Dot Courson Fine Art Blog

Last fall we had open house for my new Studio located on our 12 acres here in Pontotoc, Mississippi. We are located between Tupelo and Pontotoc right off Hwy 278 (old Hwy 6).  I've enjoyed creating in my new space looking out across the woods and fields as I paint my rural southerner landscapes. Stop by sometime! Phone 662-617-3100 for an appointment. Dot Courson Studio - Photo credit, Alison Schuchs Dot Courson Studio Open House 2017- Photo by Alison Schuchs Some of my Paintings done in late 2017 Cozy sitting space inside my new studio. Email artist@dotcourson.com or pone 662-517-3100 to arrange a visit!  News:  Dot was selected as a finalist in the 13th Annual Art Renewal Center International Salon! In April Dot's work, Home Grown Greens will be included in the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience "The MAX" as it opens in Meridian, MS in April 2018.

Just home form the Southeastern Plein Air Invitational in Gadsden, AL. that was March 28- April 1, 2016.  Here are some photos from there: Photo credit John Billingsley Upcoming this week... This week I'm headed to the Women Painters of the Southeast's show in Abingdon, Virginia to be the awards judge for the annual exhibition there at Art Depot. Looking forward to seeing the works selected for this show for the first time! There will be over $10,000 in awards to be given out I hear- so I'm very excited and truly honored to serve this year. You are invited.... I will be doing a painting demo on Saturday, April 9th the morning before the awards show. Hope you can come! Dot Courson  is our Judge this year and will be doing a demo/talk on  Saturday morning, 4/9 at 9am . Those interested please contact Susan Yates at 276 628-9091 to sign up. Reservations required. The fee for the demo is $50.  Recent Studio Work... Here is my last commis...

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...

Northeast Mississippi Community College in Booneville invited my daughter and I to exhibit at Anderson Hall Gallery this month. We both graduated from there before going on to finish our degrees in other universities. I attended NE in the 70s (nursing - RN program) and Susan in the 90s (pre-physical. Today we went up today to see the show which runs until the end of the month. Susan's children (my grandchildren) went up as well and it was fun seeing the 50 paintings on exhibit. I think you can find lots of family in these paintings as well as familiar southern landscapes. Here are photos of both our works:  All the works below are Susan's works:

This week I will be traveling to Richmond, VA! Here is the flyer for Plein Air Richmond . I so honored and really looking forward to painting there!     On my trip, I'm taking a painting for Senator Roger Wicker's staff to come down and pick up in Richmond. It will be on loan to hang in the office of Senator Wicker in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC!  I'm honored to have The Natchez Trace there. For almost 3 years it hung on the top floor of the Walter Sillers Building, Governor Haley Barbour's official capital offices in Jackson, MS. Here is a photo of us. On it's last day there he signed it for me at my request- before I picked it up. This is funny now but I was initially mortified because somehow he was mis-directed and signed the front (rather prominently) instead of the back as I had asked - so I had to take his signature off! I hated to do it - I...

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 unfin...