Dottie

Making Stuff.

If I couldn't create something new each day, I'd surely expire. Life is about making, imagining, building, DOING. I've just recently started to paint. I had always shunned painting because I was so absorbed in my drawing skills. I see now how much I have missed and how much I have to learn. Bear with me, if you will as I begin a new journey of learning this new skill. I look forward to spending time with other artists here.

Besides my daily obsessive need to "make stuff", my day job is being art teacher to K - 5th graders at 2 different schools in my county. In a week's time I see a total of about 750 students. Exhausting, exhilarating, never dull. And then, there's the "night job": I've had an Etsy shop for almost 10 years and I "make stuff" out of yarn.

I'm always busy. When I sit to relax, I fall asleep. So I'm almost always on my feet...

...oops, sorry, gotta run now. Just thought of a new idea to try!


Portfolio:

Face Time

I've always been fascinated by faces... always had a knack for drawing them. For so many years I simply worked with the dry mediums, eschewing the rather messy, unpredictable process of painting. Now I see what I have been missing. I'm brand-squeaky-new as a painter, so bear with me if you will as I run the gamut of faces, effects, styles... as I learn this new craft of moving pigment about on canvas.

Waif “Waif”

She came to me in a fit of frustration, this waif. I tried to bring her out of the canvas, to breathe life into her for days. The images I created mocked me. Hard, odd faces. I finally scrubbed off layers of paint and in anger slapped on tones. They looked nice. Then I layered with color, experimenting with palette knives. And she was there just staring at me.

Sophia “Sophia”

Sophia just happened. The painting was quick, satisfying. My frustration and changes were minimal. It was a quick, enormously satisfying work.