Kindness and Boldness

“The Orange Umbrella” by Dorothy McDowell.

Dorothy McDowell and Bethany Kirwen are the Door County Art League Gallery’s artists of the week for Aug. 22 – 28.

The immediacy and invigorating character of plein air painting is a creative stimulant for McDowell, the art league’s coordinator of plein air painting. “The sensations of being out in nature: fresh air, changing light and clouds, shadows and colors, all simultaneously assault the senses,” she says.

A seasonal resident of Liberty Grove, McDowell looks for bold shapes and shadows to create strong compositions in her plein air acrylics. Architecture, boats and geometric landscape shapes are among her favorite subjects, which she tries to depict with a loose impressionistic style. One technique she uses is a warm tinted undercoat which she exposes in places to give extra emphasis to light and pop to color.

Sturgeon Bay resident Bethany Kirwen uses a “glass half full” approach to her art. Creating art should be fun and an exploration, she says. She employs a variety of media – acrylics, soft and oil pastels, and mixed media – to emphasize mood, movement and reflection on a particular place in time in both studio and plein air.

“My goals are to encourage each and every person to color their world with kindness, face their fears with determination to conquer them, pursue their dreams, and have faith in themselves,” she says.

The Door County Art League Gallery is open Monday through Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm, and Sunday, 11 am to 3 pm. It is located in the courtyard of the Top of the Hill shops in Fish Creek, at the corner of Highway 42 and Spring Road. For more information visit doorcountyartleague.org.