Running River 2

Here is the better photo of "running river".   It being an Oil painting I had to be careful, it is still wet.  While take the photo, I tilted the painting downward while holding the camera straight.  This way the oil wouldn't reflect back into the lens and look like sparkles.   

It works but you then have to use a photo shop type program to square it back up.

Spring dreams

This painting is 11 by 15 watercolor on paper and is for sale for $100.0

It would look great in a nice frame in any room in the house.

Its an original and can be mailed to your home in the US for $5.50.  email me at shantmarie@aol.com  if interested in this purchase. 

I've been working in my flower beds all weekend and it takes a lot out of me. All this heat we've been having makes me sleep like a baby.  I've been transplanting plants and bushes and pulling weeds.  If I do it now it may last most of the season.  My little water feature in the back looks great and I'll have to post an updated photo of it progress. 

Ancient Ritual 129 ACEO

This aceo ( Artist collection edition or original) is 2.5 by 3.5 watercolor on paper, fits standard size trading card  sleeves and albums.

I painted this yesterday but ended up staying up too late, got tired fell asleep & never posted my painting.  

So I'll post two paintings right now.

this one and the one I painted today.  I started it last night and finished it this afternoon.  

Koi in the Wild

Watercolor on paper 16″ by 11″ $300.00

I felt very sad today and didn’t think I was going to paint. But after watching an art video of another artist painting, I got the bug and painted this piece. This painting started out very gray and as I painted I felt my spirits lift and it became a bit more colorful. Its funny how my color choices are related to my emotions.
Art’s ( my husband)mom passed away last night and since her stroke twelve days ago we have had some ups and downs. Thank you so much for your notes and words of encouragement.

Blue Water Lily

This painting is a watercolor on gessoed masonite. It is 7 inches by 3.5 inches.

Water lilies bloom for only three days ( there are some exceptions) and so when they bloom you have to make sure you take a picture. My waterlily that I planted lst week already has three little round leaves with two more coming out of the root. The lily pads are only about 2.5 inches across and I assume they will grow larger as the plant matures. I'm very excited its growing at all. I bought it on ebay for $7.00. The seller says it's a very hardy variety so I may have a chance to see it bloom. If it does, I'll take a picture of it.

Lisa

watercolor painting on paper 15 by 22

Ancient Ritual ACEO

This little ACEO is part of my Ancient Ritual series.

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.

The Enchanted Path Sold

I was really in the mood for some color today so I decided to paint this landscape. 7 inches by 8 inches 45.00

AR#121

This is an artist trading card or ACEO the size is always 2.5 by 3.5 for these cards and they are sold widely on ebay and in other venues. Collected the world over and very popular. This card is part of my ancient ritual series which demonstrates the use of ritual to mark the passing of time and events in our lives

Moonlight Lillie

8 by 8 watercolor on gessoed masonite 50.00 shantmarie@aol.com or www.dailypainters.com for purchase with pay pal.

I painted this a bit daker than I usually paint, especially the water because it is supposed to be at night. I like it ! I think it makes the other colors more vibrant.

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.

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.

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.

Fantasy Lake

5.75 by 5.75 watercolor on gessoed masonite

Pine trees and Water

5.75 inches by 5.75 inches

This is painting in watercolor and is on a piece of masonite which is covered in gesso. I painted it yesterday at our open studio.

River View ACEO

It was warm this morning and I decided to take the dogs to the park so they could get out and hopefully get rid of their cabin fever. They loved it. Missy jumped into the creek and pretty much got wet and muddy up to her chest ( and I just sent them to the groomer) Glock, who is a lab and doesn't like water, hung around on the muddy bank getting even more dirty than Missy. Thank goodness for Sam he is such a good dog, staying clean and still having a great time. He ran up and down the trails and his tail was not only wagging but it was going in circles. What does that mean? I guess you can say he was overjoyed. He wore a big doggy grin for the whole hour. When we got back to the house, I had to clean up the younger two which takes several towels and a little doggie air freshener. I wish they made frebreeze for dogs, they would sell a million bottles the first week.

I painted this ACEO... 2.5 by 3.5 and watercolor on gessoed paper, it's $15.00. I love the lake and I painted this little card because I love water scenes.

Koi Games ll

Watercolor on gessoed paper. 8" by 5.5", I painted these fish a bit animated. I love these colors together the phalo turkquois is a daniel smith color and yes I can make it myself but its a treat to have color ready to go right from the tube.


I woke up at 4 am to work on my larger painting, I'l try to put up a wip photo on my weekly painting blog .
http://h20color.wordpress.com I only have 8 more days... I like it so far but it is going thru the uglies so be patient.

Koi Rising

6 by 8 watercolor on gessoed paper. I think that this little guy is getting ready to surface and is heading up to get a snack.

Fantasy Koi

I'm learning some new software. I'm posting my blog just a bit later because of the extra time it takes me to remember how to upload my paintings. This painting is one of those paintings in which the viewer decides what direction they want the koi to be swimming. I like it this way but also liked it in the portrait format.