Author: sdfaadmin

Sunny is a painter and muralist from Boise, Idaho. Born with a love for art and creative expression, she stepped into her art career in 2020 when she began working out of her studio in the Live, Work, Create District in Garden City. The artwork she creates has evolved over time, as all things in our lives change according to our own personal growth and development, our intentions and the magic of the Universe. She currently enjoys painting with oil on canvas, using a technique that creates a sharp focus on the object of interest and allows all the rest to fall away into the background. Her viewers and collectors have vocalized their love of this effect. Murals became a new passion, and she has created several in various locations, inside and out. Art is a meditation, “When I am painting, everything else falls away and I am present in the moment.” Sunny’s early days had her following other passions such as her love of snowboarding, rock climbing, freestyle footbag and disc golf. She earned a BA in Anthropology from Colorado State University, with a passion for social and cultural change as it relates to environmental conservation and sustainability. For many years she volunteered for various organizations focused on creating a more peaceful world, working with the Peace Alliance and seeking to influence cultural change through activism, lobbying, politics and grassroots events. This transitioned into an effort to create an ecovillage where she found herself learning about soil health, organic gardening, seed saving, models of dynamic self-governance, among other aspects of sustainable intentional communities. Sunny says that her mom had always encouraged her to focus on her natural artistic ability, but she was so passionate about other things she always put art on the back burner. She didn’t realize how important art was for the world, that it also has the power to make the world a better place. In 2018 Sunny’s friend April Rayn invited her to become her business partner, and together they opened an art gallery and events center in Nampa, Idaho. This had her dialing in her business skills, but also curating exhibits, teaching painting classes and engaging with the art community in the Treasure Valley. Although the gallery “Winging It” was only open for a year, she came away with a few large commissions and obtained a studio space shortly thereafter. Now art has moved front and center. “When I complete a painting, I feel a huge sense of accomplishment, like I have given birth to something so incredible that I hardly believe I was the source of it. In fact, I am not. I have to get out of my way to let the painting emerge, turning my left brain off so that the creative force can have its way.” I came upon my love of oils through a series of sychronistic events that began while having dinner with a dear friend who was about to travel back to her homeland of Belgium. She had recently seen some of my portraiture and encouraged me to focus my time and attention there. At dinner she had me declare out loud, “I promise to dedicate more time to painting portraits.” That very next morning I attended a Meet-Up with the Inner Rebels, a hike and meditation with a large group of women. One of the women had a profound experience during the meditation and shared this with the group. I literally had tears streaming down my cheeks as she recounted her separation from her sister as they fled during the Vietnam War, and how no one in their family ever heard from her again. During the meditation her sister appeared and shared a deeply profound message with her. I was so touched by her sharing that on the hike down I connected with this woman. When she learned that I was an artist she told me about her husband. He was a master oil painter who was looking to share his portraiture technique with another artist. Although I was interested, I told her I was not in a financial position to take classes. She assured me it was a free offering, if I were truly interested. I went to their home for a beautiful garden party that weekend and met my new mentor in oil painting and portraiture. It’s amazing how the Universe works when we declare our intentions! Although I love painting people and have produced several portraits on commission, I also love to paint the beauty of nature. When I see an image with incredible lighting and energy it speaks to me and evokes a deep desire to recreate that beauty as a painting. Sunny Dawn has also found a love for creating earth mandalas. “The patterns, shapes, hues and textures of nature are a form of artwork in and of themselves. The circle is an inclusive container, everything in it belongs. The balanced arrangement of natural objects inside a circle creates new patterns and forms, beauty within beauty.” She says the process is as equally important as the outcome, or perhaps even more so. In the spring of 2022 she completed an Earth Mandala installation for the Idaho Botanical Gardens’ Land Art Exhibit. A few months later she led her first Earth Mandala workshop at the Ocho Arts retreat focusing both on daily mandalas as well as a large collaborative installation. Her offerings range from small and large commissioned paintings, portraits, murals, logos, paint and sip parties, face painting, body casting, henna rituals, and website development.