Dixie's Art » history

The Palette given by my art teacher in high school.

Dixie — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 22:02:17 +0000

When I painted the house upon the hill in 1958, I know that it was because my high school art teacher gave me a set like this Grumbacher watercolor palette. Of course back then the palette was made out of tin instead of plastic. I loved the colors silver and gold in this set and most of the colors were opaque. I probably sold this set at a garage sale because I advanced to a much larger palette later on. It was so nice to go to an art class in high school where all the supplies were provided for. I believe my teacher gave me this palette because he could see the passion and potential in my ability to paint.

Finding My Way

Dixie — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:46:57 +0000

I was cleaning off some shelves the other day and came across this little painting of the view of Mt. Helix in La Mesa, CA. I never did frame it or show it in any exhibits, but decided to use it here for a story.
When we moved back to California in 1982, we settled in a home on the south slope of Mt. Helix. Trying to find my way away in this new area of San Diego and with streets that don’t make sense in most of La Mesa, it was that cross on top of the hill called Mt. Helix that helped me find my way around.
I was employed as a distributor of art supplies that were delivered to various art classes and learning the routes was quite a task for this newcomer to the San Diego area. But if I could see that cross on the hill I knew which direction to take! I always hoped the clouds didn’t cover it because just seeing which side of the cross could be my guide sometimes.

Old and New of Old Town

Dixie — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 20:43:15 +0000

When things look charming, I had better paint it when I see it because it may not be that way later. And here it is, later, as of now, the Wells Fargo of Old Town has moved and is in another building in O.T., but the former building has lost its charm as is seen in this painting, compared to the picture I just took this month. The painting was done in the 90′s and is owned by my son. Through the years I have learned the hard way, that if I see something I’d like to paint, then I had better paint it soon or else something may change or happen to it. As I usually say, ‘look what happened to it!”

A Major Change

Dixie — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:13:18 +0000

So many times I see changes in the subjects I chose to paint. One of the biggest changes I have observed is the way they changed the Casa de Bandini building in Old Town San Diego. It had been changed back to the original name, Cosmopolitan Hotel. I can’t believe how it changed so much as shown here in my picture of the painting that I did while visiting Old Town back in the early 90′s. And now, look how it has a new look in this photo here. I’m glad I had a chance to paint it when it looked so charming.One of my mentors, Mr. Landry is in one of the pictures here, as he was painting that same building many years ago. Also a photo I took a long time ago.

Unbelievable !

Dixie — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 19:11:52 +0000

How exciting to meet people who moved in after I moved out (1960) of the big old house upon the hill in Pomona, and to meet the current new owners too. They came to my art exhibit at the coffee lounge in La Mesa and were glad to meet me in person for the first time and had found me through the internet since I have written about this old house before, on my web site.

For this “meet the artist’ event, I brought in the painting of the old house on Prospect Dr. to show what it looked like. I painted it when I was in high school about 1958. I had no intention to sell it, but it was good to look at since one of the former owners had let the place run down and even let the landscape die off. That was so sad when I discovered (this year) it on ‘street view’ on the internet. I was offered a large sum of money for that painting and was kind of in shock because I had never sold a painting for such a high price! It was unbelievable!
It was a joy to share great memories and stories about the house with these new friends who had come in to meet me that day. They were so glad to see the old movies, now on DVD, of how the surrounding land looked in the 1950′s before the housing tract and the freeway took over the view near by.

I am very excited that the current new owners are busy restoring the old place and will have it back in charming condition. It is about 109 years old, and very well built.

What a Show!

Dixie — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 03:15:57 +0000

I was invited to show my work at a coffee lounge in La Mesa since I have some collages with coffee and tea themes. It is so nice to have a whole wall to hang about 15 pieces on and while people are enjoying their coffee they can observe and chat about the paintings. I am anxious to meet some of my friends and patrons at this place on July 9th during the morning, from 9 a.m. until noon. I just know they’re going to say, “what a show!”

Oh What a Change!

Dixie — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:03:24 +0000

Beautiful crepe myrtle trees, the yellow building, people enjoying the concert, all captured in this painting done at the promenade in El Cajon, CA. I had a lot of energy to do all that painting at the concert. It was fun, but I had no idea all of it would some day change. The lady who used to work upstairs in that building bought this painting, an editor of the El Cajon news.
About 5 or 6 years later I went to see the new change at this promenade and was surprised they removed the crepe myrtle trees and rearranged the whole area for the Concerts on the Green. Not much green anymore with all the concrete!
Another story of mine that says, “I painted it, now look what happened!”

A Certain Birdhouse

Dixie — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 03:40:03 +0000

When I go to paint at Summers Past Farm I love to walk through the different gardens and find birdhouses that are different. This particular birdhouse in this painting has its very own birdhouse! How darling! A few years after I painted it, it started weathering and finally just deteriorated and fell apart. It no longer exists! At least I have a painting of the little birdhouse with a birdhouse, and a nice photo too.

That’s My Boat!

Dixie — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 04:27:35 +0000

About 12 years ago I was invited to have an exhibit at Somewhere Else Coffee Shop in El Cajon. I needed quite a few more paintings for this show and so I framed one watercolor that I didn’t ever think would sell. It was one that I did down at the G Pier in San Diego. I wasn’t sure what to name this particular painting and so I thought it would be appropriate to call it “She Boats” since the names showed on the end of each boat. I’m glad I had the names showing on these boats because in walked a lady who saw this painting and she called me up and said, “that’s my boat!” Well, she bought the painting and I was very happy the right person got that painting. That was the only painting that sold at that show! It was hard to display with all the books.

Forty One this Year

Dixie — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 20:22:15 +0000

No, that’s not my age! It’s the number of paintings I have produced this year. I’m probably 20 paintings behind since I had surgeries this year, but that’s okay. That way I don’t have too many frame jobs to do!
My last painting of the year 2010 was of an old yellow lawn chair on postcard watercolor paper. There was a pinery/greenery decorating class going on at the time I was trying to paint this little 4 x 6 inch painting of that chair, and so it turned out to be a little off since I kept getting distracted from all the fun the students were having in the class at Summers Past Farm out in the big outdoor coffee pavilion patio.
I usually do an average of 50 paintings a year and am glad that I at least did as many as 41 this past year. I log every painting that I ever do. I number it, title it, list the size, etc. My log code is in this order: the number of the painting, the year, the month. For example, the yellow chair is listed as #41-’10-12. After this number I will start with 01 in the year 2011.

My friend Madeline Strafello passed away this year and her family gave back a painting that I had sold to her. This painting needs to be re-framed and I was so surprised I didn’t even have a log number on the back of this watercolor of the bird watchers in Del Mar! uk oh! I kind of know approximately what year this painting was done because it was done on location at a Saturday morning session with the SDWS group.
It amazes me that some time I will wake up in the night wondering where such and such a painting is, thinking I had lost it or not list it. It is like this, each painting is a production of mine, they are like my kids in that I need to know where each one is and what happened to it. Wondering if I mark it sold in the log book, or did it win a prize, or is it at the gift shop? Well, one of these days I’m going to sit down and add up everything in my log book. By this time in my life (I’m 68), I have done over a thousand paintings and am so glad I have them all logged.