Dori DeCamillis

Last weekend I went for a relaxing vacation in Fairhope, Alabama with my husband and daughter. Fairhope is a cozy and charming hamlet half hour north of the Gulf of Mexico, on the Eastern shore of Mobile Bay. (Description probably useful for a tourist guide, if anyone wants it.) We stayed with an artist friend, Susie Bowman, and hung out with two other artist friends, Tony and Rachel Wright. One evening as the sun was setting, Scott and Tony fished from Susie's dock (that is surely bigger than our house in Birmingham) and caught some whopping catfish and croakers--at least 5 or six inches long. The rest of us sat in rocking chairs with our feet up, taking in the colors and laughing at the men's persistent display of unmanliness. Anyway, the best story of the evening came from Rachel, who relayed her tale of living as a Bohemian in Greece for a couple years, so poor they had to walk up 6 flights of stairs to live in a run-down place with no running water. One night while walking...

Noah Gentry is one of my 7 year old students. He is bright, sensitive, funny, and wiser than most adults I know. He saw a list of art class rules on the door of my teaching space, and decided to make his own rules. Here they are. 1.) Please follow this rule and all the other rules. 2.) Read all the rules, but only if you're a first time visitor. 3.) Get messy. (This rule is actually very different from Miss Dori's real policy. Her motto is "You spill, I kill.") 4.) Only come in here if you like art. 5.) Don't be a bully. 6.) Have skills. If you don't , just learn from Miss Dori. 7.) Admire the artwork. 8.) Complete every assignment. But if you can't, just try and finish it next time. 9.) Whenever you mess up, turn it into a happy accident. 10.) Don't think that your art looks bad. 11.) Know your colors. At least your primaries and secondaries.

I'm in the editing stage of completing my second book, title TBA, about growing up in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Here is a description: One of the most sought-after destinations in the world for outdoor recreation, Steamboat Springs, Colorado offers visitors gorgeous high-country scenery, luxury accommodations, and some of the best skiing on the planet. But in the 1960s Steamboat differed very little from other small towns in America. Unpretentious people with rural values worked in the fields and mines, or owned small businesses. Occasionally local ranchers drove cattle right down Main Street. I grew up in Steamboat just as the outside world started to take notice of my remote and wildly beautiful hometown. The rich and the glamorous had discovered a winter playground, and we natives were forced to adapt. In my book, my unconventional family awkwardly tries to fit in with the changing community, torn between the “hippies and the cowboys.” Like other independent mountain natives...

Published in 2000, The Freeway is a non-fiction account of the three years I lived on the road in a vintage motorhome, making a living at outdoor art festivals. It is available on Amazon.com . Here is a quick description written by Joyce Maynard, author of "To Die For," which was made into a good movie starring Nicole Kidman: Two young painters in love sell everything they own, buy a vintage motorhome and hit the road to seek their fortune. This is the story of their adventures. In a voice as unaffected as the paintings she and her husband create, Dori DeCamillis tells the story of their three year long journey. Often funny, sometimes heartbreaking-with echoes of Huckleberry Finn, Jack Kerouac and Lucy and Desi in "The Long Long Trailer"-The Freeway takes a reader not simply across America, but to a place somewhere in the center of the heart. And, here is a review from Amazon that I particularly liked: "I'm glad to see this book is still in print. It deser...

I'm a visual artist, writer, mom, gallery owner, and U.S. citizen. I started this blog to keep interested parties updated as to my whereabouts and goings on, especially with my art and books. So, here's what's going on with my art: I'm working on a series of large panels depicting places in Alabama. I incorporate handmade ceramic tile and oil paint on wood and copper. I started the series a couple years ago when I was awarded the Alabama Council on the Arts Fellowship for Individual Artists. I'm working on painting number 11 now. The show is scheduled to exhibit at the Mobile Museum of Art in Spring of 2011. (Museums have to schedule shows far in advance). I'm working on scheduling more exhibits. Visit my website at www.reddotgallery.com I also have a Facebook page. Be my friend!