30 Apr ARTIST SPOTLIGHTS: DANUTA TOMZYNSKI

Danuta Tomzynski’s close-up, painstakingly detailed still-life oils of hand-tooled saddles and other leatherwork aim to look at life in the West through a cowboy’s eyes. “All the time in art,” she says, “we see them depicted on horses in scenic landscapes. But, meanwhile, they’re sitting in their saddles, beautiful, utilitarian things with so much handicraft put into them. I like to think of my paintings as the cowboys’ views, up close and personal with those items.”

The artist found her subject matter and style through a lifelong appreciation of items that show signs of the craft that went into them. Having grown up in the old Los Angeles foothills neighborhood of Los Feliz, the daughter of Polish immigrants who met in California after World War II, Tomzynski cherishes childhood memories of family trips across the border to Tijuana, Mexico. “I’d come home with painted terracotta piggy banks and other souvenirs, and I loved the traces of handwork you could see in them.”

Her own early signs of artistic talent eventually led Tomzynski to study at L.A.’s Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design, after which she embarked on a successful career as a women’s clothing and fabric designer.

Vaquero Saddle Caballeros | Oil on Linen | 41 x 27 inches

After 11 stressful years in that industry, Tomzynski transitioned into creating paintings on large pieces of loose fabric to hang as decorative interior pieces. Eventually, she also specialized in murals and created set designs for her partner Mike Brainerd, an actor, writer, and producer.

More recently, splitting her time between Los Feliz and the Southern California town of Temecula, which has its own rich ranching history, Tomzynski’s talents coalesced around celebrating works of Western leather craftsmanship in richly evocative paintings like Rose Saddle Garcia. “They’re so beautiful, with so much work and handicraft put into them,” she says.

With her well-trained eye, Tomzynski painstakingly arranges her elements and then photographs them as references before recreating the composition, freehand and on a large scale, in oils on a primed and toned canvas. “I don’t sketch it in beyond big diagonals and lines but just start painting all around to capture the skilled craft that goes into these cowboy tools.” And, although at first glance the level of fine detail she achieves might suggest she’s aiming for a trompe-l’oeil effect, in fact, Tomzynski enjoys allowing viewers to witness her own handwork. “If you look up close, you can see and appreciate all the little brushstrokes.”

Tools of the Trades | Oil on Linen | 30 x 24 inches

That combination of precision and painterliness has led her to achieve membership in top organizations, including Women Artists of the West, American Women Artists, Cowgirl Artists of America, the California Art Club, and Oil Painters of America. This past May, Tomzynski’s paintings were also juried into the Cowgirl Gathering Art Show in Fort Worth, Texas, presented by Cowgirl Artists of America, and the 51st Annual Western Art Show & Sale at the Phippen Museum in Prescott, Arizona —sure signs that her handwork is winning well-deserved and widespread appreciation from the most discerning eyes.

Based in Marin County, California, Norman Kolpas is the author of more than 40 books and hundreds of articles. He also teaches nonfiction writing in The Writers’ Program at UCLA Extension.