Donna Covey’s painting of the Nut Tree Plaza carousel can be seen at the Vacaville Art League & Gallery through Oct. 9. A reception will be held Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. (painting by Donna Covey)

Artist Donna Covey calls Benicia home, but she likes to venture out of her neck of the woods to paint landmarks in other places, be it Truckee, North Beach, Napa or Suisun Valley. Now she has used her paintbrush to capture images of Vacaville, and they can be seen at the Vacaville Art League & Gallery through Oct. 9.

Covey first got the idea to do a series of Vacaville paintings after being a juror in a juried exhibition the gallery put on a few years back. However, her connection to Vacaville goes back even further. She taught art at Willis Jepson Middle School and Will C. Wood High School for 10 years and even lived in the city for a short period.

“This is kind of coming back home after all these years,” she said. “My very first teaching job that I ever had was teaching art in Vacaville.”

Covey tends to paint scenes of places she has a strong connection to. She has painted images of Benicia, of course, in her style that captures local landmarks almost like a photograph, depicting important details while still putting an artistic spin on familiar sights, all through watercolors. The first painting she ever did was the Iwama Market in Suisun Valley, the rural viticultural region of Fairfield that Covey grew up in. The piece went on to be very successful.

“It sold right away,” she said.

This gave Covey the idea to do a whole series of paintings of Suisun Valley landmarks. Specifically, she decided to focus on places along the route near the Suisun Valley Loop where she used to ride her bike along with friends from elementary school. Covey captured such spots as the old Gomer School, Ledgewood Creek Winery, Valley View Packing Co., the Blue Victorian Winery, Mankas Corner and more.

“I did that series, and it turned out to be more popular than I ever expected,” she said.

The paintings were posted to Covey’s website, which later prompted offers from galleries in Truckee and San Francisco to do series based on landmarks in those areas. She did, and they continued to be successful.

The Vacaville series marks Covey’s third set of paintings of a Solano County locale. Having lived in the city, Covey is especially fond of its general attractiveness.

“I always really liked the small-town charm of downtown Vacaville,” she said. “When they have their Fiesta Days, it’s such a community event. I like all the streets that kind of converge on each other. They’re not like parallel streets in downtown.”

Covey painted three images of Vacaville: the carousel in the Nut Tree Plaza, the now-closed Theatre DeVille and the Vacaville Opera House. The former two paintings will be on display at the show, but the latter was already sold to the building’s owners.

Covey likes to paint because she considers it a fun activity, and she paints iconic images of communities to bring viewers a sense of whimsical nostalgia through her work, which she hopes to do with the Vacaville show.

“My intent is to not only find beauty in those buildings, but I’d like to make people smile when they see the buildings and the landmarks because I try to add a little bit of whimsy and lots of color,” she said. “My philosophy is to be happy with it, to make people smile, to connect people. For some people, it brings back memories. I’ve had people buy my paintings because that’s the restaurant where they proposed to their wife.”

After all, in today’s tumultuous world, Covey believes that art can instill positive emotions.

“Someone once commented, ‘You know, we need something really uplifting and fun right now with so many things like hurricanes and politics and all of that,’” she said. “We need something uplifting, and this show seems to do it or at least it did it for that person.”

Covey’s Vacaville paintings will be on display at the Vacaville Art League & Gallery through Monday, Oct. 9. The gallery is located at 718 E Monte Vista Ave. in Vacaville and is open from noon to 4 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays. A reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 16, where people can view the exhibit and enjoy savory snacks and beverages. For more information, contact the gallery at 448-8712 or visit Covey’s website at djcovey.com.

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