Acrylic skin

"Acrylic skin: Untitled" Acrylic and medium impression, dry mounted on velum paper outlined in conte crayon.

Baroque: Acrylic skin.

"Baroque: Acrylic Skin" - T. Nelson
Acrylic impression on paper napkin.
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Narrative: While painting I often use the back of my left hand as a palette, mixing colours, thinning the brush load, and so on. The layers make an exact impression of my skin texture and can be peeled off to form thin veils, or paintings without canvas or structure. In this case we see the skin tones of my "Black Madonna" painting, randomly formed into a leaf impression. By clicking on the image you may see the actual texture of my skin. Notice as well an eyebrow hair on the napkin.

St. Roch

"St. Roch" - Terry Nelson
11" x 14" acrylic on clay board.

For more information on the saint, go to Life and iconography of St. Roch.

Ex-voto

"When Jim died" - Terry Nelson
11 x 14 acrylic on clay board in tin Mexican nicho.
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I did this retablo/ex-voto quickly, in memorial of my friend Jim, who had died suddenly several years ago.  I was asked for another piece to exhibit in a gallery show I was participating in.  The panel had been started awhile back and set aside, so I decided to finish it in a hurry the night before installation.
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Jim was part of my "group" - several friends who have remained friends since high school. Jim was the first of us to die, and it was very hard to take since he was still in his 30's. He always seemed like an angel to me. Friends told me he died from an asthma attack during the night. I had lost close contact with him after I returned to the Church in 1972 - he had become involved with Mid-Eastern spirituality and rejected Catholic teaching - and me for awhile. Later on when we did see one another we continued to have great fun - he was very funny, an accomplished classical musician as well as an artist, and a huge fan of the Beatles and The Who. Jim was going to marry a friend of ours until he realized another attraction in his life.
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The painting is crude and a part of my retablo/ex-voto collection... rotting in the basement. The plumber seems to enjoy them.

The Animal's Christmas - Terry Nelson

"The Animal's Christmas" - 7" x 9" acrylic and gold on paper.

I started out this painting to be a sort of naive, medieval style illumination to be used as a greeting card. I didn't like it at all so I set it aside after doing the drawing just before Christmas of 2008. I took it up again last year shortly after Christmas and forced myself to finish it. I intended to add more animals but I didn't. I put Our Lady in a burqa, and St. Joseph is dressed as a Franciscan. The dog is my dog Herman, from when I was really little - which explains why he is so big. The rabbit is Mrs. Rabitowitz, the cats are mine - Agnes and Celine, and the lamb is every little kid - the figures represent these, I should say. The ox and the ass are classic, albeit the three mice above Our Lady are not.

Overall, I'm disappointed with the piece. One excuse I have is that my eyesight is getting worse and sometimes I had to guess where to lay in a detail.  That is true.  Notice the pupil in Our Lady's eye and the smudge beneath Joseph's lower lip - you have to click on the image to see detail.  At least I can fix that stuff.

Presepio background: Views from the stable windows.

Large background: Shepherds - 30" x 40" acrylic on canvas.

Large background: Bethlehem - 30" x  40" acrylic on canvas.

Small background: Shepherds - 20" x 20" acrylic on canvas.

Small background: Medieval Bethlehem scene.  20" x 20" acrylic on canvas.

Not great art - just naive background paintings - views out the stable window - which will hardly be noticed.  Very fun project!

Presepio backgrounds: Angels in the stable loft.

1st loft grouping

2nd smaller loft grouping
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The top panel is 18" x 18" and the lower panel is 12" x 12" - the actual size of the window to the loft in the stable.  I suppose the panels could be titled "Rejoicing Angels I and II" - acrylic on canvas.