Feb Koi ACEO

watercolor on gessoed masonite
2.5 by 3.5 I like the blue koi mixed in with the orange.


I've been ill today so I may be taking a couple of days off.

How to do this project....buy acrylic gesso paint it on masonite ( get it from the hardware store) allow the gesso to dry, paint your picture in watercolor, allow to dry & varnish! I used matte varnish but gloss gel is nice too!

collage on clayboard

4 by 4 acrylic on tissue paper mounted on claybord

This image is a piece of clay board ( ampersand) covered in one of my painted papers. So I guess you can say this is a collage.

Lilly Pad

4 by 4 watercolor on clay board. This stuff is very smooth almost like Bristol paper but less absorbent. I painted this in the deductive manner.

blue waters 2

6 by 9 inch watercolor. This painting was painted as a way to teach beginning painters how to apply paint in the correct way.

Fall Leaves

Acrylic on ampersand 8 by 10 75.00

This monocromatic painting is done in a deductive or (negative painting) manner. This is where you paint the entire board with the colors you wish, in this case the mid value, then pull out the lights while also adding the dark. Sometimes you’ll put in some darks and pull out the item either to mid value or to light value. This painting was completed as an exercise we did at Wild Acres. Our instructor was Phil Garett ( SC “Golden” Rep) . We were using the long awaited for… “OPEN” acrylics. Since this technique takes some time to finish, its the perfect opportunity to try these slow drying paints.

You might like to try this little exercise… You don’t have to do anything to the ampersand board it comes ready to go. We went outside and picked up items like flowers or seed pods and used it as a bit of inspiration. I chose leaves because I love fall leaves and always try to paint some each year.

“Negative” painting just means you paint around the object your trying to depict rather than painting the object directly. Usually by using value and color counterpoint to create the illusion of the object. It’s frequenly a technique one does in watercolor and it can be very challenging for some folks because they have to think in terms of whats needed in the background to form the Foreground ampersand a lot but this was also a chance for those folks who don’t paint on this medium to give it a try. If I could afford it, I paint many of my paintings on the stuff. Its fast easy and consistent. It comes in all sizes and can be framed very much likie an oil painting. Of course you can frame it under glass if you wish and they look great either way.

Young boys portrait

I've been working on a portrait and if you would like to see an update there is a link below. It will be finished tomorrow and then I'll put up a final photo.

Tulip Time again

The one on the top is a watercolor on paper 4 by 12 inches $25.00
Before I started this month’s theme I was working on a series of red tulips, you may look back and see four I painted…. I don’t really have them out of my system so here are a couple of more tulips I painted this week the other one, is 7 by 7.5" watercolor on paper for only$45.00

Also …a painting tip… the dark background in Tall Tulip.. is pathalo blue and indigo painted with a 1 inch flat brush in a random cross hatching manner and sprayed with water before it had time to dry. Also,I don't usually mix my colors on the palette, I mix them on the paper.

Perserverance 08

11 by 14 Acrylic impasto on Canvas panel 150.00

This painting is done impasto which refers to the thickness of the paint. Its very thick and can give the look of oil without using oil paints. I combined a golden gel medium with the acrylic paint to increase the body of the paint. It tends to paint like whip creme, which is a little hard to control but is very smooth. Also, it gives the paint a slight gloss which is similar to oil paint.
Artist Tip:
When using these gels its best to use a pallet knife and mix the paint into the gel uniformly because if not mixed well the gel will look translucent white. Sort of like dried glue, not a look you really want.

A crazy weekend, hope yours is going well. Its windy here in SC and cool, unusual it seems for May.

Perserverance lV

This is another of the perseverance series. I'm painting the same subjects on a variety of supports and media. This is watercolor on canvas which has been gesseoed. 16 by 20 inches

The watercolor is the easiest media to use so far, it can be lifted, which means... it can dry but still be pulled off, it can be rewet and reworked. Texture can be added. I really don't see a down side to it other than it may be cheaper to paint in acrylic. Oil would be good but then I wouldn't really want to paint right outside of my kitchen if I were painting in oil.

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...

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.

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.

