A long Winter

Size:6 by 5.5 inches Price is $40.00 plus s&h

This is a watercolor-painting on 300 lb 100%, handmade rag paper. I painted using a few colors I don’t usually use in a winter snow scene. The cerulean blue is one I usually save for summer paintings or ocean paintings. But I like to try different combinations. I also mixed the blue with a bit of red to make the lavenderish roof and background.

I had a friend request this painting. Actually she requested something she won’t like…. so here it is, a landscape without people or animals.

Doves Corner

This is a small painting of an area frequented by doves and many other birds but we started calling it Dove's corner just because a pair of doves are always in the area.


The weeds are painted using a pallet knife, & the snow is just the white of the paper. I like painting snow and I think students love to paint it too. Maybe its because its easy to get the contrasts needed for a good depth in the values.

Calmness a painting a day

Shantmarie@aol.com

In looking back over the last several paintings I can see that I'm painting from a different place. I don't mean a physical place but a mindset. I'm distilling scenes and not literally painting them. As a daily painter with more than 200 dailies painted so far, I can see trends and attitudes reflect back to me from my work. Its interesting to see the subtle changes taking place. Every once in a while, I do a commission and then it seems like its all technique. These little daily paintings allow me the freedom to paint anything, really anything can be worthy of being the focus for the day. This freedom to paint anything also allow you to explore various things you may not in larger works. You are more adventurous and less predictable. Its as if we have been trained(even as artists) to do what you know works. With the dailies its a bit different, you don't really loose anything, the supplies are minimal, the time only an hour or two, so you might explore the way light recedes thru the woods or you may try to push texture, hue or chroma. You may push it too far and figure out whats too much, all the same your work doesn't suffer because its just a wee little painting and there is someone out there who will love it. This need to explore and test is an important element into developing your style. You'll know when it speaks to you, you'll respond to it, & then, you'll know this is also your voice. An artist's journey isn't much different from others, it just takes a few more twists and turns, that's all. "Calmness" is a small painting and will be for sale for $40.00. size is 10.5 by 5 inches.

Winter's Solitude A painting a day & and a lesson

Its raining here in South Carolina but I thought it would be nice if it would snow. I painted this little tree with a palette knife. Its an easy technique and gives very natural marks for things like trees and rocks. For trees, first you mix up paint to the consistency of creme. It cannot be sticky nor can it be drippy. You take a clean palette knife ( you need to use vinegar or lemon to clean any oils from the blade) You take the knife and place it into you paint, flat,then you take the knife and place the tip onto the paper, You pull upward with the tip of the palette knife on your paper making long thin lines. You carefully decide where to place these marks, but the action itself must be fast and decisive. This gives you a natural appearance to a tree or shrub. You can wait till it drys and lift out areas if you feel it is too dark. The lifted out areas can be toned or left with the stain of the last application. either way it looks great.

The snow is a combination of burnt sienna and cobalt blue. Both have granulating qualities which gives the snow life.

The green hills are green and red mixed with sepia. The hills in the back are the blue snow mixture for one and the blue mixture with a little red added for the other it makes a soft lavender. OK so now you have it....go paint... Its fun!


This is a follow up to this post:
I received this picture fromWendy, one of my readers, here are her comments
"When I read in your description it was from your imagination I thought Wow, I have to send this picture to you !It is in my back yard in Maribel Wisconsin and the valley is part of the Niagara Escarpment. Amazing they are so very similar."
Wendy
Yes it is amazing! Do you hear the theme music to the twilight zone or is that just me?