"Balancing Act" mixed media metallic collage abstract painting by Carol Nelson

"Balancing Act" 5x10 by Carol Nelson

This was a demo piece for two students taking semi-private instruction in my Colorado studio.  It illustrates the use of mirror paper, glitter paper, metallic tape, and combusted origami foil.  It also has rusted corrugated paper.

Of course, it's in my favorite earth tone palette with plenty of shine and sparkle.  This is a very fun piece, and I just wish the camera could capture the shiny elements better.

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

"Copper Curls" metal mixed media painting by Carol Nelson

"Copper Curls" 6x6 mixed media

This is a little mixed media piece I did to take to my Metals and Mixed Media class in a few weeks at Art Unraveled in Phoenix.  I will be teaching how to use metals in a mixed media painting.

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

"Twilight Dance" abstract tree landscape painting by Carol Nelson

"Twilight Dance" 36x24

This is a tree landscape in which I experimented with pouring and dripping on the canvas to simulate distant tree branches.  These drips were partially covered up when I painted in the foreground trees.  I like the abstracted effect of the loose, drippy background.

As with all my tree paintings, I paid attention to the value contrasts of light-on-dark and dark-on-light.

I painted this while we were spending a week at our condo in Breckenridge.  The couple that went with us loved it, and bought it on the spot.  Would that all sales came that easily.

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

"Billboard 1" mixed media abstract collage painting by Carol Nelson

"Billboard 1"

This started out with me trying to remove some collaged papers from a wood panel using a razor blade and sand paper.  The paper that remained stuck on the panel suddenly presented itself as an artsy possibility.  You always have to be on the lookout when you're deconstructing a collage for new unplanned accidents.

I decided to work with what I had. I did a little stamping, and a little painting, and voila!

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

"Fantasia" mixed media abstract landscape by Carol Nelson

"Fantasia"

Here's another of my muted palette mixed media pieces.  Lol - just kidding about the "muted" part.  This was a demo I did last week for some students taking semi-private instruction in my studio.

It started out as a monoprint, but in the following day or two, I kept adding stuff (acrylic drizzle skins, marbleized/stamped paper) to this painting. 

That's a joy/curse of mixed media - you never know when you're DONE!
Who knows? - I may add MORE stuff to this one (but probably not).

For more information about this 8x8 inch painting, click here to go to my website.

"Overview" mixed media textured abstract painting by Carol Nelson

"Overview"

This is a demo painting from my recent workshop at The Gallery at Midtown in Dallas, Texas.  Thanks to Teta Smith for taking care of my every need and making me feel like a Diva.

Thanks also to Dana Brown at Ampersand for donating 11x14 Gessobord panels for the class.  They make beautiful surfaces for this textured pour technique.

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

"Red Muse" mixed media abstract collage painting by Carol Nelson

"Red Muse"

This was a demo piece I did for a mixed media workshop I was teaching last weekend.  The letters are words I found in the Sunday paper advertising section.

I like seeing the title of a painting IN the painting.  Also, you will notice some corrugated cardboard, burlap, stenciled letters, and gestural marks.

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

"Arroyo" mixed media geologic abstract landscape painting by Carol Nelson

This painting is a large (48x36 inch) triptych on three wood panels, each measuring 48x12 inches.  I added a LOT of texture, including gritty modeling compound, rocks, and glass blobs.

The most exciting thing about this painting is hardly even visible in a photo.  The area around the rocks has a pouring of epoxy resin resembling water.

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

"Winter Wardrobe 2" mixed media collage tree landscape by Carol Nelson

"Winter Wardrobe 2"

 

This painting is a demo I did for my Abstracted Tree class yesterday.  I used Golden's Pearl Mica Flake (small) for the "snow".
I really like the effect, and wish you could see it better in the photo.  It goes on as a white gel, but after it dries, all you see is the little reflective mica flakes.

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

"Mineral Rights" mixed media geologic abstract by Carol Nelson

"Mineral Rights"

This geologic abstract painting is done with high flow acrylics on a textured canvas.  In pouring on the colors, you don't have total control over what's happening and that is what's fun about painting this way.

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

Visual Language visits Carol Nelson's studio

 

Here I am in the uncontrolled chaos of my studio.  See the article in the latest issue of Visual Language about a visit to my studio.

The article is on pages 92 - 100.  There is also an ad for my upcoming Denver area workshop on page 136.  The first session filled up so quickly, we added a second session on Feb 8-9, at Kimberly Conrad's Boardinghouse Studio.

I look wistfully at the beautiful studios some artists have.  But they are not mixed media artists!  When you're into mixed media, you have to save every piece of crap you come across.  OK, that's a little harsh.  But it IS crap, until you turn it into a masterpiece (perhaps)!


Take this painting, for example, that I recently completed:

"Southern Relic"

There's a piece of old rusted metal in there that I found in the gutter in New Orleans recently when I was there for Golden Art Educator training.

Check out more 2014 workshops at my website.

"Introspection" gold leaf abstract by Carol Nelson

I like the gold leaf substrate.  It gives the painting a warm glow.
The photo does not do the painting justice - it's so hard to show metallic shine.
For more information, click here to go to my website.

