Second Place, Artist of the Month

Tonight at the Metairie Art Guild meeting my dot painting, "Treinta," placed second in the Artist of the Month competition. It is one of three recent dot paintings I completed in October. So far, I've received many positive comments on the painting.

Alpha Omega

In completing the last image in the "Alpha Series" I chose a blue background and repeated a design used at the midpoint. Only this time I went with non-earth tone colors. I believe it makes a good ending to this group of paintings.



acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Psi

Once again I painted dots over a purple background. Sure, I changed up the design a bit to keep things interesting. There's an inner glow that I like in this painting.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Chi

My next composition was a return to a pattern I used in Alpha Sigma, However, I changed the shapes to fortune cookie-like outlines on whim. I then added dark colored dots inside the outlines and pastel colored dots to the background. The color combination gives a subtle effect.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Phi

When I made this painting, I was anxious to explore a new process for pattern making. Therefore, I tried alternating where the pattern appeared on parts of the painting. I consider this a breakthrough piece since my direction out of my
design rut. "Star Wars I" was playing on cable that night.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Upsilon

This dot painting began with variations of pink. Then on top of pink I painted green dots as I made a transition around the color wheel. I maintained a square in the middle with circular shapes at the corners. I shifted dots inward to red and outward to
blue.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Tau

Returning to a purple background, I decided to switch up my transition colors. Beginning with red objects, created by dots, I shifted color from orange as I progressed to green and yellow-green. Beyond that I let my dot process take its course.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Sigma

Recently I went to see the Japanese animé film “Ponyo” which was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was after seeing the movie that I painted my new dot painting. I decided to make my shapes dark and then use pastels on the space around my shapes. My guess is some will tell me the shapes are paisleys.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Rho

Yellow-Orange is the background for my dot painting below. The dots are high key making the design rather subtle. Although I have difficulty viewing this painting from  across the room, I'm pleased with my pastel colors.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Pi

It had been a while since I painted a green one. So, that was my background color. Nexxt I made four circles as part of an “X.” Between the green and the circles I thought about aliens. I’m not limiting this work to say it is simply an alien. OK, now it’s your turn.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Omicron

And thus the purple background returns! I chose a flower design, of sorts, to make this pattern. I wouldn’t want to lock it in specifically, however. Viewers just might find something else in it. Anyway, I was tickled with my color transitions. My painting did become a bit complex.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Xi

In response to visits to some local homes, I decided to play with a combination of browns, reds and oranges in a dot painting. I knew I wanted an undulating curve pattern. However, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I finished. Luckily for me, being intuitive worked. This one excited me.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Nu

Again I chose a variation of red for my background. I then added bright green dots to form a cross with small points jutting out. Blending colors as I worked to the center and then the edges of the canvas, I developed contrasting gradations. The cross was just a shape to use this time around.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Mu

The round shapes I used in Alpha Iota encouraged me to paint more round shapes in this painting. Again, using a yellow background proved to be a tricky. I went with contrasting dark complementary colors in order to tame it. I included fewer round shapes this go-round.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Lambda

On top of a red background I started with a plus sign made up of yellow dots. From there, all I did was add more dots as I created a transition of colors on the color wheel. While working on the painting, I did not concern myself with strict straight rows or consistent dot sizes. I figured it was a more interesting to paint my dots.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Kappa

Beginning with a blue background I went a little darker with my dots. I used a lot of reds and oranges. I started with an “x” in the middle and added “y’s” at the four four ends of the “x.”


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Iota

Pink was the way I started this next painting. Circles of dots dominated my design. I feel calm when I look at the painting.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Theta

The dark green on this canvas intimidated me. So I did not add dots to it right away. Finally I gathered the courage to attack the dark green. As you can see, I managed to add some very bright colors to counteract the dark background.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Eta

Although I have been sticking to bright colors, I made one dot painting with a brown background. My challenge was to see what dot colors I could place on top of it to make it interesting. I have my color wheel that enables an artist to find complements of various colors that are light and dark. So I went to the other side of the wheel to make my choices.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Zeta

Yellow has been a difficult background color for me previously, but I liked how this one progressed. It had a similar beginning to Alpha Gamma, but then I added diagonals. I’m very happy the color blends created by the dots.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"