meet the artistStanton Forrest Dodson
acrylic on canvas, diluted for depth — figurative abstract
Stanton grew up on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where he spent years working as a lifeguard before it became the place his mind still goes for peace. These days he splits time between San Francisco, home for most of the year, and the Outer Banks, where he returns for about three months plus holidays. He paints in acrylic diluted with water — the layers and depth built up wash by wash — loosely figurative, mostly abstract, ten years in the making.
Art is a walk in the park. Art is a way you take your coffee. Art is a painting.
WHY BIRDS?
"Birds are the most obvious depiction of freedom — free to move as they please, with few limitations. I think humans have a similar capacity that only a few of us get to truly explore. I often paint them in pairs, too. There's something beautiful about two beings having all that freedom, the ability to go anywhere — and still choosing each other."
01 THE BASICS
what's your name?Stanton Forrest Dodson
Where are you from originally?Outer Banks, North Carolina
Where do you actually live these days?San Francisco most of the year — Outer Banks for about three months, plus holidays.
What's your medium / style, in your own words?Acrylic, always diluted with water — that's how I get the layers and depth I'm after. I'd call it figurative abstract.
how long have you been making work?Ten years.
02 LIFEGUARDING & OUTER BANKS
Does any of that show up in how you work now?It's the place I go in my mind when I want peace. So much of my time lifeguarding was wishing it would go by faster so I could rush to whatever plans I had that evening. Now I blink and a week has passed. Sometimes I miss that level of presence that insisted a minute feel like a lifetime.
What's it like going back these days?I enjoy it differently every time. Time passes, things change, I change — and still, every season of my life I find myself there, it shows me something new. I'm really grateful the place I call home provides so much peace and connection.
03 RAPID FIRE
COffee orderHoney cinnamon cappuccino
sunrise or sunsetSunset
song that's home“Babylon” — David Gray
beach snackPimento cheese
04 GET TO KNOW STANTON
what got you into art in the first place?My Nana and I would paint together on her porch — trading canvases back and forth until we were finished.
What's your favorite time of day to work?Right after being in nature. I always start my day with a long quiet walk along the bay or a quick swim, and by the time I get home I have the shapes I want to start with.
what inspires you day to day?Nature and movement, mostly. Birds, fish, plants, water, people — any beings moving cohesively. Like a subconscious dance we're all a part of.
a piece you're really proud of, and why?Ten years ago, after my first summer lifeguarding, I gifted my boss a painting of the station — it still lives there. I hated it for a few years, felt I'd outgrown it. Now I'm glad 16-year-old me gave that corny gift. It's a reminder the work isn't supposed to stay the same — and it's pretty cool to have something still hanging there that shows exactly where I started.