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"

More Alpha Series Designs!

As I finish my dot paintings I continue to play with design ideas. Some sketches work out better than others. You’ll recognize a few I’ve used already. Anyway, here is my third page of thumbnail drawings.

Just Add Circles

Recently I was forced to put aside my current series of acrylic paintings to complete some other works for a show that hangs in August. It took me a while to generate ideas for my new pieces. In general they all have to do with my current experiences online. Since one of them included dots, I thought I would share it here on this blog.


graphite on paper

The title “Just Add Circles” is my reaction to a recent online design trend that includes groupings of concentric circles as a pattern. Anyway, I played with circles inside circles, but I made it my own. Also, I drew vertical lines to break up my shapes as a positive/negative space game – if you will. I rendered the piece with graphite on Reeves BFK paper. It is a rag paper that can take a lot of abuse.

Alpha Kappa

Heading back to 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 began my next painting. Circles of dots dominated my design. Calm is the feeling I get when I look at the painting.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Theta

When I started painting second coats of paint on my canvases, this is the first canvas I did. The dark green I used 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"

Alpha Epsilon

My process on the previous painting started at the center as I worked outward to the four corners. In this painting, my dot process began with the four corners as I worked towards the center of the piece. I played with an abstract floral shape to start. As for the middle, I’m not sure what it is. It is colorful, however.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Delta

As I paint these, I’m trying not to repeat what I’ve done before. This one evolved very differently from the others. I had the design in my head, but the colors took me elsewhere. Again, I wanted the colors to pop. I just didn’t count on this one being quite so psychedelic. And no, I didn’t consume or smoke anything to influence my artwork. Bright colors come naturally.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Gamma

For my third painting I went green, so to speak. Then I added dots from the red side of the color wheel. I'm experimenting with the sizes of dots more. This one feels mellow to me.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Beta

The second dot painting in this series is a lot louder. I wanted to be sure the colors popped. This time I used a flower-like shape. So now I have all this leftover mixed paint. Hopefully I can use it on some of the other paintings. OK, I’m off to purchase a couple of tube colors I need.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Alpha Alpha

Presenting my first new 6” x 6” painting since 2003. Yes, it’s been quite a while since I’ve worked at this size. What took me so long to return to 6” x 6”’s, you might ask? It’s quite simple actually. All the art supply stores that were selling 6” x 6” ‘s to me, said that that size was no longer available. But then a couple of years ago I found a new local art supply shop that did carry that size. At that time I was caught up in finishing the smaller paintings.


acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

So, now that I’ve returned to 6” x 6”’s, I’ve decided to go back to abstract patterns similar to the ones I used in my early dot artwork. These pieces will also have Greek letter names. Again, the assignment of titles will be arbitrary, but in a pattern. This piece doesn’t have much of a story other than I chose a star-like pattern using pastel colors over variations of blue. That’s it. I very excited about my new tangent.

My Dot Art Published!

Last August I was contacted by Pearson Education South Asia Pte Ltd, about using my images of two dot paintings in a children’s art education book aimed at 7 year olds. The title of the book is Perfect Match Art Primary 1 and the authors are Joash Moo & Ng Siew Yong. I gave the company my permission. Today I received my copy of the book. Here are the two images that appear in the book.


"ov," acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"


"oo," acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"