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...

  ‎"...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...

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...

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...

Artists only buy original art... They usually cherish their collections and have a discerning eye and only buy what they love. I know I do. So when other artists buy a piece of my art I am so honored....that they'd give their own good money to own a piece of my work! I have sold three small paintings lately to artists:  During the reception at Caron Gallery for a traveling show I'm in the on Friday night an out-of-town artist friend also in the show bought one of my paintings that was already in the gallery. Here is the piece. It was done using a limited pallet of 3 colors: Alizirin Crimson, Cadmium yellow pale, and Ultramarine blue . Well 4 colors if you call white a color. I don't. ) Later an artist at the show told me she'd recently bought another little painting of mine at Southern Breeze Gallery in Ridgeland, MS - just the week before! Also a limited pallet of everything above but this one used Cadmium Red light instead of Alizirin . About a month ago of...

Allied Education 12x24©DotCourson This is an Amish child in  Pontotoc  county learning to drive a team of horses. I named the painting, "Allied Education." The Amish are  schooled  only until the 8 th  grade ...because they learn only to do their life's work. One state's court case that allowed it said they could be in this "allied education program" to learn  the work skills they would need for life.   Around here the Amish have several saw mills. Lots of them work with horses shoeing and making bridles, etc. Sweet folks! I wonder if the economy has affected them? I doubt it... It may have helped their business! I post this picture since it contains horses. I was asked awhile back by Equine Artists online Magazine about what artists are doing during these tough economic times.  Here are the questions / my response: 1. What did you do as the economy started to slow? " This has actually been my best year ever! That may be due to be...