Dori DeCamillis

In November I enjoyed an artist residency at Hambidge Residency Center in North Georgia. Here are a few of the thousands of images I took, mostly for my new paintings. To read more about my adventure, check out my Without a Net blog. The above image is from the Hambidge grounds. They own 600 acres in the breathtaking North GA mountains.  My studio table I'd break the internet if I posted all the mushroom photos I took. Here is one. There were several site works of art in the woods. We visited a few of the other artist studios.  We had a little fall color left. It was chilly, which meant less sweat and fewer ticks. The many pools and ponds made for good reflection photos.

Unrelated to the photo above, my good friend Kerry Madden-Lunsford just had this wonderful article published in the Los Angeles Times. I enjoyed it so much I just had to share. It's about her visit to a local prison to teach children's book writing to inmates.  Kerry's Article

The state of my new novel I've written two books, both memoirs of different times in my life. Links are below. The long-awaited news (mostly awaited by me) is that that I'm writing a third book, a novel. I can't reveal the title or anything about it, but I'm enjoying the process of writing fiction so much I had to share. I've always been told not to tell anyone when you start a big writing project like this, but I tend to break the rules pretty much all the time, so I just did it again. I tend to finish what I start, even if, as in the case of both my last two books, it takes 6 years. So perhaps in 2022 you'll see the results, but I hope it's much sooner. If you know me, please ask about it and give encouragement, and that way you'll probably see it finished sooner.  If you haven't read them try: The Freeway and My Steamboat

By the Self-Same Sky  Here are paintings I completed in the past few months. The titles are taken from Shakespeare's sonnets and vaguely point to the theme of each piece. All pieces are 16" x 20" and are oil paint on board. Watch for a detailed explanation of them on my blog, WithoutANetBlog.com . To see all my paintings over the past few years go to  Dori's Art Page on Red Dot Gallery site Time Debateth With Decay The Painted Banquet Bids My Heart Everything That Grows I Engraft You New And Darkly Bright

Don't forget to enjoy the posts on Without a Net, my blog that explains in detail the meaning of each of my paintings. Today's post is about this ermine painting, "For Thy Sweet Love Remembered." (My titles come from Shakespeare's sonnets.)

My daughter, Annabelle illustrated this newly-released book by James McClintock. She did pen-and-ink drawings of fish for the chapter headings. The book is available for pre-sale on Amazon , and she will have book signings this week. They are invite-only or I would gladly put the word out. Hopefully soon I'll post a few images of her drawings.

An article I wrote appears in April's issue of Ceramics Monthly . Artist Sebastian Moh had an exhibit at The Kiln Studio and Gallery in Fairhope, AL a few months ago. He and Susie Bowman, the owner of The Kiln, came up with an event combining his opening with a a private dinner for ten lucky cooked by Sebastian. He is an accomplished Asian chef, and his fabulous meal was served on his own handmade bowls combined with dinnerware of other artists from the region. The evening was unforgettable, and I can't go into more. You must read the article. It's only in the magazine now, and will come out online eventually. 

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...

I'm finally announcing my new blog, Without a Net. It will offer more in-depth information about my paintings, and will include features about people and organizations I find fascinating. The blog you're reading now will remain more of a personal scrapbook, and Without a Net will be a venue for my writing with plenty of art, humor, and connectivity with others. withoutanetblog.com

I’m currently working on two new books that are quite different from my last two, but some of my readers will recognize a thread that connects them all. My first books, “ The Freeway ” and “ My Steamboat ” are memoirs from my younger years. Basically, I had some crazy, funny stories I needed to get on paper before I forgot them, and they hopefully made for an entertaining read. My new books are both about my art. The first one is a picture book (with minimal text) about “Exhibit A,” a series of paintings I created from 2006 to 2011. The project, partially funded by an Alabama Council on the Arts fellowship, highlighted places in my adopted home state. (The A in Exhibit A is for Alabama, if you haven’t figured it out.) I traveled around the state gathering images and information that inspired 12 intricate panels that incorporate oil painting and inlaid ceramic tile. The series was labor-intensive but very satisfying, and I’m happy to finally have the images ...

