Combining her passions for athletics, adventure and art, for nearly 20 years Whitney Dahl has been painting scenes that depict, among others, people skiing, biking, hiking, camping, climbing, rafting and surfing. Soon to give birth to her second child, the artist and her work are in transition and she is shifting toward painting more local and calmer subjects, like underwater views, ocean vistas, florals and landscapes.
Dahl’s creative trademark through the years has been painting with rich, vibrant colors, most notably “brilliant green,” which she uses for her skies and backgrounds. Bright blues, oranges and purples are also common colors in her work, as is her attention to the smallest of details.
“Art For the Wild Heart” is a collection of Dahl’s colorful paintings that also showcases the evolution of her artwork. Currently on display at Grace Ridge Brewing, this exhibit includes pieces she has painted during the past 15 to 20 years, as well as her most recent work, shown as originals, canvas prints, paper prints and greeting cards.
Dahl’s painting “Smooth Riders” is one of her most recent pieces, painted earlier this year. It took her just over two months to complete. Painted in light blues, grays and bits of white, the scene depicts three individuals riding bikes along a beach with the water and waves in the background and their reflections in the foreground, painted from a side view. They are wearing wetsuits, riding bikes and carrying surfboards. This painting blends imagery from her time growing up in British Columbia and visiting nearby Vancouver Island and the sport of kite surfing she has witnessed here since her move to Homer a few years ago.
“Surfing captivates me and I love that you can kite surf year-round here and on a stormy day,” she said. “I wanted to paint a surfing scene, but a different viewpoint and I landed on this, which shows what I grew up watching — surfers grabbing their bikes and their boards. A lot of the work on this one was balancing the reflections of the surfers in the sand and the light shining through the crests of the waves. This one is all about highlighting the light.”
Her oldest and most popular pieces are “Air Born” and “Taking Turns,” both shown in her current exhibit.
“Air Born” depicts a person riding a bike, caught in the moment they are catching air, and is from the viewpoint of watching them ride into the background. Painted 12 years ago when she was 25 years old, this painting showcases Dahl’s trademark brilliant green sky and background and purple mountain range. It is also one of only two paintings she has painted using air-brush, a technique of spraying paint using compressed air, rather than applying paint by brush.
“I had a lot of fun with this one, thinking about it as if I was the one on the bike and what I might see if I was airborne,” she said. “I’ve never mastered air-brush, but I find it magical. It takes me into a couple of different dimensions when I’m painting — when I do the background, I’m in a flow state and when I get to my subject, then it’s like I’m impenetrable. This one was about focusing on every tiny, little detail on the rider, from the snap on the pocket on the back of his shorts to the folds of his shirt as it lifts from his back.”
Dahl painted “Taking Turns” when she was 22 years old. This painting shows two backcountry skiers moving quickly and fluidly across a white landscape, facing the mountains they are heading toward, a tall range beneath a green sky. The skier in the front is just discernible in their white hat, brown coat, gray pants and carrying a black backpack. The skier in the back is painted close to the front edge of the painting and wears a green jacket, orange pants and ski goggles and also carries a black backpack. Both are fully in motion propelling themselves forward, ski poles to the sides, the front figure’s body moving to the left, the person behind them captured moving to the right.
“This piece has been my bread and butter over the years,” she said. “I think what I really like about this piece is that the subjects are looking forward, facing away from the viewer, so like with “Air Born,” the viewer can imagine the people shown to be anyone and either sex. It could be the person viewing the painting or someone they know, rather than the face of someone they don’t recognize. I think that’s one reason people like it, the anonymity and ‘every person’ aspect. This piece is also more calming and less active, and very much like rolling out of the picture. The mountains and the hills have flow and it’s smooth.”
Both of these paintings show the artist’s signature brilliant green sky.
“I loved painting that brilliant green sky and how it lit up a painting,” Dahl said. “I don’t know what first compelled me to use that color, but I stayed true to that green in my earlier paintings. I loved how different it was and I never questioned why the sky might be green. Perhaps it highlights those magical moments we see when we’re out adventuring, like skiing across a landscape or catching some air. I’m transitioning to more earthy colors now, but that green will always be a color I enjoy. It will probably show up in more subtle ways, in trees or flowers.”
