My creative process is intuitive and all it needs is a feeling, a color, or a shadow to begin an inner vision; a place to explore.
New York Academy of Art, Master of Fine Art, 1995
Stevenson's Academy of Traditional Art, 1993
Deborah Wnuk is native New Yorker who currently lives and works at her home studio in Westbury, Long Island. She was initially trained at the Stevenson's Academy of Art by Alma Stevenson. This atelier experience in traditional oil painting and drawing prepared Deborah to continue her studies at the New York Academy of Art, where she received a Master's Degree in Figurative Art. She has also trained privately with Dan Slapo and at the Arts Students' League in New York City with Leonid Gervits and Ehpraim Rubenstein. Deborah has received awards and honors in both oil painting and drawing and in 2008 received a special award in oil painting for her life portrait through the Art League of Nassau County. Deborah is an active teacher in her community, providing classes for adults since 1996.
When possible, Deborah prefers to work from life; making thumbnails, compositional ideas, form and structure sketches, value patterns and color experiments as part of her preliminary process. Once the composition is expressive of her vision, she begins to scale it larger and then works the painting in the traditional way; charcoal sketch, value painting and then color. Driven by the works of the Renaissance, Deborah paints a variety of subjects in oil on linen canvases- still life, figures, landscapes - in order to explore the value arrangements, color transitions and illumination that will ultimately communicate their essence.
Deborah Wnuk's impeccably executed oil paintings are reminiscent of Renaissance masterpieces. Studied in classic realism, Deborah takes simple subjects and elevates them through her ability to capture light, evoking a mood of repose and tranquility. Her paintings convey a timeless quality; achieving emotional as well as visual effects while revealing vibrancy and beauty.