I'll be giving a talk and reading about my book next Tuesday, 11:00 at Jefferson State College, AL April 16, 11AM-Noon, Room AL 111 (Allen Library)  at Carson Road Campus,  2601 Carson Rd.  More info (205) 983-5911

From my self-portrait series, "See Right Through Me," this is called "Buriest Thy Content." It is about the nasty inner critic who ruins creativity with over-analysis and cynicism. All my titles come from Shakespeare's sonnets. I'm currently writing a book about the series. 16" x 20"  Oil on Board

My story continues from previous blog posts. All photos came out bad from this day in Paris, so enjoy this image from Versailles, a preview of the blog to come. We were duds the next day. We drug ourselves out of bed at 9:00, knowing we’d missed our golden opportunity to miss long lines at the Musee d”Orsay. We didn’t care. We’d known all along that there might be a day where we’d be too tuckered out to race around, so we decided to take this one slow. Most days we navigated the Metro with expert skill, but this day we got lost twice. Had to get off and find new circuitous routes to get us back on track. In our meanderings we passed one musician after another playing La Vie en Rose, hoping for a coin or two. Sitting and staring doesn’t take much energy, so our longer rides didn’t upset us much. Because we didn’t arrive at opening, the lines at the Musee d’Orsay were the longest we’d encountered on the trip, but they still weren’t bad. We had our special Paris Pass...

Anselm Kiefer ...continued from previous blog posts Feeling sufficiently rested (or so we thought) we decided to take a walk from Place de la Bastille to the Pompidou Center through the Marais. Rick Steves’ guidebook had a nice little walking tour suggested, and we eagerly followed it to the letter. We started at a bench outside the new Opera House where a delicious looking Frenchman pointed us on our way. We’d heard that the Marais is quite hip, and it is. All Parisians are very chic, but this area is a bit trendier, rowdier, and gayer than we’d seen elsewhere. The neighborhood had skinny, cobblestone streets with a variety of architectural styles, like the postcard of France one might expect. Stores sold gourmet teas, Japanese stuff of all varieties, scarves, modern furniture. Pedestrians wore more leather, scarily high heels, and wild scarves than in other neighborhoods. I felt like a frumpy white-bread American. We ended up at the Centre Pompidou at 5:00, hu...

My second installment of my Paris trip story from spring break of this year. After seeing tourist lines out the door and down the street, we declined a visit to Saint Chapelle Cathedral, which is right across from Notre Dame and claiming some of the most spectacular stained glass windows in Christendom. We heard on the Rick Steves website that there was scaffolding covering much of the inside view anyway, so we instead hopped next door and took a gander through the Conciergerie, the famous prison where Marie Antoinette was held captive before her Reign of Terror beheading. The main room of the interior was quite lovely and mysterious with its dramatically-lit rows of arches. Throughout the rest of the building were mostly small hallways, small cells, and very thick walls. The grand highlight was Ms. Antoinette’s small and dingy cell, complete with dusty furniture and a dusty mannequin representing the fallen dauphine herself. On our way to the Arch de Triump...

My latest book, My Steamboat, is now available on Kindle! http://www.amazon.com/My-Steamboat-Town-Childhood-ebook/dp/B005I5LJWU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316558292&sr=8-2

Below is an article I wrote a few years ago for the Birmingham Weekly about Michael Lucero's  exhibit at Faye Gold Gallery in Atlanta. These sculptures are still some of my favorite work by Lucero.  Worth the Trip Michael Lucero at Fay Gold in Atlanta The ceramic sculptures of Michael Lucero have been challenging the customs of the medium for almost 30 years. His imagery and forms have been inspired by everything from pre-Columbian and African art to contemporary popular objects, and most of the time he has combined suggestions of many cultures and traditions in the same piece. His work has always been somewhat outrageous. Until May 31 st at Fay Gold Gallery in Atlanta Michael Lucero exhibits a new body of work that demonstrates his predilection for uniting the primitive and the well-executed, the crafty and the modern, the humorous and the frightening. “The Cast”, as the show is named, is a group of cute, cuddly creatures—kitties, puppies...

Old friend of mine took this picture of her reading "My Steamboat" while vacationing in the South Seas.

Above: Me in 1964 I’ll be home for Christmas. My hometown is Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and I’m driving there from Alabama. In addition to hanging out with family for the holidays, skiing, snow-shoeing, and eating too much, I have a little business to attend to. I’m having a book-signing for my new book, “My Steamboat: A Ski Town Childhood,” and I’m going to be on TV. From the emails and Facebook messages I’ve been receiving from old Steamboat friends, I think there will be more than 2 people at my book-signing, which is quite exciting when you’re not a famous author. (I call myself a micro-celebrity. Twenty-seven people know who I am.) I am pleased with the response to the book so far, which is a big relief after 8 years of writing and editing, wondering who in the world would care about my little story. In a previous blog post I expressed worry about the impending release of the book. I had that panicky last-minute regret feeling, wondering if people would hate it or dismiss...