Waterfalls ll

3 inches by 6 inches watercolor and gesso on Illustration Board. 30.00


Happy New Year!

updated... Koi slide show

I updated my slide show and added some of my more recent Koi paintings... If you have a minute go to the bottom of this page and answer my survey question about impressionistic Koi or realistic Koi... which do you prefer?..

Friends

Its raining here and when I woke up I could hear it hitting my skylight in my little studio. I couldn’t wait to brew up some gourmet coffee and get right to painting something. I’lll work on my large Koi painting today and try to get it finished. If you haven’t seen it, its on my work in progress weekly painting blog. http://h20color.wordpress.com Its last week's painting.
This painting is a gift and will not be for sale.

Baby Koi, a painting a day

Koi on wood block
Painted one inch sides no need to frame or use glass.
I have to check my records but I think this might be #115 in the Koi series.

Since this Koi was a little on the thin side, I thought he looked like a young Koi just jutting out from his protective older cousin who he usually glides under and around. If you watch Koi you'll always see the little ones saddling up besides the bigger koi for protection.

The farm in the hollow, a painting a day

$100.00 + $6.5 priority mail

The size of this painting is 11 by 15 inches, a watercolor on 100% cotton rag paper.

Of course if you would like a more professional look you could always frame it in a 16 by 20 inch standard size frame with a mat. I sell this size painting framed for $300.00 So you see a little do- it- your- self can save you lots of money.

I’ve never lived in snow country and lots of folks tell me they like the way the cool snow paintings done in blues and greens look, I however have always tried to make my snow paintings a little warmer. Usually I put yellow or orange in the sky and it just seems to make the white of the paper (snow) glow a bit more by contrast.

Winter's Surprise

This winter has been a bit confusing for all of our plants and trees, some keep trying to bloom because it has been so warm. This week is a perfect example it will be very cold, say 42 to 54 degrees for a day or two, then it will be 60-70 degrees. The poor plants keep putting out flowers thinking springs here. Our magnolia tree puts out a few flowers and it almost seemed sad because I knew those flowers would die in a day or so. I thought it would be good to paint one of the Magnolia flowers, even though it was starting to turn brown.

This is a watercolor on paper,11 by 15 framed in a gold metal frame, 16 by 20. inches $100.00 plus $ 6.5 s & H

How to flatten out a warped watercolor painting.

I painted this small postcard size painting for Peace day awhile back but never posted it. It seems appropriate now.

Go to my other blog http://shantimarie.wordpress.com if you want to see my paper press.

Little Ones

$30.00


Three inches by five inches on clayboard. Fixative has been used, no need to frame under glass.

The loner

6 by 6 Acrylic 30.0

This is an acrylic painting on Illustration board, I painted it several days ago but because I have so many paintings held back, I decided not to paint today and place this one up as today’s painting. Its always a bit bitter sweet for me on Christmas eve and I can be a bit melancholy as my mother passed away on Christmas Eve 1989. So here is a small painting of a tree standing tall and alone allowing the setting sun to shine on its leaves as it catches its last rays of warmth.

Perserverance

I call this persevaerance because I can just imagine three fish swimming upstream trying to fight the churning waters...

"Turkois" a koi painting

6′ by 6′ watercolor on gessoed wood panel, with a very light coat of varnish.
SOLD
The great thing about this piece is that is has painted sides.. so… it looks like galley wrap. I love the color turquoise and when I told my husband I was painting a koi in turquoise colored water he said “call it turk kois ” so another play on words but its better then Koi #110. Which by the way is its number in the Koi series.
LESSON

OK.. so here is how you do this. You buy wood cut into 6 by 6 then you gesso the wood with either acrylic gesso or watercolor gesso, both work well.
Put on at least two coats using a sponge roller, a sponge brush or a bristle brush, allowing the gesso to dry between coats. Sand it down a bit if it’s too rough for your liking. I actually try to give it a bit of texture by criss crossing the brush and dancing the brush across the wood . I feel it gives more movement to the water.

