James Nelson Art and Design

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I’m excited to announce the debut of my animated illustration celebrating “Dia de Los Muertos” or Day of the Dead!

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"A Race For A Cure : Global Pandemic"

When it comes to new personal pieces for my portfolio, one of the perks is the freedom to be able to illustrate and design any image i feel like working on. Depending upon the season, mood , or inspiration from something I’ve observed in nature, or read about, or seen online scanning socail media or a book. I’m always inspired by each season and the beauty of nature, or a current style of fashion I see online, or a magazine, both new and vintage. I’ve always loved experiementing and evolving my illustration style over the years. There are so many artistic styles that I have admired and been inspired by over the decades, that it can sometimes be hard to settle and land on just one distinct style for myself that I want to keep working in. I used to love loose, brushstrokes in bold lines in watercolor or gouache and did that style for several years.

Since the digital age took over,I have evolved from that style to a combination of loose brushwork, into ink blot type of line work with layers of colors with more texture and a screen printed look to it, verses a watercolor wash style. I’ve created my own hand made textures on paper over the years that I still love and use now, after scanning and saving them digitally. I pull from those to create most of my textures and build them up like collages in layers and color and edit them in mostly photoshop now. My current style in more graphic and clean and stylized than in the past with a little less line work and more color block and collaged looking with lots of layered colors and textures with both a slight vintage mid century vibe yet modern style.

While I still love creating stylish people, products, and scenerios with a more fashion illustration edge to them, sometimes the real world and news takes over, and it’s important to add a few more editorial type of pieces that reflect the current news. I was very hesitant to add anything in my portfolio about the covid 19 crisis and people wearing cloth masks and adding that type of imagery to my book. I had expected this terrible global epidemic to have subsided by mid Summer and we would all be going back to work and our pre covid lives and lifestyles by now. But in order to be a balanced illustrator, I embraced the subject matter and added a new piece that combines my illustration style with the current inescapable news and focuses on the medical and science fields that are racing to find a vaccine and new medicines to treat, and hopefully cure this virus that has hijacked our lives and affected everyone all over the world.

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James Nelson Art and Design turned 6 today!

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New prints to brighten your walls

I have always loved the world of fashion illustration and design and been fascintated with the limitless design possiblitlies of high heel shoes…both stilletos and boots. I added a couple of new illustrations for my series of prints I am offering in my new online shop. i loved designing and illustrating these shoes and the juxtaposition of the bold black images with the colorful modern flowers and butterlies and insects. These would be beautiful matted in white and framed in a thick white frame.

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"fleur en stiletto" print

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"Fleurs en chausson" print

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Brighten your day and with a little wall art!

I’m now offering prints from original art that I created and added to my new online shop! These are all printed by me with high quality epson ink on heavy archival Red River 100% cotton paper. Please check them out. I will be adding more soon..so stay tuned!

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Proud as a peacock to add this new illustration to my book in anticipation of the Spring season just around the corner. 

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With the Holidays here, this Foodie type is in his element indulging in all the sweets, fresh baked breads, and gooey desserts he loves! This chocoholic never counts calories and there has never been a carb he has said no to. The scent of fresh baked breads and cookies sends him to the bakery section of any food store. The more pies, cakes, chocolates, donuts, and pastries, the merrier! Bring it on!

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What type of “Foodie” are you? This dude is a protein loving, grill meister carnivore who welcomes the fat content allowed in his Keto and Paleo based diet. Both he and his canine companion have never said no to adding extra bacon on it! 

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What type of “Foodie” are you? She’s a yoga loving, cat friendly, green smoothie fanatic. While being organic and vegan aware, she’s not obsessive about being totally gluten free or strictly vegetarian. Eating lean and clean with  her smoothie and trying to perfect her yoga poses will make her feel less guilty when she slips up and indulges on a little bacon or dessert every now and then.

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Do you ever wonder about the long journey your daily cup of coffee originated from before it reaches your favorite coffee mug? Before it’s roasted in processing plants, and then sent to your favorite coffee shop or store, it makes a very long journey. It might be from the mountains of South American countries like Peru or Brazil, or from the deep forests of Africa. Beginning as red arabica berries from coffee plants, they are hand picked and gathered, and then shipped by freight carriers across the seas to end up in processing plants across the USA, and then finally end up being ordered and shipped by truck to your favorite neighborhood coffee shop or store. I created this new illustration to capture the long journey and finally end up as pour-over or packaged coffee. Perhaps this barista ponders the long and arduous journey his coffee had to make and imagines the mountains and jungles the beans had to have come from across the Atlantic ocean as he pours over your cup to serve you.

[jamesnelsonartist]

From beans to your barista, how your daily coffee reached your cup

Do you ever wonder about the long journey your daily cup of coffee originated from before it reaches your favorite coffee mug? Before it’s roasted in processing plants, and then sent to your favorite coffee shop or store, it makes a very long journey. It might be from the mountains of South American countries like Peru or Brazil, or from the deep forests of Africa. Beginning as red arabaca berries from coffee plants, they are hand picked and gathered, and then shipped by freight carriers across the seas to end up in processing plants across the USA, and then finally end up being ordered and shipped by truck to your favorite neighborhood coffee shop or store. I created this new illustration to capture the long journey and finally end up as pour-over or packaged coffee. Perhaps this barista ponders the long and arduous journey his coffee had to make and imagines the mountains and jungles the beans had to have come from across the Atlantic ocean as he pours over your cup to serve you.

[jamesnelsonartist]

Spring into the season with these fashion and beauty accessories to brighten your world and add a lot of “extra” color to your wardrobe. Exploring the luscious color story of pinks, magentas, fuchsia, lavenders, melon, and raspberry. This new personal piece continues experimenting with mid century geometric shapes and layers mixed with a 70’s vibe and script style hand lettering with current styles of shoes and handbags.

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A celebration of wines and spirits in cool blue tones with a mixture of patterns and textures help elevate this new self promo piece for my portfolio...Cheers!

© James Nelson 2019 all images are copyright and property of James Nelson and may not be copied or reproduced without permission from the artist

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Whooooo Stole My Heart? It seems this little festive raccoon is attempting to steal perhaps the owl’s heart in hopes that he will have a valentine this year? I was inspired by mid century modern/ vintage late 60′s/70′s screen printed fabric and advertising iconography, combined with my own style, to create this new personal piece to kick off the new year.

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Become the Empress of your own forest and claim your victory while wearing long layers of tweed and sheer silk chiffon in a celebration of cut out appliqued Autumn leaves as only Karl Lagerfeld can deliver as the creative force and maestro of Chanel!