Koi Carnival

this is an eight by eight watercolor on gessoed masonite.



I just found out both of my entries into the "spring into art" juried show got into the show. I'll take photos of the pieces so you can see them. I'm happy my work is in the show but it would be even better if one of the pieces won an award. They said there were over 150 pieces of art work, so I was really surprised and happy to have both of my paintings get in.

I think 50 to 60 pieces were accepted.

Emerald Pond - sold

This is a 16 by 20 Acrylic on Clayboard, $350.00.  Sold

This painting has a abit of glare on the right side of the painting because of the flash, unfortunately I didn't have time to take another picture. Emerald  pond is such a great name, don't you think? 

Koi swims solo

This is on gessoed Masonite, (watercolor) Its for sale for 40.00

go to www.dailypainters.com for paypal button

Turned in my painting today for the "spring into Art art show at the Charlotte Art League, lets hope it get into the show. Since these things are subjective, its hard to know what will get in and what won't. Sometimes I select the wrong piece to enter for the wrong judge. Once when I was helping out with a show I overheard the judge say to his assistant, well, now I have to pick an obligatory nude. True to his word, he only chose one nude to go into the show and it was't one of the two that I entered. You never know.... I also put in a still life which I didn't think was as good as either of the two nudes and it got in...

Red Koi, Green Water

This is 6" by 6" watercolor on smooth clayboard $40.00

http://www.dailypainters.com/ for purchase with pay pal.

Fast moving Koi

I 've been getting our pool ready by getting the gate repaired, painting the fence and ordering new signs. Any day now people will be calling me, saying they want to lay out. Unfortunately the water looks like pond water.

It isn’t too inviting to look at and it will stay like that till I'm sure it won't freeze again. Without heat the pipe could freeze and cause lots of damage. Now if it were a Koi pond, I’d be right out there. I don’t lay out any more just because it seems my skin only wants to freckle ….Hey are those age spots? Ya think? Man, a girl can’t get a break.
I’ve been studying sail boats because I want to paint a schooner, if you have any good photos, let me know… I was down at the Marina today ( in Tega Cay) but of course all the sailboats are more like Dingys.

8 by 10 Watercolor on Gessoed Masonite " Koi pals"

I had a bit of a headache last night and even though I had plenty of paintings to post I forgot to post one.  I listened to my ipod and fell asleep.   

This is one of the Koi I painted last week. Its painted on heavily textured Masonite and it gives the painting a nice effect which looks like moving water.

This morning I went down to the boat ramp with my dogs and the wind was really blowing, I gingerly stepped along the Rip Rapp of rock along the water's edge, trying not to fall into the lake. while the dogs sniffed the rocks I looked out over the water and saw a small sail boat with a brighly colored sail. I'm not much of a sailor but I do enjoy seeing the boats on the water because they have such a great profile.

Morning Gossip

I especially like the lower fish cause he has his very own look.

This painting is still available. 8 by 10 75.00

www.dailypainters.com to pay with pay pal.

Koi Colony

If your getting tired of Koi I'm sorry but I had to paint eight of them this week for a commission so I decided to post them.

This is 16 by 20 watercolor on gessoed canvass. This is sprayed with a matt finish so the client can frame without glass.

I worked on this for about eight - ten hours while watching a marathon on tv of the new HBO show " IN TREATMENT". I didn't like the characters at first but they grow on you now I miss it.

Ancient Ritual 119

2.5 by 3.5 inches... the same size as a baseball card.

Its difficult for me to discuss these paintings because they are rather abstract in nature. The concept is simple, its the study of ritual and what role it plays in our lives and in our culture.
I love these colors and find more colorful work appearing in my paintings during the spring months.
I’ve had a number of folks write to me telling me their ideas of what they see in these paintings and I find it absolutely amazing …. All the stories people have as to what is going on in these paintings. This is another reason I don’t talk about what I see going on in them. I like the viewer to decide.

Ancient Ritual #120 ACEO

I like painting ACEOs I feel the work of painting them builds your confidence and reduces your fear of failure.

Ancient Ritual 118 ACEO

SOLD


2.5 by 3.5 $15.00 Watercolor on paperThis ACEO is part of my ancient ritual series which explores the use of ritual to mark the passing of time and events in our lives.This blue is cerulean blue, one of my favorites!Quin gold is used and of course the old work horse… burnt sienna
For those that so not know… ACEO stands for Artist Collector’s Edition or Original
I closed down my ebay store today, its too difficult to be selling in so many places. You end of spending too much time on the computer. I want to paint not sit around writing copy and uploading photos. I’ll open it during the Winter months when things are slower.

Blue Lilly

This little Koi is looking at the blue flower and is wondering how something so beautiful could grow from the muddy depths of his pond.

POPPY ACEO

SOLD

This is and ACEO or Artist trading Card…. which is 2.5 by 3.5, A watercolor on paper $16.00 plus 1.5 s & h (the same size as a baseball card).this flower was painted with yellow, quin gold, orange red, and green.
Each of the petals was painted with the lightest paint first then the darks were laid over the lights while wet. Last was the leaves and stem, they were painted with the light yellow green first then the darker green. I use a flat brush which makes it easys to do the leaves and petals.

Fire Flower, ACEO

These small cards are a lot of fun to paint and are good for anyone having problems with composition. The small size means you can't fill them up with things that aren't important. It forces you to think in terms of shape and size instead of items.

I love these colors Quin gold, & Quin coral for the petals and skips green for the leaves and stem with a bit of sepia for contrast.

Ancient Ritual 117 SOLD

4 by 4 watercolor on Gessoed Masonite.

This is another in the Ancient Ritual Series which is exploring the use of ritual in our lives to mark the passing of time and events in our lives.

