Collage and Cocktails

Check out my recent art and music inspired Collage and Cocktails class which took place at the Grand Bohemian Hotel and Gallery in downtown Orlando, FL.

We had a wonderful time with our Blueberry Açaí Blueberry Van Gogh vodka cocktail and an iris collage project inspired by the art of Van Gogh.

Check it out here on my Growing Bolder Blog

Creating a Companion Piece

12x12 on flat wood panel, painted similar background to match the apple

Last month in my Sedona, AZ Paper Paintings 3-day workshop I created the demo apple on the left to show my students the technique of collage. As often happens, one of my students purchased the demo piece from me.

Lesley asked me if I could also make her a pear, (and a pair) to display with her apple. Creating a companion piece after the fact, vs. creating it at the same time can be tricky. When I create two collages that go together, I typically put them on the easel at the same time. I work back and forth between the two so that I am utilizing some of the same collage papers on each piece, giving them harmonious color and patterns.

mimicking the same line quality, style, and underpainting of the pear

Since I was going to create the pear after the fact, I told Lesley that I'd need to take the apple home to the FL studio. I was in luck that I had created the Sedona Apple on the road because this meant that I was working from a limited stock of papers in my travel bag. Working from a gallon sized bag of papers vs. a full studio drawer of papers narrowed down the search for similar patterned and colored collage paper.

completed pear, you can see the same leaf papers, reds and yellows on both pieces

In addition to bringing Lesley's Sedona Demo Apple home for reference, it was also imperative that I bring it home to varnish along side the pear. I did demonstrate varnish in the class with the apple, however my varnish at home is my own mixture of gloss and matte and it was not going to match the sheen of the varnish out of the bottle. Any time I create companion pieces, I want to be sure that both have matching varnish. When I completed the pear I gave them both a coat of my secret recipe varnish. 

Now the pair is complete and they are going to look great hanging in Lesley's kitchen! 

Thank You
for being a part of my
Art Journey, 
Elizabeth

click any image to enlarge

Never Stop Learning

The audience of 400 people for my presentation on September 17

I was asked to speak about collage as my medium and my artistic voice, in addition to how I have become successful with my art through marketing, to a group of 400 at the University of Central Florida yesterday morning. 

UCF is the second largest university in the country, with 65,000 students. The Learning Institute for Elders at UCF (L.I.F.E.) provides educational programs for group study on topics selected by and for the membership. They are a nonprofit organization and a community education program for people of retirement age in the Central FL area who thirst for continued learning. 

A man that I worked with at my first advertising agency job over 18 years ago is on the L.I.F.E. board of directors, and invited me to present to the group. Norman and I have stayed in touch over the years after reuniting at an Orlando Museum of Art function. Norman attended my 2010 solo exhibition opening at the Maitland Art Center and has been following my work ever since. He gave me a wonderful introduction on the podium yesterday morning and his wife Aymar, who is from Brazil, kissed me on both cheeks and hugged me vigorously, right in the middle of the Student Union. She is much much shorter than me, even without my funky heels, so I had to bend at the knees to receive her love. It's nice to feel loved, isn't it? 

I love that one of the rather bold statements on the L.I.F.E. website is "Bring an inquiring and open mind!" and they do. When I arrived I had several people come up to me and tell me how much they liked my hair. I was well received by this group despite my crazy hair, my nose ring and my clashing clothing patterns. They were interested in what I had to say, they laughed at my jokes, and they applauded me at the end. I was inundated with questions and compliments on my work.

