Christopher Dotson

…but I did not win the battle.

This was my entry for the final round. I will post the rest of the portraits under my Sketchbook tab.

This was my entry for the first round.

Wish me luck!!!

Finaly complete. I have named this piece of my life Alchemy. Oil on canvas 24″ X 36″

I named it this because, for me,  the search for meaning within inanimate objects is like searching for a formula to explain the meaning of life. But it is a primitive version of that, as painting is a primitive version of photography. Alchemy is to Science as Painting is to Photography. That may be a bit of a stretch, but lately I have been wondering why I paint when I could simply take a photograph?  I think that it is because a painting is much more than just the picture. It is careful observation and study, and total immersion into the subject. I think that is why a painting holds so much meaning for me. Because it is so human. Full of our imperfections, aspirations, misconceptions and everything else that makes us who we are.

The days have gotten shorter. Less and less workable daylight. It is the end of the day so I had to use the lights in my studio to photograph it with my wife’s iPhone. It should be finished by next week. I am saving the part in the upper left portion for a smaller still life. The name of this piece is Alchemy. 24″ x 36″

Oil on linen, 12″ X 9″. Originally I had planned to do a different background, but I didn’t like it and painted over it with black. That swallowed the hand and diminished any sort of dimensionality. So I sanded the black paint off until I reached the gesso layer. I had intended to go back in with a different background, but the way it turned out after sanding it was just too perfect. It has the feel of a really old painting. The hand was not sanded, so it looks much smoother.

This is an older painting that I never considered finished… until I saw a painting by Robert Kelley. I thought that it would contrast the figure well because it is modern. The clash between Representational Art and Modern Art fascinates me. The figure was inspired by a painting by Auguste Dominique Ingres called The Valpinçon Bather. This is an attempt to bridge the two.

36″ X 24″, Acrylic on canvas.

Two tin cans with a squeeky toy, oil on canvasboard 10″ X 8″

Just a quick study to keep the senses sharp…8″ X 8″ oil on panel.

 Art of the everyday, Truth is stranger than fiction. And that is the tittle for this piece…

Finally completed, this was one of the most challenging paintings that I have ever done. I concentrated on creating depth in the painting by slightly blurring the objects in the background. This is not easy because the eye tends to focus on the foreground and the background equally, so I had to create the illusion with the paint because the background appeared in focus as I observed it.

 Oil on panel, 12″ X 24″

I think it is interesting the different methods that can be used for creating a portrait. These paintings were all done within the last two years.  The one on the left is oil on canvas, the middle one is Mixed media on carboard, and the one to the right is Mixed media on panel. I created each one under different circumstances, so maybe that is why they are so varied.