Siete

For months I have been stewing about how to complete my next three paintings from a series I call "Numeros." The canvases for these paintings are all 20” x 20”. Although I had a certain process for the previous ones, I didn’t want to repeat what I had done before. During the summer I thought about using some colors I had seen in the Japanese animé cartoon, “Ponyo.” Beyond that, I had to think about what I could do to make these next three pieces different.


acrylic on canvas, 20" x 20"

A couple of weeks back I began by choosing specific background colors inspired by “Ponyo.” I then started creating meandering lines similar to ones I used in previous paintings in this series. While I was rotating my canvases, an idea hit me. Why not have the lines run horizontally rather than run vertically? I looked at my meandering lines and thought of all the line graphs that have been used to talk about the economic news over the last year. Anyway, this is the first of the three new paintings.

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A couple of springs back, I saw an installation by Ammar Eloueini at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans.
The structure made of lit triangular shapes intrigued me. So I included the experience on my dot-art-idea list. The question became how to best depict what I had seen and make it
my own.



acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Fortunately I was able to purchase a book about his work. Recently I skimmed through the book looking for the basic elements of his designs. Triangles and lighting were the two most dominant features. Already I had chosen two dark blue shades for my background. So then I painted lighter blue dots in the shape of triangles on top it. I used varying tints of blue to create intensities. To make the image mine, I loosened the grid in places so that it wasn’t quite so rigid and accurate.

dot art Turns Four!

It’s now been four years since I created this blog about
my dot artwork. My journey began in AOL’s blogging area.
I was exploring a top ten list when I was suddenly confronted by Blogger’s friendly question asking me if I wanted to create
a blog. I was startled at first and clicked away from that page.
A little while later I went back to the page, and set up
several blogs.

Having returned from my Katrina evacuation to Memphis, I was relieved that my adult art had survived the post Katrina flood. Unfortunately I had stored my kid art on the first floor of an aunt’s home – that flooded after the storm. Some of the art, placed high enough off the floor, survived. The rest of my art, which sat in water, had to be pitched.

Over the last four years I’ve posted images of dot artwork as I created new ones. I’ve explained their inspiration and talked about my process. Many of you have given me your interpretations of what you see. Thank you to my readers who continue to visit this blog. Thank you to those readers who comment regularly. I really appreciate your feedback.

Today I am working on some 20” x 20” ‘s for a show that will be hung next week. Don’t worry. There’s plenty more to come. Some of my “e” series paintings are in the dot stage now. I’ll be posting them very soon.

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In the spring of 2007, Le Petit Art Guild held a luncheon at Don’s Seafood on Veterans Boulevard. After the meal, artist Myrle Van created a happy accident watercolor painting. Her wet ‘n’ wet colors inspired my palette for this dot painting.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Beginning with background colors yellow, blue and magenta, I added dots of green and darker dots of my background colors. I varied the green in some areas of the piece. The combination of colors adds a vibration to my image.

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On Easter Sunday of 2007 I saw a display of Easter eggs and stuffed rabbits. Inside one large egg was a waterfall scene with little houses, pine trees and flowers. The display is where this idea began.



acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

After creating a background from the palette of colors used in the display, I made an egg shape out of dots. I kept the egg shape light and the background dark.

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Continuing on my reaction tangent, I was again moved to make a painting that was provoked by the work of another artist, Yvette Creel. She showed us how she paints her watercolor paintings during a presentation. SO, then the question became what image I doand how to turn it into dots?


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

One image I settled on was a severe cropping of a spiral shell design. I took the lines and colors and made a simplified dot pattern. Also, I kept the design off center.

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A few springs ago, I attended a collage presentation by artist Emmy Murawski at a meeting of Le Petit Art Guild. Her daughter’s interest in scrapping encouraged Emmy to experiment with collage. Her collage work involved the mixing of objects with collage and painting media. It was her presentation that was the inspiration for this painting.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

To begin my painting, I chose colors from her palette. I then used dots to imply torn pieces of paper arranged like a frame. When I finished I felt that I had taken a step away from a mandala pattern. This series is a reaction to the Alpha Series.

