"At first, I didn't realize that my art had a message."

Donna Smallenberg
Smallenberg in her studio with two unfinished works.
“They’re the first of a new four seasons set,” she says.
Donna Smallenberg of Woodstock, NB spends as long as four months creating some of her amazingly intricate paintings that feature beautiful young women in dream-like settings. She’s a self-taught painter who says that she has learned a lot from other artists while working hard to develop her own style, influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, Art Nouveau and even the early 20th century commercial illustrator Maxfield Parrish. Twenty years ago, she and a friend travelled to Uganda; Smallenberg says that trip was “life changing and the memories are still fresh.” It has also had an influence on her most recent paintings.

Although most of us appreciate art, we often forget that artists need to eat and they’re also in business to support their craft. How did the recent recession affect you?
The economic downturn has certainly had an impact so I've explored some radical things and it’s been a learning process. I’ve had a number of artistic phases in my career so far ─ the medieval and Art Nouveau styles, for instance ─ and my direction now is multi-media. Compared to my other work, it’s very spontaneous and it takes way less time so I can bring my prices down.

In the end, you've very successfully introduced a sort of artistic sleight of hand to your paintings that incorporates fabric, metals and glass jewels in a way that’s not at all obvious.
I need to feel a creative flow when I’m working on a new painting. And these subjects, based on my Ugandan memories, take the art into another realm because they lend themselves to special fabrics and rich colours. Someone joked that I’m morphing into a seamstress!

Of all your work over the years, which has been the most successful?
In addition to the many prints sold,
“The Story of Deborah” was also used for
a book cover. Prints are available at
O’Toole Gallery in Grafton.
In terms of sales, it’s probably “The Story of Deborah” from my medieval period. I've sold almost 2000 prints of that painting. The biblical story is meaningful to a lot of people ─ they can relate it to their own life.

That piece and so many others are very romantic.
I approach all my work from the viewpoint of romanticism and my beliefs come into play too. That’s the part that I most like, the romantic aspect of Christianity and an opportunity to create fantasy.

Your faith has had a great influence on your art then?
At first I didn't realize that most of my work carried a message. There was a symbolism that just sort of took off and I was quite literally taken by surprise.

Can we count on more fantasy pieces then?
Exploring different techniques has brought me back to what I was doing but, I think, in a more exciting way. I’m planning a new piece that will combine my traditional Medieval style with multi-media. I’ll base it on the story of Queen Esther ─ and use a lot of jewels.

Almost monotone but so rich in detail, this painting was inspired by Smallenberg’s travels in Africa.