Artist Biography

Dawn M Phelps

Like most artist, Dawn has been drawing since she could hold a crayon. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, she comes from a family of artists. While her mother is creative, her grandfather passed on the ability to draw to her and her cousin. Through high school and college the two of them studied commercial art. Dawn began her career as a freelance illustrator in 1988, in Toronto, Ontario.

Dawn is an artist whose intuitive sense of color and flow impart grace and graceful energy to her icons and decorative designs. As a painter her primary motivation is striving to perfect the illusion. The illusion of depth, the illusion of shape & the illusion of texture. Mastering the techniques that convince the viewer that they are looking at something other than a flat surface gives her great satisfaction. In choosing subjects she is most often guided my lighting and its creation of shadow. Over the years she has worked in many different mediums but ultimately acrylics directly on the wall or canvas has been what most of her work has consisted of. Most recently though watercolors has given given her the greatest degree of enjoyment.

With a major in graphic design from George Brown College in Toronto, Dawn got her practical training as an illustrator for a Toronto printing company then got her wings when she joined a women in business group and started her own graphic design company in British Columbia, Canada, where she had the opportunity to showcase her work on a local television program.

Today, Dawn works as an independent designer for her studio in Denver, Colorado. Her work is displayed and commissioned by private residences, daycare providers, food and hospitality businesses, retailers and others.