100 Portraits in 100 Days "Ishrath 3" by Colorado Artist Carol Nelson

This painting was from a project I completed awhile back where I created 100 portraits in 100 days.

 6"x6"Oil on Panel/Available

 Click HERE for pricing.

 View more of my work at http://carolnelsonfineart.com

 Sign up for my quarterly newsletter HERE

 View my WORKSHOP SCHEDULE  Here

 View my available BOOKS Here

100 Portraits in 100 Days "Ishrath 3" by Colorado Artist Carol Nelson

This painting was from a project I completed awhile back where I created 100 portraits in 100 days.

 6"x6"Oil on Panel/Available

 Click HERE for pricing.

 View more of my work at http://carolnelsonfineart.com

 Sign up for my quarterly newsletter HERE

 View my WORKSHOP SCHEDULE  Here

 View my available BOOKS Here

100 Portraits in 100 Days "Ishrath 3" by Colorado Artist Carol Nelson

This painting was from a project I completed awhile back where I created 100 portraits in 100 days.

 6"x6"Oil on Panel/Available

 Click HERE for pricing.

 View more of my work at http://carolnelsonfineart.com

 Sign up for my quarterly newsletter HERE

 View my WORKSHOP SCHEDULE  Here

 View my available BOOKS Here

Rich, Matt and Chris by Carol Nelson Fine Art

These are portraits I recently finished of three brothers, commissioned by their Dad as a surprise Mother's Day gift for their Mom. 

I painted them in the same style of my 100 Portraits series.  It was fun to do some portraits again and I'm very happy with how these turned out.

For Mother's Day, my daughters Suzanne and Lauren took me out to brunch.  Then we went to the Denver Art Museum to see the Yves St. Laurent exhibition.  Over 300 of the famous designer's fashions were on display.

Discover Portrait Art, Portrait Paintings, Pencil Portraits,Portrait Oil Paintings, Portrait Sketches,Charcoal Portraits, Abstract Portrait Paintings, Realistic Portrait Paintings as International Artists post daily their newest artwork. .

How do YOU look at art?

Recently I was contacted by Ute Kreplin, PhD candidate at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, about using one of my images for his online survey researching how people look at, and react to seeing artistic images.

I took the survey, which involves looking at images, and grading your first response in several categories.  One of the images is a painting I created - you might recognize it.

I will be interested in the results of Ute's research.  Wouldn't it be great for an artist to know what aspects of a painting appeal to the broadest range of viewers?  This is especially valuable to beginning artists.

Of course, every viewer has their own interpretation of what makes a good painting.  I have found that my own appreciation of different artistic styles has vastly expanded by studying art and art history.
However, ultimately, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

When you participate in Ute's survey, you will have to think about what you feel when viewing the art and I think that alone is an important reason to take the survey.  Below is Ute's study:

Liverpool John Moores University Visual Aesthetic Interest Survey

Do you want to take part in an online study?
Are you aged over 18?
Do you want to give subjective ratings towards contemporary artworks?

You can complete the study in around 20 minutes. You will rate pictures for ‘interest’ and you can compare your most interesting picture to everybody else's most interesting picture.
You can also win Amazon vouchers (UK site only).

To take part in this study and for further details go to
 http://physiologicalcomputing.net/isurvey/

Many Thanks
Ute Kreplin, PhD student at Liverpool John Moores University, UK

"LADY G" 11034, daily painter original textured portrait collage © Carol Nelson Fine Art

"LADY G"

 

I named this painting LADY G after Lady Gaga.  It doesn't really look like her, but the flamboyant hair and outfit looks just like something you would see Lady Gaga wearing.

The painting has the everything plus the kitchen sink.  Many different mediums, including gel "skins" for the facial features, and lots of texture.

This painting will replace the one I brought to Brushstrokes Gallery in Denver for the Artists of Colorado Show.  The original painting, Canyon Colors, sold before the show opened.  Woo-hoo!

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






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"CAROL 2011" - daily painter original self portrait © Carol Nelson Fine Art

"CAROL 2011"

I took this picture of myself holding the camera at arm's length.  The Daily Paintworks challenge this week is to paint a quirky, unusual self portrait.  I wanted to do one that was off center, cropped and very colorful.

I think I cropped it too close on the right side by cutting my eyeball in half.  Oh well, it is what it is.  I suppose some day when I'm gone, my kids will think this is great.

My husband said I took off 20 years - NOT TRUE!  I have a pair of cool glasses.  They are rimless, but are difficult to paint.  They're there and yet,not there.  I ran into those a couple times last year during my 100 portrait project.

I also think I used too much purple (can there be such a thing?) but I didn't want to redo the whole area around my eyes.  The lenses in my glasses are actually purple on the EDGE, and that doesn't show well in the photo.  They have to be viewed from just the right angle to see the purple edging.

This was a fun challenge.  See dailypaintworks.com for more self portraits.






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"ROSCOE" 11023, daily painter dog portrait © Carol Nelson Fine Art

"ROSCOE"

This is a commissioned pet portrait.  Roscoe looks like a happy guy.  I had a good reference photo to work from with strong light and shadow.

I remember my portrait project from a year ago where I painted 100 portraits from photos I received by email.  I had to stress over and over the importance of taking a photo with strong light coming from one side so there would be shadows across the face.  I actually told people to go outside at dawn or sunset and take a picture with the sun lighting only one side of the face.

