"e" Series Part One Is Coming Soon!

Even though the next grouping of 5” x 5” ‘s is on hold, I already painted the first coat of acrylic on my canvases. Here’s a sneak peek of this batch. I decided to stick with vowels in naming this series. Below is a photo of the first half of the “e” series. Although I have the themes picked out for each one, I don’t have an overall theme name yet. That will come in time.


26 - 5" x 5" s, acrylic and color pencil on canvas

The Alpha Series

As I finish up the current batch of paintings, I am preparing some 6” x 6” canvases for a new series. Previously I mentioned that it I had a hard time finding this size canvas after the success of the first series I did. Well luckily an art supply store in the Bywater located some for me. My plan is to go back to more general designs of the first group of small dot paintings, The Greek Code. Here are the canvases with their first coat of paint – all except one.


24 - 6" x 6" s, acrylic and color pencil on canvas

A Sign

In November I participated in an outdoor show in Harvey, Louisiana. The West Bank Art Guild was invited to exhibit in
the outside eating area near Parrot Pete’s. After setting up, I took some photos of the grounds. My first shots were overall ones of the mini-mall. A television-like sign stands at the entrance. I got up close to it to photograph the red, green and blue dots. I don’t know how many of you have viewed a television up close before, but this is what you see. To look at the rest of the photos, click here and here. I’ll have to post the show photos later.

Change Random Color

Here is a random color color pencil version of "Change."


graphite on paper, 8.5" x 11"

Change Shaded

Lately I’ve been bringing along my sketchbook to draw in while I wait in line for free movie screenings. Usually I have to arrive two hours before the show starts to be certain I make it in to see the show. The die-hards have their chairs and are usually in line way before I arrive.

I was working on this drawing when one regular teased me that he dreamt about circles and knew what it meant when he saw me sketching. At a preview this week, I found out that he was pulling my leg. Anyway, that’s a little tidbit concerning this sketch. I previously painted a watercolor similar to this.


graphite on paper, 8.5" x 11"

Fleur de Lis Fad Fades; Dot Art Popularity Still Strong

This afternoon I received a call asking me to drop off more artwork at Ele. When I brought over some new pieces, I was informed that the “fleur de lis” craze has tapered off. One fleur de lis has been hanging there since late September. I was ready to leave another one, but was told no.

Although the fad has quieted down, the fleur de lis is still quite visible around the city. The newly elected congressman of the second district, James Cao, had a fleur de lis emblazoned across his last name on his campaign signs. In the meantime I’ll just be patient.

My dot art has a good track record in general. I can be very thankful that both tourists and locals are buying these works. In spite of a rough economy, this has been a good year for my dot art. Anyway, I should be painting.

A Few More

Painting new works is going very slowly. Here are a few more from the new batch. I'm hoping to finish the rest of the group before year end. My fingers are crossed - and full of dry paint.

an

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

ao

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

ap

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

"va" Wins Best Abstract Plaque!

Today at the St. Bernard Art Guild Members Fall Show, my dot art painting, “va” received a Best Abstract Plaque. Plaques are awarded for specific themes, i.e. best spiritual, maritime, portrait, etc. The judge was Kathy Miller Stone, an artist from Baton Rouge. The show was held inside the council chambers at the St. Bernard Government Complex. The actual plaque is in the second photo below.

I've Been Painting

Yes, I’ve been painting. I found a groove to get these pieces finished. Hopefully I can keep the momentum going now. I want to be prepared for “Black Friday.” My e-mail box has been jammed with SPAM encouraging me to go shopping on Friday. That’s the biggest shopping day of the year. Saying “Black Friday” sounds more ominous than making me want to go out and spend. Well, I’m going to make an effort to have some more spares ready in case I sell. My fingers are crossed.

ak

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

al

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

am

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Dalmation

In 1996 the live action version of “101 Dalmations” was released. About that time, I became obsessed with trying to use dalmation fur patterns in a painting. For this work I decided to place dalmation patterns inside red rectangles. I entered this piece in a group show. After the show came down, I stuck it in a corner and kind of forgot about it. Recently while rummaging through some boxes in that corner, I found it.


acrylic on canvas, 24" x 30"

More from the New Batch!

