Featured Artist: Don Downer

What is your most memorable/ or funniest moment that has happened in a previous studio Tour:

Parking to unload in front of the Heritage House in Richmond Hill last year was a bit precarious. The trees in front of the house were loaded with huge butternuts that kept raining down all around us in the wind as we moved pictures inside. We moved our cars out of "danger zone" as soon as we could. The next morning, the sidewalk was laden with fallen nuts which we had to sweep up to clear a safe way for our guests!

Can you give us 3 interesting facts about your chosen medium or the materials you use or the way in which you work:

I enjoy taking pictures of flowers almost more than anything else because they don't fly away before you can take their picture and they don't turn and walk away showing only their backside.

I enjoy taking pictures in nature because it gets me outside all the time and you never know what you're going to see next.

I always take at least two, and sometimes three, cameras with me wherever I go - you just can't have too many cameras.

Featured Artist Don Downer

   Don Downer

Website:   www.donsnaturephotography.com

Online Gallery: Fine Art America

Contact (phone or e mail)  donsnaturephotography@gmail.com 

 

 

Don's enthusiasm for the outdoor world is conagious and he enjoys sharing his passion for nature and photography with children and adults alike. So let's find out more about Don.

Where were you born?     

Penetanguishene, Ontario

If you could have an art related vacation anywhere in the world where would you go and why?   

I would go to Madagascar or the Galapagos Islands because of all the unique animals that are there – and I haven’t been there yet.   

What’s your favourite thing to create and why?

My favourite thing to create is a moving and inspiring photograph of nature.

How did you get your start in the world of art?

I’ve always loved to take photographs and when I retired, an artist-friend of mine, suggested that I should be showing my work to other people and so we started doing shows together.

Do you have go-to paints/colors that you love to use in your art work?

I like oranges, especially sunsets – because I don’t see many sunrises – especially now that I am retired.  I also am very fond of all the blues – especially water blues.

Who has been your biggest inspiration as an artist?

Probably the work of Robert Bateman has been my biggest inspiration.

What have been some of your crowning achievements?

I have had several successful shows and I was asked to provide two pieces of photography from Georgian Bay as a memorial which now are on permanent display in the hospice in Penetanguishene, Ontario.

If you could have three wishes as an artist, what would they be?

That people would buy my work!

That I didn’t have to any work on the computer;

That I had more time to take photographs.

What is the best advice that you have received as an artist?

Be true to your own inspiration, and, keep it simple.

What colour best describes your personality?

Blue with splashes of orange!

Thank you Don