Angels are amongst us

4 by 6 mixed media on illustration Board. This painting is part of a series and I usually don't paint the angel in this traditional manner but because the water was white and the other colors so bright or somber, I felt it needed to be accented with another light value.

Misty Koi pond

This is a small painting 11 by 8 and is a watercolor on artist grade paper.
Its cool here in SC I'm hoping this winter snow will disappear tomorrow. My California blood is too thin for this weather!

Lake Wylie and the Dogs

This little cove I’ve named Dog Island because its where I take my dogs. After we get there, we all take a few moments to enjoy the peace and serenity that is the lake in the morning. Of course a squirrel or something gets Missy’s attention and all three labs follow her for a run thru the woods while I sit on the bank and watch the sunrise or an occasional fishermen in his bass boat. You have to walk across some pretty tough terrain to get there but as you can see its well worth it.

Don’t forget to save water… How about this? When you fill your tub for a bath, put the stopper in immediately and turn it to hot, then after it gets going adjust the temp. This will save the water you usually allow to run down

Monet's tribute #2

8 by 8 acrylic on masonite

$50.00 www.dailypainters.com for pay pal link.
I love the blue and yellow in this piece.

Acrylic on Gessoed Masonite 8 by 8 $50.00
This is a new series I'm painting. Basically a pond and some Lilllie's. I may sneak in a Koi here and there. I will be incorporating my brighter palette ...so it will be a la Monet but the colors will be pure Shanti Marie. I hope you check in with me each day to see what I've painted, I rarely miss a day (Since August 2006) and if I do I have usually painted a painting but then didn't have time to post it. Often, falling asleep fully dressed, paint in my fingernails and at least one lab sleeping at my side. After a long day of work and scrambling to paint only to miss my posting deadline. Aghh! Its all worth it! I hope you enjoy my blog and thank you for stopping by.

Tribute to Monet

This is my tribute to Monet who love to paint his pond and as you can see I used some of the lavender he loved to use.

When I saw the Monet’s for the firat time....I was very surprised to see the many layers of paint he used. Some of his paintings were at least an inch thick. As an artist I understand this completely. The layering is a meditative process and one that can be difficult to stop once one has started the process. There is a snow painting I looked at for over 30 minutes… its of a village he painted over and over and the white paint is layered with other colors so that you see thru the white and you glimpse the pink, lavender and the blue, it brought me to tears. The beauty of that painting must be seen in person to truly feel the emotion of the piece. I may do a series of paintings using some of the impressionistic techniques and colors. I love water paintings and reflections so check back with me to see more paintings like this one.

The ocean Wave

SOLD
I painted two of these yesterday, not that I was overly motivated, in fact, I started out the day with no real idea as to what to paint. I have a commissioned piece ( a large one) I want to start but I have to cut the paper from my 10 foot roll and that means asking my husband for help and clearing everything off my painting table. Not wanting to get that started, I decided I would paint my daily painting and get it out of the way before getting out the big roll of paper which will take over my entire small 11 by 12 foot art space.

Lately I have been painting snow scenes and I thought of painting another one but wasn’t overly thrilled with that. I decided to clean up my painting area. You know, sometimes this helps… Its like getting the cob webs clear from your mine… getting organized also makes painting easier once you have decided what to paint.



I made a cup of hot chocolate and took a look around… dog hair dust bunnies clung to the corners of my walls and corners of the room like people at a meeting when volunteers are asked to step forward. Oh yes, did I mention I love books and as a visual person I love looking at anything with pictures… so of course there are old newspapers, magazine articles, piles of reference books, art books, and my own photographs all just lying about taking up space, space I definitely will need.



I decided to just dig in, to clean, pick up and throw away. So what is better than to start at the bottom...I swept, then I took out the trash… working my way up... I cleaned up my table by throwing away the used Kleenex, candy wrappers, (yes I like to suck on mints or candy when I paint). and misc value sketches and pencil drawings. I took the wet towels to the washing machine, put away stray palette knives and pin knives, cleaned my brushes, and laid them out to dry… got my water buckets filled, & squeezed out fresh paint ( don’t ask me why, but this always gives me a bit of a trill) into my palette finally I got some paper out and of course looked down at the white paper with a “what now?”



This sometimes happens to all artists, especially if you have a deadline to paint a painting every single day. I decided to look thru some books. Hoping for some inspiration. I was looking thru a book a pal of mine lent me about oceans and beautiful beaches all over the world and I realized I love the way water looks… not beaches but the actual water itself, its reflective qualities, color, shape, movement, it all intrigues me. The first surface that I thought of to use was clay board because water on clay board is very slippery and no matter what you do it always looks wet. After doing one wave ( posted yesterday) I did another using alcohol for the white. Alcohol when spritz on (or dropped into paint) pushes water and of course color away from the surface exposing the surface of the paper or in this case the clay board. It has a very natural appearance and is usually very circular in shape. I use this natural shape to make the wave look foamy It dries very fast and leaves the white area of your paper for you to reintroduce more color or just to leave as is.



If you have any questions about the use of alcohol just write to me and I can explain its application further.

"Koi under the falls"

Watercolor on clayboard. This was the inspiration for a larger piece I started a few weeks ago.

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

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.

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.

Blue water ACEO

I kinda love doing these wet into wet watercolor and gesso paintings. this is only 2.5 by 3.5 I also have a new Koi painting up on my other blog... http:

"CHUBBS" Koi ACEO

This is a stout little fish so I named him Chubbs. I like this dark background and may try it for some of my larger paintings. I finished one of the larger koi and it's posted on my painting a week blog http://h20color.wordpress.com

It is painted in my blue and green Vs red pallet. Now I'm going to try a more brown and green vrs orange for my next Koi painting.

Dog Island.... a painting a day

There is this little island (well its more of a peninsula)in Lake Wylie that my friend and I take our dogs too... we call it dog island.
I have painted this three or four times. I love the way it looks in the morning with the fog rising off the water.

I painted it again this week and who knows, I may keep painting it.

this is still a bit wet and the background trees will not be as pronounced when dry.

River in fall a painting a day by Shanti Marie

This little gem is 4 inches by 6 inches and is watercolor on 300 lb paper. Today was our first cool day and I wanted to commemorate this day with a fall painting.