While working as a physicist, Donelli also accrued many national and local awards for his paintings. Among juried national competition, he has been a finalist in The Artist’s Magazine National Juried Competition for Dream Studio twice in a three-year period and has been accepted in the national shows of Allied Artists, American Artists Professional League, Hudson Valley Art Association, Salon International, Oil Painters of America, and Academic Artists. He was also selected and published as an Artist Showcase Award Winner in the Manhattan Arts International Magazine twice. Donelli’s self-portrait has been published in American Artist Magazine, one of his paintings appears in North Light Books’ “The Best of Portrait Painting “, and several others have been published in “American Art Collector” . He was a fellow member of the American Artists Professional League, Associate member of Oil Painters of America, member of the Portrait Society, and elected full member of the Hudson Valley Art Association and Kent Art Association.
Over the years, Donelli has developed a distinctive painting style most appropriately characterized as Contemporary Realism. To this end, he blends the techniques of the old world masters line, form, edge and value with the brushstrokes, vibrating colors and light effects of the Impressionists. However, the distinctive contemporary nature of Donelli’s unique style is in his compositions and paint application.
The ideas for his compositions come largely from photographs and memorabilia collected while traveling around the world as a research scientist. Donelli sets up the subject matter for his paintings to tell a story. Typically, he emphasizes the main point by using a palette of earth colors for most of the painting with a punch of bright color, such as red to attract the viewer’s attention. Thick paint application, detail and value contrast are also used to attract the viewer to the center of interest. He layers color upon color allowing each layer to show through to increase the light, luminosity and emotional intensity of his work.
For the past 20 years, Donelli has been a fulltime artist and teacher in Santa Fe, NM. Recently, he has been in 16 museum shows across the country (twice in the “Contemporary American Realism” show at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in 2008 and 2010) and has shown his work in galleries across the US (NY, CA, AZ, TX, CT, and NM). His four drawing and painting video courses on “Udemy” have more than 136,000 subscribers, and his drawing manual loosely based on the “Reilly” technique is available on “Lulu”, Walmart, Amazon, Borders, eBay, and many other internet sites worldwide in a variety of languages.
Education and Training:
Studied classical drawing and painting techniques at the Reilly League of Artists under Cesare Borgia (former student of Frank Reilly), NY-13 yrs.
Completed work in Studio and Fine Arts at Lehigh University, PA – 4 yrs.
Private study in painting and drawing techniques with Dom Petro, CT-6 yrs.
Accomplishments:
Participated in over 70 juried shows including Allied Artists, American Artist Professional League, Oil Painters of America, Academic Artists, Hudson Valley Art Association, Masterworks of New Mexico, International Guild of Realism, and Salon International (1992-2019)
Exhibited in over 35 invited shows (individual and group) such as The American Artist Professional League and The National Figure Association Invitational (1992-2018)
Received over 35 major awards (1992-2019) including the Artist Showcase Award in the Manhattan Arts International Cover Art Competition (twice), finalist in the North Light Books “Best of Portrait Painting”, Finalist in American Artist Magazine “Self Portrait” and “Emerging Artist” competitions, Finalist in Artists Magazine Dream Studio competition (twice), “Third Place Oil” at New Rochelle Art Association 84th Annual (NY-1999), “Best in Show” for “Observations” at Northern Westchester Center for the Arts (NY-1999) “Award of Excellence” for Masterworks of New Mexico 2007, “Award of Excellence in Oil” for “Art of Women” at Northern Westchester Center for the Arts (NY-1999), “Merit Award” at Kent Art Association “Member’s Show” (CT-1999), and Zo-zobra Festival Poster (NM-2006), Finalist (Oct. 2009 ) FineArtViews Art Competition, Certificate of Excellence from Palm Art Award 2017and 2019, Award of Excellence from Encantada! Painting Exhibition 2016 and 2017, Award of Excellence from Masters Works NM in 2016, Award of Excellence from Circle Art Magazine Cover Art Competition 2018, Finalist Award of Excellence from Artavita Cover Art Competition 2019, Certificate of Artistic Excellence Circle Foundation 5th Quarterly Art Review Magazine 2020, Diversia 2021 Online Exhibition, Finalist Themed Contest: Art in the time of Coronavirus and Social distancing Circle Foundation 2021, Finalist Circle Quarterly Art Review Magazine 2021, Diversia: Youth 2021 Online Exhibition, Exhibizone: Love 2021 Online Exhibition, Second Chance Prize from Palm Art Award 2021, Diversia: Food 2021 Online Exhibition, Exhbizone :Nuditas 2021 Online Exhibition, Exhibizone: Pets 2021 Online Exhibition, Gallerium: Children 2021 Online Exhibition, Biafarin Awards 2021 Finalist, Itsliquid Featured Artist for April 2022, Finalist 53rd International Artavita Art Contest, Gallerium: Nudus 2022, Exhibition Grand Prize 2022, Finalist 55th International Artavita Online Art Contest, Finalist Circle Quarterly Magazine Contest 2022, Certificate of Excellence from the Palm Art Award for 2022, Artavita artist of the Year 2022, Gallerium: Life and Death 2023 Online Exhibition, Finalist 58th International Artavita Online Art Contest, 2023.
