FRAN MARTIN DIXON
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Fran’s favorite toy when she was a child in West Virginia was her large box of crayons. She remembers drawing one scene over and over—a windmill with a sun, a white pickett fence surrounding a yard of flowers. She also enjoyed the natural world around her. Her childhood “roommates” included a turtle in a saddle shoe and a snake in a suitcase. She dressed her cat up in doll clothes and wheeled her around in her baby carriage.
This early intimacy with nature, paired with a lifelong devotion to drawing eventually bore fruit when after college, living in Southwest Ohio, she was encouraged to paint on pieces of wood retrieved for her from the Ohio River. Fran had her first show in Dayton, Ohio and realized with joy the potential to paint as a career.
Now Fran collects wood from saw mills she has fostered relationships with from Florida to the Eastern Shore of Virginia. She carefully selects the wood to enhance the subject matter she paints. Each painting is original, personal, and has its own unique style using the character of the wood as her guide.
Fran’s unique talent is portraying the personality of the wildlife she paints. This is most poiniently seen in her animal portraits.To complete her paintings, Fran likes to add little symbols of observation—a little bird sitting quietly before the eyes of the animal whose head tilts in silent wonder.
Fran’s artistic abilities have gained her considerable notoriety, including appearances on “Virginia Wildlife Video Magazine” and “Virginia Outdoors”. Fran’s long career has also earned her numerous “Best of Show” awards.