100 OIL PORTRAITS IN 100 DAYS - Zetana, 41/100, © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Day 41

This beauty is my 12 year old grand daughter, Zetana. I remember when she was born, I was dubious about the name they picked. It seemed like a mouthful for a sweet baby girl. Now, I WISH I had a distinctive name like Zetana. I could just sign my paintings with a Z and everyone would know who it was!
If she grows up to be even remotely famous, she will only need to go by her first name. This painting is sold.

Don't forget to VOTE! Review portraits 31-40, and send me an email with your favorite to carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net People seem to be having trouble picking the winner out of this group. The voting will end tomorow (Thursday) at 10 pm MST.

100 OIL PORTRAITS IN 100 DAYS - Brittnee, 40/100, © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Day 40

Getting all decked out and going to the Prom is one of the highlights of a girl's high school days. For many girls it's the first time to have their hair professionally styled, and first time to wear an elegant formal dress. That was the occasion for this photo of the lovely, fresh-faced Brittnee. For purchase information, please see my website, or email me at carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net.

This is portrait #40 and you know what that means: time to VOTE again. Please review portraits 31 - 40 (Inga - Brittnee) and let me know your favorite. I think this is a particularly diverse group and should be fun to see who gets the most votes.

100 OIL PORTRAITS IN 100 DAYS - Auntie Trude, 39/100, © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Day 39

This is by far the hardest portrait I've done so far. I spent the better part of Super Bowl Sunday working on it. I photographed it, uploaded it, and then saw something that needed to be corrected, fixed the problem, and repeated the procedure FOUR times. This may not even be the final version.

The subject is my beloved Auntie Trude. She is 92 years old and sharp as a tack. She lives in her own home and walks every day, except when there's a blizzard or icy conditions up in Duluth, MN. She's active in her church, is always cooking and baking, and has tons of friends. The original photo, while having excellent lighting, was a little bland in color, so I changed the color of her shirt to something a little jazzier to match her personality.

100 OIL PORTRAITS IN 100 DAYS - Sean, 38/100, © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Day 38

Every photo comes with new and unique challenges. This is my first painting of someone with freckles and first (and probably only) one with a gecko. This is another example of a good reference photo having both sun and shadows on the face.
For purchase information on this painting, please see my website, or email me at carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net.

FYI: I know you are all viewing these paintings on your computer monitor at home or at work (tsk-tsk). Someone who had purchased two paintings emailed me that the paintings, when he received them, did not look anything like what he saw on his monitor. They were much more vibrant and colorful and he LOVED them.

This is a typical response when people see their portraits in person. If your monitor is an older model, or you don't have it set up for maximum color, you may be missing out on some of the vibrant colors I put into most of these portraits.

I just got a new 22 inch flatscreen monitor and the images on it match the colors in the paintings exactly. I suggest everyone go out and buy a new monitor so you can see the next 62 portraits as they were meant to be seen - LOL - just kidding.

100 OIL PORTRAITS IN 100 DAYS - Tejaswini, 37/100, © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Day 37

This lovely lady's name is Tejaswini. I was so happy to paint this person because this is exactly what I mean when I ask for a photo with shadows on the face. It's beautiful and so is she. I hope the shadows of her hair on her cheek read correctly.

For purchase information, please see my website, or email me at carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net.

100 OIL PORTRAITS IN 100 DAYS - Laurie, 36/100, © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Day 36

Laurie looks like a fun person. I think she must have just returned from a spa treatment because her skin is so luminous and glowing. Lovely. For purchase information, please see my website, or email me at carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net.

NEW POLICY: Yesterday someone went on my website and clicked the Paypal Buy Now button on a portrait and made the purchase. When I was notified by Paypal that a purchase occurred, I realized that the buyer was not the person who submitted the photo for the portrait.
The person who submitted the photo had already indicated to me that she wanted to purchase the painting, but had not actually completed the transaction.

To prevent this problem from recurring, I ask that any of you who wish to purchase a portrait for which you did not submit the photo to please EMAIL me before you make the purchase. I check my email several times a day.

I always send an email at least 24 hours in advance before I post a new portrait. That gives the person a heads up that they should check the blog and let me know that they intend to purchase their portrait.

Thanks for your attention to this matter. : - )

100 PORTRAITS IN 100 DAYS - Princess Jaidyn, 35/100, © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Day 35

Is this too precious for words? This is my little grand daughter, Jaidyn. I gave her a princess chest for Christmas containing 3 different princess dresses and accessories. Here she is in the blue dress and tiara. Jaidyn is two and a half - what I think is SUCH a fun age.

I took the photo and found out a good way to photograph a 2 year old. I told her I was photographing her tiara, not her, then kept showing her the images. I just had to keep trying to get that perfect image of the tiara. She was amazingly patient of having that camera a foot from her face. I have all kinds of photos with her smiling and laughing, but this was her Mom's favorite. I think Jaidyn was beginning to wonder, though, how long it was going to take me to capture that darn tiara. LOL

100 PORTRAITS IN 100 DAYS - Angela, 34/100, © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Day 34

Angela has this stunning silver hair that I couldn't resist making blue. The last person I painted with blue hair was a brunette (Regula, 21/100) and she loved the blue. A blue rinse would do the trick for Angela. LOL Angela is a fine artist herself - see her blog at angelaelledge.blogspot.com.
For purchase information, please see my website, or email carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net

Today I had to go to Home Depot to get more MDF board for making these 6x6 panels. I have HD cut a 24x48 board into 6 inch strips. These I can cut into 6x6 panels using my radial arm saw. Then I sand them and gesso them. I've got 26 more ready to go. That should take me about to the half way mark.

100 PORTRAITS IN 100 DAYS - Heidi, 33/100, © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Day 33

Yea! I'm about 1/3 of the way through my project. Thanks to all who are participating!

This beautiful young lady's photo was sent in my her Mom, who lives in Berwyn, Alberta, Canada. I had to look up Berwyn. It's north of Calgary and north of Edmonton - waaaaayyyyy up in northern Alberta. Population a little over 500 so I bet everyone in town will see this portrait. I know from growing up in Duluth, MN, how it feels to be outside in -20 below temps - you HAVE to cover as much exposed skin as possible. Every breath is a cloud of vapor.

The challenge of this photo was to portray that frost on Heidi's hat, scarf and eyelashes. As a matter of fact, I was concentrating so much on that aspect, that I really didn't notice that I didn't match that scarf color very well.

For purchase information, please see my website, or email me at carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net.

100 PORTRAITS IN 100 DAYS - Dodge, 32/100, © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Day 32

Dodge is a fellow I "met" on Facebook. This is one of his profile pictures and I could immediately see that it would make an interesting portrait. I love all the green in the photo - the wild colors were already there for me - no racking my brain to come up with wild colors.
For purchase information, please see my website, or email me at carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net.

AND THE WINNER IS: JEFF, 25/100. Jeff's portrait was the favorite in the last group of ten.
I'm curious about the past three winners - they've all been guys wearing glasses. I've painted some beautiful women, adorable children, but viewers are going for guys with glasses. If this continues, looks like today's painting of Dodge has a good chance.
Thanks to all who sent me their vote. I think this is so fun!!!