Dotpainting – the Painting Technique of the Indiginous Australian People (Aborigines)

My first encounter with this fascinating art form of the Aborigines occurred during my frequent travels to Australia, where I explored many areas of this spectacular country. It is very interesting to observe how the native Australian people (Aborigines) create huge paintings, usually consisting only of dots, while sitting in the middle of the bush in over 40 degrees heat. The colors are made of plants or ground earth. A thin twig, which has been chewed soft, serves as a paint brush.

This method has been used by the Aborigines for many decades to depict their Dreamtime world on canvas. They allow their imagination free reign for the visual representation of their spirit ancestors, gods, Dreamtime stories, or simply scenes from their daily lives, such as hunting etc… Nearly all Aboriginal paintings also portray the animals that play an important role in their lives, such as kangaroos, lizards, fish, long neck turtles or even ants and Witchetty Grubs – the large white larvae of different moths and beetles, which can be up to 10 cm long. All these animals that are a valuable source of food for the Aborigines, allowing them to survive for over 50 000 years in the desolate desert landscapes of Australia, form a key subject of their art work. Water holes (symbolized by dot circles) are connected by paths (symbolized by dotted lines), usually leading to a fire place, where women (represented by u-shapes) are preparing food or performing ceremonies.

In my first attempts with this art form, I remained very close to the original Aboriginal traditions. My first work was in fact a double-sized copy of an Aboriginal artist’s work. However, I soon developed and expanded my own style and techniques. Both the designs and the color schemes are now my own creation, carried out with German precision and patience. Every single dot is formed with a pointed tip - in other words, the paint brush, which is only a few millimeters long, has to be dipped into the paint once for each individual dot. Owing to this very time-consuming method, the completion of one painting can take up to several weeks. Some paintings consist of nearly 100 000 dots, though as a rule there are between 10 and 20000 dots. The paint used is acrylic.

Since I am also a passionate amateur photographer, I have posted some of my photos in a second gallery, mostly showing night shots of various scenes.

I hope you like the paintings and the photos, and I would be happy to know your response.