az

Towards the end of 2006, I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. In February of 2007 I began wearing a CPAP mask at night. It’s been an adjustment to sleep with the mask, but I’m sleeping a lot better now. As I’ve completed paintings in this grouping, I’ve been thinking that an image of a CPAP mask would provide a good ending to this batch. But what could I do to make my image interesting when I place it on a black background?


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

My brightly-colored dot paintings have always been more popular. Well, I decided to add a range of bright colors around the image of a mask. The end result gave my dot painting with a 70’s feel about it. The painting reminds me of imagery from the latter part of that decade. Cue the Darth Vader breathing noise.

ay

In the spring of 2007, the New Orleans Museum of Art hosted the show “Femme, Femme, Femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums in France.” After viewing the show I mulled over how I wanted to depict it as a dot painting. There was such a range of painting movements in the show I wasn’t sure how I would make a single representation.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

After looking at the brochure I decided to aim for the leafy background colors of an impressionist painting. Then I superimposed a face over my background. The face turned into a struggle. In fact I had to put it aside and come back to it. The piece turned out a lot different from what I planned.

ax

While taking photos on Mardi Gras Day 2007, I happened to snap this shot of a boy on a truck float. He made a war cry face as he held his umbrella above his head. It’s one of my favorite Mardi Gras images. Since then I’ve been stewing about how best represent the picture. After some recent difficulties with my paintings, I finally simplified my design.




acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Originally I was going to do something with the war-cry-face, but I ruled that out. Instead I concentrated on the jester hat sequins as dots. I figured I’d depict the Mardi Gras colors, purple, green and gold, and then play with the blues from the photo. For the sequins I used acrylic silver paint.

aw

In the spring of 2007 I was flipping through a J.C. Penney’s catalog when I noticed some brightly colored bedspreads. The designs of course involved dots. There were also stripes, but the dots are what got my attention. I liked the bright colors.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

After pondering how I was going to handle my design, I decided to divide my canvas up into fourths. I then picked four of the colors from what I saw in the catalog. I then played with colors to make my dots over the four sections. Anyway this is the result. After making this one I thought of a piece by Damien Hirst’s that has brightly colored dots on a white background.

av

Believe it or not this painting was one I wanted to finish a lot earlier in my sequence. I had seen “Curse of the Golden Flower” and I hoped to make a dot painting based on the beautiful colors from the film. The trouble started with trying to depict a yellow crystanthemum using dots. The color yellow was so light that it just became a problem for adding dots on top - no matter what I did.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Even adding a little purple to yellow or a glaze of purple over yellow did not help. Finally I painted the whole canvas yellow again. I put the other colors in the corners – one color per corner. Then I added dots for the petals with other dots defining dark areas between the petals. Anyway, I finished it, but I’m not very satisfied. It was one of the paintings people were touching at the last art market. People love feeling the dots with their fingers.

Final Four

Finally I’m finished the “a” Series Next. Here are the last four paintings of the group. I’ll come explain them in more depth soon. “ay” had me stumped the longest, but I finally figured out how to resolve my imagery.

So you’re probably wondering what kind of dot art I will paint next. Well, I’m going back to the 6” x 6” canvas size. That was the size that I started with seven years ago in the summer of 2002. My plan is to paint only abstract designs. There may be less storytelling involved, but I need a break from the current process. It bogged me down too much.

aw

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

ax

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

ay

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

az

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

au

A couple of years ago the David Fincher film “Zodiac ” showed in theaters. In addition to being a fan of other Fincher films, I was interested in the Zodiac story since it is based on true events. In the past I’ve seen documentaries and fictional films about the subject. So what does this have to do with my
dot art?


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

In making my first eight dot paintings I was responding to the post 9/11 hysteria of the color code warning system and the obsession of monitoring communications. It was also at this time that my mother’s cancer had my family on a rollercoaster as we received good news and bad news about her condition. After that there were the various hurricane scares with Hurricanes Ivan, Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike. Last year and this year there have been the unrelenting economic scares.

