I met Donna L. O'Grady after seeing her work at Choc O Pain Bakery where the owner had an area where she was showing local artwork. A few weeks after I saw her work at Choc O Pain I was at the Newman Leather Building in Hoboken for the Hoboken Art & Studio Tour, and though I didn't know it at the time, she has a studio there. When I first walked into the room and saw her work I recognized it immediately, and asked her if she had her work at Choc O Pain. There is something about Donna's work that is breathtaking. She depicts scenes with such loveliness that you want to go there, wherever the places are, and just be. She often paints on old pieces of tin ceilings and other recycled materials, and the results of those pieces and of her other more traditional paintings create a feeling that is both timeless and of the current time.
She was very cordial that first day in her studio, and there is a loveliness about her personally as there is in her work. I stayed visiting with her for quite a while that day, and felt as if I had been on a much longer journey after I left. There is a depth in Donna that is part of the feeling of her work. She seems to go beyond the ordinary views to look at what lies beneath, and the materials she paints on add to the sense that there are layers of meaning in the landscapes. Somehow they seem to tell stories without words, a beachscape for instance that the viewer can imagine the history of, or a building that seems as if it had years of life hidden away behind its windows and doors.
Donna studied at the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts in New York, and she attends painting workshops in Italy. She is inspired to paint the places she loves, in the New York City area, New Jersey and other places she has traveled, and also paints on board her sailboat. Her portable easel allows her to paint En Plein Air wherever she goes. Hers is a rare gift, one that seems to flow naturally to create both vividly memorable and peaceful images of seascapes, buildings, portraits and other figurative work.
Painting is an art that so many people interpret differently. Using a variety of tools and materials, it is almost as if the soul of the Artist is connected somehow into the work, and the finished product reflects so much more than what the eye can see on the surface. In work like Donna's the layers are so vast, and yet the outward appearance is lovely in a calming way. As we view her work we begin to imagine, and to look within and see beyond to the world she has created.
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