Art is a personal journey for me.  I played at art as a child. Enjoyed classes in junior high, high school, and college. Stopped painting to raise children for 30 years and then my sister, Virginia, suggested I take a sketch book on my trip to Canada. I painted on vacations while working in parks and recreation. Now, I am enjoying being a student of water color painting. My mentor teacher is Hokusai.  My favorite quote that expresses my passion for art was written by Hokusai who changed his name to "Manji, Old Man Mad about Painting:"

 

" From the age of six I had a penchant for copying the form of things, and from about fifty, my pictures were frequently published; but until the age of seventy, nothing that I drew was worthy of notice. At seventy-three years, I was somewhat able to fathom the growth of plants and trees, and the structure of birds, animals, insects, and fish.  Thus when I reach eighty years, I hope to have made increasing progress, and at ninety to see further into the underlying principles of things, so that at one hundred years I will have achieved a divine state in my art, and at one hundred and ten, every dot and every stroke will be as though alive.  Those of you who live long enough, bear witness that these words of mine prove not false."   Told by Gakyo Rojiin Manji from Hokusai, One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji, Introduction and Commentaries by Henry D. Smith II.

 

The purpose of my website is to record this personal journey.  Dixon Art was established because a friend of mine, Donna, had a copy of one of my paintings in her office. Sarah saw the painting and asked if she could commission me to do a painting. This was my first sale toward the establishment of a Jacob Trust Fund, to help my grandson, Jacob, who was born with Hydrocephalus.  All my current work is available as original art, prints, or greeting cards.

 

I am including links to the teachers and organizations who are assisting me in the journey and inspiring me--Sacramento City College, Sacramento Fine Arts Center, Northern California Artists, and Ghost Ranch. I am also including links to the children and health programs that I will be supporting financially or as a volunteer:  Hydrocephalus Association,  Crohn's Colitis Associations, Leadership Development Concepts, Sacramento Parks and Recreation Department, Gift to Share, and the Sacramento START program.