Pay a visit to Georgetown, Kentucky this month to view CONVERSATIONS, my current exhibition with pastel artist Julie Quick at Fine Art Editions Gallery. See many of my original plein air collage landscapes in person. For premium prints of my art, talk to proprietor John Stephen Hockensmith, a consummate reproduction specialist. I could not be more pleased with the archival quality and affordable pricing.
“I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.”
— Abraham Lincoln
I did not create anything specific for July’s 250th commemoration of the Declaration, but I figured I should finish off a plein air collage piece that I started during the summer of 2025. I put final touches on Tower of Boyle for OBSERVING LIGHT, the current exhibition by our Plein Air Artists of Central Kentucky at Art Center of the Bluegrass in downtown Danville. If you are in the area, I hope you get to see the show!
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Tackling our courthouse tower with collage proved a bit tricky after I found a spot to sit on Main Street. The noise and truck exhaust was more unpleasant than I expected. At any rate, I blocked it out and added enough detail to offer a fighting chance in the studio. “Gimme that countryside!”
I have not typically interpreted local landmarks and historical architecture, but I challenged myself with this distinctive cupola when the PAACK gathered in downtown Danville. The Boyle County Courthouse has an interesting story. It was completed during the Civil War and almost immediately became a hospital for casualties from the Battle of Perryville. Because the backyard of our home and studio adjoins the Courthouse boundary, we have lived in the shadow of its familiar clock tower since 1990. Perhaps it is just me, but something seems fitting about adding this to my paper creations during the year that America celebrates an important anniversary of its founding document, since so many people were caught up in a battle to determine its promise for Kentucky and the Union. Some of the wounded soldiers survived with the care they received beneath the Boyle icon, and others died there, so far from their own homes. Abe’s peculiar wartime remark provides a hint of how vital the border state of Kentucky was to the effort, and the men on both sides of the bloody conflict near Danville surely knew it. Over a thousand of them paid with their lives.
Tower of Boyle
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
6.25 x 8.375 inches
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It is hard to believe how long it has been since I first sat to observe the Caldwell stable with the Plein Air Artists of Central Kentucky. It would be two years before I returned to the same spot for more pasting, and now this panel is finished at last, nearly a year after that! At any rate, I am pleased with the result, so this piece will be included in our upcoming show at Art Center of the Bluegrass. My thanks to Marion and Rob Caldwell for the extended hospitality!
The 2026 exhibition of PAACK artworks will have five of my plein-air creations on display. The one featured here has a horse (Rocky) and a smaller piece includes cattle. Incorporating livestock into my pictorials has had a long and preposterous gestation, and, after tricking myself into breaking the ice at the 2025 Paint the Town challenge, I’ve gotten more comfortable this season with interpreting animals with collage.
It’s about time, don’t you think?
Stable with Rocky
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
found papers, tissue, gel transfers, tea bags
on canvas panel, 10.875 x 8.125 inches
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Everyone!
You’re invited to the opening reception of
our duo exhibition at Fine Art Editions gallery.
Thursday, July 23 ~ 6:30 to 8pm
C O N V E R S A T I O N S
Dialogue in Pastel and Collage
with Julie Quick and John Andrew Dixon
Hockensmith’s Fine Art Editions
146 East Main Street
Georgetown, Kentucky
Thanks for your interest in my collage en plein air. Hover over each thumbnail to see the title and to check availability of the original artwork. All of the landscapes that you see in this gallery can be ordered as fine prints. Click to view a larger image.
Link here to scroll the original blog posts.
View my LITTER-ALLY KENTUCKY collection, too!
“Although I have tiny, weak wrists and painful thumb joints, the great blessing of my life has been my able hands, ever responsive to what in contrast has always seemed to be a limited and resistant creative vision, more prone to disappoint than my loyal dexterity.”
— journal, 1/12/25
It is fortunate indeed that one of the most extraordinary heritage sites in the Midwest happens to be located nearby — Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. One would think that an artist fond of working outside might make art there often. I have not. The probable reason is that I did not consider my evolving skills up to the task — until recently. Or perhaps I should say that it was never about a facility with paper at all, but more to do with an apparent reluctance to interpreting landmark-worthy scenes.
I am getting past that stumbling block, thank goodness.
I began with the sheep enclosure. During my first visit, I sketched a workshop and dwelling on the east side of the settlement, too. When I returned to that same spot, I focused on completing the drystone-lined pen, but kept pasting paper on the other architectural composition now featured here. Documenting my time in its studio follow-up was not precise, so I describe East Village as a plein-air piece with hesitation, although it has the spirit of one for sure. My goal was to capture the dignity of the setting with a rustic effect. As part of the finished look, I preserved rough edges of a scrounged substrate. Your opinion would be of interest to me!
East Village
Mercer County, Kentucky
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
found paper, gel transfers, tissue, tea bags
on vintage notebook cover, 12.5 x 6 inches
“He was working at a pace he knew he could sustain until quitting time; he was hitting his lick. The difficulty had come to be balanced by his being equal to it. He seemed almost to be gliding, as if drawn on now not by will but by gravity.”
— Wendell Berry, ”A Friend of Mine” from That Distant Land
My collage painting sold at the “Paint the Town” reception on Saturday evening. No matter how much preparation I do, the annual plein-air challenge forces me to cut and paste faster than at any other time. This year I made a tiny preliminary study 
of my intended composition the previous day, and I think that helped me stay impressionistic enough to meet the speed constraint. My thanks to Kate Savage and all her Arts Connect board members who created another successful, celebratory event — plus the artwork buyer, too!
The resulting exhibition is on display at the Main Lexington Public Library until mid July. Visit the Arts Shop with this link to purchase other creations from the day — for as long as they last!
Aspect with Apse
St Peter Church, Lexington, Kentucky
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
on stretched canvas 10 x 10 inches
plus handcrafted wood frame
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Dry Day on the Fork
Boyle County, Kentucky
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
scrounged paper, litter, gel transfers, tea bags, dried botanicals
on canvas panel, 10 x 8 inches
available for purchase
I’m pleased to announce that the Artists in Residence have been chosen by Kentucky’s Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest and that I was one of nine Honorable Mentions out of 205 worldwide applications.
Even though I didn’t receive a residency for 2026, I’ve been asked to teach a class there in September. My one-day collage workshop will emphasize “painting in papers’” from nature. Congratulations to Marilee Salvator from Bowling Green and the other selected artists!
Here are four of the collage landscapes included in my submission:
Isn’t there something about the “godfather
of merz” that transcends mere homage?
Good Ol’ Boy Dada, part 3
collage artifact by J A Dixon
scrounged paper, packaging, litter
on book cover, 10.25 x 8.375 inches
“The holistic quality of craft lies not only in engaging the whole person but also in harmonizing his understanding of himself in the world.”
— Peter Korn“Well I guess my advice would be: be patient. If you follow your gut and not the advertisements on the side of the bus, everything will turn out as nature intended.”
— Nick Offerman
Plenty of time on the east end of Shaker Village (during past outings) paid off in the studio recently. I decided to complete this one during the final week of my March Exertion. I intend to leave the rough, unfinished edges on this piece. When I was “painting in papers” on location, I could hear the sheep, but they never showed up in my view of their enclosure. Actually, I can still hear them (haha).
As the whole world is forced to swallow “large language models” that have run amok (which nobody really asked for), it is satisfying and gratitude inducing to make something authentic with my own hands at the historic setting of a culture revered for its artisanship.
At Pleasant Hill
Mercer County, Kentucky
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
found paper, gel transfers, tissue, tea bags
on vintage notebook cover, 12.5 x 6 inches
finished during my March Exertion, day 28