Artist:
Chapin Art Trail
A Community Art Project
Ship of Drools
Sonya Diimmler
Installed September 2019
Artist's Statement
For me the act of painting is thrilling, the energy behind the gestures and mark making involved in painting intrigue and energize me. I find immense joy in putting paint to canvas and creating something and am especially drawn to saturated colors. As a “young” painter I am still exploring subjects and jump from abstracts to landscapes to dogs and back again. They each have their emotional advantage. Abstracts are thrilling for the energy and emotion one can imbue in the mark making. I love to paint landscapes-clouds especially-the only reason I would paint a landscape is to paint clouds-because of the tie to nature. But the thing I am most passionate about painting is dogs, both mine and others. When I painted my bulldog Smedley for the first time, there was a magic moment when the likeness appeared, that is when painting caught fire in my heart and I haven’t stopped since.
About the Artwork
The Ship of Drools is a 4 foot tall free standing aluminum sailboat on a large wooden base. The sailboat is beautifully decorated in paints and other materials. The metal form was created by Steven Reed. The artistry on this sailboat was done by Sonya Diimmler.
About the Artist
Award winning artist Sonya Diimmler paints colorful South Carolina lake and landscapes along with her favorite subject and muse her Bulldog Smedley and her Boston Terrier Mattie. Having just started painting in 2015, Sonya fell in love with the process and quickly began a daily painting practice. She continually seeks to improve through frequent workshops and has studied with Mary Bentz Gilkerson and Michael Story. In 2016 she joined the Crooked Creek Art League in Chapin where she has served as Workshop Coordinator, President and Parlimentarian.