November 21, 2025 • 9 mins
This 28-day Advent devotional weaves together Scripture, reflection, prayer, and Neilson’s signature angel artwork to help readers experience the true meaning of Christmas. With weekly themes of hope, love, joy, and peace, Neilson invites readers to slow down and prepare their hearts for the birth of Jesus—especially in a season often filled with pressure, comparison, and exhaustion.Through honest storytelling, she reflects on the tension many women feel: the desire to create meaningful traditions while feeling overwhelmed, underprepared, or spiritually dry. Christmas Angels becomes a gentle guide—a reminder that Jesus is the real gift, and He meets us in our mess, our weariness, and our longing. Neilson's angel paintings—already beloved—add a layer of sacred beauty and wonder to the experience. Readers will also explore Old Testament prophecies, the nativity narratives, and heartfelt prayers that encourage a deeper connection with God during the holiday season.Anne Neilson is well known for her ethereal Angel Series, which are inspiring reflections of her faith and recognized for their stunning use of color. In response to demand for more access to her acclaimed Angel paintings, Neilson published two coffee table books and launched Anne Neilson Home, a growing collection of luxury home products. Neilson also owns Anne Neilson Fine Art, a gallery located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Representing more than 50 talented artists from across the world, the gallery is dedicated to being a lighthouse in Charlotte and beyond, illuminating the work of emerging and established artists. As a wife, mother of four, artist, author, and philanthropist, Anne paints and creates with passion and purpose, always giving back to others by contributing to local and national charitable organizations.
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Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In radio, they always tell us one thought per break.
So why would I put an NFL star with a
YA author or a movie star with a doctor who
says I've cured cancer. Aro dot net A R R
O E dot net, Seventeen different podcasts and subjects to
enhance your life. Thank you so much for being a
part of mine. Hello Arrow, Hello, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I am great. I love your name.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Oh it's just one of those radio names. We were
sitting around in Lewistown, Montana, trying to think of a
club owner for my wife's first book, and I said,
how about Arrow, And she said, put an E on it.
We'll go for it. And I said, I'm stealing that
from my radio.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Love it? Yeah, I love it. That's great man.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I think that, I mean, I'm a fan of Christmas cards,
but I think that people need to retire the Christmas
cards this year and add this book and send this
book out to all of their family and friends because
you embrace it. You have got the magic tool inside
this book.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Oh that is a beautiful Yes, I agree, I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I love it well.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I mean for you to be able to sit down
with all of your paintings and I can relate with
you on this because I'm also an artist. And the
styles that you have selected, and then to put the
words in there, it's everything that I wanted to do
with my first book when it came out. Get the
paintings up there. They will come to the words after
and my god, you've got the magic going on.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Thank you. It's been a journey, I will have to say.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
And you know, I painted my first angel.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I wanted to be an artist when I was a
little girl.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
In fact, I wrote a paper in the third grade,
what do you want to be when you grow up?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And highlight it was I want to be an artist.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
And fast forward tenth grade, I made a D minus.
I'm flunked out of college. I mean, I'm giving you
my dirty laundry. But you know, God had different plans.
And anyway, fast forward two thousand and three, I break
out my oils. I'm painting landscape, still lives figures, kind
(02:06):
of self talk.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
And I wanted something that reflected my faith.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Not that I'm an angel, but I painted my first
angel and I sent it to my sister and I said,
what do you think? And she said, I think you
found your voice. Yes, And that was twenty two years ago.
And I will tell you when I'm in my studio,
I put my praise music on and is my time
(02:32):
of worship, and I just get lost in worship and
I allow the Holy Spirit to flow out from me
onto the blank canvas.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
And it is a time of painting.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
And worshiping and creating these ethereal abstract angels.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
So it's been a journey and I love it.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
See that's the very reason why when people say, oh, ero,
I'm blocked. I can't create right now. I just can't
bring it to life. If you didn't give it to
the universe, then obviously you've you've got a disconnection in
your in your smartphone. And because it's all about receiving,
it ain't about your ego. It's about receiving.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yes, yes, yes, I always say surrendered hands and a
surrendered heart.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
And I will say, you know, I've been.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Painting these angels for twenty two years. I guess back
in twenty twelve, I had a lady, Kathy Lee Gifford
held it up my first.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Book on the Today's Show.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
And I had a lady call me and she said,
I lost my four year old grandchild two years ago.
