Figure Painting

Here are some figures and little portraits of family and others that I have done over the years and thought I would share. Something different since I usually paint landscapes....All images ©Dot Courson...

On Being an Artist in Mississippi

Artists do more than paint:

This cartoon artist captured me pretty well... : )  : ) If you are an artist I know you "get it" too....

In the last week I put these things on my things to do list: 

• Blog about the SE Plein Air Invitational last week ...and Anne Blair Brown Workshop here this past week.
• Update my bio I had to quickly revise for the Women Painter's of the Southeast Annual juried show at the Course Gallery and Atelier in Jacksonville, FL that is this upcoming weekend April 28th!
• Order brochures about my art for the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) who is presenting my paintings in Washington DC in June. 
• Order new business cards! ( A couple days ago while I was out painting in town - gave the mayor of Pontotoc, MS my business card ...I noticed that it had my old email address on it! )
• Send out a newsletter! By the way.... IF YOU WANT TO RECEIVE MY BI-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER SIGN UP HERE. You can also read past issues from there.

These things just come with the job. I like these things because I'm an extrovert and I am social. I love Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, and News-lettering about art but it eats away into my painting time and I apologize for not being "present" more...  

So here is my blog about the.....

Southeastern Plein Air Invitational 2012

I just returned form beautiful Alabama and the Southeastern Plein Air Invitational. Was so honored to be back for my third year in a row. This year I had the pleasure of getting together and painting with my buddy Millie Gosch all week. What a fun time we had together! 

Ju-Ju's Farm ©2012 Dot Courson - from the 2012 Southeastern Plein Air Invitational

Above here is a bad photo of a painting I took just after finishing the painting. It is propped in the frame against my car fender out in the field to take the picture. I didn't get many images of my paintings this year...

(above) Millie and I were painting and believe it or not a thunder shower and lightening ran us away for a few minutes. But we got right back out there when the lightening and rain subsided and I finished this one... 

My sweet friend - talented artist Gina Brown painting in a backyard garden in Gadsden.

A little painting I did at one day called "Two's Company.©2012 Dot Courson-  It was one of two that sold  on opening night.: )

An overlook from "the brow" one afternoon in the Fuller's backyard.

In addition to the view above, this year my good new friend Wyatt Waters from Mississippi and Millie Gosch from Georgia and I went out one evening to our friend Kevin's house  on the western brow - and painted a sunset until dark. We got there a bit late, but got some great memories! We were so amazed at the location of some of these homes with million dollar overlooks and the drama of (gulp) 60 feet drop offs right in their back yards! We decided it was "survival of the fittest" for the neighborhood children fiends and Kevin who were raised here... 

 Also -wanted to say that Wyatt won the "Quick Draw" at the Southeastern Invitational this year.. I was honored to win it last year, and was tickled this year for my fellow Mississippi friend!  It was a real pleasure painting with Wyatt and Millie  and many gifted painters from around the south:

Ron Bayens, Alburn Al 

Jill Berry , Pensacola, FL

Gina Brown, Glencoe, AL

Amanda Carder, Cummin, GA

Millie T. Gosch, College Park, GA

John Guernsey, Marietta, GA - Check him our- he's coming to do a workshop here soon!

Amy R Peterson, Hoover, AL 

Dmitrity Proshkin, Flintstone, GA

Craig Reynolds, Rainbow City, AL

Virginia Vaughan (V....Vaughan), Roooound Rock, TX

Charles Young Walls, Forest Park, GA

Katrina G. Weber, Huntsville, AL

Karen H. Weir, Catherine AL 

Wyatt Waters, Clinton, MS

Sorry that I couldn't find these links on Google. If I find them I will add them later. Send any to me in comments and I'll be add to add them.  

Packing for Plein Air Trip

I'm headed to Gadsden Alabama to the Southeastern Plein Air Invitational all next week. This is my third year and I'm so happy to go back.
This is really beautiful country. Here is a painting I did of a scene from there that is on the cover of my book, Small Places: Landscapes of the South. :

We paint out all week and the public is invited to come to the Gadsden Museum to buy these works on Friday night. I have blogged about it before here and also here.

Here is what I'm packing as far as frames and canvas. Words are included in the photos, but you get the idea anyway:

And what I'm leaving behind as I go on this trip:  here below with Jackie, is my dog Cane that we adopted from there two years ago. He's saying home with Daddy and won't be coming back to Alabama anytime soon! 

"Loose" Paintings Process

Below are photographed works in the beginning of my painting process along with the finished- or almost finished- works.

The whole painting process is fun, and may surprise many collectors and students of art who only see my finished works. This way of painting works for me and keeps color bright and helps the final painting look loose and (hopefully) "painterly! They are realistic when viewed from and distance and in these photos, but (trust me) they are much more impressionistic in real life!

I dislike "stiff" starts. These loose starts keep my work "alive". It is a free, creative and enjoyable process. It is not painting inside the lines, but I like to think that it is intelligently done and thought out ahead of time... Still life starts which are usually tonal, because these are done in a bit more realistic style than my other works.


There are reasons behind everything that is done. It is not as mindless as it looks!

Some of these are still unfinished as pictured here, but you get the idea.... And finally, if you are an artist and want to try to paint like this I have one word of advice for you: RELAX... it's only paint!  : )

              

T