Dawn Dance grew up in the rugged South West peninsular of Cornwall. She trained at Falmouth School of Art followed by a Fashion and Textiles degree at Kingston upon Thames. She has taught a wide range of art and design based courses in Further and Secondary education alongside running her own businesses as a decorative artist, antiques restorer and gilder. Dawn returned to her childhood home of Cornwall in 2016 and in 2019 gave up teaching to concentrate on painting the landscape she knows so well.
My paintings focus on the rugged landscape of South West Cornwall and in particular the powerful atmosphere of the West Penwith area of my childhood. The ancient granite geology shaped by the elements and wild open skies are addictive and draw me in. I love the way man interrupts nature, small farm buildings clinging to rocky cliffs, a lane cutting deep through gorse and bracken, ancient granite hedgerows creating pattern and interest.
I work in a range of mediums using both photography and drawings as a starting point. I often draw straight onto a board and incorporate my initial drawing marks by layerIng drawing mediums into my painting. I want to keep the movement and energy of a sketch. Drawing is always the bones of my work. I use acrylics combined with drawing as the medium allows me to work fast creating textures. I use oils when I want a slower drying time to move the paint around and create rich depth of colour, often using a palette knife to vary marks and add vitality.
I aim to provoke an emotional response in the viewer, to provide a connectIon with the image that will evoke memories and feelings. I want to covey something of my connection to the landscape.
