Jan. 24, 2008

Up early again, still dark and not as cold which is good as it is sometimes hard to keep it warm in here when the temps are in the single digits.
Went to town today, actually yesterday. I try to go at least once a week and buy food. I couldn't believe how much food was going up. Even beans and rice and flour had all gone up since last shopping trip.
Will be glad when I can get out in the garden and at the very least supplement our food supply.

This print in 2 of 12. It is called, "Starving Woman being Attacked by Strange Germs" It was done with linoleum block printing technique.
I was thinking of what would happen in the future when food is in short supply and many more people are starving and extremely malnourished and then "the powers that be" release genetically altered pathogens into the system.
What then would happen?
Especially if our bodies are in no condition to fight off the infections?
I read recently that the bird flu, H5N1, is two mutations away from being easily spread between humans. Don't you wonder sometimes if there are people just waiting for the right moment to unleash this upon us?
I do.

At the Edge of the Beast

It's 5:00 a.m. and I'm up! I feel like I've overslept!
Supposed to get snow and temps in the single digits this weekend, hope the greenhouse makes it ok.

Fell asleep last night thinking about the garden, and wondering how we'll be able to grow enough food to feed ourselves in our small space, when the troubles come. When the troubles come.
I wonder sometimes if the troubles aren't already here, and we are somehow blind to them.



This is one of my favorite paintings. Sorry about the glare.
It's called "At the Edge of the Beast"
It shows people walking along the edge of a great beast's mouth, seemingly oblivious to the situation. It could be that they don't see it because it looks familiar to them. It looks like the sky, or earth, or other people, or "The Powers That Be". They just don't realize the danger they are in.
And so it is in the world today.
We move along blithely consuming and ignoring. We ignore the suffering of others, even in our own families, we ignore the destruction of our own habitat, we ignore the dismantling our own country, our own beliefs in right and wrong.
It's horrifying what passes for OK, in our society today. The cruelty to others we laugh at today,
will be visited upon us tomorrow.

Sorry if I waxed a bit preachy, it is after all 5:oo in the morning and I haven't had my coffee yet.

Sleepless Night

Another difficult night, up at 2:00 a.m. went out and checked the greenhouse to see if it was maintaining a good temp. Came in and started a new work. Posted a new picture too. This one is called "Masses Fleeing Destruction"
The destruction coming from the sky, filled with meteors, comets and a ufo.



This is done on gallery wrapped canvas in acrylic paint. Canvas measures 18x36 I think. LOL
The new picture I'm working on right now is dream based, will maybe be called, Dream of a Man the Color of Fire.
I think a lot about what messengers are loose on earth right now. Who they are, can we see them, would they be alien to us, are they natural?
I guess thinking about that sort of thing might bring on a dream or two. LOL

This was taken day before yesterday (I got sneaked up on!) LOL
Trying to arrange paintings better at the gallery. Making room for more.



That big one above my shoulder is another acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.
It also has some added textural elements. The ring around the alien in the fireball, and
the dots of radiation atop the halo of the big angel.



Anyone interested in any of these, or other works, or if you would like more information on them please contact Dick Nelson at,
Nelson Fine Art Center
324 E. Main Street, Johnson City, TN 37601
Phone: (423)926-2931

or you can email him here, nelsonfineart@gmail.com
you can also message me here on the blog.

Jan. 18, 2008

These three paintings are done on bristol paper, in water color and ink and prismacolor pencils.
They are based on verses from the Book of Revelation and Mark.

The first one is, Mark 8:36
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

The second one is, Rev. 9:11 And they had a king over them, [which is] the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue [is] Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath [his] name Apollyon.

The verses are written around the figures in the paintings.
I have to go back to the gallery and get exact measurements, that won't be till next week. I don't get out much. LOL

This last one for today is, Rev 8:10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
8:11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

The Terrible Angels

Jan. 13, 2008

I have painted, drawn and done woodcarvings for many many years, but about 4 years ago I began to do work that was unlike anything I had done previously.
They were frantic abstract colorful works done in watercolor, ink, sometimes oil pastel, or acrylic.
Strange images that I was being almost haunted by.
I would work for hours, sometimes all night and into the next day where I was trying to show pictures of a feeling I was having.

I painted like crazy and ended up with I think about 15 paintings that I knew I wanted to do something with, but couldn't figure out what. My family encouraged me to take them to the art gallery and see if what they thought about them. After agonizing over it for what seemed like forever, I did.
They were very encouraging and put the paintings in right away and many of them sold.
I have been taking my work there and putting it up since.

I am still trying to figure out how to do this blog, I'm not very computer up-to-date, unfortunately. Here is where my work is currently being shown.

Nelson Fine Art Center
324 E. Main Street, Johnson City, TN 37601
Phone: (423)926-2931