Once it’s dry you can paint with acrylic or watercolor. If using watercolor you have to have the paint as thick as creme but not tacky, other wise it will not appear wet. Once dry spray with fixative for watercolor or spray varnish for acrylics. If using varnish for watercolor, brush on with as few strokes as possible as the watercolor will tend to lift with too much back and forth movement of a brush. You can thin the varnish and pour it on, tiping and tilting the painting to get the varnish to coat the painting, then finish up with light brushing.

Golden boy Koi

6 by 6 wood panel painted in watercolor with fixative to aid in the protection. No need to frame. SOLD

I just received some silver and gold watercolor paint as a present and had to try them.. Usually I don't purchase iridescence colors or Pearl colors because its difficult enough to learn all the behaviors of paint... then add in the shiney element and it can get tricky. The gold doesn't actually show up in the photo and here it appears as a mid tone. It's nice but I have to figure out a way to incorporate it into the other colors,

Underwater fun

No sooner was the paint dry on this little ACEO & it was sent off to Colorado to be included as a gift to one of my new collectors

A less traveled road

This is 4 by 6 pastel painting of a road somewhere in the south. The little shack had some rolls of hay stored inside.

I hope you were able to go to my other blog http://shantimarie.wordpress.com and take my studio tour.... if not you can also go to you tube and type in "shantiartist" and see a soundless video which is another version of my tour of my work area.

A studio tour and an ACEO

This was my painting for today. 2.5 by 3.5

I had planned to post pictures of my painting area today but as I was running behind (its 11:56 P M now) I will give you the link to my other blog and you can check it out.

Thanks for stopping by!


http:shantimarie.wordpress.com

Blue Heron of the South

I hate to throw out paintings and after showing someone how to paint this type of background I decided to try to save this painting and painted in the bird and the foreground. Its not the best composition but… it will do. Unfortunately my last painting, a koi…was a bit wet wjen I placed it on the scanner, so those orange spots on this painting are not actually on the painting but on the scanner screen.
Quick lesson…
Here’s how you do this background, you choose a couple of warm colors and a couple of cool colors like blue, purple and burn’t sienna, & sepia then you paint the background in various mid values in a vertical stroke, creating a horizon line, when the paper has lost its shine, pull out some trees and limbs with a pin knife or palette knife.
Last, you will darken some areas, and when all is dry glaze over ( yellow) certain pulled out areas to create lighter and brighter areas that will also create interest and posssibly a secondary focal point.

Upstream Koi

SOLD
I love the way the yellow koi look with the blue water!

Four inches by nine inches.

I spend the afternoon packing up paintings and getting them ready to mail out. I will be makinging a video of my studio so you can see my little painting area. Its compact, but I'm able to do everything I need. prep work, paint, mat, frame, pack and of course store.


Tomorrow I have to take Art my husband to get another Cat scan. He still has a drainage bag connected to his side and it continues to drain blood. I guess the surgeon wants to see why before he takes it out. Its hard to believe its been six months since his accident.

KOI 105

SOLD


This Koi was painted on Gessoed canvas panel in acrylic. It is 6 by 6 and is for sale for $50.00 Since it’s varnished no need to frame under glass.

Koi Ritual

SOLD


7 inches by 11 inches mixed media on paper with a Matt varnish. 50.00

I could not think of anything to paint today and I was pretty busy taking Art to the hospital for his weekly appointment and then taking him to two different cities( in different directions) to get his prescriptions and other medical stuff so I didn’t get home till 2pm. I also had to mail off my paintings which were sold this week and I usually have the mail girl stop by the house and get the packages ( I buy postage thru pay pal or USPS.com) but she came too early and I had to stand in line at the post office. I barely made it at 4:45 and they close at five o clock. The guy says to everyone in line if they aren’t stamped by five o’clock they will have to come back… Everyone and their mother was there and I wanted to say… People, why are you still doing this…you can buy postage on line.

