DARA DODSON FINE ART

January 17, 2017

Once again I have had a busy week. But not as busy as in the past! This is good as things are starting to settle back into a normal routine, thank goodness.

I was able to do quite a bit of artwork this past week and that always makes me happy! I actually was able to do two complete paintings, finish a third and make a lot of headway on a fourth. Not bad in my book. The one I'm still working on is a 16 x 20. the other three are two 9 x 12 and an 11 x 14.
These smaller ones are definitely the size that sell better so I will keep working on them for a while, I think.

I have also been thinking about what I want to do for the NATIONAL AUDUBON NATURE AND WILDLIFE show coming up in July of this year. It is a national show and as such has very stiff competition, so it has to be good just to get juried in! That also means it must be very detailed and accurate. I am thinking I will do a fox family, but I am not completely sure yet. I am still thinking about it. I will let you know when I decide, though, ok? I will also take many pictures as I go along so you can see my progress on the work. It will be a large painting. Probably 24 x 36. I say that size because I already have a really nice frame that size and the frame is as important as the artwork in this situation. A frame that isn't up to "snuff" in a big competition can cause a work to be rejected so it is VERY important that EVERY detail be just right! It would be a shame if someone worked on a painting for several months only to have it rejected because of the frame, right? But it can and DOES happen, believe me! Also, larger paintings are the way to go for a big show. They just have a lot more impact.

Ok, I am ready to show you the pictures of my paintings. I was a little long-winded last week. I'll try to do better this week. The first one is the final version of my Chile' painting. I decided to call it "NIGHT SAIL by ORSONO" It is a simple painting and very serene. The colors are light for nighttime but remember it doesn't get dark there until 10 pm, so it was more like dusk than dark. The color was gorgeous!

The second painting is one I did in classwork. It was a swamp or a grassy river. It was rather plain but had huge clouds in the sky. At first I painted the clouds more stormy but they overpowered the scene so I painted them out and redid them as puffy and airy clouds. That worked much better. Something that is important to remember when doing a painting is that if the sky is very busy, your land should be simple, and vice versa. If both are busy it can be overwhelming to the eye. It can be done but it takes an expert eye to pull it off! NOT EASY! Then when I finished it still seemed rather plain so I decided to add a big bird landing in the water and that gave it much more interest. I think I will call it "GRACEFUL LANDING". Notice how I have the horizon line quite low in this painting.

The third painting is another one I did in class. This morning to be exact. It was a rather simple but very pretty photo of a lighthouse here in Florida. It is called the 'ST MARK'S LIGHTHOUSE" which is located in the big bend area of Florida on the gulf coast. It is a plain white lighthouse but the road leading up to it curves through swampy grasses making it quite picturesque. I really like how it turned out. I put a lot of light into the grass and left the sky simple so as to focus on the lighthouse itself. Here I have the horizon line quite high! This is the most dramatic of the arrangements. NEVER make your horizon line right in the middle of the painting. That is ALWAYS a NO-NO! BTW, next week I will draw out a grid on where to place your center of interest or focal point for the best paintings, ok?

The fourth painting is not finished yet but I will show you a picture of it as it stands currently. Some friends like it now, but I am not satisfied with it. I want to work on it some more. I haven't put my finger on it what it is yet, but something is not quite right in my opinion. Maybe it's just that I don't usually use such bright colors, and I used a palate knife extensively. I don't know. I'll just keep looking at it until I figure that out. That can take a week or two sometimes. We'll see. Well, enjoy and thanks for looking! See you next week!