Dot Courson Fine Art Blog

Ever heard this quote?  Dance like nobody's watching; Love like you've never been hurt. Sing like nobody's listening; Live like it's heaven on earth. I want to add: Paint like you don't have a motive. This should be the first "rule" of how artists work. To do this we must be uninhibited and passionate! Inhibitions dry up creative juices. Here is a list of distractors: Wondering if it will "sell" Over analyzing  Overly concerned the "rules"/ technical aspects of painting Ambitious / competitive Behind in the job demands Losing the inspiration behind the work Comparing yourself to artists with more popular works  Paintings are the words to the music of our lives. Don't want to sound like a soap opera, but we can lose sight of the fact that all we are really doing is just showing the world our view. That's all original art is. To paint like you don't have a motive, leave inhibitions and materialistic mot...

We artists paint and need to sell our work. The selling of my work is usually left up to my galleries and I'm not in possession of much since I send it out to galleries.   I pay galleries (or should I say they require?) 50% commission to sell and promote my work.   I am grateful for their representation.  My website is not to sell work, it's for people to see the kind of work that I do and for them to know something about me in case they saw my work, Googled my name, or wanted to see other paintings or read my bio.  And yes, sometimes I gladly enter into contracts with those who want me to do a private  commissioned painting . These are often regional clients who have seen my work in ads or magazines in the South. I enjoy doing these commissions.  And I have sold work to my  longstanding  Facebook friends from all over the world. However, for someone to just "stumble upon" my work online -and buy it is not realistic in my op...

What can be more fun than painting? Especially in the fall! This is a photo from the side back of our yard looking back toward the house. Below is a photo of me that Jackie, my husband took without my permission today. I'm painting the trees right behind our house and studio. My studio is upstairs and overlooks the woods. but I had to be outside to feel the light and be eye level with the trees. I have been working outside on this daily  at 4PM - but today it was 3 as time changed last night:... It was a pretty day today!  Here is Scaredy- my cat today - she always keeps me company! Okay brush washing! Awhile back a friend asked how I washed my brushes and suggested that I blog about it. When I'm outside painting en plein air, I rinse my brushes in the portable brush washer and take it inside to my studio to re-rinse in a large vat of Gamisol that I have or wash them with my cleaner on the road. Sometimes I  just use white soap away from home...

It's November! Somehow doesn't feel Novemberish to me. Maybe it will once the time changes.I'm a night owl and am enjoying the light at the end of the day. That's about to change! Remember-time changes this coming weekend. We had a wonderful group of artists here in Pontotoc coming to paint with Roger Dale Brown, at our third workshop this year. Roger is a great friend and had just returned from doing the Laguna Beach Invitational Plein Air show in California. It was perfect plein air weather here and we enjoyed some wonderful days painting with Roger and Beverly. Jackie and I always enjoy seeing artist friends and meeting new ones. This workshop, as usual- brought in students from three states: MS TN and AL to paint rural farms and fields in Pontotoc.   Jackie hosted the workshop opening since I was at Southern Breeze Gallery who had a wonderful reception for my show on October 20th, If you have not been - I hope you get to go see my new work up close and personal...

  ‎"...the oldness of it all. That is something I always try to capture in my paintings- the oldness of a place...." - Roger Dale Brown (quote form American Art Collector July, 2011) To be a good landscape painter you have to be able to paint what you see...   To be a GREAT landscape painter you have to paint the scene in a way that is "minds eye" beautiful , tasteful, and artistically rendered. Here are photos of a "southern scene" - a delta cotton field scene and church that I'm painting right now: Combined with: Actually to be honest, I had neither photos in the studio while painting. If you've seen one of these delta churches and cotton fields you've about seen them all. I just love them - and have about memorized them. I just found these photo references for the blog for you to see in case you've never seen southern cotton fields and churches.   Here's my small study (11x14): A Southern Scene 11x14 Oil. ©Dot Cour...

Being an artist is one of those jobs that requires flexibility. It almost helps if you are a little A.D.D. That way you are adjusted to jumping from one thing to the next without any problems. It's just the way your life works! For instance: Today I plan to spend the day in the studio! But other things will come up. Truly as I write this I just remembered that I need to follow up with a friend /collector by making an appointment to visit her home.  She needs a painting, and wants me to see the space. But that is a good thing! Yesterday I spent a good while in the studio painting a delta scene that I am considering for a larger piece. It is loosely based on High Cotton - a painting that I did a few years ago.   I'm in the process of getting ready for a solo show at Southern Breeze Gallery in October and trying to get about 20 paintings ready between now and then. The opening is on October 20 - (SAVE THE DATE!) - and it's the same day and time that w...

Scary Things   by Robin Roberts "Fencesitters" ©Robin Roberts   18x24 oil Why would attempting something new or different be scary?   Collectors and others who don't paint might not realize that it can sometimes take guts for an artist/painter to try something different.     Or there might be a reluctance to try something different from rules and guidelines we've been taught.  Or to do something outside what family or friends think is "pretty".   Or do something that might not sell - something outside the artists'  perceived typical work.    As you follow you'll notice I'm using different brushwork, using my modest drawing skills to "shape" rather than draw;  avoiding  "staying between the lines";  deciding which compositional guidelines to use and which to change for this particular painting.   Trying something different and having fun watching it unfold.   If I allow myself, it can be li...

...but it's not because I am shy - I LOVE to speak!  Dot Courson as a Lauren Rogers Museum of Art - ART TALK speaker to patrons. Once someone local finds out for the first time that I'm an artist- they always say: "Are you in the Gum Tree Festival in Tupelo?" Then they may ask, "Well then: Do you do the Double Decker in Oxford?!" I get up my courage, shake my head and reply, "No. Nope, I don't do festivals! "  ... Not that there’s anything wrong with it!   It’s not them . Its ME!   I tell them that I'm showing my work exclusively in  galleries. Southern Breeze Gallery in Ridgeland, MS - a wonderful owner who takes care of my work – hangs it beautifully, runs magazine ads, represents me online, and is always there to work hard to show my work to collectors. I’m also in Caron Gallery now and they are wonderful too! They are super nice folks! If you haven’t been –Go! It just keeps getting better!     Susan, my daughter and Faith...

I got a list... You got a list... All God's Children Gotta list.... Jackie and I are getting ready to host another workshop. Dawn Whitelaw will be here a little over a week and we are communicating with all the artists who are probably packing. I'm thinking of my own list of things I need to do as well as sympathizing with them. All of the artists will drive in. Most will be in hotels. It's a lot of work to get ready to leave home to go to a workshop. You must pretty much pack like you are plein air painting- well, except for the bug spray!  But of course you have to pack clothes, toiletries, etc.. Not counting what was back in the hotel room, nor the equipment I had set up outside that I was using to paint with at the time that this was taken- here is (no kidding!) a photo of the "stuff:  in my van -that the Gadsden Times took while I was painting nearby at the Southeastern Plein Invitational this spring: I finally wrote my own travel art supply...