THREE GENERATIONS, 9111, commission portraits of three women

This portrait is of three women representing three generations. I think I nailed the likeness of all three, but it's always nerve wracking to see if the client will like the work (he hasn't seen this yet.) I had to combine two photos to create the composition and I've only seen one of the subjects in person.
Painting faces is not as daunting as some would think. Each face has reference points that can be measured - space between the eyes, length of the face, length of the nose, width of the smile, etc. A projector is a great help in getting accurate mapping of the key points on a face. My projector is an inexpensive model that projects a pretty fuzzy image, but it is a huge time saver to be able to
sketch in the key points of the projected image.
Teeth can be a problem to portray and all these ladies have big, beautiful smiles. If you paint each tooth, it tends to look artificial, so I usually "suggest" teeth without painting them individually.
I love to paint people with glasses. They are a very important part of the "look" of a person who wears them. I like to tint the glass slightly blue or blue-green.

Highlights from Jay Moore Large Canvas Demonstration

Highlights from Jay Moore Large Canvas Demonstration
This link will take you to A DAY NOT WASTED, the blog of Lee Brown. Lee writes an excellent account of a recent workshop he took with acclaimed landscape painter, Jay Moore.

NEST 4, 9110, textured bird nest with eggs ©Carol Nelson Fine Art

The Colorado Watercolor Society sent me a prospectus for their upcoming show 3/5/2010 - 3/14/2010 in Denver. All media has to be water media on paper. I haven't done anything on paper in several years, but I use acrylic paints all the time and they are considered water media. That's as far as I read the prospectus before jumping in.

I went out a bought one sheet of 300 lb watercolor paper and painted this little textured nest of eggs. I tore the edges of that paper, then mounted it on a piece of burlap, over another piece of paper painted blue-green, and mounted all that on a piece of mat board on which I had put little spatters.

It's a big four layer sandwich. All of this is in a shadow box frame under glass. I think it's a creative presentation for this subject matter. Then I reread the prospectus. Oh no! They won't allow any paintings unless they're matted in "clean, white mats". My burlap and texture, let alone the spatters, are absolutely verboten. They've been in that clean, white mat mode for years. Colored liners or fillets must be no more than a quarter inch.

Maybe I'm a nonconformist at heart. I wish they would create a category for "experimental watermedia" where anything goes, including framing. What do you watercolorists think of these restrictive rules???
For purchase information on this very nonconforming water media painting, please see my website.

CONCOURSE B, 9109, airport commuters © Carol Nelson Fine Art

This is the latest torture installment on Karin Jurick's blog, Different Strokes from Different Folks.blogspot.com. Painting this was like being waterboarded. I just wanted it to be over. The dramatic lighting from an overhead skylight and the extreme foreshortening of the figures made for 4 hours of hell. Check out the blog, and see how nearly everyone struggled with this one - although several are excellent.

As you can see from the reference photo, I took a few liberties with the colors. The people in the photo don't even look real to me. To purchase this 6x6 oil painting for $100, please email me at carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net

SOLD

PRECIOUS METALS, 9108, metals and mixed media abstract © Carol Nelson Fine Art

I love doing these mixed media geologic abstracts. This one has copper, pewter, and aluminum metals and gold and copper paints and foils. With all the shiny components, it appeals to my inner crow. That shiny little purple rectangle is purple colored aluminum foil I found in an art supply store and is made by a Japanese company. LOVE IT.

I showed it to my husband, seeking his suggestions for a title. His title was SOS, meaning Same Old S__t. Did I tell you he's not an abstract kind of guy? Even so, I thought that quite rude. After 16 years of marital harmony, I have developed a thick skin and his opinions are water off a duck. Quack, quack.

If you're interested in purchasing this painting, better hurry, because I'm shipping it off to my newest gallery, The Bradley Art Gallery, in Stoughton, WI. next week. For more about my abstract work, please see my website or email me at carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net.

BUTTERFLY POPPIES, 9107, textured palette knife poppies © Carol Nelson Fine Art

I don't know if there is any such thing as "butterfly poppies," but it seemed appropriate for this painting because as I was working on the petals I was reminded of butterfly wings. Once again, I continue on my palette knife binge. I just like the texture you get with a knife.

I originally had magenta, yellow and orange poppies, but it did not seem like the painting was pulling together with all the variety in the flower colors. Eventually they all ended up much closer to one another in hue. The black background showing through here and there has a unifying effect.
This painting took me quite a while to work out the color scheme, but I'm finally happy with the finished result.

For purchase information on this gallery wrapped 24x24 inch (61x61cm) painting, please see my website, or email me at carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net.

