Upcoming Exhibition

West with the Night

New work by Nathan Abels

Public Reception, Friday, June 13, 6-9pm
June 13 - July 4, 2014

Rule Gallery Pop-up exhibition being held at
Hinterland Gallery
3254 Walnut St, Denver, Colorado

Finished Painting, "Desert Sage"

Nathan Abels, "Desert Sage", Acrylic on Linen, 24x36"

Scroll down to see the process of how this developed.

Painting progress

getting closer...

Little farther

Making progress:

Painting Process Update

New Painting process part 1

 Been a long time - but I will try using this blog again occasionally - this time at the request of some new painting students that were asking about my personal process... Here's a few process photos from recent paintings - beginning with a Utah-based work.

The process here began with a 3x4' raw canvas onto which I projected my photo and sketched in a few of the basic shapes. From there I wet most of the raw canvas and poured/painted very thin washes of acrylic paint into the cotton. This stage works similar to a watercolor as the paint diffuses and stains the raw canvas.

 From there, I sealed the absorbent canvas with many layers of clear gesso and self-leveling clear gel (by Golden).  After it is adequately sealed, I begin building up the acrylic with layers of glazed paint.

After those stages, I switched to oil paint to soften some edges and lay in big tones (mostly blues/grays). The photo below may not be the best representation of the finished work but gives you an idea:

The work on the easel right now is also inspired by the desert as well as a previous work (the tree painting above titled "Lumen Vitae", Acrylic on Canvas, 42x60"). This painting focuses on one of my favorite plants: desert sage.


This painting process is more direct - again starting with simple outlines of the forms, I am laying in a lot of the larger background shapes first:

From there I'm building up the acrylic on the sage in the foreground. This photo shows the daylight coming through the linen in my studio. The process from here will continue filling in the larger shapes and proceed to layer more glazed paint to pronounce the warm glow of the setting sun.

For the Love of Utah

A mix of photos I've taken in Utah over the years...

Abstractions at Groundswell Gallery

My three untitled small abstractions (above) can be seen at Groundswell Gallery as part of the "Provisional" group show for just a few more days before the new exhibition opens at the beginning of March.

New drawing

I made a new 8x10" drawing (as yet untitled)

New writing/review venture

I'm writing reviews of cassette/independent releases at Tome to the Weather Machine now. You can read my first review of M. Sage here.

Two Openings This Weekend

 I will be showing some abstraction at Denver's Groundswell gallery among some very talented company and at Eastern Oregon University - the Nightingale Gallery will have three of my small paintings in a show called, "Quietude" opening Friday February 8th from 6-8 pm.

One of the works being shown in Oregon is this 18x24" painting of mine called, "Light through a Monastery Window".

Nathan Abels art now represented by Robischon Gallery

I am pleased to announce that my work is now represented by Robischon gallery in Denver.

Aerial Image of the Day

Found this on an old disc of images - the blue line on the topographic map is the line we would fly to take photos - each red dot is a click of the camera and the blue rectangle is the coverage area.

Music for Art: Pilgrimage

The process for my current series of paintings and drawings has included commissioning three of my favorite ambient musicians to score the as-yet-to-be-determined exhibition. These four movements are their generous contributions. I'm honored to work with such talented musicians. They created these works in New York, Brazil, and Italy - all to musically describe a "pilgrimage". I intend to have these sounds playing in the space that the work will be shown in and as an accompaniment to the book and/or catalog. Enjoy. My sincerest thanks to Black Swan, Gimu, and the Volume Settings Folder.

Favorites of the Year: 2012

These are my favorite albums and eps of the year:



1. Sharon Van Etten, "Tramp"

• An incredible album from start to finish - very strong and sharp lyrically. We had the pleasure of seeing her in Boulder earlier this year (video from that show above) and she was excellent. I really can't recommend this album enough. Interestingly, she toured with War on Drugs in the past (my favorite album of last year), and will be on tour with Nick Cave this spring. 

 

2.St. Vincent, "Krokodil" 7"

• This two song Record Store Day 7" record was a thrilling surprise from St. Vincent. Well, it was was somewhat of a surprise - there were videos of her melting faces by covering the Big Black tune, "Kerosene" before the seven inch - but I still did not expect the heaviness of these two tracks. It is likely that fans of her earlier, sweeter albums may not be as excited about these metal-leaning developments but I love it. I think I also put this record so high on my list because of how much fun I've had collecting vinyl this year - and this was a special Record Store Day purchase.

