Pursuing her goals
At first Dianne Munkittrick could not open the letter she received May 10 from Wausau, Wis., because she was so nervous. One of Munkittrick’s artistic goals was to be admitted into the prestigious Birds in Art Exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau. “The letter was fat, which was a good sign because thin letters are usually rejection letters,” Munkittrick says with a smile.
After five attempts, this year she reached her goal by becoming one of 100 artists selected from more than 1,000 entries worldwide to be shown in the juried exhibition. Only two artists from Idaho were selected.
Munkittrick’s painting, “Summer’s Glory,” will be featured in the 2005 Birds in Art Exhibition, which will be held Sept. 10 through Nov. 13. There will be a special artists’ reception Sept. 9 and 10, and Munkittrick plans to attend in all her “glory.”
“Summer’s Glory” features a female hummingbird and a brilliant red gladiolus painted in gouache with a blurred impressionistic background. Gouache is an opaque watercolor. Munkittrick’s meticulous attention to detail is a joy to behold.
Munkittrick says that the simplistic beauty of nature evokes a response in her, and wildlife adds the spark of life, which is why she says she paints it.
She remembers with fondness the long walks she took with her dad and older brother through the local nature preserves.
“I have been a nature lover since childhood,” Munkittrick says. “Nature and wildlife have always inspired me with a sense of awe and wonder that is now the driving force to my creativity.”
Munkittrick’s use of fine detail makes her animals come alive. Her subjects are often creatures close to home or those she has encountered while visiting far-off places. She says each animal has a unique personality and that she tries to capture that special look on canvas.
“I need to have that interaction in order to feel the personality or character of each animal. Often that contact is fleeting, but if the response is strong, that encounter will find its way into my artwork,” Munkittrick says.
“It is especially important to get the eyes right – they are the soul of the animal. If you get that right, everything else falls into place.”
Munkittrick works in a variety of mediums but lately has been favoring pastels and gouache. But no matter what medium she uses, she is especially concerned with light in her paintings. She uses what she calls the “ahh” factor.
“If I wake up on the morning and look out my window and my first response is, ‘Ahh, look at that,’ you can be sure nature has transformed the outdoor scene into a fantasyland. It is this type of response that gets my creativity flowing,” Munkittrick says.
She incorporates these scenes and those she remembers from past “ahh” events into her current work.
Munkittrick received her two-year commercial art degree from North Idaho College in 1997. She received both her Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife management in 1976, and her masters’ degree in forest ecosystems in 1980, from the University of Idaho.
Munkittrick’s artistic influences include Robert Bateman, Terry Issac and Stephen Lyman.
Bateman is well-known for his popular book, “Birds,” where he presents 220 paintings of vibrant and majestic creatures of the air. Munkittrick likes Bateman’s “painterly” style, which means that a viewer can see the brush stokes and know it is a painting and not a photograph.
Isaac lives in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and is known for his high standards of painting technique and design, and of animal anatomy and habitat. He has produced waterfowl drawings for the “Audubon Bird Handbook,” and in the last few years has placed in many bird stamp design competitions. Munkittrick likes the way Issac paints wildlife in their natural habitat.
Lyman, a well known Northwest explorer and Idaho resident, lived to discover the wonders of the natural world and says his paintings “have their origins in my experience and perception of beauty in the wilderness.” Munkittrick says Lyman captures the most elusive moments in nature, and is a master of lighting techniques.
Munkittrick recently received a first place award at the 2005 Coeur d’Alene Spring Art Festival. She also took the first-place award in 2004.
Her individual exhibits include North Idaho College Wild Game Feast, Pacific Flyway Gallery, Borders Book Store, Coeur d’Alene Public Library, the Spokane Western Art Show, Art on the Green and the St. Maries Art Gallery.
Many of Munkittrick’s paintings can be viewed on her Web site at munkittrickart.com.
Munkittrick says her modeling technique has improved in her paintings over the years.
“This is the goal of any artist to grow as an artist.”
Munkittrick will be at the Studio Gallery of Charleen Martin through the month of July. An artist’s reception is set for Sundayfrom 1 to 4 p.m., where she will be showing some of her pastel miniatures as well as some of her newer gouache paintings.
She will also be showing at this year’s Taste of the Coeur d’Alenes, held Aug. 5 through 7 in Coeur d’Alene City Park.
She has given painting workshops, lectures, and has demonstrated techniques for many years. Most Thursdays she can be found at the “Paint with a Friend” program where she coaches beginning artists and critiques their work.
Munkittrick’s goals are to keep the quality of her work high, become a member of the Society of Animal Artists, and to make it into the final round of the Federal Duck Stamp Contest.
“Artists have been told over the millenniums to paint what they love,” Munkittrick says. “If I am moved by what I paint then chances are you will be moved also. That is why I continue to focus on nature and wildlife. It is such an important part of my life that it is just natural that it is the path that I follow.”