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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

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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.

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"

Alpha Psi

Again I painted dots over a purple background. I changed up the design a bit to keep things interesting. I like the way the inner parts of the design glow.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Chi

Going back to a composition I used for Alpha Sigma, I changed 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 combination of colors gives a subtle effect.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Phi

By the time I made this painting, I was anxious to explore a new way of generating a pattern. Thus I alternated where the pattern appeared on parts of the painting. I consider this a breakthrough piece. It took me in a direction out of my
design rut.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Upsilon

A pink background was where this dot painting began. From there I painted green dots as I made a transition around the color wheel. I maintained square in the middle with circular shapes at the corners. The dots shifted to red inward and
blue outward.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Tau

Returning to a purple background, I decided to switch up my transition colors. So, this time the objects created by dots shifted in a red direction toward the center of the piece. 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"