Dot Bunn Painting
By Michele Malinchak
Renaissance painters understood how geometry was essential to aesthetic design. Learning from the past, Bucks County artist Dot Bunn uses these same mathematical principles in her compositions by merging classical knowledge with modern technology. “My compositions are based on the golden mean and the rectangles of the masters. Many of the great works of the past conform to these proportions, which were first identified by the ancient Greeks,” Dot wrote in an article appearing in the online art journal, “Realism Today.”
Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli and Georges Seurat are just a few of the artists who have used the golden mean to create their masterpieces. Luca Pacioli, a 15th century Italian mathematician, wrote extensively on the golden mean. He summed up the relationship between math and art stating, “Without mathematics there is no art.”
Dot learned about the golden mean, also called golden ratio, divine proportion or golden section, from her teacher, the late Myron Barnstone of Barnstone Studios in Coplay, PA. “He was my mentor and had the greatest influence on my work and philosophy of art.”
The golden ratio is a term used to describe how elements within a piece of art can be placed in the most aesthetically pleasing way. It is not merely a term, but an actual ratio found in many pieces of art. It works like an armature or grid that divides the painting into a series of diagonals and rectangles that identify points of visual impact. In most of her work, Dot uses golden mean calipers to help her find the golden ratio or golden division of a line.
Fine art photographer Tavis Leaf Glover analyzed Dot’s paintings and wrote on his IPOX Studios website: “She does a great job at incorporating rhythm into her painting. She does this with most of her paintings…plenty of diagonals, rhythm, and unity. This is the hidden song within her painting. It speaks to us, even if we don’t know design, because it can be felt. No joke!”
She is methodical in her design process, adhering to the rules of composition and carefully controlled color and values. While spontaneity and intuition are useful, “Paintings lacking harmony or good composition cannot stand on the artist’s enthusiasm alone,” she said. “If it’s not designed, it’s just random.”
Dot has painted full time in oils since 2003. For a while she was a watercolorist but prefers oils because she likes to move the paint around.
Since that time, she has also taught workshops for local art leagues and teaches traditional oil painting and color theory at her Red Stone Farm Studio just outside Doylestown, PA.
Her representational oil paintings, consisting of landscapes, still life and figures are mostly of places and things she has experienced. “My great love of the Bucks County countryside has given me endless landscape inspiration, but I also enjoy painting the flowers from my gardens and figurative work. I have never found myself lacking for something to paint. The very act of painting is a joy for me.”
The people she paints are often dressed in colorful costumes lending a theatrical air. “My favorite subjects are people doing things they love or working at their jobs,” she said.
Above all, she added, “You have to love the subject matter. It has to internalize with you. Like music, dance and literature, art is a form of communication. Good painting connects with people on a personal level that taps into their sense of life.” She struck a chord with one viewer who, after seeing one of Dot’s winter landscapes said, “I can hear the crunch of the snow!” “To me,” Dot said, “this was the biggest compliment.”
She paints in the indirect style which involves several stages of drawing and painting. Dot begins with an underpainting followed by additional thin layers of transparent and opaque colors. The paint is allowed to dry between each layer. Her style is quite different from direct or alla prima painting which is completed in one sitting while the paint is still wet.
Dot likes painting on Raphael oil primed linen panels and sometimes uses Arches oil paper sheets, both of which are easy to store.
She paints entirely in her studio using reference photos taken with her digital camera which she organizes by month and year on her computer. “Very often, candid shots turn out to be the most interesting to work with,” she said. She uses Photoshop Elements to enhance, crop and adjust color.
Her method of working with color is based on the Fletcher Color System, first introduced to her by Myron Barnstone. She modified the system to suit her needs and made her own circular glass palette. Colors are arranged around the circle like the progression of colors in a rainbow and a limited number is selected for each painting. Three main colors are chosen that will control the overall mood of the painting, also known as the color key. A key or accent color is also selected, and while minimally applied, it will add life to the painting. The controlled and limited palette helps produce visual harmony in paintings that are rich in color without being overdone.
She keeps a record of the colors used in each of her paintings in a spiral notebook. “It’s the German in me,” she laughed.
Value, or the lights, mid-tones and darks available in all colors, is the most important element when she paints. “You’re not just painting an object,” she said. “You’re painting light passing over a form.”
Dot feels a painting is never really done, saying, “I find that I can work on paintings to refine and enhance forever but at some point, you have to set it aside and let it be. It may call for further work or after some reflection I might find that it really is finished.”
A few years ago, she completed a mural at the Historic Strawberry Mansion in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park. Designated as a historic site and museum, the 18th century house has been undergoing major renovation. As part of the project, Dot and fellow artist, the late Patrick Connors, collaborated on a mural to decorate the mansion’s 500 square foot banquet room. They depicted 18th century scenes along the river including all the Fairmount Park historic homes. The seven-foot-high mural encompasses the entire room. She and Connors worked two to three days a week for one year and finished the project in 2014.
Dot also wrote and illustrated an unpublished children’s book titled, “The Raccoon’s Masked Ball.” The book features enchanting paintings of forrest animals which may be exhibited in a future show.
Born in Philadelphia, she grew up in a row home off Frankford Avenue. Her family later moved to Warminster. Dot has lived in Bucks County since she was 10 years old.
She met her husband Tom when they were both in high school. He went off to Rochester, NY to attend college and they married after her high school graduation. The couple then moved to Southampton and later in 1978 to Plumstead Township.
After she was married, Dot studied art for two years at Bucks County Community College. “It was too Avant Garde for me,” she said. After college she took classes with other artists and developed her skills as a traditional painter. “One of the wonderful aspects of being an artist is that the learning never stops.”
Artists who inspire her include Peter Paul Reubens, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin.
Dot has participated in numerous solo and group shows throughout the region. She exhibits nationally with Oil Painters of America, Allied Artists of America, American Artists Professional League and Hudson Valley Art Association. Her work has garnered numerous awards including the Alden Bryan Memorial Medal for Traditional Landscape and two Patron Awards for Painting from Phillips’ Mill.
In June of this year, Dot was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts by the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce. “I am very grateful for the acknowledgement of the years of teaching and sharing my knowledge of art with our community,” she said.
Her work is currently represented by the Patricia Hutton Gallery in Doylestown.
You can learn more about her art by visiting: www.dotbunn.com.
Michele Malinchak is a freelance writer who has a degree in art and enjoys oil painting.