Here are three more paintings from the new batch I’m currently working on. I’ve decided to refer to them as “a” Series Next. I figure that is an appropriate follow up to “a” Series Transition. Oddly enough, two of these sold last week. Hopefully that is a good sign. Several people have asked me to keep my colors bright. Well, I intend to listen given what has sold recently.

ah

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

ai

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

aj

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Seis

Well, here is the third painting I finished for the Poydras Home Art Show. It is the most experimental of the three. Again the background color was a challenge. What colors would pop? What colors would need altering to pop? As for how I will proceed after this painting, I’m not sure. I need to get back to my smaller paintings for a while. After all, they have been more popular. The other day I brought this one and “Cinco” over to Ele to hang on the wall.


acrylic on canvas, 20" x 20"

I do have three more canvases, this size, in the beginning stages. Another three are waiting for me to begin work on them. In the meantime I decided to name this group of paintings “Numeros.” It seemed a logical enough title for
this series.

Cinco

Moving onto the next painting in this grouping, here is “Cinco.” In this painting I experimented even more with my format. I made curving and isolated irregular shapes made up of dots. Some colors I mixed for the other paintings had to adjusted for the red background. After making my last post, “Cuatro” sold. I wonder if I’ll experience the same luck again.


acrylic on canvas, 20" x 20"

Cuatro

In the last few weeks I went back to finish three paintings started over two years ago. All three of them are 20” x 20”. I mentioned them last year here – in their unfinished state. During the course of this year, I sold two similar paintings that were completed in the fall of 2006. I still have the green one.


acrylic on canvas, 20" x 20"

Instead of making these new paintings exactly like the first three, I’ve started to experiment with the way I paint these larger canvases. Yes, I do bore easily and I can’t stand to do something the same exact way repeatedly. You’ll see an evolution of process as I post images of the next two paintings that follow this one.

These three new paintings will appear in the Poydras Home Art Show and Sale this coming weekend. What excites me most is that the home is in a location where people I know will go and see the work. Too often I receive excuses from friends about the location of an exhibit. The locals tend to keep to a certain neighborhoods of the city. Anything further is just too far. Admittedly I am more adventurous in traveling in our metropolis.

Hopefully, I‘ve hit on a successful niche for this size dot painting – particularly since I’ve invested in six more canvases that size. As of right now, these canvases are in various stages of completion. In the meantime I’ll be anxious for feedback following this show before going forward.

za

Here we are at the end of this batch of paintings. Unfortunately my source photos perished with my last computer. They were of a pre-owned Volvo I purchased after first one that was totaled. My new one is ruby red. It has a beige interior. And that’s where this painting starts, the background colors.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

My imagery is primarily from two photos. One was of the light under the side mirror. It was a new feature on this model, 2004. The previous car was from 2001. The other image is a lit up tail light. I used other dots to fill in the rest of the canvas. This piece was difficult to finish because of the colors. I liked the color variances that happened.

ya

In the beginning of the video “Uptown to Metairie,” I traveled along Carrollton Avenue in Uptown New Orleans. One building, that shows up briefly at the 27 second mark, is the original
Ye Olde College Inn. Before the flood, that followed Hurricane Katrina, the owners had purchased a building that was adjacent to the restaurant property. After the flood, they decided to demolish the original building and turn the other building into Ye Olde College Inn. This restaurant has been a favorite of my family’s for years – especially the Fried Oyster Loaves. Well, naturally I decided I should do a painting of the new incarnation of Ye Olde College Inn.



The front façade with all the lights caught my attention. One of the ongoing inspirations for my dot artwork has been the pattern of lights at night. I adapted a night photo I took into dots. Controlling color on a dark background proved difficult. Anyway, check out the photos from a visit to Ye Olde College Inn on my other blog pic journal.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

dot art Turns Three!

Three years ago I started this blog about my dot artwork. My journey started with AOL’s blogging area. However, AOL didn’t cater to Mac users. When I was poking around a top ten list, I soon found myself being confronted by Blogger’s friendly question asking me if I wanted to create a blog. I was a bit startled at first. But then my curiosity got the better of me. Soon I created several blogs.

At that time I was very grateful that my adult art had survived the post Katrina flood. Unfortunately I had stored my kid art at an aunt’s home – that flooded after the storm. Some of the art, that I had placed high off the floor was alright, but the other works had to be pitched.

Interestingly enough, AOL has decided to not only shut down its blogging area, AOL Journals, but also to shut down its web site area, AOL Hometown and AOL Pictures. For those who wanted to transfer blogs over to Blogger, AOL had made arrangements. After receiving those three blue envelopes, I’m a bit skittish about receiving any more of them.

