elisedodeles_bip4ms, Author at Elise Dodeles Art

Where have we been, where are we now, where are we going?

That is a paraphrasing of a series of paintings by Paul Gauguin. I was reading Wild Thing: a biography of Paul Gauguin by Sue Prideaux and saw these paintings by the Post-Impressionist. I had done a small sketch that I was turning into a 30 x 40 inch painting. I saw that the title could be represented by my painting and took it. The St Sebastian is the past, while the full length figure symbolizes what lies ahead, and what is our present. The heads are the spectators that I enjoy putting into my work to represent the viewer. What is going on? they seem to be those of us trying to find out what is happening.

Where have we been, where are we now, where are we going? Read More »

Painting and Drawing

This is how I want to paint, with the pentimenti. The beauty and poignancy of mistakes is one reason for the power of a work of art. It is why I love looking at drawings, where the thought process is still evident. When I find myself unable to paint it is usually because I am trying to be perfect: an impossible task. If people expect it of you, run.

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Finished this today

oil painting on canvas, 30 x 40 inches

Finished this today Read More »

Carole

Carole Read More »

Beginning of a Visual Diary

of Carole

Beginning of a Visual Diary Read More »

A Woman and her Dog

The commission I am working on now

A Woman and her Dog Read More »

Riffing on Reality

While speaking with my mother I noticed she often brings the past into the present with the past being as real to her as the present moment. Her memory issues started me thinking about how different realities are represented in paintings. With the painting I am working on now I am bringing in various images to underpin the idea that many realities may be described in one painting. Since I utilize artworks by other artists to inspire my own, I have used a watercolor landscape for my first layer of reality. This is the dream layer because it is less clearly defined than the ‘realistic’ layer to come next. As in a dream, it is in some places just an outline, barely recognizable. Thus far I am pleased with the result: a dream like reality achieved with thinly applied layers of paint.