Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Donna Bates. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Donna, appreciate you joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
I told my 104-year-old Mother who is currently in Hospice that “painting makes me happy” during the COVID lock-down of 2020. She never really understood it before. I have always been a creative and was obsessed with drawing as soon as I could pick up a pencil. Like many creatives I wanted to do it all. I loved to Dance. In High School I sewed a lot of my own clothes. I started playing drums when I was 16. My first band was an all-girl group. We played the Sunset Strip clubs in the late 60’s and toured Viet Nam during the war in 1967. I played in a lot of bands over the years and ended up playing in the punk scene in the late 70s early 80s in Los Angeles. Through all this I was still painting and drawing because it was always my first love.
You asked, do I wonder what it would be like to have a full-time job? Well around 1990 I realized that playing music just wasn’t fun anymore. I got my first full-time job as an artist doing T-shirt graphics from there, I went on to learn computers starting with Photoshop 2.0. I was definitely making more money than I ever had and that was very nice. I became really intrigued with 3D animation and would go to school after working a full-time job for quite a number of years. First learning Alias Power Animator and then moving to Maya and ZBrush. I worked insane hours in numerous VFX Studios and animation houses, finally becoming the head of a small 3D animation department at my last full-time job. When I got laid off that job, I was finally able to take a few years off and do some soul searching and that was when I started painting again!
Unfortunately painting has not been as lucrative as my previous full-time employment but there is an overwhelming sense of satisfaction when I have completed a painting, I am proud of. When artists I admire compliment my work, there is nothing like it. Working ridiculous hours in a corporate environment was extremely stressful and didn’t leave one time for a social life or one’s own creative work, no I don’t miss it! Although I do miss the paycheck but being the eternal optimist I am hopeful but someday my painting career will become more lucrative.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Having always been fascinated by people and their stories, I guess that is why I create and am a fan of Figurative Art! I try to create big, dramatic, graphically strong, yet technically executed representational works that speak to the times we live in. Having worked in the graphics/ illustration/ 3D Animation field for many years, I have my own mash-up style of urban, tough-chic, edgy, strong independent people or “Badasses”. My subjects aren’t traditional portraits, they are a different vision of power and sex flavored with leather, attitude, graffiti, graphics, human rights, and fantasy! Hopefully thought provoking!
I paint predominately in oils but sometimes flavor my works with other media. For a number of years now I have been painting on aluminum panels like Dibond, Alumacomp or AlumaLite.
I guess am the most proud that I have become such a better painter than I was when I started getting back into it about 10 years ago. That I have been able to establish a style that is uniquely me. That there are people out there who are willing to pay good money for one of my paintings. I am also proud to have had two paintings on HBO’s TV show Insecure and to have a painting in the permanent collection at The Lancaster Museum Of Art And History and a piece in the Bennett Collection.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I feel as though this is what I should have always been doing but it’s taken a lifetime to get here. Everything I have gone through in the last 76 years has honed my aesthetic senses to the point that they must be released through my work. I can’t imagine not doing that! Taking care of my Mother in Hospice for almost 2 years has made me realize how precious whatever time I have left is! I want to create as much work that I am proud of as I can while I’m here.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Well, it sure isn’t the money!! Certainly creating good work with your own voice is rewarding. Satisfaction in honing your skill. I love getting to know other artists and be part of Artist communities. Meeting artists that you admire. And let’s not forget those “Happy Accidents” that happen spontaneously while painting. Finally, if you are able to inspire others.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.donnabates3d.com/
- Instagram: @donabatesart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donna.bates.artist