DAILY PRACTICE

The bulk of my work for the past decade has been focused on “Spontaneous Symmetry” - drawing with both hands simultaneously and symmetrically. Over the years I have experimented with all types of materials; charcoal, ink, pen, marker, paint you name it, but it was in 2017 when I found my “home base”. I was struggling to make ends meet and I needed to find a way to continue to draw big so I painted a wall in my hallway from ceiling to floor with chalkboard paint and began drawing hundreds of life size “ephemeral” chalk drawings. The scale allowed me to incorporate my whole body and the temporary nature of the drawings encouraged a deeper awareness of the moment. I began to develop my DAILY PRACTICE which usually begins with a dance party! What follows are samples of my varied explorations into Spontaneous Symmetry and Asymmetry Drawing. Check out my instagram for most current work.

AMBI HEARTBEATS 2020

I wanted to explore moving and drawing whilst listening to my own heartbeat in real time so I rigged up a simple hands free stethoscope and began listening and moving and drawing. WOW! Possibilities are endless.

Looking forward to sharing more about this process soon!

Check out my instagram: DonnaMikkelsen.Art

quarantine art - covid 19

About two weeks into quarantine, I turned to some timeless favorites. Improvisational DRAWING TO MUSIC has become a big part of my daily practice. In this video I’m drawing right handed to “Beautiful” by Carol King… “You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face and show the world, all the love in your heart.” (The drawing reminds me of an actual heart shape!)

ambi winged-buffalo

This one was drawn in silence with left and right hands. Like many spontaneous drawings the outcome is not known beforehand. This reminded me of the very powerful spirit of the buffalo. It stayed on my wall from April 23-May 13. It became a reminder to be strong with a light heart during the global pandemic. The video here shows my saying good bye process.

ambi post-its

Not wanting to disturb the buffalo, I needed a new drawing surface! Post-its are great for quick drawings, they are inexpensive and you get 100 sheets per pack. Over the course of a few weeks of quarantine, I did over 1,000 ambi post-it drawings. Out of it I developed some fun drawing exercises to share through online workshops.