Affiliations (Past and Present):
Fellow Member of the American Artists Professional League
Associate Member of Oil Painters of America
Full Member of Hudson Valley Art Association
Fellow Member of Kent Art Association
Associate Member of International Guild of Realism
Member of the Portrait Society
Gallery Representation:
Renaissance Fine Art Gallery, NY (1999-2001)
Epidaros Gallery, NY (1999-2001)
Forever Gallery, NY (2000-2001)
Nichols Taos Fine Art Gallery, Taos, NM (2002-2009)
Horizon Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM (2001-2002)
Arlene Seigel Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (2003)
Whitt/Krauss Fine Art, San Diego, CA (2005)
Nussbaumer Fine Art Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (2004-2007)
Tanglewood Fine Art Gallery, Flagstaff, AZ (2007)
Canyon Road Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM (2009-2010)
Weilerhouse Fine Art Gallery, Ft. Worth, TX (2012 -2013 )
Back Street Bistro Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 2013
Weiss Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM, 2018
Santa Fe Community Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, 2020-2024
Nude Nite, Orlando, Fl 2023
NuD: Art of the Figure, Graphite Gallery, Edmonds, WA 2023.
Publications:
The Best of Portrait Painting, North Light Books, featured artist (1998)
American Artist Magazine (Dec.1997)
Manhattan Arts International Magazine (1996 and 1997)
American Art Collector Magazine (Feb. 2006)
The Sunday Journal, Albuquerque, NM (Mar. 2004)
Inside Santa Fe (2003)
Santa Fe Circle (Summer/Fall 2006)
the Artist’s Magazine (July 2010)
Figure Drawing from Life: Tools, Techniques, and Tricks (2010)
Santa Fe Reporter, Sept. 18, 2013
Journal Santa Fe, “Mixed Messages”, Sept. 20, 2013
Art Professionals Contemporary Artists, Masters of Today, pp. 120-139, 2017
Circle Quarterly Art Review, Spring, 2018, p. 125
Circle Quarterly Art Review, June/July 2019. p. 32
Circle Quarterly Art Review, Fall 2019, p. 99
Artistonish, June 2021, p. 6 and front cover
World Wide Art Magazine #2, January 2020, pgs. 42-44.
Observica, Fall 2020, pp. 37-42
American Art Collector Magazine, Dec. 2021, pp. 76-78
Art Ideal Magazine #2, Apr. 2022, p. 25
Artistonish, May 2022, p. 14
Artists in the World, Catalog of Five Contemporary Artists, April 2022
American Art Collector Magazine, Nov. 2022, p. 70.
Excellent Art 2022, Dec. 2022, pp. 16 and 17.
Current Masters #6, Dec. 2022, p. 36.
Color Symphonies for Gauguin and van Gogh, Mar. 2023, pg.48.
Magic of La Boheme, June 2023, pg. 27.
World Wide Art Magazine #12, June 2023, pg. 32.
Art Ideal Vol. #3, Circle Foundation for the Arts, July 2023, pg. 36.
Museums:
Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS (2008): “The New Reality”
The Springfield Museums, Springfield, MA (2008): “The New Reality”
Norton Museum Art Gallery, Shreveport, LA (2008): “The New Reality”
Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, OR (2008): “Expressions West”
Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN (2008): “Contemporary American Realism”
SomArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA (2009): “Corrections”
Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, Owensboro, KY (2009): “The New Reality”
City of Lake Charles, Lake Charles, LO (2009): “The New Reality”
Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX (2009): “The New Reality”
Appleton Museum of Art, Ocala, FL (2010): “The New Reality”
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI (2010): “The New Reality”
Indian Hills Community College, Ottumwa, IA (2010): “The New Reality”
Gari Melchers Home and Studio, Fredericksburg, VA (2010): “The New Reality”
Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN (2010): “Contemporary American Realism”
Teaching:
Santa Fe School of Art: Beginners Drawing and Figure Drawing 2007-2009, Santa Fe, NM
Figure Drawing Workshop 2009, Albuquerque, NM
Figure Drawing: DiMaria Studio 2011. Santa Fe, NM
Oil/Acrylic Painting: DiMaria Studio 2012, Santa Fe, NM
Udemy: Four Painting/Drawing Video Courses 2012-2024 (137,000 Subscribers)
Zoom Online Drawing Workshop 2020
