"FROSTY MORNING", mixed media tree painting by Carol Nelson Fine Art

"FROSTY MORNING", mixed media tree painting by Carol Nelson Fine Art:

Frosty Morning

Frosty Morning, detail

side view

I wish you could see the tiny sparkles on the snow in this painting.  When I was teaching a workshop in Texas recently, someone gave me some white, sparkly paper.

I accepted it graciously and thanked them, but thought to myself "I'll never use this."  I have a bias against glitter, sequins and even sparkle - they just seem to belong in the craft genre, not fine art, which is what I aspire to.

I know I'm probably the worst person to say that since I love shiny stuff so much (think of the metals, foils, metal leaf, mica flake and even epoxy resin I use).  But I draw the line at glitter.  Maybe it's because you find it in the kid's craft section at Michaels.

So, as I was doing this winter scene, I spotted the glittery white paper, and thought Hmmmmmm.  Well, it's in there, and it turns out I love the tiny sparkles.  They look, for all the world, like light reflecting off snow crystals.

I did this painting as a demo for the class I'm teaching in mixed media trees.  And YES, it has an epoxy coating over it too (MORE shiny!)

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