That's one of the reasons many professional portraits are boring.  Flash, flash, flash.  No shadows on the face.  There is no reason to light up the entire face as if it were a mug shot or an object in an advertisement.

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"DORI" daily painter original oil portrait © Carol Nelson Fine Art

"DORI"

This portrait is of artist Dori Dewberry.
Dori's photo was one of the ones I selected to be part of my 100 PORTRAITS project about a year ago.  Recently, I answered a call for entries by submitting this portrait to be in Randy Higbee Gallery's 6x6 INCH SQUARED competition.

I'm happy to say that this painting of Dori was chosen to be in the group of selected paintings from 1200 entries by artists around the country. 

The exhibition will be at Randy Higbee Gallery in Costa Mesa, CA.
Dori lives in Orange County in Southern California, so she will be able to see her own portrait in the show.  That is cool.

Dori beat out other entries I made of my granddaughter and husband!!

"MORRIS"

"JAIDYN"

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"CELIA" 10170, daily painter original oil portrait © Carol Nelson Fine art

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"CELIA" 10170

This is a commissioned portrait for a friend who was over at my house and saw some of the portraits I did earlier this year of my family members.  I don't usually paint kids less than two years old, but when I saw Celia's photo, I KNEW it would make an excellent portrait.  She has such sparkle in those eyes.  And I loved doing that hair!

It was fun to do another portrait.  It's been good for me to NOT do any for a while... Please click here to see other portraits on my website..

20% off my book - 100 PORTRAITS - © Carol Nelson Fine Art

 



Blurb (my publisher), is having a 20% off sale on books ordered through 11-26-2010.  If you thought this book would make an interesting gift - maybe you're one of the 100, or maybe you would just like to see 100 faces painted in Fauvist style - now's the time to order.

Click here to go to the preview page - you can preview the entire book.  If you wish to order a book, enter the promo code "PROMO" at checkout in the US, or "PROMO3"  in Canada, for the 20% discount.

Of course, I have one of the books sitting on my coffee table.  People cannot resist picking it up and browsing through the 100 faces.  These are portraits of REAL PEOPLE from photos I received from folks all over the world.   If your portrait is in the book, don't forget to put a fancy bookmark on the page containing your portrait.   Humans are naturally drawn to images of other humans, whether they know them personally or not.   Order your 100 PORTRAITS  today.





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"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.

Best Friends, 10123, commissioned portrait © Carol Nelson Fine Art

These ladies are best friends. One of them asked me to paint this portrait of the two of them as a surprise gift for the other one. I agreed to do it, but now I think I should have declined.

I was working from a small photo and, as you can see, it was a flash photo with both of them looking directly into the camera. That is precisely the type of reference photo I dislike intensely. It makes a good photo, but a lousy portrait.

Right now, I'm going to say NEVER AGAIN. If you study the work of famous portrait artists, their work never looks like an ad for good dental checkups. These ladies have great smiles, but when I look at this painting, all I see is teeth. You would think, after my 100 portraits project, I would have known the pitfalls of painting this photo.

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

Day 100

This is it! 100 portraits finished! That picture of me was taken last November with me holding my camera at arm's length. In the portrait I somehow managed to take off about a decade. Who needs a face lift - I can just paint my way to youth and vitality. LOL

So now what? First, we need to finish the voting for 91-99. Don't vote for me - I don't want any sympathy votes. Please vote by Tues evening. On Wednesday, I will post the photos again of all the group winners and we can vote one last time to pick the Grand Poobah of the 100 portraits project. Imagine that bragging rights that person will have!!!!

I'm sure some of you who sent in photos are disappointed your photo didn't get in. I still have on file all the photos that were sent to me. If you still want me to paint a portrait at the regular rate of $100 plus $10 shipping, just drop me an email at carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net.

What did I learn from all this work? I feel my skill as a portrait painter improved. I think I have a "style." It's characterized by strong brushwork and imaginative color choices. Many of you who are artists are inspired to start a project of your own. I think that is great. I certainly didn't start out to be this great inspirational figure, but I'm humbled and appreciative that some of you think of me that way.

My other goal was to increase the traffic to my blog and website. Many of your signed up to be followers of my blog and to receive email updates via Feedblitz. Many also signed on my website to received my free newsletter. It's nice to think that my tiny voice in the wilderness of the internet is a little louder.

I ended up selling, or giving away to our kids, a total of 59 portraits. Many of the unsold portraits were sent in by other artists to help me get the project off the ground. Thank you for doing that. In this economy, in a slow time of the year for art sales (the first quarter is always a killer for me), I am happy with the sales I made, especially to folks in six foreign countries. The power of the internet is amazing.

And finally, and most importantly, I feel I have gotten to "know" many of you through your fantastic comments. I thank you for all the support and prayers sent our way when Morris had his kidney transplant. Your kind words of encouragement were so appreciated. I think Sherry (Autumn Leaves) looked at my blog early in the morning every single day and left 100 delightful comments. Sherry, you even found something positive to say about portraits that were a little "off."

So after this project is wrapped up, and the Grand Poobah chosen, I have several paintings that are waiting to make their debut. They are mostly abstracts done at my workshops and some that I'm trying to get ready for the outdoor show season which starts in 4 weeks.

Thanks to all of you for coming along on my fantastic journey.
Carol

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