"Forest Wonders 2" mixed media textured trees © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Forest Wonders 2

I did this painting as a demo for a student who is visiting from California for private lessons.  I'm not usually a fan of the color pink, but I think it works in this painting.

For more information about this painting, click here to go to my website.

"Gemstone 17" mixed media acrylic abstract landscape © Carol Nelson Fine Art

This is for the lovers of green.  It doesn't show up a lot in my work, but I like it.  This was a demo painting I did for a class in Littleton last week.

Here, the compliment (red-orange) is the highlight on a predominantly green painting.  Usually for me, it's the other way around.

For more information about this painting, click here to go to my website.

"Winter Trail" mixed media tree collage © Carol Nelson Fine Art

This painting is similar in method to my last blog posting.  It's another demo piece I did at a recent workshop.  It is painted on a 6x6 panel, and finished with a layer of clear epoxy resin.

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

Gemstone 14A & B - mixed media abstract landscape © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Gemstone 14A, small 6x6

 

Gemstone 14B large 10x10

You may think you're seeing double.  You are.  I used the small 6x6 Gemstone 14, which was an "effortless abstract" I did for my workshop in Texas (Wenmohs Ranch) last week, as a template for a larger painting.

I've been telling my students that doing small paintings is like doing a sketch or workup for a larger work, so thought I had better practice what I preach and show you an example.

Sometimes smaller work does not enlarge well.  The charm of a small gem of a painting will not translate into a larger format.  I think the key is to USE the smaller image, but not to be a slave to it.  If you need to modify the larger painting by adding more detail, then do it.

For more information about these paintings, click here to go to my website.

"GEMSTONE 11" mixed media geologic abstract © Carol Nelson Fine Art

This is the eleventh painting in my Gemstone Series.  I call them "effortless abstracts", because of the artist cannot over think it when creating one.

It's that random quality of the lines that adds to the appeal.  Of course, the vibrant transparent colors of my Golden fluid acrylic paints is a big part of it too.

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

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THIS IS MY 900TH POST TO THIS BLOG. I started this blog  in 1997 to talk about what is going on in my art studio.  At first, I was just like the tree in the forest that nobody heard.

Now, thanks to you, dear reader, I have hundreds of people around the world that read my blog every week, many more who subscribe to get my posts in their inbox every day, and even more who read my posts on my Facebook page.

What an age we live in, where the internet makes this all possible!

I can only say THANK YOU for your encouragement and enthusiasm about my work.  Your comments are so delightful to receive. 

I figure it will be sometime in 2013 that I hit the 1000 mark.
Hopefully, you'll still be enjoying what you see in this blog.  I will have to start planning something colossal for that post.

"GEMSTONE 3" 12026, mixed media contemporary abstract © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Gemstone 3

 

Gemstone 3 is the third in this vibrantly colored series.  Above, you see all three mini abstracts in this series framed as a set.

Click here to see more information on my website.

"GEMSTONE 2" 12025, mixed media mini abstract © Carol Nelson Fine Art

THis is the second in my Gemstone series.  It is a vibrantly colored mini abstract.  For more information, click here to go to my website.

"GEMSTONE" 12021, mixed media contemporary abstract, © Carol Nelson Fine Art

This is another of my foam palette plate abstracts.  Love those intense colors.  For more information on this painting, click here to go to my website.

"FEBRUARY MORNING" 12011, contemporary mixed media forest tree abstract © Carol Nelson Fine Art

February Morning

I used textured wall paper for the trees.  I like the textured look of the paper.  The background was applied thickly with a palette knife.

This palette is different for me - there's no orange!  Well, there's orange, with white and yellow, in the sky color, but that's really an orange TINT.

This painting is at auction on Daily Paintworks.  Click here to put in your bid, and you might get this 6x6 for $75, which is a 25% saving over my usual 6x6 prices.

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"TOUCH MY HEART" 12008, contemporary modern textured heart valentine © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Touch My Heart

Here's a REALLY textured piece.  I tried very hard to get the shiny copper metal to show in a photo, but had not luck.  As you can see, this one has copper metal, brads, beads, corrugated art paper, and cubes of acrylic medium.

For more information on this painting, click here to go to my website.

"DESERT GLOW" 11019 daily painter mixed media abstract © Carol Nelson Fine Art

"DESERT GLOW"

This 6x6 inch abstract was a demo in one of my recent workshops.  It features painted foils and crushed shells.  I think it's a fun piece and demonstrates the appeal of a very limited palette. 

The colors are extremely deep and lush because of a crystal clear coating of epoxy resin over the whole painting.  For more information, click here to go to my website.

Mini Abstracts - Simple Elegance 3

My husband hates my abstracts. He likes to be able to "see something". I think abstracts appeal to people who like pleasing design/composition. They like the way the space is divided and are attracted to colors and textures in the piece. I also like to have a strong geometric element in most of my abstracts. When I see abstract paintings that are just swirls of color, I often wish there were a few straight lines, or squares, or rectangles somewhere. As they say....different strokes for different folks.

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Mini Abstracts - Simple Elegance 2

Working with aluminum is problematic. I bought it at Home Depot where it is sold as flashing. It is very thin, so I can easily cut it with an ordinary scissors. They have heavier aluminum and tin that you need a tin snips for, but that would be too hard to work with in this context. The leather I bought at a craft store. It comes in every color and is beautiful to work with.

As with all my abstracts, I don't know what it will look like when I start out arranging the different materials - that's the fun of it!

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Mini Abstracts - Simple Elegance 1

I have been absent from my postings for a couple weeks. I had (still have, but better) a sinus infection that wiped me out. Couldn't even paint. Total veg. Anyhow, the past couple days I could work on a few paintings for short periods before I had to collapse.

Continuing with my small size paintings, I wanted to try some an abstract theme. These paintings are 6x6 and use aluminum, leather, and acrylic paints.

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