Dot Courson Fine Art Blog

October is turning out to be my busiest month in awhile. Paintin' the Town- College Park, GA In late September it was great to be a part of an invitational plein air event in Atlanta in the suburb inside the beltway called, Historic College Park. Artist Millie Gosch did a great job putting this together and we all had a blast. I sold three of my paintings to collectors and received another commission. Thank you to all who turned out to volunteer and host. It was great meting up with artist friends as well! Cumberland Society National Juried Competition: Honored! On October 3rd, I was excited to travel to Nashville to the Cumberland Society National Opening and Awards Ceremony at Richland Fine Art where I received an Honorable Mention - a $500 award for my painting, Back-lit Trees, Oil, 12x16 from judge Peggi Kroll Roberts of Here is my winning painting at the Cumberland Society National Exhibition at Richland Fine Art in Nashville, TN  ©2013 Dot...

Art supplies are expensive: oil paints, brushes, canvas and  frames. I look for ways to keep the quality up, and expenses down in order to be able to afford the very best products. I also want to paint like I am rich - uninhibited! - and feel it is better to paint with abandon than to paint uptight and worried about the cost of supplies. Recycling your bad paintings: “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” - Vincent van Gogh Sometimes paintings fail. Recycling panels is easy. I destroy bad paintings by covering them up in order to re-use or "recycle" the canvas. Every painting simply does not work out... and sometimes I wipe the paint off immediately (recommended) and just start over. At other times I set them aside and later decide that the painting is not making me feel good or is not something that I want to keep or offer for sale.   “I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.” - Vincent van  Gogh Some ar...

Some of the South Mississippi Art Association painters at my workshop this weekend in Hattiesburg, MS. Art as a metaphor: Art is a metaphor for me, so I try to be honest with my work, wanting to describe my life though my paintings.  It seems pretty intuitive to do this. My life seems pretty ordinary to me and I enjoy describing it in my landscape paintings. An example of that is in the finished painting that I did mostly in plein air out in our garden. I ended up naming the painting,"Coon Trap".    You can read about it here.  Soviet impressionists seemed to do that and they are some of my favorite artists . An architect at my show this weekend said the Russian impressionist's influence was apparent in some of my work and that I would probably enjoy reading the Russian art theory. I have a big book of the Soviet impressionists work but mainly I just look at the pictures. I may actually read it now to see if it describes a deeper theory behind it...besides...

.  I was reading an article by Wells Tower in  Garden and Gun   where he quoted southern writer Barry Hannah who said, “...being  Southern  isn't always a graceful adjective; it’ll kill you sometimes. Often, it’s shorthand for ‘Don’t bother reading this because it’s just gonna be a lot of porches and banjos.’”   This rang true to me because last week I had a tweet from someone describing my painting in the garden as " quaint ". What? Is my banjo showing? Well, I should just get over it and just face the facts: I love quaint. Here is the update on the progress of the painting of our garden from my last blog: Garden painting in progress ©2013 Dot Courson To me, being an artist is feels like the act of immersing oneself and into the beauty and wonder of everyday things. In other words, I’m just living the life I always have- but showing it in my paintings. Pintrest boards with names like "Chic Obsessions" or anything "Haute" or "...

I love having a garden.  I almost said I love gardening, but that isn't honest. I don't do any of it, my husband Jackie does it all. It's all his and he is devoted to it and also seems to enjoys it. But that is his true nature about everything and I'm so blessed to have him! I'm nothing like that. I just love looking at the garden -oh yeah -and eating the veggies like all of Chicken Little's lazy friends. No honest-to-goodness southerner can deny that the garden's bounty is secondary to anything- even art -with the  aroma of savory veggies cooking  in summer!   Several years ago, when I talked him into starting a garden- yes I did- and he denies it but it's true- I had two requests :  1. Plant apple trees 2. Grow Better Boy Tomatoes along with the Celebrity variety that he loves. It's all about the nostalgia as much as it is the harvest for me : I remember as a child climbing apple trees and eating green apples and wanted some for my grand k...

Yesterday I spoke with a group in one of my hometowns - not where I was born, but where I spent my formative years- age 10 until my late 20s. It felt good to be there. People were nice. I had been invited to speak to the Burce Rotary Club by Barbara, a childhood friend who I hadn't seen  in probably 30 years or so. She'd contacted me after she had seen where I'd commented on her cousin Judy's Facebook page about Judy's mother's passing...about how I remembered Judy's kind sweet mother -and especially her delicious biscuits she served for breakfast when I came as a kid for sleepovers there as in her home. That biscuit comment about her aunt's cooking must have really hit home for it to get me a speaking gig! But seriously, the day Barbara invited me she said she saw my website and said that she loves to see Calhoun County women who are successful. Well, I didn't say anything back to that comment but agreed to come speak. I was reminded of a favor...

I recently taught a workshop on landscapes and wanted to share a few slides with you...   I LOVE teaching! I taught here in Pontotoc in January.The group was great and we had fun. Thank you to all the attendees.  Jackie helped me welcome 14 artists form TN, AL and MS. My next workshop is in Greenville in May with the Delta Art Association. Hope you get to come! Here is a link to details. Here are a few tips straight out of my workshop handbook that I use when I teach. I love to share, but all images are my paintings, and therefore are copyrighted ©2013  Dot Courson Workshops. So feel free to use and share these- I encourage it as a matter of fact! -  but I require you attribute the painting and slide images and painting to me please. : ) Value planes. ©2013 Dot Courson Arial perspective. ©2013 Dot Courson Movement in painting. ©2013Dot Courson Please leave comments below. I love hearing from you!  Happy Painting! ...

Getting ready to go teach a workshop in Greenville with the Delta Arts Association this week. I love teaching! When I paint outside en plein air, I start massing in the values any way I can... with any color. I work fast. I've found that the sun does not stay still and wait for me to get it down, so I admit that I start messy and tighten up as I go.  Another thing that I do: I generally put some warmth into green foliage as it helps show the green up - and to me it just looks better.  Here is the start of a recent plein air painting in my backyard: Progress: Final painting: Another Backyard Plein Air 12x16 Oil: Another Backyard - Plein Air . Oil ©2013 Dot Courson Update:   This painting was judged into the Cumberland Society National Juried Exhibition. The judge was artist Peggy Kroll Roberts. Thrilled and blessed that it won an Honorable Mention- the Omega Frames award of $500 !  Here it is hanging at the show at Richland Fine Art in Nas...