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Since I was young I’ve always enjoyed puzzles. One day at Barnes and Noble I found some puzzle books that intrigued me. That’s where this painting began. One book I purchased had pages filled with pastel colored puzzles. The colors used were my inspiration for this dot painting.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

But then I needed design logic for my dots. Thus, I took colors I used on background triangles and repeated them in the form of dots on the opposite side of the painting. There’s an energy about this one.

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Two years ago I attended a Luau Party hosted by ARTinA (Art in Algiers). Attendees arrived in floral print shirts. After the party I decided I wanted to remember this event. Tropical themed napkins were used. The colors used on the napkin inspired me to make this painting


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Purple and pink were the main background colors. Next, I painted dots over the background. Like the last dot painting, I was trying to get away from the a mandala design. Unfortunately, I haven’t sucedeed - at least not yet

ae

Going back to mid 2007, I ran into a color combination of blue, green and white. In two instances the colors were used on web pages: one on a blog and another on a social profile page. When I received an issue of House & Garden (no longer in print), there were pages filled with furniture covered in fabrics also using those colors. Thus the color combination became an item on my list.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Having just finished the Alpha Series, I figured this was a good place to begin with a limited palette. The next question was how to arrange the dots. I already had a blue background with a green diamond shape. So, I went back to the fabric designs I mentioned. Then it hit me that I should try something floral.

That was my intention, but the painting came out more like a wheel. Well, anyway, I used the colors. Above is the result.

"e" Series: Reaction

In preparing my 5” x 5” canvases for this group of dot paintings, I decided to change my background design.
In the past, many of my pieces, that size, had a spoked
wheel or pinwheel look to them. I still wanted to use triangles in the background. Thus, I arranged the triangles into a diamond shape.

In addition to the diamond, I also altered my application of dots. The last series of 6” x 6” paintings I just completed, provoked a strong reaction. I had enough of making mandalas - not that I will never work that way again. Boxing myself in
like that, for a whole series, just agitated me more than
usual. Therefore this group is going to be very experimental and eclectic.

The 6” x 6” ‘s, themselves, were also a diversion from what
I had been doing. So when I went back to my 5” x 5” idea list, I started editing the items down based on what I thought I could do visually. If I didn’t have a sketch in my head by now, the idea wasn’t worth pursuing. Basically, I modified my
game plan.

Last of the Alpha Series Designs!

Below I’ve posted my fourth and last page of designs for the Alpha Series. Many of them were the premise for my finished works. However, having painted so many similar pieces, I’m now ready to pursue another/new direction for a series I will refer to as my “Beta Series.”

In the meantime, I will post images of a group of paintings I will call the “e” Series. I have yet to officially designate the first half with a sub name. The paintings are still in process, but I will begin posting them here shortly.

The Alpha Series!

It’s been a little over four months and I have finally completed my Alpha Series. The paintings mark a journey back to a process I used on some 6” x 6” dot paintings I call the “Greek Code Series.” Each painting was named after a letter in the Greek Alphabet. Since all the names in the new bunch begin with “Alpha,” I figured I’d name this group the “Alpha Series.” For a while I couldn’t find that size. Once I did, however, I ordered a bunch of them. Below are the paintings in a checkerboard slideshow. This is one last look at the group of paintings as a group.

As I started posting photos of my new works, a friend mentioned that they looked like mandalas. Well, that was not the intent of these works per se, but I went ahead and continued to pattern them in a similar way. Because of some an upcoming show I will return to the smaller size as I begin the “e” Series. Simultaneously I will be working on some more 6” x 6”‘s and 20” x 20”’s. When I have more information will post it.

Alpha Omega

So, this is the last image in the "Alpha Series." I chose to end it with a blue background and a design I tried out at the midpoint. Only this time I went with non-earth tones. Although I'm not as pleased with the result, I think it makes a good ending to this group of paintings.



acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"