Archive for the ‘1) Available!’ Category

Tillie’s unpainted facade

Tuesday, July 13th, 2021

“What happens if we like a piece of art or hate a piece of art? Nothing. The art is still the same; it hasn’t changed. If we can realize that our judgments are not the truth, but a way to keep from telling the truth, then we begin the process of discovering what our truth is and putting that on the page.”
— Fonda Clark Haight
 

I started this miniature in a friend’s yard three weeks ago and cut myself off in the studio yesterday when the indoor work equaled the time expended on location. I wanted to keep the ratio to 50%/50%, a standard limitation we use for our annual En Plein Air exhibition. I’m fond of this piece, even though it will always look unfinished to me. I could’ve continued to refine it with more texture and details, but I had to keep in mind that it was more about the process than an end result. I learned something that day at Tillie’s about responding with paper to what I observed before me, in preparation for the “Paint the Town” time crunch. There was too much character in that old garage to fully capture anyway. Our fellow PAACK member has left the rear of that particular structure unpainted and speckled with antique tools — all for the benefit of local artists. Not a big mystery for anyone who knows Tillie!

 

Weathered Backside
collage miniature by J A Dixon
50% / 50% — site to studio
7.75 x 7.75 inches
available for purchase

Renewal

Friday, June 18th, 2021

This artwork was created for and accepted into BEGINNINGS/ENDINGS, a virtual exhibition organized by Kate Savage at Arts Connect in Lexington, Kentucky. It began with musings on the cyclic lives of trees as a resource. Searching my stash for collage ingredients prompted what I consider a spontaneous work of abstraction as much as an interpretation of the exhibition theme.
 
Renewal ~ collage on canvas J A Dixon

Renewal
collage on canvas by J A Dixon
12 x 12 x 1.25 inches
available for purchase

Quarry

Monday, May 3rd, 2021

“Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson
 

ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS, the virtual exhibition organized by Kate Savage at Arts Connect, had its online event with artist commentary yesterday. As I prepared some remarks about my included artwork, I looked back to see what I’d written about it after its completion in 2019.

Nothing — that’s what I found.

With an emphasis on documenting my journey into making collage en plein air, I’ve apparently neglected to say as much about a corresponding investigation of studio-based landscape. Being a self-taught illustrator and fine artist, working from photographs has been a central part of the creative process — at least since my days as a “gopher” student in the 1970s, when I assisted veteran commercial artists compile reference scrap for tight-deadline assignments. In recent years, my work on location is informing how I do a collage painting indoors from a photo.

Quarry is a fitting example, created from a wonderful image by Jeff Hiles, an Ohio photographer who generously gave a green light to interpret his work in another medium. My piece also dovetails nicely with the theme of the show. More importantly, it demonstrates how I’m gradually learning to bring into the studio the sense of immediacy and intuitive spontaneity that I experience when working directly from a natural scene.

 

Quarry
collage landscape by J A Dixon
25 x 18.5 inches
on panel, framed
available for purchase

March Ex(plosion)  |  Thirtieth Collage

Tuesday, March 30th, 2021

 

And While You’re At It
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6.5 x 8.75 inches
(Items from this series are available to collectors.)

March Ex(plosion)  |  Twenty-Ninth Collage

Monday, March 29th, 2021

 

The Story of My Instant Demise
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6 x 7.75 inches
available for purchase

March Ex(plosion)  |  Twenty-Eighth Collage

Sunday, March 28th, 2021

 

Never Had No Nothin’
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6.25 x 9 inches
from my Series of Rock
available for purchase

March Ex(plosion)  |  Twenty-Seventh Collage

Saturday, March 27th, 2021

 

Troubling Tendencies
collage miniature by J A Dixon
7.125 x 10 inches
available for purchase

March Ex(plosion)  |  Twenty-Sixth Collage

Friday, March 26th, 2021

 

I’m Gettin’ Bugged Now, Man
collage miniature by J A Dixon
7.25 x 8 inches
available for purchase

March Ex(plosion)  |  Twenty-Fifth Collage

Thursday, March 25th, 2021

 

Your First Mistake
collage miniature by J A Dixon
7 x 10 inches
from my Series of Rock
available for purchase

March Ex(plosion)  |  Twenty-Fourth Collage

Wednesday, March 24th, 2021

 

Pop Said No
collage miniature by J A Dixon
8.125 x 9.375 inches
available for purchase

March Ex(plosion)  |  Twenty-Third Collage

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2021

 

Ceremony of Innocence
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6.375 x 8.375 inches
available for purchase