A Blonde Bombshell: At Home and In the Studio

Nothing makes a Huffington happier than to score an invite to visit an artist’s studio – his or her private inner sanctum where inspiration and creativity take physical shape. Some artists are extremely proprietary about this space and others are open and willing to share. We love it when they want to share (and, of course, respect them immensely when they don’t.)

Dawne Raulet, a relatively new artist for us and one of the stars of our Blonde Bombshells show (which opens on Friday, March 18^th) extended a warm invitation to us the other day. She works out of her home so it was a double treat for us Huffingtons.

We were there to view paintings that Dawne is submitting for the show – and those were no disappointment. Dawne paints with a combination of her own original photography and mixed media - and the results are dramatic and jaw-dropping. We knew she was a lover of all creatures because her subject matter usually involves something with four legs (or two with feathers…)

Elegantly Poised Horse, 30 x 40

We adore these paintings and love the way Dawne subtly imbues the painting with character and personality.

Caged Dove, 16 x 20

Baby Bull, 40 x 30

Heart-Shaped Nest, 47 x 47

Our hunch about the animals was right. When she greeted us at the door of her lovely home, her entourage (or menagerie) included two round and elderly chihuahuas, a delightfully tousled (and also rather round) shih-tzu and a fluffy Siamese cat.

All four followed us around until one of the chihuahuas had enough of art talk and decided to take a nap instead.

Just look at that face…

We went down to Dawne’s studio, which is large, sunlit terrace level space that opens onto her back lawn. It was wonderful to see her pieces in progress: she likes to paint big, so the panels are custom made for her.

Dawne’s sunny and enormous studio space

Her work involves layers and layers of medium over the photography (she still hasn’t quite revealed her secrets to us) so the space was a hodge-podge of medium, brushes, panels and all the other accoutrements an artist needs.

A painting in progress

Dawne’s a stockbroker-turned-artist and the flash point came a few years ago after a particularly stressful work week. In desperate need of a break from her job and two small infants at home, she attended a watercolor workshop. “I realized afterwards that for an entire two-hour period, I had been completely focused on that peaceful watercolor we were painting. It was then that art became my sanctuary and I’ve been obsessed ever since,” she told us.

We’re quite sure we can’t live without this painting for our Blonde Bombshell show.

After we talked and talked about the paintings and decided which ones we couldn’t live without (pretty much all of them), our attention turned to Dawne’s home which was also knocking our socks off.

We were sort of familiar with the interior because it used to belong to Atlanta’s leading empress of design, Suzanne Kasler and it’s featured prominently in her book.

Here’s the foyer when the home was owned by Suzanne Kasler.

Here’s Dawne’s version – we adore that painting.

Dawne’s interpretation of the home was completely different and we loved the easy-going, comfortable and welcoming vibes it gave off. One Huffington (me!) couldn’t get over the choice of upholstery for two sleek and Belgian-inspired sofas: cream chenille – the softest, yummiest cream chenille I’ve ever run my hand across. I wanted to bury myself in those sofas.

Dawne’s art taste runs the gamut so her groupings included crusty old oils picked up on trips to Europe, some edgy charcoaly figures and plenty of other pieces that had us ooohing and ahhing. Everything was bathed in sunshine and the rooms were filled with whites or linen colored upholstery. What made it so special were the small touches that Dawne had placed here there and everywhere. Her technique is very spontaneous, so nothing felt over-decorated or stuffy. It just felt amazingly comfortable, homey and welcoming – just the way a home should be.

The Blonde Bombshells (back row left to right: Lorraine Christie, Melissa Payne Baker and Dawne Raulet. Front row, left to right: Bonnie Beauchamp Cooke and Aaron Whitehouse. Missing: Liz Barber.)

If you’re local, be sure to come by and check out our new show, The Blonde Bombshells, debuting on Friday, March 18th from 6-8 p.m. at the gallery. Or check it out on our website beginning Thursday, March 17th.

Ta ta.

HH