I have not been able to grieve.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I got your.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Book and the Angels and I read it cover to cover.
The floodgates of heaven have opened up, the healing has begun.
And that's when I knew that this, you know, hobby
of painting and writing shifted from being a hobby to
a ministry and allowing just you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
All about God, It's all about Jesus.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
And I do tell people, you know, everybody's like, why
angels have said, Well, it's just what God placed on
my heart.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
We do not worship the angels.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
We worship the God who created angels for a specific purpose.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
On this earth.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
I believe in angels. You know, He created them. They
were in the field the night Jesus was born, and yeah,
so they will.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
They They're very near and dear to my heart. And
painting them has become it's become a life song. It
really truly has.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Please do not move. There's more with Ann Nielsen coming
up next, the name of the book and the experience
Christmas Angels. We are back with An Nielsen. Well, one
of the things that I have found so interesting with
your angel paintings is that the wings look like that
they are draped over the shoulders, that they are part
(04:57):
of the warmth, the the you know, bringing in the
moment of now with peace as well as reaching out
in the in favor of the you know, being in
the present as well as the future. And the thing
that it reminds me of instantly when I look at
your paintings, the story of Elijah and Elijah when it
was placed on his shoulders, because because it's not coming
(05:18):
out of his back, it's not coming out of the
angels backs, it is placed You have earned this to
put on your shoulders. Now carry yourself forward.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Wow, I just got holy fully goosebumps all it from
my body with that vision and that story. Yes, and
I like to say there are no two fingerprints alike.
There are no two snowflakes alike. I would like to
think that in my twenty two years of painting, there
are no two angel wings that have been alike.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
So this is they're very personal. People say, do you
do lessons.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
I'm like, not brilliant, because this is really a personal
ministry for me. I mean, just getting into my studio
mixing my all paints, you know, layering, layering, and that's
another thing, you know, our lives. You know, we start
out as a blank canvas and we go through trials
and tribulations, but you know, God adds color and texture
(06:13):
to our lives and we're going to look back one
day and we're going to see the masterpiece that He
has created.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
And so.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Anyway, it's been a blessing. It's been such a journey.
And I hope that this little book. I know that
we are forging into the holidays, and holidays can be busy,
they can be overwhelming, they can be sad.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
You know, a lot of you.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Know, loss loved ones during the holidays, and so I'm
hoping that this book would just bring the reader to
a place of peace and hope and joy because that
and love that is the true components of the Christmas season,
and not get caught up in the commercialism of it all.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
So that's my hope that.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
We can all pause and through the art and through
the devotions and through the prayer and scripture, that we
can find that hope and love and joy and peace
this Christmas season.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Let's talk about technique for those that are hiding inside
their homes when it comes to their artwork, and they
won't let the world see it. You do what I
call peaking. That means that you layer up your pace. Now,
Peter Max, who I've sat with, he and I really
got into peaking and why you should do it in
the shadows that it creates. Whereas when I was with
Paul Stanley of Kiss, I asked him, I said, do
you scrape your canvas? Because there's an area here where
(07:38):
I see some peaking. But I feel like that you
scraped your canvas. Now I see the same thing with
your angel wings. I can see where you took that
energy and you spread it across that angel.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yeah. Well, I've never heard thout peaking.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
And I love that you are with those artists fabulous,
and I want to know about your art too, because
I do own an art.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Gallery where we represent six the artists worldwide.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
But I do a lot of layering, and I do
a lot of building up with.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
The paint, and I use a palette night towards the end.
And I do have a funny story about scraping.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I I hope I am allowed to tell this story.
