About Manic Distractions

Formally Manic Depictions Art by Danielle Kelso

“The painting has a life on its own.  I try to let it come through.”- Jackson Pollock.

Sometimes its an idea, a song lyric or just a comment that will inspire me. My Inspiration can be anywhere for me. I have been utilizing all the techniques I have learned from art classes and fellow artists. I work with will all types of materials such as graphite, charcoal, watercolors, fluid and heavy body acrylics and oil on illustration board or canvas. While there is variation in my work, most of it falls into a couple different genres, such as Still life, Abstract expressionism, Pop art, Cubism and faces/figures. Some of my influences include Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Monet, Matisse, Banksy, Picasso, Jean Micheal Basquiat, George Condo and Frida Kahlo. A painting can start off with a photo or picture, and it changes into something completely different. Or its classic abstraction utilizing techniques of action painting to distort reality, objects and figures.  Lately I have been creating grids with shapes and math functions. I will then pick and pull out what I see from the construct I created. Many works are either vibrant, primary colors, warm and cold pallets or very limited muted pallets.  Several works are panel installations to represent the duality of human nature and of perspective.

Biography- I am not originally from Des Moines I was raised in Cleveland and Chicago and moved here during high school. I went to collage in Dubuque for Chemistry. But I have been drawing for as long as I can remember. I didn’t graduate from to art school, but I have taken many classes at the Art Center in Des Moines, at DMACC and online. I completed a MOMA class on abstract expressionism and have a certification from that class. Not exactly self taught, but not exactly trained, just like my art work, somewhere in between.