Meet Denette

DENETTE SCHWEIKERT Contemporary Realism in Fine Art The genesis of Denette's dramatic realistic paintings of lush foliage and flowers comes from mixing her logical approach developed during her extensive business career with her love of classical music into a second career in art. These contrasts in her personality work well as she shares her love and respect for nature's amazing treasures. Denette Schweikert has been painting since selling her computer accounting consulting practice six years ago. A friend dared her to take an art class, and it has changed her life. While painting accidentally became a second career for Denette, being awarded "Best of Show" in 2005 at the Cornell Museum of Art in Delray Beach, Fl confirmed her dedication to her art. The following year she collected another "Best of Show" ribbon at the Lake Wales Museum of Art. Since then she has had her work featured in the Artist Magazine Jan. 2006 issue, as well as being named a finalist in both the 2007, 2008, and 2010 annual competitions sponsored by that influential publication. The artist states, "As a third generation Florida "cracker" I can't help but love the endless beauty of our landscape. The ever-changing light patterns upon our vibrant colors provide a challenging array of subjects. There is nothing shy or demure about the designs and abstractions I see in the details of nature." "The prime focus of my large extremely realistic paintings is exploiting the small intricacies of nature in oils, painting them bigger than life with a punch of strong color and large ranges in value, magnifying the effect of light and exaggerating the power of depth. "I am drawn to paint at such a large scale because it allows me to capture all the nuances of the shape and feeling of the flowers and foliage, and how they interact with the nature surrounding them. Magnifying the scale of the ordinary creates the extraordinary. The aggrandized format promotes detail that is abstracted, fanciful and contemporary, as opposed to a literal representation." Denette and her husband live in Melbourne, FL, where the view of the dolphins and gulls that frequent the Indian River outside her window continues to inspire her. When Denette is not singing with the Indialantic Chamber Singers, she travels throughout the world for several months each year, gathering material to paint her rich, vibrant paintings. Denette's painting, "Promise", was featured as a finalist in the April 2008 edition of International Artist Magazine. She was recently selected for membership into the prestigious International Guild of Realism and is a founding member of the Pieces of Eight (www.piecesof8.net), a group of eight professional artists who paint and show together. "My art brings me such joy," Denette says. "I create with the intention of sharing some of that joy with others. I have succeeded when my patrons are drawn to stop, enjoy, and smile every time they pass my paintings."