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My visual art tends to be of landscapes, plants, and animals. While I am working on a painting or drawing, I try to consider the ways my background as a working-class woman alters my interpretation of the subject matter, but also, how my subjects may appear to others who do not share my background and experiences. These ruminations may show overtly in my work—a group of tomatoes with women in their centers—or covertly, through a mood that affects my choice of palette, such as with a recent painting of a violet, whose colors and size are the embodiment of my beloved, hard-boiled grandmother.

 

Many times, working on a painting or drawing leads me toward deeper insights for a story or essay I am also working on. While different from my visual art, my written work aligns thematically. My stories and essays are generally about working-class females and are often concerned with how we, as humans, belong to the Earth's ecosystem.

 

In the past, my visual art and writing practices have informed each other, yet remained largely distinct. More recently, I find myself tying the two practices together in deliberate ways and exploring how these creative practices build upon and deepen one another. As a part of this move, I now publish written work under the name D. L. Duda, which is how I initial my artwork.