SOLD!

Here's a few of the paintings/prints that found new homes at ART IN THE PARK, where I decided to take only paintings of flowers or animals. Although the weather was very warm, I was thankful it was not raining. In two weeks I will be doing my last outdoor show of the season at the Castle Rock ARTFEST, where I will be showing only abstract work.

I have found it's better to show generally one style of painting per show. It helps the viewers get a better grasp of your body of work to narrow the focus. If I'm displaying realism and abstraction in the same 10x10 foot booth, they think it's the work of two different artists. Maybe one day, when I grow up, I'll focus on one style of painting.

ART IN THE PARK 8/28 - 8/29

I invite all my Colorado readers to come see all my recent paintings in person at my booth at ART IN THE PARK in Parker, CO. The art show is in O'Brien Park, corner of Parker Road and Main Street (it's hard to miss).

There will be 80 booths of painting, sculpture, jewelry, and photography on exhibit and for sale. There will also be food vendors and kids activities. This event, sponsored by the Parker Artists Guild, gets more popular every year. Come see what the hoopla is about.

"KALEIDOSCOPE," 10133, daily painter textured poppy floral original © Carol Nelson Fine Art

I took a few shots of this painting in progress so you could get an idea of the process. The first step (not shown) was to put on the texture by sculpting the petals using acrylic modeling paste.

The under painting on the background shows through in the final painting in varying degrees. You can see if you click on the finished painting to enlarge it, that my brush work is loose. I'm not trying to "stay inside the lines." I think it adds to the visual interest when there is movement and suggested forms.

Notice too, how the flower forms overlap one another, leaving varied and interesting negative space. Students often have a tendency to paint individual flowers that don't touch one another, ending with a stiff, unnatural arrangement.

This large 36x24 acrylic on canvas painting is available. Please click here to go to my website for purchase information.

"CLEAR CREEK," 10132, daily painter original landscape © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Since everyone is complaining about the hot weather, I thought I'd do this little winter scene to cool things down. Clear Creek is an actual river in Colorado that comes roaring down the mountain and runs through Golden, CO, the home of Coors Beer.

This painting is on a 6x6 panel. I used a palette knife to glob on lots of Titanium white for those snow banks. For purchase information, please click here to go to my website.

"SPRING ETERNAL 2," 10131, daily painter textured floral still life © Carol Nelson Fine Art

No painting is safe hanging in the home of an artist! This large 24x48 painting has been hanging in my bedroom for two years. Actually, the third one down is the previous incarnation of this painting. You'll notice the original version had a dark brown, solid background - dramatic, but kind of depressing. For two years, I've looked at it wondering what was wrong. Today I took it off the wall and said to myself, I don't like it and I'm either going to totally ruin it or make it better.

It had a coating of Soluvar varnish on it which I had to remove with mineral spirits before I could begin revamping the painting. Almost everything I did to it was on the background areas. I can't believe how much more vibrant and colorful it looks now. Amazing, really.
For purchase information, please click here to go to my website.

"CITY TWILIGHT," 10130, daily painter original cityscape © Carol Nelson Fine Art

I haven't done very many cityscapes. This particular image was on a commercial photography site. I paid a fee for the rights to reproduce the image in a painting. This is a scene in Denver, CO, but it could one of several major cities.

What attracted me to the image was the dramatic last rays of sunlight shining on the buildings and the reflection of that light bouncing off the railroad tracks. That photographer had to be in the right spot at just the right moment. Doing a complex painting such as this, in a small 7x5 format was a real challenge. I had to simplify, yet still detail the buildings enough to suggest the windows and architecture.

This 7x5 inch painting is available for $100. Click here to go to my website for more information.

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My website is with Fine Art Studios Online (FASO). The folks at FASO have a monthly Bold Brush art competition that anyone can enter. If you look at the top right sidebar, you'll see a rather blatant appeal to vote for my painting - you might have to have a Facebook page, but I'm not sure about that.
Anyhow, I was browsing through my paintings trying to decide what to enter for next month's competition, and I came across Randy's smiling face. He was part of my 100 Portraits project and was one of my favorites, because I think it was particularly well painted.
Feel free to vote, or not. : - )

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"SHADES OF FALL," 10128, daily painter original landscape © Carol Nelson Fine Art

One of the things students of oil painting are often told is to "loosen up," meaning don't over work the painting. Don't nit pick. Don't work and rework a passage. Use larger brushes. Paint shapes, not details.

This painting is done on a red toned panel. My goal was to minimize the number of brush strokes - not an easy task with a complex landscape.
Here we have three main color masses - the dark trees on the left, the yellow grouping in the middle, and the orange bushes on the right. Once those large blocks of color were in place, it was a matter of working smaller and and smaller to fill in the details of the rocks and water.

For purchase information on this 6x6 original oil painting, please click here to see my website.

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100 PORTRAITS BOOK SPECIAL

If you are considering purchasing my recently published book of portraits, Blurb, the publisher, has a special going on until the end of August for FREE SHIPPING on any purchase. So, if you were thinking of giving the book as a gift (Christmas is 4 months away), or wanted one for yourself, now is the time to save some money. Just use one of the following coupon codes at checkout:

• USD $ coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE
• GBP £ coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE1
• EUR € coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE2
• AUD $ coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE3
• CAD $ coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE4

"ORIENTAL RED," 10129, daily painter textured poppy © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Another poppy painting. I love the intensity of these red poppies. They are actually slightly redder (less orange) than they are in these photos. If I increased the red tone in the photo, the background was not accurate, so this is a compromise.
As you might notice, I started out with a under painting of blues and purples, then overlayed it with beige, gray and green tones. The neutral background really makes the reds pop.

