Dale Wayne
Orlando, FL
"The alcohol inks that I use for my art demand room and will not tolerate much control, which can be challenging, but is always invigorating. As I layer colors, senses of places both familiar and new emerge into pathways that turn into landscapes. A run-away drop becomes a rooftop. I slide the side of my brush and a stone fence appears. A repeated stroke might evoke a stand of trees or a field of hay. I become lost in worlds within worlds as the painting changes, until the colors tell me it is time to stop and the finished piece holds within it a place for the viewer to go.”
Dale Wayne (she/her/hers) grew up in a military family and lived in a variety of locations, with a particular affinity for her time in France. The landscapes she creates in alcohol inks bring her back to early memories of gathering lavender in the fields with her family. Dale used to work as an art teacher, but could no longer work after developing a disability due in part to a work accident and leaving her with severe joint problems, chronic pain, and debilitating fatigue. Despite multiple corrective surgeries, Dale Wayne has lost much of her mobility due to intense chronic pain and now utilizes her art as a form of travel. She engages in art as a way to reconnect with memories and travel through her imagination, letting herself get lost in the process.
“I feel a contentment from the sense of losing myself. I am very self-conscious, always worrying about what people think. When I create, I am lifted out of that and have a sense of just being; being my best self. It can be intense, like running a race, but in the end, there is a restful satisfaction. With the inks, I feel like I am traveling, taking side roads, getting stuck in the mud, coming upon a sunlit glade. When I finish, it is as though I arrive at a place I have already been.”
Dale feels that art gives her life. She describes: “Whatever time is invested comes back in renewed life. Sometimes, I am desperately depressed and I make myself watch colors move on the tile. It lifts me. I am grateful for my studio space where I can create, regardless of my mobility.
Dale finds inspiration in Daniel Hillel’s words: “I get up, I walk, I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing.’ Art helps me keep dancing.”
