At the End of the Day

Watercolor on paper 11 by 15 $125.00

Leigh Anne’s Snow Day

5 by 7 $50.00 watercolor on paper

“As the dogs watched”, watercolor on gessoed Illustration Board

SOLDSpecial of the Week $ 25.00 5.5 by 5.5 watercolor on gessoed Illustration board.Another small painting in my dog series. I have three dogs so I guess that why I continue to paint most of these in groups of three.

The golden Hour

6 by 7 inches watercolor on 140 lb artist grade paper. $44.00 I was taught to paint snow by Zoltan Szabo and my snow paintings are not half as beautiful as his because in my estimation, he painted the most beautiful snow paintings ever.This little piece of paper was cut from my ten foot roll of paper when I was preparing my large 35″ by 35″ piece. Its an odd size but would look great in a square mat and frame. If you want it framed in a black frame ( 6 inches by 6 inches )with a white mat, I could do that for you for an additional $20.00 plus an additional $3.00 shipping and handling.

Snow Scene watercolor on paper 7″ by 9.75″ $ 50.00

This little snow scene was inspired because I needed something simple and uncomplicated as my painting brain has been in high gear these last few days. I have been visualizing all the fish I need to paint into my large Koi painting. Its sort of like looking at the clouds and seeing objects in them. In this case not only do I have to imagine them, I also have to figure out the color combinations and how to achieve the look without overly painting them. So this takes a lot of concentration and I needed a painting break. These snow paintings are very relaxing and calming.

The Struggle

Most artists struggle. Either they can’t seem to get down their vision of what they want or they don’t know what they want, (they’ll know it, if they see it). I think this struggle is part of the process. Its too bad because of this constant push/ pull it sometimes seems not to be worth the effort. Its why some people give up doing their art. Also, I see people giving up their art because they don’t have enough buyers. Buyers equate “good artist”. No buyers (not counting family and friends) means not a good artist. This definitely is not the case.

We live in an age when people will buy a Persian rug for their dining area, cover their sofa in silks, and import tiles from Italy to decorate their home tastefully and expensively, yet these same people will have pictures of art rather original art on every wall in their house. They will pay more for a custom frame and mat then for an original piece of art. Go into any model home these days, same thing, prints everywhere. (Please, I have nothing against prints.. so don’t write me justifying your print purchases) Most from 18th and 19th century artists. I guess they feel pretty good or safe rather, that this art cannot be denied as good art. It has stood the test of time. The truth is… I think people don’t trust their own judgement when it comes to choosing art. They need someone to tell them what is good art. All they have to do is trust their inner voice that says “I love this” but they don’t trust that little voice so they listen to experts…But who? do you trust Gallery owners? Especially when they are getting 50% of the profits? Do you trust your own decorator who is going to choose a piece of art because it matches a sofa? You have to admit, even I may not pay some of the high prices for some art, especially when it appears to have been painted with a stick or a rag. People don’t like to be taken advantage of and they don’t like to admit they don’t “know” art. The other problem is a simple one, people don’t appreciate original art in the US as much as in many other cultures around the globe. Now as in the past, Art was OK as long as it was something to do as a hobby but not as a career. It isn’t real work. We have a very strong work ethic in this county and some parents often put creativity in the back seat while encouraging productive hard work, left brain thinking.

So, if we don’t buy original art and we encourage our kids to do anything but become artists, and we don’t support the arts in schools what we are we saying?

Its no wonder today’s artists may feel as though it isn’t worth the effort, that the struggle to produce good art is just that, a struggle. As an artist I’ll remind you, of a few important things.

1. Its takes a very long time to become proficient at something as complex as art.
In fact, if it were easy, would you still even want to do it?

2. Don’t take the advice from lay people. They won’t help you, even if they have good intentions.

3. Be a lifelong student, don’t plan to figure it all out right now. It really is about the journey not the destination. Its a journey for one, just you.

4. Do whatever you enjoy doing, even if no one buys it. Hey, its cheaper than therapy.

Big Sky Farm

This is a watercolor on gessoed illustration board.  The size is 14 by 12 inches $50.00 $5.50 for shipping.

Its very cold here and I spent most of the day inside. I have been doing some planning for a commissioned piece…  I tried to get some ideas for the composition. I usually just do some pencil sketches for the placement of the focal point and for the structure of the painting. I also try to think of what I’ll do for the underpainting just so I can get started because as I paint my intuition will kick in & the rest will come.  I like to think about them as a cruciform or a triangle or steel yard composition to get started.. so I start with a logical idea but as I go along, I allow the piece to tell me what to paint.  This way, I use both my left and right side of my brain.  I think this makes for a better painting.  

