About the artist:

Camden, Maine A native of Denmark and resident of Camden, Maine, Obel has been an award-winning and professional artist for more than 35 years with numerous solo and group exhibitions in Europe and the U.S. His drawings are in many public collections of museums and corporations, and have been featured in such publications as "Fly Rod and Reel" magazine, the "Annual Report" of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and "The In-Fisherman." Obel's sea works are an intriguing mix of scientific accuracy and artistic presentation. His drawings show species of sea life moving against a white background, sometimes solo, sometimes in the company of others. The fish seem to lift off the paper because of Obel's skill at rendering the minute components of each specimen. Eyes bulge and scales glisten, though his tools are a fine-point black pen and colored pencils. Roger Green, art critic for "The Times-Picayune" in New Orleans wrote of this artist's work, "Visually challenging while anatomically correct, Obel's drawings of fish bridge the gap smartly between science and art." Art critic Carl Little stated in a "Maine Times" article, on March 21, 1996, "Obel has the requisite credentials to portray the wild kingdom. He is a natural historian with a keen sense of aesthetics. Put another way, his images work as document, illustration, and as art." Nils’ interest in art was sparked at an early age as he always dreamed of being an artist. He indeed became an award-winning and professional artist for more than 50 years with numerous solo and group exhibitions in Europe and the United States. In 1976, Royal Copenhagen commissioned a line of porcelain that featured a series of his paintings. Many of his drawings are in private collections and in public collections at museums and corporations. His works has been featured in "Fly Rod and Reel" magazine, the "Annual Report" of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and "The In-Fisherman." Notably his drawings were included in the “Ocean Planet” exhibition staged by the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Art critics agreed that Nils’ talent at drawing the natural world revealed that he was, “a natural historian with a keen sense of aesthetics. Put another way, his images work as document, illustration, and as art." Nils continued to draw and paint through recent years, even refining and reworking some of his pieces this past summer.