Light of the Moon (detail) by Judy MartinWhat is it about spots? There's something so appealing about them. Spots, speckles, dots..... and circles. Guinea fowl feathers immediately come to mind. Finding a guinea fowl feather even if I've found several in one day somehow feels lucky. It must be the spots!
Light of the moon by Judy MartinWhen I discovered this painting on Judy's blog I felt the same way I feel when finding Guinea Fowl feathers. Lucky and uplifted.
Omo, Ethiopia by photographer Hans Silvester
I love Hans Silvester's photo series of the Omo tribe in Ethiopia. I have one of his books on my coffee table. It is fascinating .... and filled with spotty, dotty body painting. See more here.
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Mobile Table(1) by Laura Howard
Laura Howard's felt art is as bright and cheerful as this photograph of her work table. See here at Lupin Handmade.
"Lupin Handmade is run by me, Laura "Lupin" Howard. I'm a not-quite-grown-up girl living in England who likes to make stuff. I drink a lot of tea, am partial to a nice bit of cake and am completely obsessed with felt."
Rainbow Circles by Laura Howard
Color Study (recycled metal) by David Buckingham. Costello-Childs Contemporary Fine Art
Fibonacci 31 by Jylian Gustlin
Travelogue by Giles Bettison"Giles Bettison is a master glass artist from Adelaide, SA, Australia. He has evolved the ancient Venetian technique called "Murrini" or mosaic glass to construct patterned sheets from colored glass canes. He cuts and combines these sheets to build his luminous vessels piece by piece."
Tubule, Soft Cell Tissue Series by Jessica Drenk
Jessica Drenk constructed this piece from singed toilet rolls coated in wax.
Great post. Love that top painting and the bottom is amazing.
ReplyDeleteCircles complete us, contain us, we are cells; even in photography the so called Circles of confussion are attractive;
we recognizing the splintered splots of splattered love light we .
Great post. Thanks for taking the time to assemble all of these great images.
ReplyDeletei associate the appeal of dots with fun. what a charming post robyn and what a lot of lovely links to go through. i have just opened Lupin handmade and it makes me so happy to see the pink felt squares.
ReplyDeletei would have never ever thought that the last two pictures were made from the material mentioned. so unique!
hmmm...word verif says 'adection'. yeah, i think i am 'addected'.
What a way to begin my morning! Your post is wonderful and I discovered yet another artist to admire...Jylian Gustlin. Thanks so much!I've been loving the grid and loving circles and hers are fabulous!
ReplyDeleteI can honestly say I've never thought about spots in art! but seeing them highlighted here puts a smile on my face - they are so joyful!! Jessica Drenk's work is fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI really am amazed by how you find all these fabulous artists Robyn!
So many glorious D O T S !!!
ReplyDeleteUplifting, indeed.
Oh, those toilet paper rolls, perfect. Thanks Robyn. I feel like your blog is an on-going class in contemporary art. And its my favorite class!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE a dot. I do prefer the more freestyle, accidental looking ones. Going to check out those links now.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the most appealing collection of dots!
ReplyDeleteI must say, Robyn, that giving us a variety of spotted art is a very good idea - to see a whole range is most interesting. I suppose you could do it with any theme really but this really comes off very well. I love the felt lady and shall now go to her site and have a look. Thank you for a most entertaining post.
ReplyDeleteyou find the most creative inspiring topics to bring to the table
ReplyDeletedots
and everyone uses them in their work from time to time
or if not
it is their signature
the most compelling 'dot' you brought up to hightlight
"I" think
is the lovely lady with her rendition of dots on her face
body painting
and her expressive headress!
she is just beautiful
apparently it has been awhile that i have stopped in
you had several wonderful posts below this one
the elephants...!
Mansuetude, this post started off as spots but just seemed to flow into circles too.
ReplyDeleteChris, I just love to find!
Priya, Lupin Handmade is such a happy bubbly site isn't it ..... and Laura is partial to cake so you have something in common.
Mary Ann, Leslie and Donna introduced me to Jylian's work and I'm so pleased they did.
Studio Judith, ebullient aren't they!
