This little redhead was a model for us at Spring Maid (Mrytle Beach).
I have cropped about 3 inches from the bottom and if you purchase this painting, her breasts are also in the shot. Obviously they can be physically cropped if this isn’t desirable.
Stunning color with a good balance of both cool and warm colors.
I love flowers, always have ,I remember picking roses out of a neighbor’s yard to give to my mother. I never thought it was wrong , I just assumed there were so many and they were outside… so its like finding a treasure. 
$400.00
These paintings help people heal… If you have ever lost a pet you know… you hope that you will meet again and if not, you want your best little buds to be in doggy heaven.
50.00 watercolor on paper 5 by 7
Here you can see the three paintings I have been working on. I just finished this “Tribute to Monet” piece. The tribute to Monet series has about 15 paintings so far and I’m not sure when I’ll decide this series is complete. I’ve explored this water theme for a while and combined with my Koi paintings, you’ll see that water is in many of my paintings. Simply put, I find water fascinating.
Of course with my Geisha series I have painted about 5 or 6 paintings so far and I would say at the very least, I’m having a difficult time finding my way thru these paintings. I have another few hours to work on the “Geisha Red” piece which is the white face and lips and I probably have less than a day’s worth of actual painting on the large wave and Geisha piece. I can’t figure out where I’m going with this series and I don’t know why I even care… I’ve painted hundreds of Koi and taken them in every direction but for some reason I feel a need for a road map with the Geisha series. I have yet to decide the actual name for this painting. I guess I’ll sleep on it.
Watercolor on gessoed masonite
Starring my three buddies!
A great painting which has a wonderful textured surface.
These small painting make great gifts for all of your dog loving friends.
8 by 8 inches
I love these dogs!
5 inch by 7 inch watercolor on paper $30.00
this is from my “all dogs go to heaven” series…
I can’t help but hear one of the bigs dogs say to the other big dog about the little dog ” Do you think there may have been a mix up at the hospital?”
This 11 by 12 inch painting won’t be finished till next week because I’ m painting this as a demo for an art student. This is the first day’s work, next week I’ll put in some negative painting, some glazing, direct painting, splattering and possibly some scrubbing or lifting. Check back to see the changes.
48 by 48″ oil on canvas, $1800.00 usd email before purchasing with pay pal… for shipping details.
I love this painting the way the fish are all swimming in and out of the frame. I worked on my own Koi pond today because it was pretty warm and I thought they needed a little cool water. When the days get warm very quickly the algae will really bloom, so I decided to vacuumed a section of the pond and added some aeration. Koi need more air when their stressed. I also added some pond salt, this helps provide them with a bit of a slime coat which is good protection for their skin.
I painted this the other day while I was demonstrating to my art class how the gessoed surface works with watercolor. Because this painting wasn’t finished I went ahead and finished it up in my studio. My Koi are very hungry these days and keep uprooting my lilies which have three or four lilly pads struggling to grow. The nights are still cool but I will assume the weather will be warmer any day now and those koi and the lilies will be growing!
8 by 10 watercolor on gessoed masonite sealed with a polymer clear coat. $95.00
2.5 by 3.5 Artist trading card. $15.00 watercolor on paper
This is part of my ancient ritual series dipicting rituals used to mark the passing of time and events in our lives.
People write to me often and ask me why I paint on surfaces other than paper. Some folks have always challenged my methods because they are not traditional in nature. The use of heavy pigment at times almost straight from the tube, the use of spray fixative and of course the use of non traditional painting surfaces. First, I would mention that this is nothing new, people have been painting on gessoed masonite for over 40 years. I’m sure canvas, wood and other supports have always been available to watercolorists and have been used as well. I started painting on other surfaces for several reasons. I’ve painted on paper for more than 20 years and feeling like i was missing something, wanted to branch out. I’ve always like experimentation & now that I’m confident of my painting skills, wanted to see what else is out there for the watercolorist. There is a lot of work in the area of water media, which is exciting and fresh and not limited by the traditional restrictions of watercolor on paper. Even our state (SC) watercolor society changed their name to watermedia society and this made me realize that things were changing. The South Carolina watercolor society has always been at the forefront of new artistic avenues and being a part of it was important to me. I also found that sales of my paintings on clay board, canvas or gessoed masonite were selling for a higher price than the works on paper. These surfaces are actually easier to paint on once you learn their limitations and yet give the artist many ways to express an idea. Without having to plan ahead, and the ability to correct mistakes easily it helps the artist be more in the moment. It also allows the artist (especially the new artist) a certain amount of freedom that watercolor on paper can only do after many years of experience. I still love watercolor on paper and probably always will. It not that one is better than another but they offer the artist variety and a challenge. Also… why is it that we watercolor artists feel we must restrict ourselves for traditional methods. Some of these methods aren’t even traditional but have just recently ( within the last 40 years) become rules. For instance the forbidden use of white paint, Turner, Homer, & Sargent all used white paint. I love the look of white paper but don’t see anything wrong with using white if the painting calls for it.
