Grandmother's Visit

Watercolor on paper 22 by 30 $ 500.00 SOLD
I sold this painting today and thought I should at least post it because I realized the client is coming tomorrow to pick it up and I hadn’t even taken a photo yet. I really didn’t have time to take a decent photo and you can see that there is a big flash right in the middle of the sky. Oh well, you get the idea and this photo at least give me a record of the painting.
I used to paint light houses all the time because I used to get a lot of requests for them. Not so much any more. Now folks just like water paintings of the waves on the beach or breaking on the rocks. Its more of a mininamalist trend.

h2o a tribute to this beautiful earth

8 by 10 watercolor and Gesso on masonite. $ 75.00
I haven't been to the beach in several years and if given the opportunity I would go to the mountains before I would go to the beach, yet when I do travel to the coast, I'm always in awe of the mighty ocean.
Its been a long day and I think I'll hit the hay. This morning when I woke up there was a stuffed rabbit laying on the pillow next to my head. I know my dog, Glock left this present for me because he loves stuffed animals and makes sure I have at least one to sleep with.

Ocean Blue "A tribute to the Earth"

When I paint these oil paintings with a palette knife I always try to keep the colors clean while allowing them to blend. I thought to put in the sky some lavender right at the Horizon line, but didn't because I wanted to upload this photo and didn't make the changes because the paint was just a bit too wet and it would have looked stiff. 

These ACEOs are $15.00 plus $2.5 for shipping. Write  me....email...

shantmarie@aol.com for pay pal or credit card information.

 

sun, sand and h20

Watercolor on professional grade watercolor paper. Matted in white $150.00 7″ by 20″Lots of talk these days of making a trek to the beach, looking for beach houses and places to go. Of course we have to take the dogs too. The dogs are all very well behaved and don’t ruin things or pee indoors, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Of course Art my husband won’t go, just me and the girls with the dogs. Hopefully we can find a house right on the beach and the beach is as deserted as this painting. The plan isn’t to go until October so I have plenty of time to find just the right place. Maybe Pauly’s island, or Edisto…. Any suggestions, I don’t really want to drive more than three hours or four at the most from Charlotte NC.

blue water blue sky

3.5 by 7.0 25.00

open water

This is a mixed media piece on illustration board. 11 by 15

I've done several of these paintings. First I used watercolor, then I used gesso and acrylic paint.

H20

4 by 4 watercolor on Clay Board $25.00


I was pretty tired today and this piece is one of those paintings that gives me a sense of calm. You would think flat smooth water would make me calm but perhaps its the circular nature of the piece and the color.

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.

The sea

I was looking thru a book last night and the book has numerous pictures of oceans and beaches all over the world. I can say.... I was inspired.

I don't usually like the ocean as much as most of my friends, I guess you could say I'm more of a Mountain person. But water itself has always captivated me. The currants and the movement of water is as beautiful as anything on earth.


This is smooth clay board and I thought the slick surface would enhance the way the watercolor moves and it would look very natural . I opted for a very simple wave. For a daily painting I think its a great subject.

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.

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.

"Open water" Mixed media painting

This is 11 by 15 illustration board, I learned this technique up at wild acres, came home, changed a few things and I think I like it a bit better than the ones I painted in the workshop. I put acrylic over the watercolor instead of ink for the white. I think the acrylic goes a bit further and isn't so spidery.