Dori DeCamillis

My husband, Scott Bennett recently judged a juried exhibition called Single Stem. A collection of bud vases, each designed to showcase a single specific flower, will open this Friday at The Kiln Studio and Gallery in Fairhope, Alabama, from 6 to 9 pm. These are just two samples of the delightful pieces Scott chose.

Here are my newest paintings. They are small (4"x9") and are a light version of my more introspective paintings. Which is a little break for me. I call them my Party Animals. Available at Red Dot Gallery.

Last weekend I traveled to Fairhope, Alabama , for an art-filled weekend of fun and business. Farihope is a picturesque tourist town on the Eastern shore of Mobile Bay, and could remind one of  a Southern version of Carmel, California. My husband Scott and I traveled with our good friend Sebastian Moh , who had an opening at the Kiln Studio gallery. Susie Bowman, another good friend and owner of the gallery hosted the opening exhibit and, the following night, a grand dinner cooked by Sebastian. I can't post images of the dinner because I'm contracted to write an article about the gathering for Ceramics Monthly magazine, but I will say it was all delightful. I will give notice when the article is scheduled to be published.  The Mardi Gras exhibit at the Mobile Museum of Art is comprehensive, overwhelming, and fabulous. We took a beach walk to see the remains of old kiln sites and a beach littered with pottery shards from the 1800s.  Some o...

Lucy Mashburn Here are the latest round of finished paintings by Red Dot oil painting students. I am always as pleased as they are with the finished results. Larry Ken Stalnaker Patsy Haywood Louise Parsons Pat Conrad

In Red Dot Kid Class the students were assigned to paint a plate of food that made them hungry. We painted acrylic-on-canvas pieces, and everyone got an A+ because they were definitely hungry. One of these paintings was done by me, as an example. You can guess which.

Please join us for our annual holiday exhibit at Red Dot Gallery. And stay tuned for photos of our new Cup Wall, a display for small ceramics. 

I took a quick weekend trip home to Steamboat, CO for the funeral of my Granny. She lived to be 94 and had a rich life, so her passing was marked with celebration as well as mourning. I had one day to take a few photos, and got in a few shots from the flights there and back as well. There were few leaves left in the area, but I managed to catch a few spots. Fetcher's Pond I always forget how colorful fall in the West is. Kansas from the plane. The Yampa River Northwest Colorado from the morning flight to Steamboat.

Stain glass shadows on meditation chairs and pillows This post is repeated on my other blog withoutanet.com . Photos below article. A couple weekends ago I was invited by a friend to spend four days at Magnolia Grove Monastery , a Buddhist meditation center under the auspices of the famous Vietnamese Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh. My friend comes to the center regularly, and had been wanting to share one of her favorite places with me for a while. Tucked away in the woods and fields of Mississippi, it was a bit like going to another country. The community of monks and nuns (with shaved heads and long brown robes) speak Vietnamese with some broken English. They are gentle and friendly, and make visitors feel peaceful just to look at them.  There is a large, beautiful Meditation Hall and statues of Buddha around the grounds. The rest of the buildings, for eating and sleeping, are fairly Spartan. We slept dormitory style in a small house. Meals consisted of simpl...

Steve Swanson on his return from a six month stay at ISS For the past six months I have had a friend in space. Steve Swanson, the astronaut, is a former classmate of mine from Steamboat Springs, and he just returned from a half year mission manning the International Space Station with a handful of other cosmonauts. I have followed his Facebook posts daily, and reveled in photos of auroras and sunsets over Earth, guessing games of islands and cities, and stories of his daily routine. Eating chocolate, going to the bathroom, and growing vegetables are all different in space, I've learned. How fun it is to learn it from someone I know! I, along with other classmates from Steamboat and friends of Steve got to ask personal questions and enjoy his self-depreciating, warm, and non-prissy sense of humor. I sure enjoyed referring to "my friend in space" for a while, but I'm happy he's safe back home again. Here is an article from the Steamboat Pilot from aft...

Scott and I just returned from a long weekend in Asheville, North Carolina, where we hung out with my sister, Dana She was there attending a workshop. I did my usual hiking, while Scott fished in the area. The shot above was from the Blue Ridge Parkway which runs through Asheville. This was taken in the morning before a hike in Craggy Gardens. A view from the Parkway while driving. From a hike to the top of Mt. Pisgah. Lots of lichen and fungus everywhere. Why they call it Craggy Gardens. Scott's tiny moose friend who rode with us. View from the top of Mt. Pisgah, a steep, rocky hike with a great reward at the end. Blotchy leaf patterns on Mt. Pisgah hike.