NELVIA'SART.COM

                                                                 A Little Attitude                                                                        11"x14"                                                                    Color Pencil I had a couple of titles for this picture, Little Geshia or In Training, but I really like the pose and the attitude she is holding so hence the name. An artist at PMP, Sally Ann, does the most beautiful color pencil pictures and inspired me to dig out the pencils and do a pidcture as I haven't done one for a while.  I was not only intrigued with the subject but the intricacies and silky patterns of the kimono.   I hate backgrounds as I am never good at them and decided to utilize a background effect I had seen previously keeping it simple but effectively framing her.  Ever since I found a sharpening tip I have gotten such better tips - hold your pencil (color, charcoal or pastel) in your left hand.  Snugly put the sharpener ove

                                          WISHING A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!! Oh yes, it seemed so far away and now it is here, the holidays are definitely upon us.  Thanks to all who hopefully enjoyed this blog over the last year.  Appreciate very much your support, comments and feedback.  I hope all have plenty to eat, enjoy your families and have been good so Santa comes to call.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

                                                                         Worried                                                                           9"x12"                                                                           Pastel Well not sure what is going on but am in one of those times when I drive Paul nuts because I have at least 7 pictures started.   I have good intentions for all of them but can't seem to stay focused on them.  Did my review of goals for 2015, am setting new ones, and am trying something I thought was neat - coming up with 20 "personal" wishes.  Read a book about a groups of ladies who did that and well, they came thru - the power of writing things down.  They went so far as to actually create scrapbook pages.  But darn it is hard to come up with 20 things I want just for me, just haven't been programed that way.  So it is a tedious process, lots of adds, cross offs and added back again.  On well only have to figur

                                                             The Cocktail Party                                                                     11"x14"                                                                   Watercolor Initially I was going to call this The Pig and Hare, but when I saw the wine glass I changed it and thought they looked like they were at a cocktail party.   The rabbit with the pipe and the pig with the wine glass. When I was looking for inspiration I saw these guys from one of my favorite artists/photographers, Steve Lyddon on PMP.  They looked like they had a rusty crust on them that comes from outdoor exposure.  I remembered in an obscure watercolor book I had gotten years ago that it showed how to do stone or rust work.  So for this week's experiment you use a combination of household items.  The process is wet the paper (matboard in this instance), add watercolor, dab in olive oil to act as the resist, sprinkle salt and flour wher

                                                       Koi                                                     16"x20"                                                     Acrylic  One thing I love about these koi paintings is that you can hang them most anyway.  Here is the same picture just turned to all four sides. This is sort of more abstract as I put the fish in first and then put the background in.  Since the paint for the background is so liquefied it really spreads when you put the saran wrap on top of it and I think it makes it look like the water is actually more over the top of the fish.  You can compare to the previous post where the fish have all found edges and let me know which you prefer.  Also which way would you hang this picture? Thanks much for stopping by and have a great day.

        In The Flow II, I wasn't really happy with how this picture came together.  As Val mentioned, the big blob gray fish wasn't reading correctly.  So I changed it up, experimented with adding more background and leaves overlapping the fish themselves to see if could add depth, added in the water bubbles.  Hoping everyone else thinks this is an improvement.  Am thinking of putting it into the shop but don't want to add crappy work - so your thoughts?  Thanks for stopping by and letting me know your thoughts.

                                                                      In the Flow                                                                         14"x15"                                                                         Acrylic Seems like it has been a long time since I posted anything.  Took a little hitaus and saw some super paintings in National Gallery of Art, Portrait and American Art museums.  Really inspiring.  Had fun doing these koi as I love these balls of energy.  I think I am going to try to do them again, but do the fish first and then put the background in and let those colors overlap the fish to see if it gives it a more "water effect"  Thanks for taking a look and hope you are having a super week.