About the Artist
I grew up on the prairies of Canada, have lived in many different locales, and have traveled extensively. All of these places have inspired my art. My work is intuitive, expressive, and built through layers of color, texture, and mark-making. It's not about creating a pretty image, but about uncovering something honest and raw.
Hi, I’m Deanna
I am a contemporary painter who grew up on the Canadian prairies and now lives and works in Portland, Oregon. I create emotive, expressive abstract works inspired by memories of landscapes and weather — the vast plains of Manitoba, the lush forests of North Carolina, and the moody drama of the Pacific Northwest. My paintings explore the connection between nature and emotion, and how refuge and threat can occupy the same place—both powerful and beautiful.
I hold a Bachelor of Arts and an MBA, and I am a self-taught artist. I have spent over 20 years painting at night and on weekends while working as an HR executive before recently leaving that career to paint full-time. I've since attended artist residencies in France and New Mexico. My work has been exhibited throughout the Portland area and is held in private collections across the country and abroad. I work out of NW Marine Artworks, an industrial studio building in Portland shared with a community of working artists.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I create expressive abstract paintings about what happens beneath the surface-what we try to hold together, and what happens when we finally let some of it loose.
My process frequently starts with a feeling rather than a plan. I work intuitively, building up layers, marks, movement, and color until something starts to emerge. My paintings usually hold a tension between elements—chaos and calm, strength and vulnerability, control and letting go. I don’t want to resolve that tension into a tidy picture. I want to leave room for it to be felt.
My paintings have emotional depth because they come from a real place. Painting is how I work through things I sometimes can’t put into words. The process can be physical and messy, but it is also grounding. I may start with an idea of where a painting is going, but I have learned to let the painting push back and take me somewhere unexpected.
Nature is a big part of that language. I grew up beside a river that repeatedly flooded our home and in a forest that could feel like refuge one moment and danger the next. That experience stayed with me. I learned early that nature can be beautiful and powerful at the same time—that the same place can give comfort and uncertainty, calm and force.
You can feel that tension in the raw edges, layers, movement, and scale of my work. I’m not interested in making everything pretty or perfectly resolved. I want the paintings to feel alive—with moments that pull you in, challenge you, or make you pause.
Ultimately, I want people to feel something when they stand in front of my work. Maybe it reminds them of something they’ve experienced. Maybe it gives them a feeling of calm. Maybe it stirs something they weren’t expecting. I don’t need to know exactly what that feeling is. I like that each person can bring their own story to the painting.
I paint because sometimes things under the surface need somewhere to go. I hope that when you encounter one of my paintings, you feel that something is there—and that, in some small way, it speaks to something in you.