The Student Union at UCF where my talk took place

Thanks to teaching workshops, I wasn't a bit nervous speaking to such a large group. To me, it was no different than speaking to 15 students. When folks came up to me afterward and told me that I had a knack for giving a presentation, I told them that my Dad was an independent insurance broker all my life and he taught me how to talk to people. He taught me how to strike up a conversation with a stranger, simply by saying hello and starting out with a smile. I learned from my father that most people are approachable and interesting and that there are many opportunities in a day to engage with someone  new, if you open your heart and your mind. When I present to a group, large or small, I try to remember that it's a room full of individuals.

my Dad on his fishing boat, one of his favorite things to do with us as kids besides talk to strangers

Thank you Dad for helping me find the confidence in myself to say "yes" to that very first art workshop coordinator who asked me to teach, and for saying "yes" to this opportunity at UCF. I never presented my art to such a large group as I did yesterday, but it's true, if you have an inquiring and open mind, you never stop learning.

thank you 

for being part of my

Art Journey,

Elizabeth

Please Save The Date and Join Me?

Key West Ships Today!

27 pieces, some large, some small, are shipping to Key West's Stone Soup Gallery in four large boxes today via good old FedEx Ground. I just have to figure out how to get these boxes into the store! Typically if they see me coming with one, they will come out and help me with the rest. My FedEx store knows me well.

Butterfly Strings #1 / collage on wood panel / 20x24

Florida Oranges #1 / collage on wood panel / 12x12

I am sending Stone Soup a wide variety of pieces, some newly created just for them, and some I have in my inventory. Florida Oranges #1 and #2 were done over the workshop weekend in North Carolina. I had Stone Soup in mind when I used Florida Oranges #1 as my demo piece.

Key West Lighthouse / collage on wood panel / 10x22

I am looking forward to heading down to the gallery next week! My husband and my kids are heading down for the show and some R&R next wednesday. I'll be teaching a two half-day class over the weekend on the 17/18 if you are close by and interested.

Blueberry Bliss / collage on panel / 24x24

My Moos

#30 ©St.Hilaire Nelson

I bike several times a week training for the upcoming triathlon season. When I ride I bring my iPhone and I always ride the Seminole Wekiva trail which passes a wonderful pasture area that is home to several cows and horses. As most of you know, I am not a fan of horses.... but the cows are another story. Cows are my muse. Or should I say, my "moos"

Curious, ©Doug Nelson

My husband is the pro photographer, which means that even with his iPhone, he gets better shots than I do! This cow was very curious of Doug's phone the day we stopped our bikes and I put him to work photographing future collage reference for me.

#31 ©St.Hilaire Nelson

The last cow I collaged from these reference shots Mary Moo sold in Asheville, NC. I'm headed to Asheville again this June and so I have been thinking about creating another cow for the occasion.

Mary Moo, ©St.Hilaire Nelson, SOLD

I am a big fan of the farm fence in the foreground. This is a composition that has become a theme for me and I will probably utilize it in future work for the Asheville, NC show.

Stay tuned for another cow in the near future. BUT for now, I am still plugging away at the Noah's Ark Series. I have two sets of "twosies" to go. I'm also going to be the featured artist at the Grand Bohemian Gallery the first friday of April for St. Augustine, FL's Art Walk. That's Easter weekend, so I might have to put some baby ducks into the mix.

Curious 2, ©Doug Nelson

If you have any farm reference photos you'd like to give me permission to paint,
send me an email!

Palms for Key West

Palms, Photography, ©Douglas Nelson, 2011

Key West Coconuts #2, 24x24, collage on wood panel, ©St.Hilaire Nelson 2012

 Many of you know that my husband Douglas Nelson is a professional photographer who I art direct for my own purposes while on vacation! Last year we attended a wedding in Jamaica and I got him to take reference photos for my upcoming Key West show at Stone Soup Gallery on White Street.

As you can see, I have taken artistic license with the images. I have added coconuts, cropped, deleted branches, and pushed the color. Once I establish a sketch and basic under-painting from the photo, I put it away and deviate in the collage phase. In the end, the collage will have a look of its own.

Not only is it great to have a photographer on your team, but one you can ask to photograph your art as well as your reference materials, I'm in heaven. My husband spends countless hours photographing my work for archiving and reproduction. He uses his professional digital equipment to give me fantastic quality images. He also takes my head shots for PR and editorial purposes.