3. Damien Jurado, "Maraqopa"

• I've listened to his music with varying interest for upwards of a decade now. Many of his previous records are melancholic, but this one and the last one stand out because they are more upbeat. He is working with Richard Swift on this album -who also does really great solo records, played with Starflyer 59, produced the new Jessie Baylin, and is currently with the Shins. At Jurado's concert in Denver earlier this year (reviewed here), he closed the show by saying, "“I’m moving on. I’m turning a new leaf. I like playing these acoustic songs and all but I don’t want to be sad anymore." That was a surprising and refreshing thing to hear from Jurado - and it was evident in the fact that he played very few songs from his previous records. After listening to "Museum of Flight" (hear it above), I pre-ordered the album and I've listened to it consistently all year.

4.Jessie Baylin, "Little Spark"

• Another album produced by Richard Swift (see above) -a fun 60s-ish pop record. These are well written and sincere songs.

5.Frank Ocean, "channel Orange"

• Yeah, this is a pretty mainstream album (recently: six Grammy nominations for Ocean), but the good songs on this album are emotionally intense and dynamic. I think it would be a lot better album as a whole if he had left off all of the filler skits - whittle it down to ten strong tracks and this would be a really solid record. Check out the great Bennie and the Jets piano bounce on "Super Rich Kids" above.

6.David Byrne & St. Vincent, "Love this Giant"

• St. Vincent's second time on my shortlist - this time with David Byrne (Talking Heads). "Love this Giant" is a really energetic and rhythmic album full of colorful horn sections.

7.Grimes, "Visions"

• Synth, pop, pixie-like vocals and a touch of Enya's atmosphere - there's been plenty said about Grimes this year, so I'll keep it short.

8.Purity Ring, "Shrines"

• I don't know how much I'll listen to this album a few years from now (I'm also looking at you Sleigh Bells) -but right now it sounds pretty great. I'm excited about all of the music Purity Ring seems to be inspring as well.

9. A$AP Rocky, "Live Love A$AP" mixtape

• Not every track on this mixtape works, but there are a few killer tunes -especially the ones with Clams Casino beats.

10. JD McPherson, "Signs and Signifiers"

• Excellent retro Rock N' Roll - super fun.

Worth mentioning:

• Perfume Genius, "Put Your Back N 2 It" 
• Missy Elliott put finally put out two new tracks - but they're not her best
• Haim
• Pontiak, "Echo Ono"
• First Aid Kit
• Andy Stott

Wordless/Instrumental:



1. Black Swan, "Aeterna", "Heaven" - I'm so happy to have my art on the cover of this great music
2. Biosphere, "L'incoronazione di Poppea"
3. M. Sage, "Chautauqua", "Into the World" EP, "Lux Collapsing"
4. Gimu, "A Silent Stroll on Sombre St."
5. Brambles, "Charcoal"
6. 36, "Lithea"
7. Jacaszek, "Glimmer"
8. Guilty Ghosts, "Veils" (a couple of vocal tracks)
9. Caretaker, "Patience (after Sebald)"
10. Journey of Mind, "Oil Burner"

Colorado Based bands/artists/performers I enjoyed this year:
Adam Cayton-Holland (comedy)
Jeffery Wentworth Stevens/Morriconez +George and Caplin
M. Sage
Tollund Men
Perry Weissman 3
The Babysitters
The Congress

Tracks: here's a playlist of some of my favorite tracks from 2012 - you can stream the whole mix:

Favorite tracks of 2012 from nateabels on 8tracks Radio.

Some of the best live shows I saw this year:
Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel), Fiona Apple, Sharon Van Etten, Damien Jurado, Murder by Death, Crushed Out

Favorites from 2011, 2010, 2009 , and 2008.

New Print

This is a proof I made last week - keep an eye out for variations of this and other new prints on etsy soon.

Choral tape loop

sampled from slowed down home recordings on 78s and a field recording from St. John's in Denver

New Print

I've been experimenting with dry-point etchings with my drawing class. This is my first go of it - 4x6" image size - based on a painting I made earlier this year. You can buy one from the small edition at my Etsy shop for $25 with shipping in the US.

New Work: "Procession"

"Procession", Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 18x32"

Finishing up

I had a great time painting at the Denver Art Museum the last two weekends - and I also was able to nearly finish a large painting... win win!