Mom to a 3-year-old daughter and currently 35 weeks pregnant, Dahl and her husband manage a seasonal rental on their property. While her husband is a full-time nurse at South Peninsula Hospital, she drives back and forth to Anchorage for her job as a nurse. A full-time parent and a part-time nurse, she juggles her personal, professional and creative lives.
Her art studio is her south-facing kitchen table, cluttered with her painting tools.
“My mom always told me that all an artist needs is good light,” she said.
Dahl attributes much of her creative life to her mother, who is a painter and a poet, as well as her father, who is a bronze sculpture artist. Born and raised on a farm in a remote area of central British Columbia, Canada, her parents encouraged her from a very young age to explore her artistic side.
When she was in middle and high school, Dahl’s parents separated, and she and her mom and brother moved to a different community in B.C. There, Dahl pursued the art programs that were available — metal work, painting, fine point drawing and sewing.
After high school, she moved to Golden, B.C., where she went to college and studied Adventure Tourism Business. After college, she spent several years traveling the world, exploring and working as a guide before returning to Canada. During this time, her creativity flourished as she pursued her outdoor and creative passions.
“I began painting colorful images of sports scenes,” she said. “At the time I was a snowboarder and working at a gear store, so I painted snowboarder pictures and even sold a few of my pieces at the store.”
Dahl’s first show, “The Spirit of Adventure,” took place while she was in college and highlighted her sports-themed style. She and her husband lived in Anchorage for 10 years and her second show was a First Friday event at Sevigny Studio downtown. The couple moved to Homer in 2021 and this current exhibit is her third art exhibit.
While her earlier work focused primarily on the subjects, today Dahl focuses more on landscapes, a creative evolution she attributes to her life progression and adaptation. In the midst of her personal and creative transitions, she is content to let both unfold naturally.
“I have the business artist mind and the mom free-spirit artist mind,” she said. “I feel a lot of transition right now and the most important thing for me is to let it all happen. I’m not exactly sure what that means or looks like. I know that I have really enjoyed being in the sports realm and now I’m enjoying being a mom and focusing more on nature and landscapes.”
One piece in her current exhibit stands out from the others and perhaps best showcases this transition. “Underwater Wonder” depicts bull kelp moving underwater, surrounded by a school of fish and sea urchins.
“It was really fun to include this piece in the show amongst all my sports paintings,” she said. “I’m so inspired by being surrounded by water here and I wanted to paint an underwater perspective. It’s part of my life shift and giving myself permission to paint different scenes now.”
Pregnant and a working artist and mother, Dahl is busy juggling her personal and professional life while continuing to pursue her art. She attributes much of her ability to do so to the support of her husband and her mom who stays with the couple during the summer months to help out with the family and their rental business.
“I’m a mom, pregnant and working, and that can’t happen without my mom,” Dahl said. “She’s my true inspiration and my driving force. She’s been an artist all her life, following that lifestyle, and by being here, she’s allowed me to have time to keep my art an active part of my own life. Being a full-time mom and a nurse with a toddler doesn’t leave a lot of time for creativity. When she’s here, she creates that space and time for me. My creativity is something I never want to let go of. We all have these pieces that are a part of us and that we don’t want to lose as we transition. I don’t want to lose that part of myself in motherhood.”
“Art For the Wild Heart” is on display at Grace Ridge Brewing through July. Her greeting cards and card packs are available year-round at Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking in Anchorage. Not on social media, Dahl can be contacted by email for art inquiries at dahl.whitney@gmail.com.
“Air Borne” is an acrylic painting by Whitney Dahl. Photo provided by Whitney Dahl
Card packs by Whitney Dahl featuring her paintings, “Takin’ Turns,” “River Runners,” “Smooth Riders” and “Soaring Heights,” are available in her exhibit at Grace Ridge Brewing through July in Homer, Alaska. Photo provided by Whitney Dahl
”Smooth Riders,” an acrylic painting by Homer artist Whitney Dahl, is on display in her exhibit at Grace Ridge Brewery through July in Homer, Alaska. Photo provided by Whitney Dahl
Acrylic paintings by Homer artist Whitney Dahl, photographed on Sunday, July 21, 2024, are on display through July at Grace Ridge Brewing in Homer, Alaska. Photo by Christina Whiting