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.

"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.

"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.

Abstract 90

I forgot... I was going to put up the other collage I made yesterday and ended up painting two more other small paintings today. I guess in the next two days I will put up the second collage and the companion piece to this abstract. Bear with me folks it was a rough day.

If you like to know how to paint abstracts there are many ways to approach it.

For this painting...I first picked a palette, in this case, browns, yellows and orange for the warm colors to play against the cool of the blue. Usually I work somewhat in a grid pattern, keeping in mind the Elements of design and the basics of good composition while allowing my creativity some flexibity. Some I like and others I paint over with gesso and paint another painting over the failed abstract.

"Little Koi" A watercolor original ACEO

Here is how you paint this
1. You put on the background all at once. Mix up your colors get a brush for each color if you don’t paint fast. I use flats but you can use whatever you think fits your hand. I painted this with a 1/2 inch flat but if this seems big you can use 1/4 or if you like round brushes…a number 6
round.
Without drawing the fish just start laying down the color in a pattern that seems the way water moves. The dark colors against the light colors, warm colors against the cool colors…back and forth. Do not paint he area where the fish will be. Leave this area for last. Also: don’t let the paint dry. Before it starts to dry, paint the fish negatively. This means paint the background around the fish. Now let this dry. Come back and paint the fish once the background has dried and in one or two spots you might soften an edge or two. After the fish and the background are dry take a good look at it and determine if any part of the background seems muddy or messy. Glaze over this area with one of the transparent colors you have chosen and this should help that part of the painting. If it is too light you can put on another layer of color and deepen the color until it is the value you want. Try doing a small Koi first, like this ACEO and then do larger pieces. Good luck!

"Tree lined road" aceo -a painting a day

ACEO 13.00 Tree lined road. This Little landscape is for all of you ATC collectors.


This has been a rough weekend and I surely I will get more paintings done this week than last. I have been tired and basically a slug for the last few days. I'm hoping I can get my MOJO back and get into the spirit of life, love and the joy of painting.
This morning I drank a cup of coffee followed by a caffeinated drink thinking somethings got to get me jump started. It worked for about an hour and then it was like.... ZZZZZzzzzz so now what? I guess those artificially highs just don't really last. Oh yeah and its hot.... do I sound like I'm complaining? I am, its Freaking 92 degrees, I mean really, its October. No rain in sight and I have to run the AC. Art keeps telling me he's freezing (79 degrees) and I end up sweltering so he doesn't get sick.
It wouldn't be so bad if it were cool, I mean, if it were overcast at least you could blame your mood on the weather. I'm blaming my mood on the weather anyway.

Last night I went out to pick up some Chinese food and had two glasses of wine while I waited... jeez I could barely drive home. Now that's not supposed to happen, when did I turn into a light weight? Don't get me wrong, I don't drink a lot but two glasses of wine should not effect most people. I guess its cause I hadn't eaten yet. So what if I went to bed at 8:30 and woke up at 7:30, its not a crime to sleep in. Then of course I had to take this photograph four or five times and still couldn't get a decent picture....I guess I have ranted enought for today. Tomorrow will be better ... all I can do is hope.

Butterfly Blue

I feel a little better today and painted this butterfly in the wet and pour method. Its a simple method and one that allows the paint to flow across the paper mingling as it goes across or down depending on how you tilt the paper.

You paint the paper first in water then add wet paint to the design & while its still wet you tilt the paper and see the various colors introduced mingle and develop new colors. You don't touch it and just lay it flat and allow it to dry. This is a great lesson for small children or even beginning watercolor students.

Oh yes I forgot you don't paint any water where you want white and the paint will not flow into the dry spots. ( be careful not to use too much water or it will).

Sunflower Suprise Watercolor ACEO

Since my watercolor class is painting ACEO's tomorrow I thought it would be fun to paint one to see how long it took and I needed one to show with the wet into wet technique.
Since I painted it wet into wet, I wasn't sure how much of it would stay and how much would melt into the other shapes. I had to keep pulling the blue out of the yellow where the two color collided it became green!
I love the look and this is for sale for $10.00