Peacock Complete!

Untitled, 12x24, collage on cradled birch, ©St. Hilaire Nelson

This morning we set out from Florence, SC to Savannah. Pictured here is my son and studio assistant Connor with the finished piece.

Road Trip - Collage on the Go!

Peacock in the early stages, started at my in-laws on the kitchen table

Last week I posted "Setting the Pace for 2011" and showed the sketch and underpainting for the 12x24 untitled peacock on cradled birch panel. I took this pre-prepped piece and a couple small dogs, along with my collage papers and glue, on the Nelson family holiday road trip.

hand painted collage papers divided by color in gallon bags, Starbucks cup full of water with paintbrush, plastic container of glue, my husband's leg...he's doing the driving while I work!

A rest stop in Delaware and the collage leaning up against the dash at the perfect angle to work. for the highest point of the top, I had to flip it and work upside down so that I could reach!

We drove from Orlando to Western Massachusetts, to Northern New Jersey, and back to Orlando. We are currently still on the road somewhere in South Carolina and I've managed to complete the Shiz Tsu 12x16 and the as yet untitled peacock.

Shiz Tsu was completed in our room at the Marriott Courtyard in Hadley, MA 

Working in the car and in the hotel room, I took advantage of all the tips and tricks I learned from working on the airplane. I found the glue dried very fast with the re-circulated air in the car, so I added water to my brush between each dip in the glue container, and I tried to keep the lid over the top of the glue as much as possible. We stopped for coffee breaks every now and then and I gave the brush a thorough cleaning in the rest room with soap, peeling off all the excess dried glue over the trash can. My kids were less than thrilled about the strange looks I was getting. What can I say, I hate to sit still!

Nearly finished here, but losing daylight fast

All in all today's 12 hours in the car proved to be very productive for the peacock collage. I even applied a piece of map from Richmond, VA that I found in my blue bag after we passed through there. I thought that was kind of fitting for the trip and would make a good "conversation piece!"

Just before I lost my light, I'm almost finished and will have a completed photo next posting

I am happy to say that just before it got to dark to continue, I finished the peacock. Too dark to take a photo but you can see here that there was not much left to work on. The drips at the bottom were created from discarded palette papers from my friend and fellow artist Kimberly Santini who sent them to me all the way from Oregon!

Tomorrow we'll arrive in Savannah, GA and spend the day. I hope to be able to meet Sasha, the new gallery director at the Grand Bohemian Gallery which shows my work, in the Mansion on Forsyth Park Kessler Collection Boutique Hotel. 

Landfill Hubcap Art - A Project for 2011

Ken Marquis of Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania has created a widely popular eco-friendly art project that has captivated the world, Landfill Art Project. He has convinced artists to turn hubcaps into canvases and do what they want with them! He's sending out hubcaps every day to artists in this country and around the world. Today I received my hubcap.

Thanks to my friend and fellow artist Robin Maria Pedrero for encouraging me to take part in this project. She has already painted her own hubcap.

I am looking forward to collaging my metal canvas, although I have NO IDEA what I'm going to do!

Setting the Pace for 2011

I've been in a bit of an artistic slump the month of December. After getting all my work together for the Grand Bohemian Gallery show, I felt like all I wanted to do was to be lazy.

Well, it's almost the end of 2010 and I figured I needed to get over my lazy self and get motivated. Here are some sketches and some under-paintings that I have ready to start of 2011 running!

See the whole album of sketches and under-paintings on my Facebook fan page

Reflections 2010 - United Arts Magazine

It seems 2010 was a good year for me in print. Orlando Arts Magazine did a photo spread/story to coincide with my solo exhibition at Maitland Art Center in September. I very much appreciated the superb color and quality of the reproduction of my artwork in this publication.

Orlando Arts Magazine is a bimonthly publication produced in partnership with the Orlando/Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau. The magazine covers Central Florida arts and cultural happenings.

My thanks to Cindy Bowman LaFronz, editor and Jessica Chapman, art director for showing my work in such great company!

Reflections 2010 - WP Magazine

I have to say that being featured on the cover of Winter Park Magazine along with a three page spread inside was quite an honor. This magazine is of fantastic printing and paper quality, it's perfect bound and was available at Borders Books as well as other major booksellers here in Central Florida.

Kristen Schaeffer-Santoni, the art director, was generous and gave me a few extra copies to send to my family and friends, and of course there is still one on my coffee table.

I am very fortunate and thankful for the opportunity!

Reflections - 2010

Workshop students at the Grand Bohemian Gallery in Asheville, NC

I would be remiss if I did not highlight the wonderful relationship I have with the Grand Bohemian Galleries and their corporate director, Vanessa Hall. This year Vanessa has expanded my work into six locations across the country, and she has facilitated two workshops.

We had a great time at the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Asheville, NC our first workshop at my best selling gallery. We took that product and tried to perfect it, by adding a day of painting paper at the Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine in conjunction with the Gallery there.

Today I found out that the gallery director in Asheville has suffered a tragedy. Constance's husband Vadim Bora has suffered a stroke and he's in ICU. Vadim is an accomplished artist and sculptor, this year he was commissioned to create a sculpture "Cornelia and Cedric" for the Biltmore House, quite an amazing honor. In addition to being the Gallery director at the Asheville Grand Bohemian, Constance Richards is also the author of "Artful Asheville: Along the Urban Trail" a wonderful book that covers all the art there is to see in Asheville, NC.

Please keep this artistic family in your heart this holiday season.