Trattner Dana

About the Artist

My art is inspired by my love of summertime ferry boat rides and lazy days on the beach. I observe people standing, sitting, or lying peacefully, self absorbed in the experience of the moment. It is this serenity and joy that I aim to capture in my art.

My vibrant and unique use of color reflects an ongoing celebration of vision changes I experienced following two cornea transplants. Prior to this, I was unaware of the depth and saturation of colors around me. Using pastels, I now explore and experiment freely with color to portray summer in all its grandeur.

After creating an underpainting in acrylics, I add layers of pastel until I get close to the look I am after. I then scan my work and use Photoshop to manipulate the color and saturation. Next, I produce archival giclee prints using Generations pigmented inks on museum quality parchment paper. These prints become my guide as I rework my pastel to reflect what I created digitally. I find I enjoy this digital component as it gives me liberty to examine the possibilities without overworking my original.

My final products are both original pastel paintings and archival giclee prints . As I work on location and from photographs, commissions are always welcome.