Leslie, I was drawn to the toilet roll piece until I saw they were toilet rolls ... eew! .... but I'm over the eew now :-)
Kim, no surprise you love dots.
Theresa, glad you enjoyed them.
Weaver, you will love Lupin Handmade.
I love your posts Robyn. So much to admire and drool over and all those lovely links to visit. I particularly enjoyed the Omo people. I have seen the book of the images and it is gorgeous. I think it may have to find its way home with me....haha.j So much creative imagination. They are such a beautiful people also.
ReplyDeleteI loved Laura Howard's bright and beautiful felts and the snake story made me smile. I am glad he was rescued to live another day. My brother has snakes and we had the opportunity to handle one of his corn snakes the other day. Such a beautiful creature and not a bit slimy or scary as people think.
Karin, spots are joyful aren't they.
ReplyDeleteMar, the face and body painting of the Omo Tribe is quite extaordinary. Follow the link. You'll be amazed.
Wow Robyn...I am blown away by the beautiful and outrageous creativity and cultural artistry of the people of the Omo Tribe! I checked out the photos and watched Hans video..just amazing.. I have to get one of his books. Thanks for sharing!!!
ReplyDeletemy art world broadened again by you...thank you....
ReplyDeleteOoh, thanks for featuring my work in amongst so much spotty loveliness! :) Much appreciated, Laura x
ReplyDeleterobyn, i don't know what it is about spots and dots but they sure call me... have you seen jude hill's (spirit cloth) dot pieces? they're divine. xo
ReplyDeleteGotta love the dots! Thanks for putting so much great art all in one place.
ReplyDeleteI love the spots used to create shadow particularly in pyrography and ink drawings and close up on photos. The simple dot on a page can reveal so much.
ReplyDeletegreat thought provoking post. Regards Dave
Robyn, when you did the post on spirals I was inspired to do some great artist journal pages and now today I have your spots and dots. What will I do I wonder. What fun. i always love being inspired by your blog.
ReplyDeleteLots of love from susan in australia
Robyn,
ReplyDeleteI thought you might like to check out the latest post on Two Coats of Paint
http://www.twocoatsofpaint.com/2009/09/bill-weiss-go-round.html.
It supports your circle theme which I quite enjoyed today.
How do you find all this amazing stuff. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhat a happy post! I love dots as well, so I'm just sitting here smiling.
ReplyDeleteyou have such a wonderful eye and thanks for sharing the patterns that you see... with us!
ReplyDeleteJust like your black and white post, this dots post hits the jackpot for me as I also love dots and circles and I also love Jylian Gustlin's work and it is fun to see other artists I have not discovered yet.
ReplyDeleteOh wow. That felt work is right up my alley. Thanks for the link!
ReplyDeleteI love circles and spots and such. Thank you so much for opening my ever-expanding world even further! Excellent post, fantastic links!
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Candace in Athens.
Roby, Did some art to celebrate your spots. I combined it with another prompt I had about dreaming. I did an artist journal page....
ReplyDeletehttp://srhosken.blogspot.com/2009/09/dreaming-and-spots.html
Lots of love from susan in australia
Well, as my aka name was Spot this post just makes me happy!
ReplyDeletePlease, resist nothing! I am drawn to circles and curves so this post is a delight. I've noticed your own circles in your art too, like your profile pic.
ReplyDeleteThankyou for your comment the other day, networking is a great word too..I didn't think of that one but networking is a great way of connecting and becoming part of a bigger puzzle/picture.
:) L
Looks really great, I like all of them! :)
ReplyDeleteOh, you've made me very happy! Love those dots & spots. They make me smile. ~PJ
ReplyDeletei cant tell you how much i enjoyed this and the last two posts robyn.
ReplyDelete:)
thank you for sharing pleasure.
Cathy, strange that people expect snakes to be slimy. It depends on where they are found I suppose.
ReplyDeleteLisa, the photographs are jaw droppingly amazing aren't they?
Nancy, thank you so much! I'm broadening my own art world in the process.
Laura, I'm honored that your work is gracing my blog. Thank YOU.
Lynne, I have seen Jude Hills work but I'm going back for a better look.
Pat, it's a pleasure!
