Artist Wil Dawson still paints, but has traded his brush and canvas for a mouse and his computer screen.
By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN
Published May 14, 2004
Wil Dawson is straightforward about the art he creates:
"It is not my intention to create pictures which indicate a deep, esoteric understanding of life," he wrote in the artist's statement accompanying his show at the Pasco Arts Center through June 18. "When I create a picture, I am concerned with composition and color as much as with subject matter. I want to create a picture which is balanced and invites the eye to explore it."
The goal seems appropriate. After all, Dawson creates art on a computer, a modern machine considered as cold, distant and impersonal as a refrigerator.
But don't be fooled; Dawson's creations are brimming with excitement and life, each one as different as a snowflake.
The colors are dramatic in some works, soothing in others, the lines sweeping in some, meticulous in others. Some of the sizable paintings look like traditional oils. Others look like dreamy watercolors. Some are pure color and form, others suggest real objects and still others are traditional representational art - people, places, things.
"I have been painting all of my life," said Dawson, 63, from his Clearwater home. "But about 15 years ago, I discovered the computer and what it can do and I've been doing that ever since.
"The computer gives you such freedom, because you can change your mind so easily." Dawson's computer program, Corel Draw 11, will let him back up as many as 90 steps to redraw or redefine his creation.
Dawson is an award-winning artist, having won both the Best-of-Category and Best-of-the-Americas awards from Corel Corporation, makers of Corel Draw. He has exhibited his work in New York, Dallas, the Midwest and Madrid, Spain, where he lived for several years. His work was recently part of a show that toured Russia.
"I have seen some computer art and been underwhelmed by it," admits Marj Golub, executive director of the Pasco Arts Center. "But his could have as easily been painted by a brush as on a computer."
To make his work even more valuable to collectors, Dawson often makes only one print of a particular creation, then destroys the file. Those one-of-a-kind creations go for $800 to $2,500, depending on size and subject matter.
Other works are limited editions, which go for $300 and up.
Dawson uses the Giclee digital imaging process to make each print. In it, each piece of paper or canvas is sprayed with 1,440 dots of color per square inch. There are no screens used, which means the final product looks very much like an original painting, with minute detail, deep colors, and a wide range of colors and intensities. The works can be up to 44 inches wide.
"Wil's mouse is his paintbrush, and Wil's monitor is his easel," said his business partner, Nick Domino. Dawson's canvas is the monitor's screen.
He will demonstrate how he creates a painting on computer during an artist's reception from 5 to 7 p.m. May 21 at the center. His wife, Paquita, a native of Spain, will perform flamenco dances at 6:30 p.m.
