New Blog Site Announced

Posting a photo of me at my easel during the OPAS competition in New Philadelphia, OH.

Below is a link to a new blog just established by Mary Spires for The Collage of Women Artists. We are 40 women artists in Central Ohio who come together each month for lunch and a program on art. It's brand new, but check it out!

http://thecollageofwomenartists.blogspot.com/

Thanks Edie for the Photo!

At the end of the OPAS plein air competition, with artists scrambling left and right to pack up and start their drive back home, I asked Marc Hanson if he'd pose for a photo with me and the painting he awarded 2nd Place.

Thanks to my good buddy, artist Edie Dean, for sending me this photo, and to Marc for the award.

Taken Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008 in the Courthouse Square of New Philadelphia, OH.

Contemporary American Realism: 2008

"Do You Know Your Place" 30 x 40" Oil on Canvas
Copyright 2008 Debra Joyce Dawson

I am pleased to announce that the above painting was chosen for inclusion into the national juried exhibition Contemporary American Realism: 2008. The biennial exhibition is on display at the Ft. Wayne Museum of Art, in Indiana, opened September 3 and continues until November 2, 2008.
http://www.fwmoa.org/exhibits/currently/biennial08.htm

The Museum has published a high quality, four-color catalog to go with this exhibition featuring one work by each artist in the exhibition. Catalogs are for sale, and so is the art.

Admission to the Fort Wayne Museum of Art: Free to members $5 for adults $3 students (K-college) and $10 for families.
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10am - 5pm; Thursday – open until 9pm Sunday Noon - 5pm. The galleries are closed Mondays and major holidays.

Marc Hanson Workshop and OPAS Competition Winner

OPAS Plein Air Competition
2ND PLACE and ARTISTS CHOICE
"Breakfast on the Hoof"
8" x 10" - Oil on RayMar Panel

My good friend Edie Dean and I made the drive to Traverse City, MI in June 2007 to take a 5-day Marc Hanson workshop. Marc gave us an overload of information to digest: in writing, through lectures, and by watching the 7 demos he did in pastel or oil. My favorite part of that workshop was Marc's value to color exercise. Edie and I came away from the workshop with plenty of new ideas and all pumped up to paint.

When I heard that our statewide organization, Ohio Plein Air Society (OPAS) www.ohiopleinairsociety.com was going to host Marc to do a 3-day workshop in advance of our annual plein air competition, I decided to participate. It's the first time I have repeated with a workshop teacher, and I am certainly glad that I did.

Day 1: Marc condensed the things that he'd taught the year before into an intense three days. We started with an overview of materials, went on to a demo of the value to color exercise, and then we painted that exercise ourselves in the heavy duty architectural atmosphere of Dennison, OH, home to the historic Dennison Depot. http://www.dennisondepot.org/

Day 2: We were in the lovely countryside of Tuscarawas County, heart of Ohio's Amish country, beautiful rolling hills, cows, fields, barns, and weather to die for. 16 students - beginners to professionals - watched Marc do a demo on color relationships, asking us to not get bogged down in details, but to concentrate on the values and color relationships that we saw in nature. Sounds easy enough, but it didn't feel that way.

Evening of Day 2: 9:00 PM, the class convened on the Square in New Philadelphia to watch Marc demo a nocture. A real treat for us, and flash photography was not appreciated by his painting eyes!

Day 3: A new and exciting exercise: painting from memory! Marc said that the great teacher Frank Riley had used this exercise with his students. I'd been exposed to some of the ideas of Frank Riley during my classes at Captial U with Michael McEwan www.michaelmcewan.com . But, I'd never done this memory exercise, and frankly I felt pretty charged up about doing it! I think that everyone was surprised at how well we did, including Marc.

I commend Marc for taking each student in the class out of their comfort zone, since that is when you struggle and learn the most. You can read more on Marc's experience in Ohio on his blog: http://marchanson.blogspot.com

Marc went on to jury the 5th Annual OPAS plein air competition. The painting here is one that I completed just an hour or so before the jury. Entitled "Breakfast on the Hoof" • 8" x 10"• Oil on RayMar Panel. Marc awarded it 2nd Place and my peers voted it Artists Choice.

Thanks to my good friend, and fabulous artist, Ray Hassard www.rayhassardart.com for asking me to paint with him that morning. He won 3rd Prize and just a couple of hours later, he won the Quick Draw.