I had a good time at Cheap Joe's today and I will be teaching a class there soon.

NH Koi

watercolor on gessoed masonite 8 by 8

This Koi is related to the Koi I painted yesterday. They live in New Hampshire and I'm sure their dreaming of spring.

I'm doing a demonstration tomorrow at Cheap Joe's and I'll be painting on Illustration board, paper, gessoed Masonite and clayboard. I'm excited to teach people how I do this and will encourage more people to give watercolor a chance.

"Gandalf" the big white

This is 8 by 10 watercolor on Gessoed masonite.

I recieved some wonderful Koi photos and thought I would make a few Koi Portraits. Here is the first.

His name is Gandalf. He actually is a pretty big fish but from this view of him head on, it makes him apear a bit smaller than he really is. Holly from NH is his mom. Thanks Holly for sharing your pet?

My little pony

This is a graphite drawing. 9 by 12

My daughter used to love horses and of course we had to buy her a white one. She loved it and named it Rosie, Her pedigree name was "Ta Sterling Rose" because she seem to have a lavender case to her coat and resembled a lavender rose. But that was a bit to hoytie toytie for us so we shorten it down to Rosie. Amy was in Four H for a few years with her horse and believe it or not goats. Yes I said goats, she raised a baby goat had it bred and even sold it at market, which is a requirement. Of course boys came next and bye bye horse.

Big Red SOLD

four inches by four inches watercolor on clayboard.

The weather seems strange to me right now.... 25 degrees at night and almost 70 during the day. I have to change clothes at about 11 am each day. My allergies are acting up and I'm pretty sure its the Bradford pears, every year when they bloom I get the headache from you know where. The flowers are starting to bloom and I always enjoy being outside during the spring afternoons it reminds me of California with he mild temperatures.

I drove by the nursery looking at the flowers as I rolled by ever so slowly in my car knowing its still too cold to think about planting. The promise of spring was right there in all that lavish color and its hard to wait.
First things first, I need to clean out some more closets and also my back porch. During the winter months I let the back deck go and its a bit of a mess, all the flowers pots are stacked up against the fence dog toys laying wet and moldy on the ground and a pile of leaves I never picked up. The dogs have turned the deck into their private wwf wrestling area. They go out there and sit or lay in the sun waiting for a chance to go out beyond the fence gate and sniff the smells of a spring or just maybe they just want to check their pee mail.

Curious Koi

This little gem is so wonderful in its use of color that I would be shocked if no one wanted it. I may even keep it for myself!

People ask me all the time how I come up with my ideas for paintings. Most are just a subject I want to explore.... Usually when I start all I have is the thing, like a flower, or a barn, then I choose colors intuitively and the rest is pure magic.

Of course, I can actually paint the way I was trained, that is... take photo fist or set up plien aire... 1. value sketch, followed by 2. selection of a color palette which must be chosen to convey a mood, feeling or season. Then you paint it from your value study. This usually makes for a successful painting but I have trouble staying focused on something so disciplined and will usually stray away from the original idea once I start. Sometimes I'll add things or go to a color not on the original palette. It tough for me not to respond to the image as it appears.

Regarding this painting... About a Year ago I dreamed of painting a Koi coming out of the water to look at some fuchsias. Ever since that time I have thought of how to paint it. I have painted countless masterpieces in my own mind, painting this painting over and over, so today this little gem is only the start, I will paint it a few more times in various styles and ways. But will any of these paintings ever be as great as the one I dreamed about, probably not. But, I can keep trying. Please... keep coming back and check on my progress.

Cherry Blossoms Debut

9.5 by 13 watercolor on paper $75.00 Cherry Blossom debut

I hadn't painted on paper in a while and kind of missed the way paper feels and looks. So here is a good old fashion watercolor. Last week the Cherry trees bloomed and the pink color was so engaging. I was sad to see the blossoms starting to turn brown and fall to the ground so quickly, you would think they would last longer.

Of course being an artist has its rewards by painting one, I can keep them around a bit longer.

Fantasy Koi lV

This is 16 by 32 on masonite, $400.00
I may tweak this a bit but its pretty much complete.

cool Koi Video

Look at these guys they act like their starving! i hear Koi will eat almost anything and are voracious eaters.

Lilly 3

This is the third lilly I have painted this week and thus the name. I used colored india ink for this and since they dry back a bit opaque, I just glazed over with watercolor in several places to bring out the beauty of the colors.

8 by 10 on gessoed masonite. ink and watercolor go to the DP site if interested in buying any of my paintings. www.dailypainters.com

A koi slideshow

I made this little slide show just for fun. You can make one too. Its easy and its free.

Water Lillie ll

Boy oh boy!
I got a new printer and it’s wireless so it took me about two hours to get it to work. You know… I love technology but not when they make it so difficult even the support team couldn’t figure out how to make it work. After I hung up with them, I took the dogs for a walk and thought a few things out, came back tried those things and voila it worked!

Now I can print from anywhere in the house without wires! Hopefully I won’t have problems with it because I didn’t write anything down and won’t probably remember every step I took to get it up and running.
Tonight’s project runway’s finale, I’ve been following it it on BRAVO, and I can’t wait to see who wins! I like the show because I like to see what the designers come up with. Make it work!

Water Lilly

It was my friends birthday so we took her out to eat dinner. I really enjoyed my Italian food good wine and friends. I even survived a big wind storm and rain we had here. It was so windy when got out side and the rain was just pouring down on us that I put up my umbrella and it turned inside out. I thought that only happens in the movies!

Red Water Koi

8 by 10 watercolor on gessoed masonite

Sometimes I'm just in a red mood. SOLD

ACEO Ancient Ritual Series

2.5 by 3.5 $15.00 This is part of my ancient ritual series