If you don't have someone like Doug at your disposal, you can always create your artwork on a small scale and utilize your own desktop scanner with high resolution, you can contact a professional in your area and ask about having your work photographed, or you can find a service bureau near you with a large format flat bed scanner. Often times you can negotiate an arrangement for low cost on scans if you offer volume.

As a result of my photos, I can offer any of my artwork images to you as a beautiful giclée print on either gallery wrapped canvas or textured paper. I have a printer in Orlando who does an amazing quality job and ships directly to you flat boxed.

For more information about prints, contact me.

Palms, Photography, ©Douglas Nelson, 2011

Key West Palms 20x24, collage on wood panel, ©St.Hilaire Nelson 2012

That's Just How I Do It

Rooster, yet to be titled, 30x30, collage on wood panel

In a recent blog post from my dear friend and fellow artist Robin Maria Pedrero talked about how she accomplishes everything she does. I found this post to be so refreshing and interesting as Robin and I often speak about balancing family and work.

Robin talks about keeping a positive attitude, mentoring and teaching, learning from her mistakes and managing her time. She goes on to share a typical day in her life, and it resonated with me. I decided to borrow her idea and share with you, my readers, a day in my life. I do this because like Robin, everyday people say to me "I don't know how you do all that you do."

This week I am teaching seven fifth grade classes the art of collage and the profession of being an artist. I am at Sabal Point Elementary school every day this week except Wednesday, which is early release day. Yesterday was Wednesday.

Tuesday late afternoon the corporate director for the Grand Bohemian Gallery which carries my work nationally asked me if I had any new work. Since I have been working on my Noah's Ark Series I have not had new work to give her for a while, and I am feeling badly about answering that question with "no" because my answer for most things is usually "yes."

I Always Give it My Best
Vanessa was looking for a large scale rooster piece and had hoped to install it in the Asheville gallery. I told her I'd do what I could to get one done for her.

sketch with beginnings of underpainting

Late Tuesday night I sketched up the rooster onto my 30x30 panel and coated it with multiple coats of clear gesso. Wednesday morning at 6:30am I blocked in the green background before waking the kids for school. 

Multitasking is Key

While the kids were showering and getting ready for breakfast I pulled on my sneakers and ran three miles around my neighborhood. When I returned I checked on the kids progress, took a quick shower and cooked breakfast of eggs, toast, sausage and fresh fruit (Every morning is like Sunday at our house). I ran a load of laundry and put away the dishwasher. Before they went out the door to catch the bus I packed them both healthy lunches and kissed them goodbye, wishing them the very best day!

Slightly off  Center

Back inside, I quick changed into my gym clothes and headed off to lift weights. Exercise is my relaxation, I enjoy pushing the limits of both my mental and physical strength. I find my center and calm my mind through exercise every day. Before I clean up, I dash out to the studio to block in more color on the rooster, completing the underpainting. This will need to dry for a few hours. I'm moving so fast I think I'm still burning calories!

underpainting progresses with more blocking in and

establishing a decorative background 

Keep Moving

I head into the house and put the laundry in the dryer, shower, check my emails and design an ad layout for a health and fitness club in Baltimore, MD. Today I have set aside some time to have lunch with a friend since it's early day and  I am not volunteering at school. We enjoy Greek food and catch up conversation and then I head home and back to my desk. I design a tri-fold massage brochure for that same Baltimore client, field more emails, make changes to some fitness posters for my Orlando based Sportsplex and before I know it I can hear the beep-beep of the alarm as the kids come in the garage from school.

I take the kids for frozen yogurt so we can spend some time together before dance and swim team. We head home and on the way drop my daughter off for dance at 4:00. I encourage my son to do a bit of his homework before we have to leave for swim team at 5:15. Take a few minutes to check social networking, email and waiting for the underpainting to dry.