Two months ago New Orleans was all set to recognize the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the flood. But Hurricane Gustav had its own plans for Labor Day weekend. Many locals found themselves evacuating, yet again. Some decided to stay this time. All things considered, the city lucked out.

This Saturday begins an event in New Orleans, called Prospect.1 New Orleans [P.1]. It is an international biennial that will run through January 18, 2009. The show will showcase global and regional artists – 81 artists scattered across 24 city locations. I like to refer to it as an “art world’s fair.” That at least gives locals an idea of what is happening. Prospect One was curated by Dan Cameron of the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center. One piece discussed in our local paper, The Times-Picayune, is an ark installation in the lower ninth ward.

Anyway, it’s now three years later. My dot art has done well with tourists and locals alike. This blog has served as a place for feedback. It also has become part of my dot art process. Happy birthday, dot art.

xa

This story begins with another video I made while driving around my metropolitan area. I drove from the foot of Canal Street in New Orleans and wound up in Metairie. There are all kinds of lights that show up along the way. Much of the final section, of the video, shows circles of light flashing by the camera. None of their sources are obvious. Only near the end do buildings become clear again, with a full moon in the sky.

Of all the videos I’ve made, this one was perfect for my dot theme because of the dots of light. This time I took four still shots from the video. I even printed them out to help me with my painting.









Without further ado, here is the sister painting, to the last one I discussed. I took the four videos stills and combined them when translating them into a dot painting. This painting showed me how hard it is to paint bright color dots on top of a dark background. The difficult process, for this piece, made me put off its completion until the very end of the batch.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

wa

Having watched a number of time-lapse videos on Google Video and YouTube in 2006, I decided I should make one too. I taped my camera/video camera to my driver’s window with packaging tape. Beginning at my father’s family home Uptown, I drove out to Metairie. Later I took the 10 minutes of footage and compressed it down to 2 minutes and 36 seconds.

When I made my list I knew I wanted to make a painting based on this video. So I took a still shot of the video and abstracted into a painting. Using the overall colors from the video I translated the image into dots. So now you have some idea of where this image came from - although I wasn’t as concerned about being exact in my rendering of it.




acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

va

During the summer of 2006 my ophthalmologist informed me that my eye pressure was too high. He said he would bring me in a couple of more times for tests prior to prescribing drops and maybe surgery down the road. After the tests he changed his mind and insisted that I would need surgery. So, what does that have to do with this painting?


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Well, this is an abstract way of describing the green laser that was used in my surgery. Only one eye could be operated on at a time. It was a five-minute procedure. My eye bothered me one day and was fine after that. One eye was done in December 2006 and the other one was done in January of 2007. My eye pressure readings since then have been fine. I kept the image simple with two shades of green on a black background. And for now the image is my avatar.

ua

On election night of 2006 I was driving home after a free screening of “Harsh Times.” It was a route I had taken many times before. At an intersection a jeep tried to turn in front of me. I was not able to stop in time. As a result of the collision my Volvo’s radiator was exposed. Everything in front of it hung down toward the ground. Fortunately I wasn’t hurt and neither were the teen boys in the jeep. The jeep had a dent in its side bumper. An officer talked to me and then to the boys. Afterwards he told me that the other driver would be held responsible.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

This painting is an abstraction of the front of my car after the wreck. I wanted to emphasize the idea of the exposed radiator and parts hanging downward. Color did not figure into painting this one.

ta

A couple of years ago AOL introduced AIM Pages for AOL and AIM screen names. It was an attempt to jump into the social networking that became popular with sites such as MySpace and Facebook. More recently these pages were reorganized and renamed AIM Profiles. When I first set up my AIM Pages, I chose different backgrounds for various screen names. Each of my screen names and backgrounds was tied a type of art
I make.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Anyway, this painting is an interpretation of all the backgrounds I used: bubbles, clouds, smears, splatters, stars and triangles. The imagery is all combined together and simplified. It definitely looks surreal.

sa

Previously I talked about the restaurant Five Happiness and its Imperial Room. Now I’m going to talk about the main restaurant that re-opened with a whole new look. What fascinated me most is that it did not have the red stained wood that I’ve seen in other Chinese restaurants. The décor was an inspiration for this painting.







