“Atmospheric” by Liv Dockerty
Growing up in Coral Gables, Liv Dockerty took ceramics classes at the Youth Center and painted at home, dreaming of one day becoming a real artist. The young Dockerty was always fascinated by clouds, but it wasn’t until after she received an art degree from the Parsons School of Design in New York City that she discovered the tools to evoke them in her works.
“[Originally,] my paintings were more abstract but they were always inspired by the clouds,” Dockerty says. “I didn’t have the technical skill to really create the type of clouds that I could envision.”
With all the time in the world during the pandemic, she found that skill. Now, her works make use of interference paints, which contain mica flakes that interfere with light waves, giving the canvases shifting colors that offer new perspectives with changes in vantage point. Somewhere between abstraction and realism, Dockerty’s paintings of the clouds are rich in color, with titles often referencing classic rock songs, evoking a sense of dreamy movement.
WATCH: Visiting the “Atmospheric” exhibition with artist Liv Dockerty

Latest Achievement
In 2022, Dockerty was picked up as an artist at The Americas Collection gallery on Ponce de Leon Boulevard. Originally featured as one of many artists in a group exhibition entitled “Work in Progress” in February 2022, the 30-year-old is now on display as a single artist. The gallery is currently showcasing her “Atmospheric” exhibition through June 17, featuring 15 paintings, each depicting the clouds at different times of day. She also has a residency with the Kimpton EPIC Hotel later this winter and plans to work with fashion designers to make some of her art wearable.
What She Says
“What I love most about the clouds is that you can look outside in the sky and one second there’s a bright peach, and you run to get your phone to take a photo, and when you get back, there’s lavender suddenly. They change so quickly,” says Dockerty.”This effect [of interference paints] gives it that motion, that ever-changing effect that clouds actually have in the sky. Because they’re not stagnant — they really are always changing and evolving and moving.”