Here are three examples of very similar paintings on three different surfaces. Fom a distance they look very much the same but up close they have a slight variation in texture. The one on the right is traditional 140 lb paper. The one in the middle is gessoed masonite and the last is illustration
(#100 )board.
Gessoed masonite
illustration board
watercolor paper
As it happens now and again if I wait too long before getting back to a painting, Then, I’ll paint something else. I decided to paint over the little yellow koi and paint these three koi instead.
go to my painting a week blog to see the finished painting.
http://www.dailypainters.com for pay pal button
Textured clayboard. 6 by 6 watercolor sealed with spray fixative. No need to frame under glass. $40.00
Yesterday I was ready to start tackling the yard and cleaning up my deck, today when I woke up it was raining and 49 degrees. It will have to wait.
It isn’t everyday you get to visit with friends and so I should be happy because I see friends for a few hours each Thursday. The tega Cay Art League was started by me and two good friends, Nance Presson and Martha Mannco. There are 15 local artists in the group and we meet down by the marina in Tega Cay. We get together each Thursday to go over all the current events, share news of awards and shows, exchange books, new ideas, mediums or paints. If any of us hears of an opportunity we share it so all of us can take advantage of it. I was so proud of our little group when I learned that three of us have paintings in the Charlotte Art League show. ( its tonight) It can be difficult to get into the show and it gives me a certain amount of pride to know our group is such a power house. Although I thought at least one more person should have at least gotten into the show who’s work was declined, I feel its based on prejudice. That’s the way these shows work. Quality of work or level of difficulty seems to run a distant third behind creativity, and the judges personal preferences. Of course I can’t say I don’t agree with that. Expertise in technique is important, I just can’t say its should be the most important in judging shows. Otherwise your shows would be filled with excellent draftsmen and very few abstracts. Its true everyone has prejudices and preferences. I know that I have preferences when it comes to art and when I see certain combinations of colors or textures I’m more apt to like the work. How can a judge not choose what he or she personally likes. This can be difficult for the artist because they don’t know what to enter, should I choose figures, or still life, abstract or realistic work. People say pick you best work. Its like picking your best child, they all have their strengths, which will be appreciated for their strengths?
I know that I have discussed this many times because this judging thing is hard for us artists who wear our hearts on our sleeves and allow ourselves to be judged.
My Husband who is a master shooters says its not like his shooting competitions where you hit the bulls-eye or you don’t, there the judging is simple, no one can deny if your the best or the worst.
5.75 by 5.75
Watercolor on gessoed masonite $38.00, This piece is sealed so it may be framed without glass. I gessoed this and made the texture sort of go in a vertical pattern . I painted it Brown and Red and a Wine color. Then I pulled out the fish and painted their local color back into the spaces. I sprinkled water on the surface and pulled a towel across the surface which gave it a little bit of texture.
This isn’t 6 by 6 because my brother was cutting these boards for me and when this one went thru… I guess it got stuck and he had to recut it so the edge wouldn’t have a gouge. This artist thing isn’t as simple as painting a picture, there’s lots of prep work. I can see why artists had apprentices. I usually get my brother to do the cutting and sometimes he does the gesso work too.
Its been a busy day, I did books or about 5 or 6 hours and then I’ve been out cleaning the yard. Its spring and the trees look great with their new buds. I don’t have any excuse ( I hate cold weather) , Now that its warm, I have to get my porch cleaned off and my pots washed, you know the routine. I have a wood deck so I’ll pressure wash it and clean up my Terra-cotta pots, buy some potting soil for my flowers and work in my beds. I bought some seeds & I want to get them started so this summer I’ll have some flowers. It may take me a week cause I also have to clean up my brother’s place. I store stuff over there, he only lives across the street, boy, it seems like I need to get rid of some junk. I give the stuff to goodwill, of course, my accountant says I should get receipts for my goodwill donations but I never do. I guess I’ll take some things over and get one, if only just to make him happy.