This 36x18 original textured acrylic painting is available on my website. Click here for purchase information.

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"GOLDEN DAYS," 10127, daily painter original landscape © Carol Nelson Fine Art

We are creeping up on my favorite time of year. Who doesn't love autumn with the warm sunshine, crisp air, and the glorious colors?

This painting is from a photo I took on a misty, cloudy day. It almost seems like the yellow aspen foliage is even brighter on cloudy days - maybe it's because there is more contrast with the darker trees.

Once again I started with a red oxide toned panel. I like letting that show here and there.

For purchase information of this 6x6 original oil painting for $100, please click here to go to my website.

"DAPHNE'S DAISIES," 10126, daily painter original floral still life © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Daisies are always cheerful looking flowers. Well I guess all flowers are cheerful, but their big, round centers make it seem like daisies are looking at you - and not in a creepy way.

I started this painting out on a panel painted brick red. I let it show through here and there. It always adds a little sparkle when you do that.

The pot was supposed to look like metal, but I think it looks more like pottery. Either way, I'm OK with it.

This 6x6 original oil painting on panel is available for $85, including shipping in the US/Canada. Click here to go to my website for purchase information.

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COLORADO RESIDENTS: If you live in the Denver area, you might be interested in taking my 10 week class called "Creating with Acrylics." I will be teaching this class on Monday mornings from 9am - noon. The class is sponsored by the Park Hill Art Club and will be held at Park Hill United Methodist Church, 5209 Montview Blvd, in Denver. Cost for the class is $74. Intermediate level. This class will explore various ways of using acrylic paints and mediums to create fine art. There will be strong emphasis on abstract composition and mixed media painting with a variety of materials.

To take the class, you must be a member of the Park Hill Art Club for $30/year. This is a very reasonable fee because the club sponsors two indoor art shows per year as well as a full range of fall and winter classes, workshops and demonstrations. Registration for membership is only during the month of August and closes on 8/23/2010, so you can't put this off. For membership registration, and a catalog of upcoming classes and workshops, please contact Marcia Williams, marlwilli@earthlink.net.

"HAPPY GARDEN," 10125, daily painter original floral design © Carol Nelson Fine Art

This painting is inspired by the riot of iceland poppies growing in my garden. At the risk of sounding like a Chinese restaurant, I decided to call it HAPPY GARDEN because it seems so cheerful to me.
I wasn't going for botanical accuracy here, but rather a jumble of colors, patterns, and textures. I like the checkerboard squares, the multicolored stems, and the dramatic value changes. It all just makes me smile.
This 6x6 happy garden can be yours for $85 including shipping in the US/Canada. Please click here for purchase information on my website.

"SURF," daily painter ocean wave © Carol Nelson Fine Art

This is a wave I caught with my camera off Polihale beach on the western coast of Kauai. This beach is the farthest to the west of any beach in the United States. A seemingly endless stretch of dunes and surf, we only saw two other people as far as we could see.
We didn't venture beyond our ankles into the water because of the signs posted about fierce currents and undertows. Still, for land-locked Coloradans, it was a thrill to just sit and watch the power of the ocean.
This 12x12 original oil painting on gallery wrap canvas is available for $200, including a black canvas floater frame and shipping in the US/Canada. Click here for purchase information.

"KAUAI SHORE," 10124, daily painter original landscape © Carol Nelson Fine Art

I have vacationed in the Hawaiian Islands on several occasions. I love all the islands, but Kauai is one of our favorites. The northwest part of Kauai is the Napali coast which is so rugged, the road doesn't even to all around the island. This area is a favorite of Hollywood and there have been several movies located there.

This 6x6 original oil on panel is available for $85 including shipping in the US/Canada. Please click here to go to my website where there is a Paypal button.

Nocternal visitors

Last night I let the dogs out to do their business in the back yard. Charlie was barking his head off. We called him back in, but he kept whining to go out again. Finally I went out to investigate. I could hear something was moving around and breaking twigs in the tree above me. When I threw some light on the situation, I could see a mother raccoon and two youngsters were up in the tree.

We live across the street from a state park. There is a busy road between our development and the park. To make it across safely, the raccoons go UNDER the road through the storm drains - how's that for clever?

"AFRICAN CHILD," 10122, daily painter portait study © Carol Nelson Fine Art

In this portrait of an African child, there are several things going on. I like the over the shoulder pose with the whistfull, almost dreamy look of the child. Notice there are two obvious light sources - a golden light on the right side that is slightly behind the figure, and a cooler white light on the left, frontal side.
The warm reds of the robe are also reflected on the face. Careful observation of these subtle nuances of light are essential when looking at the reference material. I deliberately chose this tightly cropped composition because I wanted the face to be dominant in the smaller format.
This 7x5 painting is available for $85, including shipping in the US/Canada. Please click here to go to my website for a Paypal button.