"E4" mixed media textured geometric abstract by Carol Nelson

"E4"

There are five visual and tactile texture elements in this geometric abstract:  the backwards "E" and the "4" are raised, stenciled characters; the face is a collaged, oversized, FAKE $20 bill; the grid is a piece of black fabric; the corrugated swirl paper (green); and a page out of a puzzle book I bought at the Dollar Store (red).
For more information on this painting, click here to go to my website.

"Southen Relic" mixed media abstract rust painting by Carol Nelson

"Southern Relic"

Progress photo showing metal piece and iron paint.

When I was wandering around the French Quarter in New Orleans last month at the Golden training workshop, I kept an eye on the ground for treasures - you need to do watch out anyhow because the pavement is so uneven.  This old piece of metal was one of my finds.

To make more rusted patterns around the piece of metal, I applied iron paint over textured paper and molding paste.

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

Christmas came early! by Carol Nelson

OH MY GOSH! I AM BLOWN AWAY! One of the benefits of being selected for Golden's Artist Educator Program was that, after completing and passing the final exam to be "certified," Golden Artist Colors, Inc. would send me $2500 worth of their products.

The FedEx truck pulled up with two boxes of Golden products today  There are Open Acrylics, High Flow Acrylics, Flourescent High Flow Acrylics, Tube Acrylics, Fluid Acrylics, Interference Acrylics, and Iridescent Acrylics. There are jars of Fiber Paste, several kinds of Molding Paste and Gel Medium, Digital Ground, Pumice Gels, Clear Tar Gel, and many more.

Fortunately, after our week of training last month in New Orleans, I know how to use all this stuff. Golden is such a generous company, and their products, which are MADE IN THE USA, are top notch professional quality. I am so grateful for this wonderful opportunity to share these products with my workshop students.

Gemstone 19 - mixed media geologic abstract by Carol Nelson

Gemstone 19

I never dreamed I would still be working on this series when I did the first one.  They are very popular in my "Effortless Abstracts" workshops.  This one was the demo for the workshop I did in Raleigh, at Art of the Carolinas.

That trade show/art gathering was one of the highlights of my art career to date.  Imagine a whole hotel (the Hilton Midtown) taken over by like-minded individuals - artists from around the world.
And vendors of all your favorite art supplies offering them at rock bottom prices.

I taught a 6 hour and a 3 hour workshop, and I TOOK two 3 hour workshops.  One with Bob Burridge, and one with Joe DiGiulio.

Confession:  I took their workshops, not so much to see how they do their paintings, but to see how they conduct 3 hour workshops!!  I was a SPY.  I learned a few tips too.  I know that students really like it when they have a painting they've created to take home with them.

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

"Big Red" acrylic poppy flower by Carol Nelson

"Big Red"

This is one of the projects we're going to do in my Dallas workshop at The Artists Showplace next week.  The petals are sculpted with medium before painting, making a 3D effect.  These little 6x6inch paintings look so good in groups of three, or the same technique can be expanded into a larger work.

"Poppy Garden"

For more information on "Big Red", click here to go to my website.

"Blue Grove 2" mixed media tree landscape by Carol Nelson

"Blue Grove 2"

I included a couple angled shots of this painting because it's hard for the metallic background to show.  The foliage is made from crackle paste.  After painting it mostly shades of phthalo turquoise and paynes gray, I used Golden High Flow burnt sienna, and Com.Art transparent phthalo blue for airbrush to drop color into the cracks of the crackle paste.

I was given the package of High Flow paints at the Golden Art Educators program I recently attended in New Orleans, and the ComArt air brush paint was given to me at Jerry's Artarama when I taught a workshop there last April.  This is the first time I've gotten around to using either product.

The long pointed dispenser tip on the ComArt bottle really lets you pinpoint where you want the color to flow, which is a nice feature. These paints are very thin, with a consistency like ink.

I did this painting as a demo for my Mixed Media Trees workshop I will be teaching next week in Raleigh at Art of the Carolinas.  The workshop is only 6 hours, and I'm worried the class' crackle paste won't crackle soon enough for them to paint on it, so I need to have something to show them how it will look when it's done.

For more information about this 12 x 5 inch painting, click here to go to my website.

"London Vibe" contemporary collage by Carol Nelson

 

"London Vibe"

This is a tile and stone collage made from pieces from our recent bathroom remodel.  The name of the "bling" tile was London Sky. I just fell in love with the colors and design.  This is the second painting inspired by the colors in the tile.

I mounted the collage on one half inch thick board, so it is both sturdy and heavy.  The pewter easel is perfect with it.

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

"New London" mixed media geologic abstract painting by Carol Nelson

New London

This is another in my geologic abstract series.  The inspiration for palette is my newly remodeled bathroom, which has some really cool tile accents.  The name of the tile was New London, and, of course, I have red accents.

Sometimes people ask me, Where do I get my inspiration?  This is a perfect example.  It's just colors and textures that get me going in a new creative pursuit.

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