THREE'S COMPANY, 9106, textured palette knife still life © Carol Nelson Fine Art

I am having fun with these palette knife paintings. The unique texture created by a knife is so pure - you are literally looking at a slice of pure pigment. This is not to say I don't mix the paints out of the tube - I do, but when I have mixed the desired color mixture, it is applied directly. The result is a passage without a lot of blending of colors into each other.
I took a lot of liberties with the colors in these pears. Pears come in a lot of colors although the turquoise may be a bit of an exaggeration.
For purchase information of this painting, please see my website, or send me an email at carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net.

APPLE TRIO, 9105, textured palette knife still life © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Notice that little copyright sign in the title of this post? All you have to type is the following three symbols or words with no spaces: & copy ;
I think that is very cool, although it won't stop the Chinese from copying your work.

This painting was difficult to photograph because of the red. There is a lot of alizarin red (Golden's Alizarin Crimson Hue fluid acrylic) in these apples and, for some reason, instead of getting that gorgeous deep, rich red, it wants to show as brown. I had to tweek the colors to get a fair representation of the painting, but I lost a little of the purple tones in the background in the process.

I used four other red family colors in these apples - Golden's Primal Magenta and Pyrrole Orange, and Liquitex's Napthol Red Light and Quinacridone Crimson.
Those colors are SO LUSCIOUS. I was outside varnishing the painting yesterday and when the sun shines on this piece, it literally knocks your socks off. Actually, I wasn't wearing socks at the time, but I know they would have flown off if I had been.
For purchase information on this painting, please see my website or email me at carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net

Fall Newsletter

My newsletter is an irregularly published blurb I send out via email to people who have signed up for it at shows or while visiting my website. If you are a regular reader of this blog, it's mostly a rehash of what I'm posting here.
As they say in marketing 101, getting your name and images of your work in front of potential buyers is the name of the game. Of course, one has to be careful not to send it to random people who have not asked to be on the list, lest I be put in the category of spammers.
If you want to take a look, here is a link to my latest newsletter. If you want to be on my newsletter list to get my occassional epistles, just go to my website and sign up. Thanks, Carol

1st PLACE

My painting, SHINING THROUGH, 9076, was awarded 1st place in the juried GATEWAY TO THE ROCKIES SHOW. I knew (or at least had a feeling) I had a winner when I painted that one. This painting has gold metallic paint which glows softly under the right lighting.
Reception for this art show will be on Friday, 11/13/2009, for those in the Denver area. Details on my website under "events".

UP CLOSE, 9104, textured poppy close up painting © Carol Nelson Fine Art

This extreme closeup of a poppy is in the tradition of huge floral paintings for which Georgia O'Keefe was famous. I painted this on a cradled panel with the painting extending around to the edges. In spite of it's small size, (12 x 6 inches) it packs a lot of bang for the buck. If you have a spot that needs a little color, this will do the job.
For purchase information, please see my website, or email me at carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net.
SOLD

GOLDEN POPPIES 1, 9102, textured poppy floral painting © Carol Nelson Fine Art

I haven't painted any poppies lately and was having withdrawal symptoms. Usually I've painted them on a canvas ground, so this painting on MDF panel was something new. I really like the way the sculpted petals look on this smooth surface.
For purchase information on this beautifully framed piece, please see my website.

Precious models her new coat.

This is my dog, Precious, a 12 year old shih tzu. She looks spiffy in her new color coordinated coat with faux fur collar - Precious would never wear real fur other than her own. She also likes the slenderizing effect of basic black.

NEST 2, 9100, textured birds nest with eggs © Carol Nelson Fine Art

This is my last nest posting for a while. This is similar to nest 1 except this is a 6x6 square, while the previous one was a 5x7. This presentation is also with a mat and under glass. The effect is similar to Nest 3 and with the glass on top, they almost look like actual nest and egg specimens.
For purchase information, please see my website. SOLD

NEST 3, 9101, textured birds nest with eggs © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Another bird nest with eggs that are speckled pinkish and brown. This painting is on a 5x7 inch gessoboard panel, which I would normally frame without glass. I had this black frame with double matting in my studio. When I slipped the painting in under the matting, it looked so good that I'm going to present it in this fashion.
If the glass is distracting, it can be removed, but on a matted painting, I like having glass to protect the mat. For purchase information, please see my website.

BLUE HEAVEN, 9099, textured blue hydrangea flowers © Carol Nelson Fine Art

I enjoyed doing a hydrangea commission so much last week I just had to try doing another one. This one is on 6 x 6 inch panel and also features use of abundant texture. For purchase information, please see my website.