Giving Back- St Jude

Amish Driver©2005 by Dot Courson 12x24, Oil

Giclees and Prints are available. Contact me HERE for information! 

This is the retouched giclee oil painting that was given away during the Saint Jude Dream Home fund raiser  in Tupelo last month.  I don't know anyone who hasn't been touched by families and children that have been helped by this wonderful institution. It was such an honor to donate this and have my painting in the entryway of the "Tupelo Dream Home". 

The image depicts an Amish father and son who are taking logs to the sawmill here in Pontotoc County Mississippi. They were on a wagon pulled by horses. The Amish who live here in our county do not use electricity or have vehicles- just generators, so the homes are very hot in the summer and with the hot summer we had this year I have been very concerned about them! But the children are healthy and loved and the parents teach them a life-skill while they are young as part of their education.

I have also referred to this painting as "Allied Education"... "Driver's Ed" and "Student Driver" at various times, to describe it better...because without looking closely, it isn't easy to tell that there is a child at the front of the wagon! 

Dudley's Barn

Dudley's Barn ©2009 Dot Courson   5 x 7, Oil-

I love old barns and sheds and the pastures around the rolling hills of north Mississippi. I painted this scene last fall in the pasture of a neighbor. Right now I'm looking forward to the feel of fall and the color it brings. Plein air painting is a wonderful excuse to get outside and enjoy embracing nature and the brief beautiful fall weather that we have in the south.

Morning Returns

Morning Returns,©Dot Courson Oil, 24x36 Available! at Southern Breeze Gallery 

This painting is of  an area near where I was born. It's name is Morning Returns - but I almost named it "Returning Home" because that's how it felt to paint it... 

I love the cool morning air, and the feel of the light in this painting. It is comforting... and peaceful and holds promises...

See more of my works at my website: Dot Courson Fine Art.

Elvis Presley Remembered

Elvis Presley Birthplace© 2010 Dot Courson Fine Art, 8x10, Oil Original on canvas.
Contact:  artist@dotcourson.com
www.dotcourson.blogspot.com

Elvis... born in Tupelo, Mississippi... and died on August 16, 1977. I remember the moment I heard, and I bet you do too...

I've lived near his birthplace almost all my life... so I painted the actual house where he was born,  one fall standing under a shade tree on the street below his house.
There will NEVER be another Elvis!

"Best in Show"...at the Gumtree Museum of Art!

Gumtree Museum of Art photos by Angela Foster

Best in Show-Windshear- Tupelo Airport©2010 Dot Courson, 8x10  Oil (photo by Angela Foster)

Humbled that my painting, Windshear- Tupelo Airport  won the "Best in Show" at the Mississippi Painter's Society Exhibit at the Gumtree Museum of Art this past Friday night with:  (see better image here) 


It was Friday the 13th but I'm not superstitious!  I'm truly humbled to win. Also another painting that I did placed 2nd place ... "B&B Concrete Co."  

Photo by Angela Foster

Photo by Angela Foster

Photo by Angela Foster

Congrats to friends Judy Tuci's pastel 1st; Rhonda Grammer's watercolor, 2rd; and Bruce Bigelow -Honorable Mention... MANY many beautiful works in this show without ribbons... If you can - please go by to see this show...It ends Sept 14th!

Figures in the Landscape- Man on a mission

This is a painting from a photo that one of my art students and good friends let me use. The photo was made on her mission trip, so I call this Man on a Mission.

Man on a Mission 10x12, Oil (C) Dot Courson

 I think it was made in Central America. This guy has these burrows loaded down with sticks, and he's riding one who looks so tired he can barely stand up!

Art for the Love of It

Here is a painting that I'm just about finished with that I'm giving to the Palmer Home Orphanage in Columbus, MS. My friend Vicki Overstreet emailed some of the members of the Mississippi Oil Painter's Association to let us know that some art could be used in the Orphanage and what was needed in the various "Cottages". The children live in groups on the campus and I selected the boys cottage. Here's why: When I was a child I had very kind foster parents who had previously worked at Palmer Home as house parents before they decided to keep foster children in their real home up in Calhoun County. What cottage did they parent? The boys cottage! They were there up until the year before several girls including my sister and  I came to live with them! So I have a sentimental attachment to Palmer Home Boys Cottage from the funny and sometimes endearing stories they told about the boys!

 At the Lake (c) Oil, 30x24 by Dot Courson

I wanted to paint a scene that boys would enjoy and something that made the viewers feel both safe and happy! My hope is that it's just a fun scene for boys to view day in and day out. It's a scene that I love, and have painted before,and you'll recognize it if you go to my website,  I've just added the boys in this one-  and kept the brush stokes a little looser.

Paint the Town!

You are invited to the 'Paint the Town'- Plein Air Annual Exhibition by the Mississippi Painters Society is from Aug 13-September 14. 

The meet the artist reception is at the Gumtree Museum of Art on Friday, Aug 13 2010 from 5PM- 7PM. The museum is located at 211 W.Main St. Tupelo, MS. 

It's been too hot to paint outdoors this July, with the heat index well over 100 degrees, but I was fortunate to get to quickly paint a rainstorm as it headed across and over the Tupelo Airport at dusk one afternoon! 

Wind-Shear- Tupelo Airport, 8x10 (c) Dot Courson

This next painting is of a Tupelo icon: B & B Concrete! Did it from 7-10 AM one morning and it only got up to 83 degrees! I was fortunate!

B & B Concrete 12x16 (c) Dot Courson