WORTHINGTON -- While browsing the Internet, Donna Jean Carver stumbled upon information about the Area Art Show at the Nobles County Art Center in Worthington.
Although it's a bit of a drive from her home in Willmar, Carver decided to enter her work, and earlier this week loaded up her car with paintings, bound for Worthington.
While she's always been a creative person, Carver's devotion to painting is more of a recent undertaking. She delved into it more fully since moving to Willmar four years ago from New London.
"I was busy raising kids," said Carver, who has three daughters, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. "I had been doing other creative things for several years. I created quite a few designs that were featured in needlecraft magazines a few years ago."
Now, Carver prefers to work in acrylics, and she hasn't done much formal study of painting. It just comes naturally.
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"I do mostly flowers, a lot of animals, whatever strikes my fancy at the moment. Sometimes I just make designs," she explained. "When I turned 70, I decided I was going to do whatever I want. It's about time, I thought."
Carver's artistic whims have strayed off the canvas and onto the walls of her home.
"I have over 20 murals on my walls, all animals -- a herd of animals on my living room wall. It's not something you see every day --lions and tigers and chickens and cows and all kinds of stuff," she described. "Every year when we have the studio hop in Willmar, people seem to enjoy looking at those."
Perhaps stemming from her growing-up years on a farm in Iowa, Carver has a penchant for chickens, roosters in particular, and the paintings she selected to enter in the Area Art Show include her fowl renditions.
"They're all recent work," she said about her entries. "Lately I've been going back to my rural farmer's daughter roots, doing farm scenes."
Carver's paintings will be displayed along with the work of many other artists from across the region for the Area Art Show. A variety of mediums are eligible for entry: oils, acrylics, watercolors, batiks, collage, photography, original prints, jewelry, fibers, pen and pencil drawings, pastels, charcoal drawings, pottery, wood, sculpture, mixed media and miscellaneous.
The show is juried, with cash awards presented for Best of Show, the Gene Schar Award for Excellence in Painting and Honorable Mention.
The Area Art Show will open with a reception from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday in the Nobles County Art Center gallery, located in the lower level of the War Memorial Building (Nobles County Library), 407 12th St., Worthington. A juror's critique is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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The show will continue through April 27. The gallery is open from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, phone 372-8245.
Daily Globe Features Editor Beth Rickers may be reached
at 376-7327.
