Donna Berk

Donna came to watercolor by way of a different creative life — designing accessories and working in sculpture before she ever picked up a brush. It was an inspirational teacher, Alex Neyman, who encouraged her to work alla prima — fast, direct, alive to the moment. Since then, she’s continued to learn from watercolorists she admires, including Ned Reade and Robert O’Brien, whose work has shaped how she thinks about light, looseness, and the beauty of a transparent medium. Splitting her time between Naples, Florida and Dorset, Vermont, Donna paints mostly outdoors, chasing shifting light across hillsides and gardens with a plein air kit in tow. Her work centers on that balance between a well-laid plan and the pure joy of spontaneity — knowing the rules well enough to break them at just the right moment. As a teacher, she believes watercolor should feel freeing, not fussy. Her classes are patient and encouraging, especially for students who’ve spent too long trying to control the paint instead of listening to it. For Donna, painting is a quest to capture ephemeral beauty — the light, the moment, the thing that won’t hold still