"FROSTY MORNING", mixed media tree painting © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Frosty Morning

Frosty Morning, detail
side view

I wish you could see the tiny sparkles on the snow in this painting.  When I was teaching a workshop in Texas recently, someone gave me some white, sparkly paper.

I accepted it graciously and thanked them, but thought to myself "I'll never use this."  I have a bias against glitter, sequins and even sparkle - they just seem to belong in the craft genre, not fine art, which is what I aspire to.

I know I'm probably the worst person to say that since I love shiny stuff so much (think of the metals, foils, metal leaf, mica flake and even epoxy resin I use).  But I draw the line at glitter.  Maybe it's because you find it in the kid's craft section at Michaels.

So, as I was doing this winter scene, I spotted the glittery white paper, and thought Hmmmmmm.  Well, it's in there, and it turns out I love the tiny sparkles.  They look, for all the world, like light reflecting off snow crystals.

I did this painting as a demo for the class I'm teaching in mixed media trees.  And YES, it has an epoxy coating over it too (MORE shiny!)

For more information, click here to go to my website.

8 comments:

Madelaine said...

Hi! Just want to say that I just love this painting! It has everything I like... including sparkles. :) Have you tried the golden glass bead medium? I've been playing around with it and it adds a lot of sparkle without being.. to sparkly.

I do have a question. What type of epoxy do you use?

Cheers!

Carol Nelson said...

Hi Madelaine,
I've seen the glass bead medium you mentioned, but haven't tried it yet. The epoxy I use is called EnviroTex Lite - available at Michaels.

jyothisethu said...

beautiful works of art...
so unique so that i can identify without your signature on them...

Donna said...

This is just beautiful Carol!!! I love the sparkles!!!Like the icing on the cake:)

Jean Baardsen said...

Totally love this! I once added sparkle to some mixed media pieces by painting with sparkly nail polish. It was a cool effect, and dried clear, except for the sparkles.

juliefordoliver.blogspot.com said...

Gosh - this is FABULOUS and that's without seeing the snow sparkle. I bet it is triple gorgeous.

Izabela said...

Your art is so amazing! Tuxture everywhere.
I wonder if you do any online workshop or online demo. I would be very interested and it would be great to try some of your techniques.

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for sharing all of this fine art with us. I have not seen anything like some of these pieces before. They are amazing. Thanks again!