A Sense of Place Dan Nelson and Mike Rooney

A Sense of Place - New work by Dan Nelson and Mike Rooney

Carolina Creations Fine Art and Hand crafted Gift Gallery at 317 Pollock Street in Downtown New Bern announces their new show “A Sense of Place” with new work by Dan Nelson and Mike Rooney. The show opens during ArtWalk on July 11 from 5-8 pm, stop in and meet both of the artists that evening.

Mike Rooney loves to paint! It shows in his colorful blurs of color and shape that become recognizable beach scenes, marshes, and harbors full of boats. Whether its a scene from Maine or points south to Key West, he says he wants the finished paintings to be like the first moments after one wakes up from a wonderful dream. Only the best of everything is displayed, not the mindless details or 'noise' as he calls it.

Rooney is a nationally known oil landscape painter and workshop instructor, with works in collections here in the U.S. and abroad.

Pieces for this show are from his travels up and down the eastern seaboard, as he chronicles, in paint, the itinerant artist lifestyle he leads. You'll be transformed into a world of water, waterfront cottages, reflections, grassy marshes, harbors, tidal creeks, and all that is Carolina coastal life.

Dan Nelson was born in Canada, raised in Michigan and lived in several other states before settling in North Carolina. He received a BFA from Calvin College then spent the next fifteen years as a commercial illustrator doing over 4000 illustrations in a wide range of mediums. Dan loves to paint the town and when Dan Nelson paints the town . . . he actually paints the town. Be on the look-out for Dan and his larger-than-life easel on the streets of New Bern in the weeks before the July 11th opening of the show, as Dan will be painting various views of our fair city.

"I paint better when I work from life.  I enjoy feeling the energy of a place-- the energy that you just can't get from photographs.  I also enjoy meeting and chatting with the people who live in the places I paint. 

The show, “A Sense of Place” will continue through August 31st at Carolina Creations.