Shanti's Inferno

ACEO watercolor on paper 2.5 by 3.5

Ancient Ritual 21.... 4" by 4"

If you haven't noticed I tend to paint many of my abstracts using a grid method. Sometimes I will use other methods but I find I naturally paint in a grid like manner. When an artist says they paint in a grid manner, what they mean is the way the put the paint down is very much like a grid. One section down at a time in rows both vertically and horizontally. Often the rows over lap or cross over making the piece more interesting. This piece was actually 4" by 6" and I felt there were too many focal areas, so I cropped it down to a 4 by 4 and now I feel it is more soothing yet energetic all at the same time. I love these colors. I put in the circles to break up the linear shapes. The circles were actually pulled out of the wet paint to allow the paper to show thru.


You can decide which way you like it.
Here is how it looked before I cropped it.

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

ACEO Cows in Spring

Here is an ACEO It's $ 10.00 + 1.50 SH shantmarie@aol.com if interested. Watercolor on 140lb Artist grade paper Signed and dated.

Abstract- Ancient Ritual 05 ACEO

This is another ACEO in my Ancient Ritual Series. I painted it today at our Art league. I have been developing a stamp for the backs of these cards, I have a few ideas, I just haven't decided what it will be exactly. Right now I just paint or do a small drawing on the backs.

10.00 SOLD

Another Koi? yep... ACEO

This Koi is an artist collector's card and is for sale for $8.50 and since its so small, shipping is FREE! Its a koi fish as you can see, the colors are Purple, blue orange and red.... This card is signed and dated and can be the start of your collection!

Here 's how its painted. Start wet into wet. Wet the entire background all around the fish, then drop in the lighter blue color and allow it to burst across the paper, while this is still wet, place some dark purple or ultramarine blue in areas around the edges of the paper. don't stroke the paint on but drop it in. Then using a thirsty brush, ( ie: a damp brush which has had all the water taken out of it by squeezing with a paper towel ) pull out some of the color in areas to create a little drama and to also allow some of the white of the paper to show. This will help you have three very distinct values. Light medium and dark. If you like the small amounts of white in the background this is actually painted around and just allowed to be white paper showing thru. Some artists call these "little windows" and they are always in their backgrounds. I find I like them in certain situations but don't always put them into my backgrounds.

If you would like to try watercolor a good way to start would be to paint some of these Small collectors cards. They are fast, easy and fun! They will teach you to paint with a big brush because all brushes are big when your painting on a surface that is 2.5 by 3.5!

I sell these on ebay as there are just tons of folks who collect these small cards. Originals bring the higher prices the prints are usually .99 cents. its an inexpensive way to start an art collection and they can be displayed in a number of ways. On an easel, in a frame, matted in intersted groupings, or placed in plastic baseball card sleeves and kept in an album.
ACEO stands for: Atist collector Edition or Original some folks call them ATC which stands for: Artist Trading Card then there are OSWOA Origninal Small Works of ART these are post card size paintings or silghtly larger. I noticed someone even has a book out now on how to paint these and market them. Trends seem to come and go we'll see where this one leads. I only paint a few a week and since their so small I can usually paint them pretty quick with drawing or planning. That makes them fun to paint.
email me shantmarie@aol.com

ACEO Pegasus a painting a day

SOLD
If you don't know what an ACEO means... its a small painting just 2.5 by 3.5 inches and they are collected just like baseball cards. Some folks call them Artists trading cards. or ATCs... I have painted a number of these small gems and people seem to love them. Because of their size I don't usually draw them I just let the paint go and see what turns up. I had an idea of painting an angel and did the sweep of the wing first then the downward section of the legs . While putting in the folds of the gown, I saw the Pegasus clear as anything. I don't stick to the plan if the painting wants to go in a different direction . Here is my little angel turned Pegasus. It will be sold tonight on eBay for 10.00 plus shipping of $3.00. if interested email me shantmarie@aol.com