Dodgie Dator's Fine Art Photographs at 2 Winnipeg Galleries

I am proud to say that my work is currently being represented by 2 Winnipeg fine art galleries, The Birchwood Art Gallery at 1170 Taylor Ave and The Wayne Arthur Gallery at 186 Provencher.

I would like to invite everyone to come visit these fine galleries to view my work. I can say that seeing an actual fine art print is way better than viewing my photographs on a computer monitor.

I am excited to be represented by both these galleries, I thank them for this wonderful opportunity.

The greatest compliment an artist can ever have is a request for another performance. In my case a repeat client, I have a quite a few regular clients that I create new custom pieces for, most of them send their family and friends over for their own Dodgie Dator designed piece.

The more a client comes back for another creation, it certainly become tougher but yet quite an honor. Tough because I want to truly blow their expectations away and the more piece I get to make for them the harder it is to create something more unique than the last one. One very good client already came for a few pieces and sent her daughters over for their own design consultation with me. It's always such fun working with her since I get to just "get loose" with my ideas... she loves really unique pieces.

This gorgeous ring is a combination of her 2 existing rings that she doesn't care for as much anymore and I added a Fantasy Trillion "Swiss" Blue Topaz as the center stone. It's always a challenge to work with various colour gems, since they may not at all "come together" that perfectly. She had Blue Sapphires and Green Amethysts and wanted to have a Trillion cut stone as the center piece. I wasn't too sure how to use these 2 different coloured gems to their best potential.

With this final concept I certainly used all the supplied gems to compliment each other, with the criss cross design with integrated half bezel settings. The 2 colours of gems were alternated to have a contrast against the white gold setting and had the Blue Topaz set slightly off centered to have that focal point. I loved how this piece display the different hues of the gems as the light hits it from different angles and the "punchy" vibrant "Swiss" Blue Topaz just makes this very different ring stand out even more.

I look forward to that next "project" that my good client might want to challenge me with.

DGZphotos.com and other developments in my photographic career.

DGZphotos.com is now fully up and running!

I am current in some initial stages of building a network of fine art galleries to represent me and my photographs. I am quite excited about all the things that is happening in my photography career. I had the honor to talked to some of Winnipeg's finnest art galleries and the great response they had on my work was just mind blowing. I was busy digging, sorting and compiling my print portfolio for the last few weeks and I am glad that some very promising development are on it's way.

I wouldn't want to disclose all the details yet until everything is finalized, I am preparing some large exhibition pieces and framing them for display and also preparing catalogues of my images custom tailored to certain galleries.

Stay tuned in all future developments!

Exquisite Hematite!

People have pre-defined opinions about certain gems, that some are just not worth investing money in to create a custom piece. This ring would sure shatter all these pre-conceived ideas regarding such inexpensive gems same as a hematite. Hematites are not exactly a very precious material but with the right design it can look stunning! The hematite used for this piece is stretching near 30mm long and in most cases long gems like these would not be suitable for a ring. It would be a very select few that can wear these extremely long gems and thankfully it suit my client's finger perfectly.

This ring is such a simple yet stunning design, the choice of materials were a bit different as well. Hematite was choosen to be the center piece to the simple fact that the client want to create something truly special using her hematite. Most people would be quite reluctant to spend a good amount of money creating a piece with such an inexpensive gem but it is not always about the cost of the center stone that makes a ring a "stunner". It is on how the designer use it to its' full potential to create a piece that's elegant and exquisite, my designs are just that they are a fine artform and not simply a pretty ring with an expensive stone. I thank my client for trusting me on this concept and together we created a ring that highlights the hematite and made it as majestic as any other precious gems. The diamond accents on the wide swirl shoulder gives it a very elegant detailing contrasted with the opposite shoulder with a cut-out to keep it quite feminine despite it's very wide structure.

This ring was created for one of my best clients, we've worked on a lot of different pieces before...mostly alteration and restoration work. She came in for a design consult one day and talked about creating something that I can put my artistic flare on. She decided to have a ring created and I know that it has to unique but also a bit conservative.

The design of this ring is to highlight her main stone with all the other stones to compliment it, we went with the swirl pattern channel setting to have a sublte yet very exquisite fine detailing. The cut out on the shoulders is another fine detail that give it a more feminine touch despite the heavy look of the ring. This piece is a very conservative yet extremely elegant just as how my client loves it.

Gent's Wearable Fine Art

90% of my pieces are created for women, either a treat for themselves or the boyfriends', fiancee's or husband's treat for them. Very seldom do I get to make a piece for a man...these piece are also some of my most memorable creations, since I don't make many I tend to know these "guys" quite well.

I had quite a fun time developing a gents ring for one of my client, he had some old gold and he wanted to treat himself for a piece truly unique. We bounced ideas around and he can't decide between a ring or a pendant, I suggested a ring since it would be more exposed. I prefer to create something that would show and get people asking "where did you get that piece?"...something that they can enjoy to wear everyday.

This ring is such a gorgeous piece,very well built with 29grams of gold and very precise"bark" detailing and split shank design. The rhodium plated dip to create that mirror finish accent to highlight the diamond and all the sublte details just makes this ring quite an artwork to behold. Wearable artwork at it's best with no compromise in both fit and finish same as with all of my pieces. A piece I can truly be proud to put up in any competition.