Head to the aquatics center with my son for 5:30 and back to pick up at dance for the break from 6-7pm. Arrive home, make spaghetti and organic chicken sausage. Back to dance for 7-9pm and pickup Connor at the aquatics center at 7pm. Typically I have help with the driving buy my husband is out of town on a photo shoot this week. Hit the post office to mail DVDs on my way home.

Balancing Act

Get everyone back and forth and settled with homework, then I sit and read for an hour with the kids and the dogs until DANCE MOMS comes on TV at 10pm. It's a repeat and so I tell my daughter I'm going to pass and head out to the studio to work. They are engrossed in TV as I head to the back yard with the dogs in tow. I pick up some papers and try to organize my work area a bit, put on some good music and start working in a sea of reds for the rooster waddle and comb. 

In the groove when 11pm rolls around, but I have to check on the kids and make sure they don't stay up any later than DANCE MOMS, head inside, say goodnight, clean out lunch boxes for tomorrow, and rotate the laundry again, dogs in tow. 

darkness has settled in as the sun has been down for hours, 

but I'm still going strong

Head out to the studio after everyone is in their room for the night. This is the witching hour, it's when the magic happens. Put my favorite Pandora station on, take the glue brush out of the water and I am quickly back in the zone. Share a few fun texts with my friend and Dog A Day painter Kim Santini who tells me she's turning in for the night. Stay in that zone for as long as I possibly can before the yawning starts around 12:30. Keep working until 1:00 am and sit for a minute to evaluate my progress.

Head in for a few hours of sleep with visions of paper tidbits dancing in my head like sugar plum fairies. Sometimes it's hard to get to sleep when my brain is moving so fast, even though I am tired. Tonight I get to sleep about 1:30. Some mornings I wake at 5:00am with my mind working away wildly at collage solutions and techniques for future subject matter. 

Do it All Over Again

Up at 6:00 am to varnish the now dry rooster head piece. Head out to evaluate the night's work and be sure I like it as much as I thought I did. Apply varnish and head back inside to making breakfast and start the day. After the kids go, I hop on my bike for a 20-mile ride and along the way I stop to take iPhone collage reference photos of the cows on the bike trail as they are at the fence and I have not seen them there in weeks! 

Return home and put another varnish coat on before heading for the shower. Today I'm volunteering at school again so I likely will have to bring the rooster downtown to the gallery tomorrow morning. I'll put the hanging wire and final varnish coat on this afternoon. 

And that's just how I do it. 

Post Art Festival Special

Out To Pasture, 24x20 ©St. Hilaire Nelson

Out To Pasture SOLD

24x20 gallery wrapped canvas giclée print

art all the way around the edges

wired and ready to hang

SIGNED

One of Tou

Toucan, 20x24, with travel bag of ziplock collage papers

Those of you who follow this Blog know that I work in all kinds of interesting places in order to be so prolific. I've showed you many a small piece done on my airplane tray table as well as some work on my lap while waiting in the doctor's office.

Toucan, 20x24, in my stateroom on Carnival Cruise

This week I started working on my Noah's Ark Themed solo exhibition for next April. I just got off the ship this morning with one completed Toucan in hand. I worked for at least 20-30minutes per day on him in my state room and pushed to finish him yesterday afternoon. These were extenuating circumstances, because my plan is to create two at a time, side by side on the easel. In the interest of small spaces I had to create this one without his partner. I worked from my travel bags of papers, so I'll just use the same bags to create the other half of his pair.

In this series my goal is to have some fun with abstracted backgrounds

Next up is the Owl pair and I may have to do them before I finish the other toucan as I've been asked by a rather large licensing client to create a pair of owls for reproduction. ]

Toucan, 20x24, Completed!

Stay tuned!

