Henry Dixon

Showroom

Henry W. Dixon grew up in Chicago, Illinois, with his mother, an older brother and three sisters. While attending elementary school there, he occasionally got into trouble for drawing in class when he should have been finishing his class assignments.

At the age of 18, he and the rest of the family moved to Niles, Michigan, where he graduated from high school and later attended Western Michigan University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in art and Master of Arts degree in graphic design.

After graduation, he was recruited by Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, Missouri. He now resides in KC with his wife, Rena, and three sons: Rodney, Reginald and Ryan. He now works out of his studio, but Dixon has also taught drawing and graphic design at one of the local universities.

Dixon paints predominately in watercolor. His figures are mainly those of children and the elderly, whose actions and demeanor seem unpretentious and natural. He enjoys capturing his figures as they really are. His landscapes are those of rocky terrain, such as the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Arches National Park.

When mixed with a strong light source, his still lifes take on an abstract quality. Depicting light on his subjects is what evokes the most pleasure in him from his paintings.

In 1995, Dixon became a signature member of the National Watercolor Society (NWS). He was also selected as one of five artists to represent the United States in London, England, at St. James Palace for the Winsor and Newton World-Wide Millennium Painting Competition, “Our World in the Year 2000.” The exhibition was also shown in Stockholm, Sweden, and the United Nations Building in New York.

Afterward, Dixon was selected to represent the state of Missouri as the artist whose work was part of the White House Calendar for the year 2001. This work is now part of the permanent collection of the White House Museum.

Dixon is intrigued and awed by such masters as Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent (for their figures) and Thomas Moran (for his stunning landscapes). His major tool for capturing his subjects is one of his best friends – his camera.

In 2009, Dixon authored his first book, Paint Amazing Watercolors from Photographs. It is published by North Light Books, an imprint of F&W Media, Cincinnati, Ohio.