For my background I used some colors from the dining room furnishings. Then I added dots using colors I found in the robe that is showcased with spotlights. I painted them in a curved pattern.




acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

ra

Two summers ago I had a sleep study. A bunch of electrodes were attached to me to monitor different items while I slept. Unfortunately I never slept as deeply as sleep doctor wanted. My second try in December was not any better either. I was diagnosed with severe apnea. I now use a CPAP machine
at night.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

So, this painting is based on sleep study dramas. I created a pattern with the electrodes. The colors are based on the colors of electrodes used during both studies.

qa

Five Happiness is a Chinese Restaurant that was a flooded
after Hurricane Katrina. The building had to be gutted.
In the interim, a second building was up and running sooner –
the Imperial Room across the street. Normally it is used for parties. A mandala relief sculpture hung on the wall in this building.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

My painting is an abstract interpretation of the sculpture. I used colors from the banquet room interior. Details with dots are always tricky. Eventually the refurbished building was ready. That will be the subject of another dot painting.

pa

The only downtown theater left in New Orleans is Canal Place Cinema that is run by Landmark Theaters. It is located in Canal Place. A number of the arthouse films show there. The New Orleans Film Festival takes place there too. The décor in the theater was the inspiration for this painting.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

There are some space age looking light fixtures that consist of a metal covering with antennae shaped parts up and parts down in front of a white circle. The bulb is behind the metal covering. Light hits the white circle and shines around the metal covering. That is the basis for my imagery interpretation. The red, black, gray and white are the colors used in the interior of the theaters and lobby of the space. I currently use this painting as an avatar.

oa

In the fall of ’06 I received a letter from Cingular telling me that my cell phone network would be phased out by February 2008. The envelope included an ad with the plans available. Well, I wanted something very basic. That meant going to the Cingular store to get my new phone (rebated fortunately) using the new network that would be supported.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

The initial Cingular screen image, that appears when I turn the phone on, has the Cingular logo with a design including blue and orange circles. This painting marks the change I had to make in getting my new phone. I made my own bubble shapes and played with the colors that Cingular used.

Dot Bedspread

The bedspread in my room has a dot pattern. It isn’t quite as exciting as the other dot patterns I posted previously. I didn’t see any other dot patterns when I looked around this hotel. Anyway, moving on to other thoughts.

At this point I’m tempted to interrupt some of my recent dot art back home in order to make some new dot works based on this trip. I figure I should make new art while I’m inspired. Also, I have to finish some 20” x 20” dot pieces for a show in early November. So I have a lot of work ahead of me when I return home.

Hotel Key

Below is my hotel key with some red blooming begonias behind it. I forgot that this hotel’s keys have dot holes in them. Last Thursday I switched to this hotel that is in Memphis itself. It puts me closer to places I want to go. Hurricane Ike will make landfall tomorrow. I’m glad it’s not going to hit New Orleans, but I’ll be happier when it is finished.

Dot Pillow

Last Thursday I moved to another hotel in Memphis. This is a shot of a pillow from the lobby of the first hotel. It is one of two pillows. The pillows were on chairs near a big flat screen television. Folks watched the weather channel as the Hurricane Gustav made landfall.



In the meantime I've been taking a lots of pictures while visiting parks and gardens in Memphis. I've been keeping busy, but I've been too agitated to make any art. When I packed, I did manage to take some color pencils, color sticks and water color pencils. Bringing painting supplies was just too involved. Now I'm monitoring Ike's progress. Tuesday is the day that
the forecasters promise to have a better sense of where Ike will go.

Dot Sofa

This is the pattern from a sofa located near the hotel bar. It's one of those long curved ones. There are lots of cool patterned objects in this hotel.

Dot Rug

Currently I’m in the Memphis area having evacuated from the New Orleans area. I’m keeping an eye on Hurricane Gustav’s progress. Here’s a shot of the rug in my hotel room. By coincidence it happens to have dots in it.

na

In the mid nineties The Friends of Rivertown Fine Art Gallery opened. There were four permanent artists in the gallery. Every couple of months, two guest artists would show their works. In January of 1998 I was paired with Bill McInnis. In 2006 I was invited to hang art twhen a guest artist needed to remove his work. For a year the rotation of artists was in limbo. On Saturdays, I alternated gallery-sitting duties with a permanent artist. In April of 2007 the gallery was closed.





This painting includes colors from the gallery interior. The leaf shapes come from the artificial ficus trees that were placed near the front windows. The first time I applied the dots, the painting did not work out. I had to go back and repaint the background. Fortunately I had better luck with the dots on the second try.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"