Dixie's Art

Lost Key

Dixie — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:47:17 +0000

In my studio there are things that my granddaughters can play with. One of their favorites is an overnight suitcase that I have had since junior high school, and it has my initials on it, DKB.

The girls love to pretend they are going on a trip and I gave them a key to use for the suitcase which has a green tag on it that I got from my dog’s groomer at the Doggie Station.
Sad to say, the girls lost the key and couldn’t remember where they put it and I looked for months for it, combing through everything in my studio to try to find it.

One day it dawned on me that it might be put in the little pet carrier of one of their dolls that stands on display right by the doorway. Every time I walked into my studio I would think, where oh where could that key possible be, it could be so visible with the bright key ring it was on, which was in the shape of a doggie bone. Well, guess what? It was hidden underneath the little pet in that pet carrier! Here I had been walking by it every time I came and went into the studio! I even looked down in the doll chair for it.

The best part about losing something like a key is that it makes you clean out boxes of toys, go through all your stuff and clean out from under the furniture and stuff. And the better part of having lost this key is that my husband didn’t break the lock on the suitcase as he was trying to fiddle with it, and I’m glad that I didn’t pay a locksmith to open it for me! I don’t use this for my trips anymore, but liked having it for my girls to play with, I could have just done without the key.

There has been a missing decorative box that my girls usually played with, I don’t remember if I put it in a garage sale or not, but I thought maybe it was locked up in that suitcase. No, it wasn’t, there was only a paper towel in the little suitcase!

I Forgot One!

Dixie — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:40:55 +0000

A lot of my cards with images of Summers Past Farm are for sale in their gift-shop barn, and are very popular. To have other subjects for my cards, I have plans to make a set of cards, 10 to a box, of the houses I have painted through the years. I’ve painted more portraits of houses than I have of people in my career and so I started to put together the collection for this set of cards to be printed. I usually take a digital of all my paintings, and every now and then find that I forget to do one, and just this morning, looking at my gallery corner in my living room, there was one I forgot!!!
It is of a house in Pismo Beach where we have spent some of our vacation time along the beach. And, being fond of the upper perspective, that is, looking upward and finding something up high has always been something that I think would make a good painting. After all, I lived in the flat swamps of Louisiana for 10 years and never could see beyond the tree tops! So coming back to California (1982),I found a lot of subjects to paint that were higher than the tree tops!

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.

A Painter’s Finger

Dixie — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:39:15 +0000

In May of this year I fell and broke my little finger. After many sessions of therapy and exercises and splints, that little finger just wants to look bent. At least I haven’t lost any basic function from it being this way, but if I want to look English at a tea party, it won’t straighten out and look elegant like the other ladies, the way they hold their tea cup.
I wonder if I have lost any of my talent in painting at the easel. In this pic of Mr. Landry, one of my favorite mentors of watercolor, you can see him holding that little finger just so and we students who observed him just love to comment about that little finger standing out like it did and we wondered if it helped him get the painting just right! Well, probably not, it was just the way he did, and now I can’t do that as I paint, but I don’t believe I have lost any ability to paint any better!! I’m just glad it wasn’t my right hand that got injured, that is, it is okay for the left hand to be a little deformed as shown in this pic of my hand.

No Need to Decorate!

Dixie — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:42:04 +0000

Why decorate when I can just paint a Christmas tree that is already decorated!

I was out at the farm last Saturday, (Summers Past Farm), and it was so cold out side that I decided to paint in the barn. I selected this tree that was decorated by the interior decorator, Laurie Ann and got it in essence and love it! It was fun to be painting while people were busy shopping in the barn that is a gift shop and where my paintings are for sale along with my note cards. I was amazed at how many times I heard people say, “oh, so you’re the artist!” They were glad to finally meet me in person after seeing and knowing my work. One lady was just so thrilled to meet me that she was so sure she really wanted to buy one of my paintings right then and there! It was a fun day and I really like meeting some of my ‘admirers.’ This little painting is only 5 x 7 inches, easy to do from my lap while sitting down, and so comfy to be surrounded by furniture and merchandize from the Laurie Ann collection. I love that stuff! Antiques, and odd things that just grab my heart, truly a favorite place to shop and browse.

Soon to be Published

Dixie — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:43:04 +0000

I am so excited I feel like doing a big stretch like this one of my neice, Kaili! I will soon be publish in a Somerset Studio magazine this coming Spring and today I finished the two articles that I was asked to write about my coffee collages to be used in the publication, Apprentice.

Here is a pic of one of my coffee themes but not one that will be in the magazine. My new passion is creating collages of emphemera and found objects, making an interesting composition on canvas and using acrylic paint. I don’t believe I will ever give up my talent for watercolor, but am glad to find a way to express with stuff too precious to toss out. It could be known as ‘junk,’ but to me it is treasure!

For the past four years I have been accumulating all kinds of stuff that I find out on my walk. I have so much stuff now that I have had to organize it and put it into boxes and drawers so that when I’m ready to start a new collage I know just where to find a certain object. Even if I don’t find an object, I can use my own pics that I print out in black and white, cut it out and apply it to the canvas and paint on it. It is so much fun to create and put together a piece of art that comes about as I come up with ideas on how to aesthetically use junk and stuff!

Pumpkin Turn Over

Dixie — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:29:30 +0000

On Friday, Oct. 7th I went to paint the pumpkin patch at Summers Past Farm and noticed this very large yellow pumpkin in the background of the view I was painting with a scarecrow and bales of hay.

The next day I went to paint again and took some more photos and then noticed that I had another story to write using the title, “Look What Happened!” That large yellow pumpkin got turned over! The proof is in the dirt that is seen on it! That must have been hard to turn over since it was so large.

People enjoy picking their own pumpkins and it is very interesting to see such a wide variety of pumpkins in just one field. God is awesome to be such a creator of so many different shapes, colors and forms and the artist is never bored by looking and observing it all. Variety keeps me from being bored. Like art, the kind people like, it takes all kinds when you see abstracts and realistic art that is just as great, I like the suggestive kind of art that leaves room for imagination!

Lois Brody took this picture of me. When the artist of the garden is found people like to get her picture!

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.