jo

The orange background made me just want to mute the color with cool colors. I started from the middle and just went around and around until I finished the canvas. There is no one place that led to my palette. My guess is that the colors were from some Malco theaters – like some of the earlier paintings in this series.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

io

Previously I used the path of Hurricane Katrina for a dot painting. It was only natural that I do one for Hurricane Rita. The weekend the storm hit the Gulf coast, I joined a couple of friends to see the film “Pretty Persuasion.” It was filmed at the same school used in “Donnie Darko.” The pinks and blues were derived from the colors of school uniforms in the film. Boys had blue shirts and girls had pink ones. A light blue line of dots marks the storm's path.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

ho

This past week a local radio host brought up the subject of Hurricane Rita and how some people have forgotten about the damage Hurricane Rita did to Louisiana. Five years ago I was toying with returning home. But with Hurricane Rita on the way, roads were closed into New Orleans. By this point I had already visited many of the art museums in Memphis. So, I searched for places to go in Nashville.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

I made a day trip to Nashville to see several art exhibitions. One place I traveled to was Cheekwood. It is an art museum and botanical garden. While exploring the gardens there, I visited a Japanese Garden. In it was a corridor with walls of dark green bamboo. Following my day trip I created this painting.

This painting was a turning point for my series. Something clicked while I was painting this one. Not only was I inspired to finish it. But suddenly I had ideas for more paintings.

go

The palette I used for this painting was also inspired by colors I saw at a Malco movie theater. Unlike the previous palettes, this one had more variations of brown and pink. Again I placed spirals in each of four squares that made up the painting. Even though I was pleased with the result, I wasn’t excited about the group of them as a whole. Something clicked when I created my next painting.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

fo

Let me start my post by saying that the title above begat the nomenclature for my 5” x 5” dot art paintings. In particular the letters “FO” appeared (and still do) on a prescription medication I’ve been taking since early August of 2005. The drug helps with triglycerides. While staying in Memphis, I was staring at one of these pills when the idea to play with the letter “o,” and other alphabet letters, came to me. The possible words formed, however, have nothing to do with the paintings. They are simply arbitrary names in spite of the fact that some of my titles may provoke giggles.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

As for the painting design, it consists of four squares containing spirals of dots inspired by the active hurricane season. Each spiral includes a transition from light to dark using tints of red, blue and purple. Again, I painted with colors already mixed. After completing this one, I was tired of the colors.

eo

When I painted this one, I went back to an old theme from college. I used to create off-balance-designs. It goes back to the odd camera angles I noticed in horror films and the old “Batman” series from the 60s. The odd angles disturb the viewers’ sense of balance and make viewers uneasy. The painting is my reaction to the horrific images from Katrina and the flood,


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

do

Although my palette had more blue in this painting, I completed it around the same time as the first three dot paintings. Again, I was influenced by colors I saw at the Malco movie theaters in Memphis. The pattern was not specifically derived from anything specific.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

co

Again I used the same palette to create this curved dot pattern. I don’t remember any specific reason for the pattern, but I painted this one around the time Hurricane Rita was hitting the Texas-Louisiana coastline. It was a stressful period.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

bo

Having mixed too much paint I carried over the same colors into this piece. The lines of dots represent the flooding of New Orleans after the levees broke. One image, shown over and over again, was the flooding from a canal floodwall near my house. I live on the opposite side of the canal.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

ao

Five years ago Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. I evacuated to Memphis two days before the storm. The storm came through Memphis knocking the power out at my hotel. Tree limbs littered streets. When I went to create this painting, I depicted the path (yellow-green) of the storm as it hit coast and continued its path near me in Memphis. The colors came from some the film theaters I visited.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

"e" Series Part Two is Coming Soon!

Here is the second half of the upcoming “e” Series. I still have to give eight canvases their first coat of paint. So, some designs are still be in flux. Not until the dots are added do I solidify what I’m doing. Again, I’m not sure what will be the overall name for this bunch beyond “e” Series. I try to use as much of the paint I mix as possible. So that’s it for my dot art previews. Stay tuned and have a Happy New Year!


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

"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

"a" Series Second Batch!

Here’s a peek at what’s coming. I recently finished the second coat of paint on the 2nd batch of “a” Series paintings. As of right now I’m not sure about the full title. Designs are more or less nailed down. However, things do change along the road to completion. There are plenty of bright ones in this group.


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

"a" Series Transition Completed!

On March 11th of 2007 I finished the “o” Series New Orleans. About the same time I began work on a new batch, the “a” Series. It wasn’t until April 3rd , 2007, that I was ready to add the dots. Taking what’s in my head and then translating that into some arrangement of dots has been the hardest part of making these paintings. I didn’t expect this process to be so dragged out, but that was exactly what happened.

Some pieces dealt with more serious events this time. Thus, working on the paintings was more difficult for me - beyond just the imagery. A number of the pieces depict visual references of forced changes occurring between June and December 2006. That’s why I have settled on calling this batch the “a” Series Transition. I’ll discuss each work a bit later.

In the meantime I’ve begun work on the latter half of the “a” series. The remaining part of the title has not quite gelled yet. I’ll have to wait. In the meantime I’m completing the first coat of paint on the canvases. After this post, I will return to the explanations of the “o” Series New Orleans.

New Batch Update

And now for an update on my new batch of dot paintings . . . I posted the thumbnails here already. At this time I am hashing out the color choices for my canvases. Granted this is only the first coat. However as soon as I can narrow down what I intend to do with color, the better. Then I’ll just have to remember which color names I combined to produce what.


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

Thumbnails for Next Batch

Although I have not finished the current batch of paintings, I have twenty-one thumbnails for the next group. Here they are. I’m still trying to decide on five more sketches to flesh out my ideas. After that I have nine more batch lists already generated. The ideas come faster than I can paint now. Sales have started to pick up a little. Hopefully next week will bring more sales.

These sketches are only the beginning. I often alter or change the paintings completely as I proceed. Sometimes the experience on one piece affects what happens with the next one. What color I mixed last will sometimes determine which canvas I paint next. No need to waste paint if can help it.

Marathon Painting

Yesterday around 11:30 a.m. I went over to the Westwego Art Center to paint. I set up on a round table and started in on these three pieces. As the afternoon and evening came I kept going until 6:30 p.m. As long as I had paint mixed I didn't see any reason to waste it. Sure I took breaks. I always have to look at my work from distance to see what is happening.

pa

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

qa

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

ra

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"