But a very famous person over Winfree commissioned me to
do a painting, an angel painting, and it was a
painting for Maria Schreiver and it had Sergeant Schreiver on
one side, units on the other side of Maria in
(08:39):
the center. And I got the you know, the colors
and the texture and the palette and everything. All the
angel wings were on there, and sent the final you know,
I was sending emails of the final you know, uh painting,
and I got an email back that I needed just
scrape Maria's wings off because she was still alive. So
(09:03):
I got to chuckle out of that. Maria's wings did
come off. The painting is beautiful. It hangs in her office.
But yeah, I do a lot of layering and a
lot of build up with the paint and the wings.
And again, each wing is so different, and sometimes there'll
be a little surprise heart in the wing or the painting,
(09:26):
and I'm like, it's not by accident. I don't think.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I think God, you know, just clops that right there.
It's fun.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Please fun, Please come back to this show anytime in
the future. The door is always going to be open
for you.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Oh, thank you. I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Will you be brilliant today?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Okay, yes, you too.
In radio, they always tell us one thought per break.
So why would I put an NFL star with a
YA author or a movie star with a doctor who
says I've cured cancer. Aro dot net A R R
O E dot net, Seventeen different podcasts and subjects to
enhance your life. Thank you so much for being a
part of mine. Hello Arrow, Hello, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I am great. I love your name.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Oh it's just one of those radio names. We were
sitting around in Lewistown, Montana, trying to think of a
club owner for my wife's first book, and I said,
how about Arrow, And she said, put an E on it.
We'll go for it. And I said, I'm stealing that
from my radio.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Love it? Yeah, I love it. That's great man.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I think that, I mean, I'm a fan of Christmas cards,
but I think that people need to retire the Christmas
cards this year and add this book and send this
book out to all of their family and friends because
you embrace it. You have got the magic tool inside
this book.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Oh that is a beautiful Yes, I agree, I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I love it well.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I mean for you to be able to sit down
with all of your paintings and I can relate with
you on this because I'm also an artist. And the
styles that you have selected, and then to put the
words in there, it's everything that I wanted to do
with my first book when it came out. Get the
paintings up there. They will come to the words after
and my god, you've got the magic going on.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Thank you. It's been a journey, I will have to say.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
And you know, I painted my first angel.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I wanted to be an artist when I was a
little girl.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
In fact, I wrote a paper in the third grade,
what do you want to be when you grow up?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And highlight it was I want to be an artist.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
And fast forward tenth grade, I made a D minus.
I'm flunked out of college. I mean, I'm giving you
my dirty laundry. But you know, God had different plans.
And anyway, fast forward two thousand and three, I break
out my oils. I'm painting landscape, still lives figures, kind
(02:06):
of self talk.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
And I wanted something that reflected my faith.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Not that I'm an angel, but I painted my first
angel and I sent it to my sister and I said,
what do you think? And she said, I think you
found your voice. Yes, And that was twenty two years ago.
And I will tell you when I'm in my studio,
I put my praise music on and is my time
(02:32):
of worship, and I just get lost in worship and
I allow the Holy Spirit to flow out from me
onto the blank canvas.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
And it is a time of painting.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
And worshiping and creating these ethereal abstract angels.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
So it's been a journey and I love it.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
See that's the very reason why when people say, oh, ero,
I'm blocked. I can't create right now. I just can't
bring it to life. If you didn't give it to
the universe, then obviously you've you've got a disconnection in
your in your smartphone. And because it's all about receiving,
it ain't about your ego. It's about receiving.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yes, yes, yes, I always say surrendered hands and a
surrendered heart.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
And I will say, you know, I've been.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Painting these angels for twenty two years. I guess back
in twenty twelve, I had a lady, Kathy Lee Gifford
held it up my first.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Book on the Today's Show.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
And I had a lady call me and she said,
I lost my four year old grandchild two years ago.
I have not been able to grieve.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I got your.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Book and the Angels and I read it cover to cover.
The floodgates of heaven have opened up, the healing has begun.
