine affection. I have started early this year creating a series of artwork which especially fits this occasion, paintings that come straight from the heart and illustrate love in its purest, most organic sense.

Paintings are highly textured, containing multiple layers of handwritten love letters, parchment paper and mixed media collage. They are fully wired and painted on all sides so there is no need to frame.

I am also able to create custom commission works featuring any personal handwritten notes, love letters, or lyrics to special songs that you would like to present to your loved one in a truly unique way, as long as you place your order to me by January 15.

I have several in stock, please email me or visit my website to see more pictures.

web.mac.com/utopiapkwy

Original Valentine's Painting Series

Dear Friends,

This Valentine's Day, I invite you to ignore all the commercial marketing of the season and select a truly personal gift--an original painting--that expresses your genuine affection. I have started early this year creating a series of artwork which especially fits this occasion, paintings that come straight from the heart and illustrate love in its purest, most organic sense.

These paintings are created using acrylic and mixed media, and each one has a particular love story, song or sentiment which inspired it. Paintings are highly textured, containing multiple layers of handwritten love letters, parchment paper and mixed media collage. They are fully wired and painted on all sides so there is no need to frame.

I am also able to create custom commission works featuring any personal handwritten notes, love letters, or lyrics to special songs that you would like to present to your loved one in a truly unique way, as long as you place your order to me by January 15.

I have several in stock, please email me or visit my website to see more pictures. This week I will be featuring each painting with a detailed description on the blog.

Sizes range from 8" x 8" to 11" x 14". My hope is for these paintings to be affordable gifts, so they are priced between $75 and $125. Original 8" x 10" or 10" x 10" velvet giclee prints are also available for $30.

For more details or to purchase, please contact me at utopiapkwyarts@yahoo.com. Thank you for looking!