Watchful Koi

4 by 6 $40.00 watercolor on watercolor paper, mounted on illustration board .
mat finish

When you watch koi you will frequently see that they are lurking under water liilies or other water plants. Ocassionally looking up to see whats going on outside their watery world. Koi are like people in that they have personalities… some are shy and some are real hams. This little guy is a bit shy and watchful, thus the name for this painting.

"Koi Harem" ACEO on masonite

2.5 by 3.5 watercolor on masonite with a light coat of fixative.

Snow days revisited

SOLD

6 inches by 9 inches


Above are two paintings..well actually they are the same painting. I painted the mostly blue painting then felt it was too cool so I repainted the painting adding warmer colors. You decide which one you like best.

Sunset Road

This is a 6″ by 6″ watercolor on gessoed wood panel. $40.00 plus 5.5 for shipping.
to paint watercolors on wood:First you paint about three coasts of gesso onto the wood, allow it dry then you paint it with acrylic oils or watercolor. If you use watercolor you cannot use too much water as there isn’t as much absorbancey in the gesso as there is in paper. Finally you varnish it with watercolor fixative or acrylic varnish. It can be hung without glass.
This palette is one I was experimenting with, its a split complimentary more or less.

A long Winter

Size:6 by 5.5 inches Price is $40.00 plus s&h

This is a watercolor-painting on 300 lb 100%, handmade rag paper. I painted using a few colors I don’t usually use in a winter snow scene. The cerulean blue is one I usually save for summer paintings or ocean paintings. But I like to try different combinations. I also mixed the blue with a bit of red to make the lavenderish roof and background.

I had a friend request this painting. Actually she requested something she won’t like…. so here it is, a landscape without people or animals.

Wet and Wild

This is the special of the week.

$25.00 plus 5.5 for shipping. SOLD

I think my scanner is dirty so I’ll take it apart and clean the glass, its because I put these paintings up right after I finish them & sometimes the paint is still a bit wet.

This is watercolor and gesso on clayboard. It’s varnished and can be hung without glass.

"Koi Circle" a watercolor on wood panel painting

40.0- plus $5.5 shipping
This little koi is painted on wood its also has a fixative (satin) covering the surface to give it some water resistance and may be hung without a frame. The sides are painted as well as the front and is 3/4 of an inch thick. It almost looks like a small gallery wrapped painting. This painting can be turned upside down or on its side as it’s basically a circle. I’ll let the viewer decide which way they like the little fish to be swimming.

This will be the first in a series of painting on these Wood panels and I’lll be painting them and exploring ways to utilize this size and shape as well as this new surface. I purchased 10 panels so you will be seeing this format in the next several weeks.

If you would like to know how this watercolor was created on wood here are the basic steps.
1. Paint 3 coats of gesso on to the wood panel allowing each coat to dry between applications. I did not sand the wood between coats because I like the texture. You may sand it down or rather than using a brush you may use a roller if you prefer a very flat surface. But…you may have to use more coats if you apply it thinly. A roller application is usually thinner
2. Using water color (thickly) or if you wish, acrylic paint… just paint the painting the way you usually would any watercolor. I don’t draw my koi first but usually go fishing for them. I paint the background and pull out the fish from the background. Drawing would work very well if you want to draw your fish on the surface. Gesso will take graphite and many other drawing mediums. The beauty of this surface is you can pull the color back out to the bright white of the gessoed surface, its very forgiving. You can also paint gesso over the painting if you feel its a disaster and start over. How great is that?
After the painting is complete, allow to dry and spray a watercolor fixative over the entire area and then allow to dry again.

Buy Prints of my work at discounted prices!

