Gwen Duda

A 14" x 24" acrylic original painting titled, "Vibrant Serenity". As one of my clients/collectors said of m work,"They [your paintings] are both vibrant and serene... seems to be a contradiction almost but that is what I feel when I look them them". Thanks, Susan, for nailing the description of my work so perfectly!

I am a therapeutic artist and create paintings that aid in illiciting a positive, healing, response in the viewer, whether the image is calming or invigorating, gently refreshing or soothingly sleep-inducing. For example the painting on the left, a 16" x 24" original acrylic painting titled "Whoosh" is focused on the healing and invigorating colour of green, but an active green.  Real leaves (collected once fallen from the tree so as not to harm it) are used as both printing agents and stencils. Also note the active 'whoosh' of the leaves swirling in the wind. I added cerulean blue in the top right corner to lend some balance to the piece and give us the calmness of the summer sky.

The original painting sold in under a week at the end of March in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where spring was still a far ways off. It doesn't suprise me. By that time of year we are craving that color. We need it. Green is a balancing color as well. It's the green of vigourous growth, both reinvigorating but not overly stimulating. It encourages us to get moving, get growing and also works just like a walk in the woods after a long day's work. It's also the color of the heart chakra so if you are lacking or overly stimulated in that area it will help balance it.

Here is another piece that is inspired by a walk in the Rockies. It is more soothing, more calming in that the colors a more subdued and the stream is a beautiful green-blue of the mineral carrying waters. They are cool and refreshing and that is what this image transmits, a refreshing and restful easy mountain hike where you pause a while to enjoy the scenery. It would help to reduce stress, lower blood pressue and aid in pain reduction. 

Purchased for a yoga and meditation room this piece to the right is called "Her Twelve Luminaries" and is a 12" x 12" original oil painting. It would be perfect for meditation, especially in the eveing to help calm and center oneself but also aid in invoking one's imagination that would be required by some visualizing practices. Or it may be used as a focal point for meditation itself. These are just a few images and ideas of my paintings and how they can be utilized for healing, meditation, relaxation.

I work directly with the individual to determine what their current situation is and what piece would help them best, either currently available or done (commissioned) for their exact specific needs. I utilize my skills acquired through my Clinical Pastoral capacity, my university education (counselling), as well as my own intuitive abilities to sit with the client to ask the right questions to discover what that person's needs really are and what type of painting (what color, shape, size, subject matter, etc.) would help them best.