Meet Dea Webb of Wheat Ridge

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dea Webb.

Hi Dea, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I have been doing art in some form for most of my life, but coming back to painting about 10 years ago has been one of the best things I have done. I also make silver and copper jewelry which I learned to do from my sister. Going back and forth between painting and metalwork can be a great way to keep from getting stuck for ideas. I find I have more ideas for paintings while making jewelry and more ideas for jewelry while painting.
I have owned 2 different art galleries in my life. 8 Oz Fred and Plastic Chapel. I was able to meet so many other artists and really develop a community around showcasing their work, if I had not proved very bad at the business side of it I would have done it forever!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
In the scope of things, I am not sure it qualifies as struggles, but finding time to make art when you have a full-time job is hard. When I had either gallery plus a full time job to pay for said gallery, I did not have time to paint and at points stopped painting altogether. So now I make sure I do some art every day, even if it is just a half an hour. But most days I manage to get a couple hours of painting in around a job and other responsibilities.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a painter primarily, although I also do some small metal work for jewelry. My paintings are realistically surreal, figurative and odd. I am getting to be happy with my depictions of people, animals and the detail in my work. I am hoping you can see real emotion in some of the expressions of the people I paint. I like to juxtapose the ordinary and not ordinary. I paint more vultures than any other animal, including people. I have probably painted 50 vultures at this point, but I just keep starting more, there is something so beautifully ugly about them, I don’t think I will ever let them go.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was a goofy, awkward and extremely clumsy kid. I had a tendency to leap before looking, throwing myself into what ever it was completely unprepared and mostly ill-advised. I have broken so so many bones that way. I am still pretty clumsy (oh jeez and awkward), but I am trying to learn lessons!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.justdea.com
• Instagram: @calamid
• Facebook: Dea-Webb

Image Credits
Hali Webb-Shafer (the photo of me with the large painting and the first and second pictures of my artwork)