Interview with Rose Datoc Dall on Today'smama.com

Today, Emily King recently interviewed me for TodaysMama.com. The post ran today. Just in case any of you want to check out the post, click here. Emily asked me all kinds of questions about being a mom and an artist.

New Small Piece: "Clarion Call"

Here is a small piece I just finished for the SVU Fundraising Gala entitled "Clarion Call," oil on canvas, 20" x 30."

Of course, I dithered on the title for a while. "Moroni" was the obvious choice, but I thought another title, "I saw another angel fly," might be more in tune with the inspiration for the piece, but my husband thought that was too wordy for a title. So I settled for "Clarion Call" because it needs to communicate the heralding of this last dispensation. If anyone has a vote on a better title, PLEASE DO COMMENT.

Mormon Times Article and other crazy stuff

If things could not get any more surreal, I found out this morning on Facebook from my friend Wayne Fagg (thanks, Wayne!) that an article entitled LDS Artist Surprised at Huge Response to Ad Campaign ran this morning in the Mormon Times (see left). I must be the last to find out about these things.


Talk about surprised; I thought it was going to be a little blurb along with comments from the other mormon.org video participants. I was wrong apparently...

The article is in response to the video and ad campaign on Mormon.org. It has been crazy enough finding yourself on billboards and TV ads and news clippings as part of the new ad campaign for the new face, voice for the new mormon.org .

Drawing the Diplomats- The Annual Western Family Picnic, Public & International Affairs Event for the Church

Every year for nearly the past 10 years, I have been working at the Annual Western Family Picnic, hosted by the Public and International Affairs Office for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the Marriott Ranch in Hume, VA, located in the breathtakingly beautiful rolling hills of the Shenandoah. This year, the event fell on September 11th, a National Day of Service. All the International Embassies, staff and their families are invited to this event by the Church as an expression of goodwill to the countries for whom much of the Church's Humanitarian efforts are made and as an expression of thanks for hosting many of our missionaries in their country. This year was a record breaking year with nearly 40 Embassies represented and several hundred attendees. For the past 10 years, my job at the event has been that of a portrait artist for the dignitaries. Three other artists joined me this year: Jonathan Linton Lester Yocum, and Tai Hemleniak.

PRINTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE!

Okay! You asked for it. Here they are! Prints of Flight and Five That Were Wise are now available for purchase on my site: RoseDatocDallFineArt.com! I just put the shopping cart feature up on the site. (Flash plug-in required. Mobile devices might have trouble viewing.)


More prints will be available in the future. Stay tuned for prints of Creation of Eve in the Spring of 2011.

A Surreal Month!

Dear readers,


I am absolutely floored by the response of so many of you as well as the sheer number of hits on my blog since the video on Mormon.org came out in July. Thank you for all of your kind emails and comments! I hardly know how to take it in.


What has been the most surreal are the number of unexpected random hits on my blog from all over the world, according to my blog stats, which all of a sudden went from a handful to the thousands. Um... I keep saying, "Is this really happening to me?" From the US to Canada, to China to Brazil, from Germany to UK, from Ireland to Thailand, from New Zealand to India, from Sweden to the Philippines, from Slovakia to Armenia, from Turkey to yes, my first hit in Kenya this evening! (Of course the stats do not tell you if someone stumbles upon you by accident.)


Who would have thought this obscure little painter in Ashburn, Virginia would have a readership in Kenya or Slovakia, or Armenia? Whoa, I am, um... kind of speechless....


From the bottom of my heart, I thank all of you for your interest. And I do hope I am keeping you interested... but I am kind of new to having an identifiable audience of any kind. This kind of raises the bar for me to do a better job at updating my blog. I am overwhelmed by requests for prints of my work and am working feverishly to make them available on my website THIS WEEK at the Art of Rose Datoc Dall. So stay tuned!


For those of you who have not checked it out, the video is at Rose Datoc Dall on Mormon.org or at Rose Datoc Dall on Youtube.


Stay tuned!
Rose Datoc Dall

My New Artist Website

Visit my NEW Art Website at www.rosedatocdall.com!!!

(You will need a Flashplayer to view this site. Mobile devices may have trouble viewing.)

New Painting- White Apple Series

White Apple Gatherer, oil on canvas, 2' x 3,' 2010.

Study of Mary for "Mary with Boy Christ"

This image above is a drawing study done back in 2008, although the idea for this painting of "Mary with Boy Christ"has been banging around my head since 1988. I have since revisited the concept again and below is the current oil study, done Feb 2010. I hope to retain some of its looseness in the final painting.
The oil study above is of Raquel Machado as Mary, my perennial Mary model. Although Raquel lives in Utah and since I in Virginia, this oil study is based on a lifelike clay maquette, 50% human scale of Raquel. I use maquettes in many these serial paintings with the same figure. The maquette has captured my model of Raquel in time, when I first had her model for me 8 years ago. I was rather happy with the immediacy and fluidity of the image above.

Alla Prima Oil Study of Live Model, "Alex"

This is an oil study done from a live model, Alex. It is an exercise in "alla prima" painting, in other words, completing a painting from a live session, roughly 3-4 hours. I did take it home and do some touch-ups, but it is mostly "all prima."