Day 100
This is it! 100 portraits finished! That picture of me was taken last November with me holding my camera at arm's length. In the portrait I somehow managed to take off about a decade. Who needs a face lift - I can just paint my way to youth and vitality. LOL
So now what? First, we need to finish the voting for 91-99. Don't vote for me - I don't want any sympathy votes. Please vote by Tues evening. On Wednesday, I will post the photos again of all the group winners and we can vote one last time to pick the
Grand Poobah of the 100 portraits project. Imagine that bragging rights that person will have!!!!
I'm sure some of you who sent in photos are disappointed your photo didn't get in. I still have on file all the photos that were sent to me. If you still want me to paint a portrait at the regular rate of $100 plus $10 shipping, just drop me an email at
carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net. What did I learn from all this work? I feel my skill as a portrait painter improved. I think I have a "style." It's characterized by strong brushwork and imaginative color choices. Many of you who are artists are inspired to start a project of your own. I think that is great. I certainly didn't start out to be this great inspirational figure, but I'm humbled and appreciative that some of you think of me that way.
My other goal was to increase the traffic to my blog and website. Many of your signed up to be followers of my blog and to receive email updates via Feedblitz. Many also signed on my website to received my free newsletter. It's nice to think that my tiny voice in the wilderness of the internet is a little louder.
I ended up selling, or giving away to our kids, a total of 61 portraits. Many of the unsold portraits were sent in by other artists to help me get the project off the ground. Thank you for doing that. In this economy, in a slow time of the year for art sales (the first quarter is always a killer for me), I am happy with the sales I made, especially to folks in six foreign countries. The power of the internet is amazing.
And finally, and most importantly, I feel I have gotten to "know" many of you through your fantastic comments. I thank you for all the support and prayers sent our way when Morris had his kidney transplant. Your kind words of encouragement were so appreciated. I think Sherry (Autumn Leaves) looked at my blog early in the morning every single day and left 100 delightful comments. Sherry, you even found something positive to say about portraits that were a little "off."
So after this project is wrapped up, and the Grand Poobah chosen, I have several paintings that are waiting to make their debut. They are mostly abstracts done at my workshops and some that I'm trying to get ready for the outdoor show season which starts in less than 4 weeks.
Thanks to all of you for coming along on my fantastic journey.
Carol
Here's a shot of all three in the Leaf Series. I'm getting better at pouring epoxy. On the third one, I forgot to seal the leaves with gloss medium. If you have paper in your collage, you're supposed to seal it before pouring epoxy over paper. I found out why - bubbles. They kept appearing for over 2 hours. I had to keep popping them.
This is a mixed media demo piece I did for a recent workshop. It has copper metal, copper tacks and brads, tyvek, and acrylic paints on a wood panel with a black frame. Sometimes, when I'm demonstrating the use of various materials such as metals and tyvek, and showing methods of attachment, I end up putting together a pleasing little abstract during the class.
Many of you commented on how hard it was to pick your favorite from the ten group winners. The voting finally narrowed down to a contest between Ferdinand and Jonathan. Ferd took the honors and bragging rights by ONE vote. I think it's a combination of the vibrant colors I used and his congenial expression that most people responded to. Congratulations to Ferd (and Kim who took the photo, no doubt.)
Day 100
Day 98
