Dana M Johnson – Paintings, Illustrations, VideoThe Blog of Dana M. Johnson

St Paul Winter Carnival, Acrylic on Maple Board 8 x 10″ Copyright 2010

This weekend I waited in line just like a few thousand other artists from MN at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, to submit for Foot in the Door 4.  The show will be on view February 19, 2010—Sunday, June 13, 2010 in Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program (MAEP) Gallery at the MIA.  The opening reception is Thursday, February 18, which should be quite the event, considering how many artists are involved!  Videos submissions will be on view online.

The painting pictured above is my entry for the show, it depicts St Paul Winter Carnival a few weeks back.  Near the St Paul Central library before I could see it I could smell the sugar and grease of the mini doughnuts.

The Beautiful Atrium at the Lowertown Lofts Cooperative

Setting up for Lowertown First Friday, this Friday!  Scroll down to see details!

Bring your friends, family and lovers to celebrate Valentines Day early!

• This Friday, February 5th 6-9pm
• at the Lowertown Lofts Cooperative
• 255 East Kellogg Blvd, St Paul MN 55101

Join us for a variety of  Art work ( 8 artists + showing in the building! ) coffee, refreshments & shop for Art for your Sweetheart.

Friday is Lowertown First Friday with many wonderful artists also showing in neighboring buildings, all of the details & a map can be found HERE.

More lowertown information at Saint Paul Scene

2nd Shift, 10:18pm, from the sketchbook, watercolor on paper 2010

From my studio window the sites and sounds act like a visual moving clock.  Just 10 minutes after the Amtrak Train flies past on the tracks, the 2nd shift workers from the post office with their lunch boxes in hand walk across the snow covered parking lot to their cars and drive home for the night.  The sound of the engines and site of the headlights signal to me that it is time to clean up the paints for the night and get ready for bed.

4th Street, from the steps of Union Depot, watercolor  2010

The large windows in this old warehouse are great, it is very rare to find all the lights on inside at the same time and when I spotted this I was struck by how colorful the spaces inside looked.  I love walking down 4th past this old building, at almost any hour of the day you can hear drums or noise coming down to the street below as there are many practice spaces in the rooms above.  This block is also quite lively during shows at Station 4 & Rumours / Innuendo.  I also ran across this blog, that newly housed in this block is a “coworking space“, which sounds like a wonderful addition to Lowertown.