And that's when I knew that this, you know, hobby
of painting and writing shifted from being a hobby to
a ministry and allowing just you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
All about God, It's all about Jesus.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
And I do tell people, you know, everybody's like, why
angels have said, Well, it's just what God placed on
my heart.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
We do not worship the angels.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
We worship the God who created angels for a specific purpose.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
On this earth.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
I believe in angels. You know, He created them. They
were in the field the night Jesus was born, and yeah,
so they will.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
They They're very near and dear to my heart. And
painting them has become it's become a life song. It
really truly has.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Please do not move. There's more with Ann Nielsen coming
up next, the name of the book and the experience
Christmas Angels. We are back with An Nielsen. Well, one
of the things that I have found so interesting with
your angel paintings is that the wings look like that
they are draped over the shoulders, that they are part
(04:57):
of the warmth, the the you know, bringing in the
moment of now with peace as well as reaching out
in the in favor of the you know, being in
the present as well as the future. And the thing
that it reminds me of instantly when I look at
your paintings, the story of Elijah and Elijah when it
was placed on his shoulders, because because it's not coming
(05:18):
out of his back, it's not coming out of the
angels backs, it is placed You have earned this to
put on your shoulders. Now carry yourself forward.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Wow, I just got holy fully goosebumps all it from
my body with that vision and that story. Yes, and
I like to say there are no two fingerprints alike.
There are no two snowflakes alike. I would like to
think that in my twenty two years of painting, there
are no two angel wings that have been alike.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
So this is they're very personal. People say, do you
do lessons.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
I'm like, not brilliant, because this is really a personal
ministry for me. I mean, just getting into my studio
mixing my all paints, you know, layering, layering, and that's
another thing, you know, our lives. You know, we start
out as a blank canvas and we go through trials
and tribulations, but you know, God adds color and texture
(06:13):
to our lives and we're going to look back one
day and we're going to see the masterpiece that He
has created.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
And so.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Anyway, it's been a blessing. It's been such a journey.
And I hope that this little book. I know that
we are forging into the holidays, and holidays can be busy,
they can be overwhelming, they can be sad.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
You know, a lot of you.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Know, loss loved ones during the holidays, and so I'm
hoping that this book would just bring the reader to
a place of peace and hope and joy because that
and love that is the true components of the Christmas season,
and not get caught up in the commercialism of it all.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
So that's my hope that.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
We can all pause and through the art and through
the devotions and through the prayer and scripture, that we
can find that hope and love and joy and peace
this Christmas season.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Let's talk about technique for those that are hiding inside
their homes when it comes to their artwork, and they
won't let the world see it. You do what I
call peaking. That means that you layer up your pace. Now,
Peter Max, who I've sat with, he and I really
got into peaking and why you should do it in
the shadows that it creates. Whereas when I was with
Paul Stanley of Kiss, I asked him, I said, do
you scrape your canvas? Because there's an area here where
(07:38):
I see some peaking. But I feel like that you
scraped your canvas. Now I see the same thing with
your angel wings. I can see where you took that
energy and you spread it across that angel.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yeah. Well, I've never heard thout peaking.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
And I love that you are with those artists fabulous,
and I want to know about your art too, because
I do own an art.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Gallery where we represent six the artists worldwide.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
But I do a lot of layering, and I do
a lot of building up with.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
The paint, and I use a palette night towards the end.
And I do have a funny story about scraping.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I I hope I am allowed to tell this story.
But a very famous person over Winfree commissioned me to
do a painting, an angel painting, and it was a
painting for Maria Schreiver and it had Sergeant Schreiver on
one side, units on the other side of Maria in
(08:39):
the center. And I got the you know, the colors
and the texture and the palette and everything. All the
angel wings were on there, and sent the final you know,
I was sending emails of the final you know, uh painting,
and I got an email back that I needed just
scrape Maria's wings off because she was still alive. So
(09:03):
I got to chuckle out of that. Maria's wings did
come off. The painting is beautiful. It hangs in her office.
But yeah, I do a lot of layering and a
lot of build up with the paint and the wings.
And again, each wing is so different, and sometimes there'll
be a little surprise heart in the wing or the painting,
(09:26):
and I'm like, it's not by accident. I don't think.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I think God, you know, just clops that right there.
It's fun.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Please fun, Please come back to this show anytime in
the future. The door is always going to be open
for you.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Oh, thank you. I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Will you be brilliant today?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Okay, yes, you too.
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