Cardinal in Progress and Carolina Bound

Cardinal Sketch ©St.Hilaire Nelson

This morning I'm headed to Asheville, NC to teach a workshop and be present at my show opening at the Grand Bohemian Gallery. Recently the gallery took a commission for me to create a cardinal as a pair to on they have on hand, a collector wanted to purchase two together. So, this week I worked on the cardinal while putting finishing touches on some work for the show and shipping.

Cardinal background underpainting ©St.Hilaire Nelson

As usual, I begin with a sketch on wood panel primed with clear gesso. I then under paint the background, let it dry and move to my favorite part, collage. The collector said they wanted more collage in the background than some of the pieces I leave more painted, so I tried to accommodate this request.

Cardinal complete underpainting ©St. Hilaire Nelson

This cardinal will go into a hand made 9x12 red rustic barn wood frame by my frame maker Owen Tomlin to match its mate. If you are interested in some super unique frames, contact Tomlin Wood Products and tell them I sent you!

Cardinal complete ©St.Hilaire Nelson

I am looking forward to my class and opening this weekend. If you are in the area, please stop by or consider the Friday/Saturday/Sunday Workshop, we still have a few slots! (click gallery link for contact info)

The show reception is Saturday, June 4th from 5:30-8:30pm in the gallery, which is located inside the 5-Star boutique Grand Bohemian Hotel in the Biltmore Village section of Asheville, NC.

Poetry by McCrae T. Harrison

Birch Keys #2, 24x24, collage on panel, 

Grand Bohemian Gallery, Asheville NC

©St.Hilaire Nelson

Chopin
i have listened to chopin
19th century musical genius
on a rainy new england afternoon
i just came from the river
my skin is red and burning for warmth
i have listented to chopin
as i draw treble clefs on the condensation
watch the heavier bits begin to tumble
roll down the face of the bus window
growing and growing
until they reach the sill
i have listened to chopin
and i wonder that life must be the same way
we begin from a bit of sheet music
some divine symphony
traced into condensation
on the windows of time and existence
i have listened to chopin.

I just love this poem. Ironically, McCrae is another New Englander (from CT) who has been transplanted to the South, she now lives in Alabama and is a Vessel Inspector with the US Coast Guard. I met McCrae through Israel J. Parker, author of The Anne Marie. You can read more of her poetry on Israel's blog.

McCrae T. Harrison, poet

Liberty Pines Academy

Top: Student Collage Work

Bottom: Meet The Artist, Slide Presentation, Liberty Pines Academy PTO

Sherri Edens sent me a Facebook message a few days ago and showed me a photo of a second grade student's collage that she said was inspired by my work! She then proceeded to tell me that the PTO at Liberty Pines Academy put together a presentation for their students all about me and my artwork! check out the great company I am with in the Liberty Pines Meet The Artist Program

Now if you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I volunteer monthly at the elementary school behind my house in a PTA sponsored program called Art See. In this program, we present famous artists and a project that reinforces their style to grades K-5. I have been a presenter and a coordinator of this program for seven years. I also am a co-chair of the PTA Reflections Art, Video, Dance, Music, and Literature annual student contest with end-of-year art show, at the same school. 

I LOVE to inspire kids in art. This year I presented my work and taught collage to six fifth grade classes and it's a wonderful feeling to teach something to children and watch them take it and run with it. I have said this before, and I can't say it enough... if it were not for my public high school art teacher, I would have never gone to college for art. My teacher inspired me to pursue a career in art and helped me put together a portfolio that got me accepted into the Fine Art program at Syracuse University. Without her encouragement I would not be where I am today.

Take a moment to look at the presentation that Sherri Edens and her co-volunteers put together to show the children about my life, my work, my inspiration and my style: http://www-lpa.stjohns.k12.fl.us/pto/MTANelsonSlidehow.pdf 

I can't tell you how FLATTERED I am to be featured in this program. It was a complete surprise to me! Thank you Sherri for all you do in presenting art to children and thank you for including me in your Meet The Artist program.