{"id":15378,"date":"2021-08-27T11:30:03","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T15:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/?p=15378"},"modified":"2023-07-13T19:35:19","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T23:35:19","slug":"annual-paack-show-opens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/archives\/15378","title":{"rendered":"Eighth Chapter: Annual PAACK show opens . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>En Plein Air<\/em><\/strong><\/a>
\nan exhibition of recent
\nwork by the Plein Air
\nArtists of Central Kentucky<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been an exceptional season for making art outdoors, and our local Art Center of the Bluegrass<\/em><\/a> is currently presenting many of the resulting creations. I have six collage miniatures on display as part of the show. Enjoy the exhibit in-person or browse the virtual gallery until 9\/11.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the highlights of the spring was our gathering at the backyard of Lee and David Simpson, with its quiet explosion of white and pink dogwood trees. They were certainly calling attention to themselves here and all over Danville. What a perfect day to be outside with the PAACK and \u201cpainting with paper,\u201d thanks to my mobile collage kit. After some initial work, I gradually became convinced the scene was taking shape<\/a>. As location coordinator for the day, I\u2019d gotten off to an awkward start. I eventually came away from the pleasurable day with a solid interim stage<\/a>, but as I began to finish the trees in the studio, it was clear that the piece needed more than details to improve it. <\/a>When I decided that the foreground was too deep, I impetuously peeled off the base and moved it up an inch or so \u2014 after all, this is collage. That one modification helped everything about the look<\/a>. The rest of the process became obvious. If I reinforced the sun-activated colors and spent a bit more time with the fence area on the right side, I could declare it finished, as long as I stayed within an overall time allocation that was legitimately en plein air. I was pleased to achieve a 70%\/30% solution.<\/p>\n

Whenever I gather under the sky with traditional landscape painters, their impressive work challenges me to \u201cdo my thing\u201d with paper. With each outing, it\u2019s feeling more like I\u2019m painting, too! <\/a>This was true in May, when we spread out to interpret the country home site of Paula and Ken Scott. A particular view of their wrap-around porch and surrounding garden captured my eye. I wanted to combine some hard-edge cutting with my evolving \u201cbrushstroke\u201d technique<\/a>. As is often the case, I pushed the finishing touches back in the studio to the 50\/50 limit, matching my location time with more detailed refinements indoors. I\u2019m still trying to solve how to bring something closer to a level of interesting density while still outside. Perhaps I\u2019ll find that, by necessity, a totally site-based collage needs to be simpler in expression and more decisive in composition. A milestone in June<\/a> and the subsequent Paint the Town<\/em><\/a> experience would drive home the point, and also emphasize the importance of having a supply of \u201cprepared papers\u201d on hand to boost speed and expand my available vocabulary of effects.<\/p>\n

I like to work outside because I like to be outside. When I formerly thought of myself as an amateur triathlete, I\u2019d cross-train right through the hottest days of the summer. It doesn\u2019t bother me to extend an Art Out into the late afternoon. Sometimes the morning shade has long since abandoned me. If I\u2019m well into the groove, I can barely notice. Before I get totally off the subject here, I should state that I actually rely on direct sunlight to promote the drying of my collage surface, since I\u2019m usually working wet-on-wet. A good example of this was the day PAACK gathered in the nearby Forkland community. I don\u2019t fault others for finding a shady spot to paint. I set up not far away in the open sun. <\/p>\n

In the decades since this Ohioan adopted Central Kentucky as my permanent home, I\u2019ve developed an affection for the distinct topography and knobby woodlands of our area. Sure, the famous horse farms and limestone palisades are always handy, but I\u2019ll never get enough of the unique contours of a \u201cgumdrop horizon.\u201d The Forkland community, which straddles three adjacent counties, was a destination that fit my attachment to \u201cThe Knobs\u201d. The result was On the North Rolling Fork<\/a>,<\/em> one of my favorite landscape miniatures of the year.<\/p>\n

 
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Dogwood Day<\/em><\/strong>
\ncollage miniature by J A Dixon
\n70% \/ 30% \u2014 site to studio
\n8 x 7.75 inches<\/p>\n

\u2022  S O L D<\/p>\n

 
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Country Porch<\/em><\/strong>
\ncollage miniature by J A Dixon
\n50% \/ 50% \u2014 site to studio
\n7.75 x 7.75 inches<\/p>\n

\u2022  S O L D<\/p>\n

 
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

On the North Rolling Fork<\/em><\/strong>
\ncollage miniature by J A Dixon
\n50% \/ 50% \u2014 site to studio
\n8 x 7.75 inches<\/p>\n

\u2022  S O L D<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

En Plein Air an exhibition of recent work by the Plein Air Artists of Central Kentucky It\u2019s been an exceptional season for making art outdoors, and our local Art Center of the Bluegrass is currently presenting many of the resulting creations. I have six collage miniatures on display as part of the show. Enjoy the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[216,8,18,249],"tags":[322,90,308,316,317,557,313,628,418,318,96,319],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15378"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15378"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17445,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15378\/revisions\/17445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}