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.

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.

NEST, 9098, textured bird nest with eggs © Carol Nelson Fine Art

There is something intimate about peeking into a bird's nest to see a clutch of eggs. It is a sight rarely seen, and it is reassuring, in a way, to see nature's wild creatures going on with their life's business as they have for thousands of years.
I painted this piece on Gessoboard, which is a very smooth surface. To suggest a structure of weeds, grasses and twigs surrounding the eggs, I used heavy body acrylic paints mixed with modeling paste applied with a palette knife. The knife edge gave the thin, grass-like strokes I was looking for.
This painting is sold, but, stay tuned, as I plan on doing a series of eggs in nests.