I have been selling most of my Koi and if you look thru the archives and find one you like this web site will make of print of my art at a reasonable price. The’ll even mat it and frame it for you. I ordered one myself before allowing them to used my copyrighted material and the images are pretty good. I took one small 5 by 7 print to my open studio this week all of the artist there agreed the quality was very good, and two artists thought they were originals. They send me a small fee for each painting. I feel pretty good about this arrangement since I don’t have to purchase a large volumn of prints I may never sell. If you go to their website and the painting you want is not there you just write me and I’ll sent the image to them. Since I have hundreds of images, I had to pick about thirty for the gallery.


Buy my art at Imagekind!

Angels are among us #54

SOLD


Mixed media on paper this is one in a series ( Angels are among us) of paintings including Angels. 8.5 by 11 it started our as an abstract but my brother pointed out there was an image in the upper left hand corner... so I figured it could not be denied.

"Nosey" 103 in the Koi series

SOLD

Luna light

This little aceo is $12.00 plus $1.50 shipping and handling. I painted it last night after getting back from the hospital. 2.5 by 3.5 I think it looks like the ocean when the full moon is making the waves glow… I’ve seen this many times and its beautiful.

Art had a chest tube planted into his lever to drain off the fluid which was not dissipating as anticipated. They drained off more than two liters and it will hopefully come out on Friday.

Today we spent the whole day at the Hospital and poor Art (my husband) underwent a procedure to have a filter removed from his aorta artery but it would not come out so they will leave it in there for the rest of his life. He had to endure a procedure really for nothing. Now he has a hole in his neck where they went in for the procedure and its swollen and red. Poor guy, he is rather despondent over the whole day’s events.

k 9 starry night

5 by 7 30.00 this is actually a little less bright than the photo came out.
SOLD

I have posted early today becaue I have to take Art my husband to the hospital to have some fluid drained from his Liver. Cross your fingers...

Fantasy Blue Heron

SOLD
11 by 15 $100.0 plus 5.5 s & h watercolor on paper (matted)This is not a daily painting but one I started awhile back. I knew I wanted to put a bird into the scene but wasn’t sure what should go into the water.

I’m really influenced by conversations with other people. Like most artists I’ll let things creep into my subconscious they will sit there for awhile but finally I find the images must come out. When I was packing up my paintings for the mail tomorrow, I saw this painting which I had set aside. Sometimes this happens because I’ll start a painting and I just have the right or complete idea to make the painting successful. Then just when I have an idea brewing I’ll pull out one of these “starts” and the image will fit!
Sometimes you just need the right thing to spur on your creativity. Thank you Barbara! I have a good friend, Barbara and she was talking about blue herons and how her bedroom has blue Herons as a theme, I starting seeing Blue Herons everywhere, of course….I do live near a lake. Anyway, this made me want to paint a blue Heron for her as a gift, I painted Lake Wylie blue Heron and sent it to her last week… but for some-reason, that wasn’t enough…I didn’t want this one to be as realistic. I wanted it to be more fantasy. Not knowing what I was to paint tonight… I was looking thru some reference material of Blue herons and came across a pretty good looking bird that I thought I could exaggerate and it would fit right into this fantasy forest painting. I had painted this painting some time back and never put in the bird or whatever, I wasn’t even sure I would put in a bird. I do love the light and the colors on these types of paintings. They aren’t for everyone but the use of exaggerated color is something that I like a lot. My daughter Amy also likes these fantasy paintings too. What do you think?

Bird Watching

When I painted this sunset background I had no idea what the foreground would be. I was thinking of making a silhouette of trees because so often as I drive home I look thru the tall trees at the colors in the sky and I love the way the trees look especially the pines with their pointy shapes and needles. But I also love the hardwoods because they glow with the color of the sun and are usually much warmer. For some reason after I painted this one tree…something said… well now the dogs… so here are the dogs watching the birds at the end of the day.
This whimsical piece is still very beautiful with wonderful golds and lavenders... one of my favorite color combinations.