Me-time Dot Painting Workshop

Amy Diener

"Spreading Joy One Dot at a Time" Hi, I'm Amy Diener and I'm a lover of art, color, and travel! Creating art is my way of expressing my life journey. Painting is a positive outlet that reflects my life and the world around me. I create detailed dot paintings of mandalas, animals, trees, flowers, portraits, and figures. I paint dots because I find the painting practice to be extremely meditative, bringing me to a state of "liminality" - a pause or space in between. It is this space where thoughts become silenced, and I become aware of the present moment. The process requires a lot of focus and repetition, embodying a steady hand and steady mind. Having a long history of battling OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), painting dots has served as a form of art therapy for me. It has helped me alleviate my suffering in unimaginable ways. This is why I love the work of Yayoi Kusama - she used her signature polka dot paintings as a coping mechanism for her hallucinations. My paintings are inspired by the colors from nature and city surroundings I encounter during my travels. The color combinations of the lupins of New Zealand, the sunflower fields and turquoise waters of Thailand, the neon pink and sky blue taxis of Bangkok, the bamboo forests of Kyoto, the colorful houses of Burano, and the multi-colored sea glass along the beaches of Barcelona have provided me with inspiration. Many of my color palettes contain juxtaposing hues or monochrome gradients, that I hope evoke both uplifting and calming responses. I am interested in how my selected color combinations can affect sensory and psychological perceptions. When colors are placed next to each other, I am excited by how that makes the viewer's mind, body, and spirit react. My paintings also draw influence from nature's patterns: sacred geometry, the fibonacci sequence, and the cosmic world. Many of my mandala works play with your psyche, creating a visual illusion that I hope mesmerizes the viewer. My paintings are very tactile, reminiscent of sweet dot candies such as skittles, M&M's and candy dots. I create this sense of tactility to reconnect the inner child within us as human beings. When I eat these candies, it reminds me of a time when life was filled with gentleness, kindness, sincerity, love, joy, and dreams. Through this reminder, I am able to unite with my past self. Although we may have had negative past experiences, I create my art to embrace the light of positivity.