“I cannot pretend to be impartial about the colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.” – Winston Churchill

Oh, and I agree! I love color. One of my earliest memories is of a new box of crayons. The colors were so wonderful. My young mind reasoned that if I broke each one neatly in half, I’d have twice as many colors. My mother didn’t see it quite the same way. However, my father, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, understood perfectly.

My painting style is abstract or non-representational and my preferred medium is acrylic with an occasional piece done in a mixed media style. My primary subject is – color! I love the interplay of colors and the effect those colors have on our emotions. My work usually begins by painting the “bones” of the piece, the basic structure, in black. Then the piece takes on a life of its own. Colors are added and sometimes subtracted as the painting tells me what it wants.

My work can also be seen at Venture Gallery in the Portola Hotel and Spa and through the adjacent walkway at 260 Alvarado St. in Monterey, CA.

When I’m not covered in paint, I’m actively involved with a non-profit organization I founded with my husband and a friend. National Instructors Association for Divers with Disabilities (NIADD) trains and certifies adults with disabilities to scuba dive. We also take children with disabilities into the water to give them “surface scuba” experiences.

My show, A Colorful Life, will run from May 27 to July 28, 2023.

You can contact me at: dstonely@sbcglobal.net or 408/768-2660