Dot Courson Fine Art Blog

  ‎"...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...

My Daddy could draw. Everyone used to be amazed at his skill. He was deaf and tongue-tied and his unique talent was amazing to many folks. Since he couldn't speak very well he communicated by drawing. Sometimes I'd draw to communicate with him too since I couldn't get my point across otherwise. We communicated like this and through an expressive and animated "homemade" sign language. But he taught me perspective on buildings and how to make an object have mass and bulk by shading. We were extremely poor (note the too tight and too short dress I'm wearing in the photo below) and had no tv. We usually drew on paper sacks form the grocery store. Remember those? These days I would call that, "recycled, toned and textured paper"! :) Anyway- Great lessons! I was always happy when told that I got my artistic abilities from this sweet man.... The Castleberry Family in 1962:  Daddy (James Albert), Patsy, me and Momma (Willie Mae). Older brother Jerry not s...

Backyard  Apple Orchard 24x30 ©2010 Dot Courson Sometimes painting is just from the love of the subject...  I remember our apple orchards from my childhood very fondly, and so I practically begged Jackie to plant some trees at the end of our little garden. Deer ate a few, but some survived. For the pat two days I've been painting in plein air in my backyard. (Note: In front of the image of the painting above ...are two apples sitting on the kitchen counter where I photographed my painting.) My granddaughter Faith and I pulled apples from the trees after I painted the first day - right after John Morgan, my grandson was "driving" the golf cart with his dad and he hit the already leaning apple tree.  It's leaning more now! Oh well! ...Memories of the apple trees continue down the generations... I just may keep this painting for myself so that I can remember a beautiful happy day-  the end of the summer of 2010.

I have sold a couple of gems recently that were personal favorites to me. One was Baptism at Moon Lake . It is now on it’s way to its new home in Norway! I know that it will be loved from talking to the collector. She shared with me that it is a gift to her husband on their 26th wedding Anniversary. Above is a southern staple that is quickly becoming obsolete. Delta Cotton , 24 x36, was purchased by a collector from Nashville at one of my solo shows in the fall of 2009... She touched my heart as she told me that her father was a cotton farmer and had always told her stories of his love for farming. That made the “adoption” of the painting even more special. She and I have remained friends and I look forward to visiting with her at her cabin on the TN river this spring. Homeplace  on the Hill , 11x 14 is a painting that meant the world to me and sadly I wasn’t able to communicate with the owner. It sold in one of my galleries and this particular gallery does not share...

Baptisism at Moon Lake, 16 x 20, Oil on canvas. This is one of 2 of my new paintings in the Mississippi Painters Society's exhibit at the Link Center in Tupelo. Baptisism at Moon Lake,   16 x 20, Oil on canvas. This is an actual event that is held biannually when churches get together for those that want to be baptised in the oxbow lake off the Mississippi River. This takes place near Clarksdale, MS.