Now going back to the film, there was an atmosphere of terror generated by the various killings and subsequent notes by the Zodiac. So this film turned into a springboard for me to react to many events that have had me on edge. The only thing that came from this film, however, is the color scheme. In this instance I decided to include a message in my dot painting, instead of an image. I used Greek letters and other symbols to spell it out. The translation reads:

“THIS IS THE DOTARTDUDE PAINTING MORE DOT ART WHILE MUSIC PLAYS.”

I wish to emphasize that this is my lighthearted way of dealing with my stress from recent events. Don’t let the dark colors be intimidating.

at

The source for this idea came from a black sweater that was adorned with brightly colored beads in the shape of flowers. A woman was wearing it behind the counter at a local deli. Anyway, I liked the pattern of the beads. That’s how my process began.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

But as I started to think about how I wanted to paint an image, I decided to go a different route. Instead of copying the lines created by beads, I decided to make petal and leaf shapes with dots. I was more interested in having shapes of contrasting colors rather than lines. Also, I wanted to make sure it came out as bright as possible given I was starting with a dark background.

as

Two springs ago, the New Orleans Film Society had a special showing of the Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts for 2006. One of them was West Bank Story. It is a musical comedy. The story concerns two competing fast-food falafel stands in the West Bank. An Israeli soldier, David, falls in love with a Palestinian cashier, Fatima. I enjoyed the film enough that I wanted to make a painting based on the short film.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

The uniforms of the Israeli restaurant were blue and white and the uniforms of the Palestinian restaurant were red, green and white. I divided my design into four parts. The top two are simplified versions of the hats and the bottom-two are simplified versions of the shirts - one with a tie and another with a vest. So, there you have the tale of this painting.

ar

In the beginning of 2007, the artists from ARTinA (Art in Algiers) participated in a mask-making workshop. We each were given ceramic masks and then were asked to paint and decorate them. Several of the members brought various materials from which to choose. I liked how my mask turned out and I wanted to do a painting based on the event.







For the purposes of my composition I cropped the image down to the center of the face. I stuck to the same colors as I used dots. The eyes were tricky. Anyway, here is the result below. Above, are photos from the workshop.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

aq

When I make my lists of ideas I don’t always anticipate that a piece will document something that changes. The painting below was inspired by five designs offered by AOL’s AIM Profile pages. They were ones I used for my profile pages. But then AOL bought Bebo last May. In February AIM Profiles were forced to become Bebo Profiles.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

The designs had masthead-like tops. So, I decided this piece should be made up of horizontal stripes. I then simplified the imagery for my painting. Of course the designs became dots too. The colors were a challenge to mimic. Although I wouldn’t normally group these five color combinations together, I’m happy with the result. The combined patterns are eclectic.

ap

While listening to an introductory video on the Vatican Mosaic Exhibition, I noticed a mural in the chapel where we were sitting at the Old Ursuline Convent. It inspired me to make the painting below. I had not toured the convent before and I thought it was a worthy subject for a dot painting.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Creating imagery in my dot art is always difficult. Usually I simplify it. So, in creating this painting, I decided to focus on the image of the white dove and the light that beaming from it. I decided against including the three female figures below the dove, in the mural. I simplified the number of colors used in my palette.

ao

A couple of years ago a show of mosaics visited here on loan from The Vatican. The Old Ursuline Convent, in the French Quarter, hosted the show. Given that the mosaics were similar to what I’ve been doing with my dots, I figured I ought to make a piece to remind me of the show. The mosaics were all based on famous works. It was a way of preserving the imagery in case something happened to the original paintings.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

For this piece I took a small area of a mosaic of an angel and imitated the pattern. I used the colors I saw in the piece. Of course I stuck to making dots even though the mosaics are made up of squares. Following the same pattern proved a bit tricky for me.

The Latest Three

After recovering from Mardi Gras week, I managed to complete these three paintings. That leaves me with just four more in the series. Yes, at this point I’m ready to be done with this group. It has dragged on a lot longer than I had anticipated. Soon I’ll be shifting to the 6” x 6” size for another go at the “Alpha Series.” Anyway, I need to go paint.

aq

At some point I confused my order of titles. But with this post I'm correcting the error.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

au

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"