Dave, I think I could get carried away with all this dottiness :-)
Susan, I enjoyed seeing your dotty journal page.
Margaret, thanks for the link. I liked Bill's work and in fact the more I looked at it the more I liked it.
Pink Dogwood, I probably spend far too much time on the internet .... that's how :-)
littlescrapsofmagic :-)
La Dolce Vita, it's such a pleasure.
Donna, glad it hit the spot!
Heather, enjoy!
Hi Candace, this internet world is filled to the brim with amazing art and I enjoy sharing my discoveries.
Annie, I had forgotten you were once Spot!
Lisa, resist nothing ...lol... I will never get off the internet at this rate.
Lawendula, feast your eyes :-)
pjhornberger :-) There's a lot of smiling going on.
Megha, my pleasure!
Great images! I'm been making circle marks on some of my pieces lately by using the end of a bullet shell. And the cardboard tube from toilet paper.
ReplyDeleteI so agree how compelling dots are - your visual choices are just wonderful!! :))
ReplyDeleteI've always been more of a stripes and spirals person but recently I've found myself drawn to spots and dots and circles... no idea why. I even bought myself something to wear with dots on it recently and you're right, it feels fun and joyful. I wonder why that is? Gorgeous examples of spotty dottiness you've found here... I love the Hans Silvester photograph and the Jylian Gustlin especially. Lovely!
ReplyDeletei really like the justlin painting. it speaks to me. i think spots are such a universal symbol of fun and creativity.
ReplyDeleteI love Hans Silvester's photographs too - they are breath-taking. The felt circles are so cute!
ReplyDeleteWow! My heart skipped a beat when I saw this post! I am loving dots and circles and ovals right now and this just boosted my inspiration into high gear. Love everyone but especially the felt dots and the glass.
ReplyDeleteSymmetry, asymmetry, repetition, pattern, infinity. I love them too!!!
ReplyDeleteThe layers of colored dots on top of dots reminds me of the current exhibit at the Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH of Chuck Close's work. When you look at some of it up close (no pun intended - I hate puns)you can see 3 to 5 layers of paint on top of each other. It is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThank you for leaving your comment on my post.. I did look up Peter Beard and LOVED his photo collages-- I had never come across his work before so thank you for the recommendation. Still love all these dot and circle paintings on second viewing.
ReplyDeleteDon, the simplest of tools are so effective.
ReplyDeleteJeane, I could have featured 50!
Kendalee, maybe because dots remind one of bubbles in a glass of champagne ... or children blowing soap bubbles.
Julie, follow the link there are a lot more wonderful paintings on Justlin's site.
Bindu, this is the second or third time I've featured Hans Silvester's photos.
Leanne, my heartskips regularly :-)
Kerri, enjoy!
Pattynubs, I popped over to the Akron Art Museum site. Thanks for mentioning it.
Donna, I love it when I can introduce Peter Beard to someone for the first time!!
Just love all of these dots, spots, circles!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Australian glass artist, Giles Bettison does amazing work (thank you for making me aware of him).
Love the piece by Jylian Gustlin, 'Fibonacci 31' and I'll always remember the first post you did introducing us to that wonderful series of photos of the Omo Tribe. Truly beautiful.
Jacky xox
Yay! Lupin's felt art is wonderful. Is it just me, or do the British have an especially dynamic sense of color?
ReplyDeleteThe glass is great. My mother was a glassblower and once she explained about the milifiori canes being very heavy to start with. I wonder if that's the technique he used.
And thoes toilet paper roll are strangely compelling...
Love your 'curating', Robyn. These are great 'shows.'
A wonderful post. Spots circles dots whatever seem to be pervading th e blogosphere at the moment. This is a great overview. I love Lupin too.
ReplyDeletePattern is such an important aspect of creating. Phenomenal pieces, all. You always have the most wonderful discoveries to share!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the tremendous effort you put into your posts. I want to be like you when my blog grows up...
Yes! I remember this post of course! thankyou for the link to this funky post. I love the reference to the feathers:)
ReplyDeleteOh, and can I please borrow your profile pic as the image to go with the link?
ReplyDelete