 

Winter Snow Flakes

This is a very light snow scene.   9 by 11 on watercolor paper $50.00 I used salt ( sea salt) for the flakes. You’ll find in the last year in a half that I ‘ve been painting and posting daily and I ‘ve seldom used salt. It isn’t that I have anything against salt, but I just seldom use it. I usually just use water if I want the look of salt. Today I was asked about salt and how it works with watercolor so I thought I would explain it. The salt technique is all about timing.  I lay down a light wash of blue gray color for the sky… then… I put in the green/brown trees wet into wet right into the blue sky so that it will give the appearance that the trees are off in the distance and that they are a little blurry. Before the paper as lost its shine I sprinkle in the salt. You have to just put a pinch of salt other wise you will end up with a blizzard. At first it looks like it isn’t working, be patient after the background dries you will see where the salt soaked up the color leaving the white of the paper and because it is a natural substance it has a natural sharp. It will look like falling snow. Paint the foreground after the background has dried and add a little warm color somewhere to help the painting be more inviting and not so cold. Dust off the salt and Your done!Oh yes… You can use various types of salt to get different sizes of flakes.Now:   you should know there are a whole bunch of archival fanatics that claim salt will cause the paper to fall apart over time and  they do not allow their students the use of salt.    I usually stay away from it for this reason but also because water sprayed onto the surface will also give you an effect very much like salt without the controversy.  Try using various spray bottles to find just the right size of droplet.  A chloresceptic bottle has a great sprayer also the old  windex pump bottle  that used to be popular in the 70′s has a nice fine mist.   

“Fresh Snow” a watercolor winter landscape

 

75.00 8.0 by 11 inches watercolor on paper.This painting is basically the one from two days ago revisited. This is one of the good things about painting everyday.  Sometimes as an artist you will want to paint a painting again but of course change a few things and this is the case with this painting and the original..”snow hare”.  I obviously didn’t put in the hare and I feel the snow hare painting is beautiful but I wanted to paint one featuring birch trees and just the quiet of the woods.  So this is my answer to that muse who keeps telling me what to paint.  She says don’t tell them everything…. allow the painting to speak for itself. 

“Snow Hare” watercolor on paper

This is a traditional watercolor on paper. I love to paint snow because you actually don’t paint the snow but everything around it. I’ll paint some winter scenes for a few days because the temperature dropped here and finally winter has arrived. The rocks are painted with a palette knife.

My snow is painted with cobalt blue and burnt sienna. Sepia for the dark rocks and ultramarine blue for the darker blue in the tree line. Thats it… mainly four colors. These colors make a beautiful snow painting.

Studio Tour

Here I am sitting for a minute before I start the painting…..probably wondering what will I paint next. Often, I plan, plan plan, but once I start, I usually forget the plan and just let the painting decide what it wants to be.

 

 Here are some small pieces of paper waiting for me to just get a few minutes to start a painting.    I think I was gessoing these .. I usually do the priming in an assembly line  because it can get messy. 

I don’t like to store all of my seldom used items in my painting area preferring to keep it tidy. Especially since My painting area is small.
Behind all these completed paintings are several things, a big box of mat board, slides, a light box and related equipment ( some things I can’t seem to throw out even though I haven’t used them in years) and framing supplies. Also framed bios which are ready to be hung with my photo for outdoor festivals or street shows.

I have a small TV in my work area that I can watch. Often I will watch DVDs or videos of other artist’s painting or giving instruction. Its a good way to learn and its very easy to trade DVDs or videos with other artists so you can always have something new to see and possibly learn a new trick of the trade.

This is a walk in closet that I keep most of my frames and also larger framed paintings.   Many of these paintings are stored here after being in a show or in a gallery.   As you can see…  I also store my Bike here to keep it dry and clean.

Here is a sneak peek at many of my small paintings just waiting for someone like you to buy.  They are stored flat and by size. I have four big drawers full of Daily painting.

This is my little area that I use to pretty much do everything from painting to shipping.  The green cabinet straight ahead is of course my flat files with all of my stored paper which I buy in bulk, all of my customer information and my daily paintings, also many larger works and drawings.  I got this flat file at a newspaper that I used to work for because as most of you know newspapers now use computers. Of course I’m old enough to remember when back in the day they did something called “cut and paste ” these files were used to store all of their materials for this job.  These flat files became obsolete and if your lucky, you’ll get one for next to nothing from your local paper. These large files are sold for $500.00 in most artist’s catalogs.   On top of the flat files is my mat cutter ( I highly recommend the Logan 650) but from this distance you can’t see it very well… also along the sides of the flat file are stored all types of supports and foam core.  My router is on top of the flat file and my computer is across the room on a small table I use to package the paintings and get them ready to ship out.

This  large cabinet is full of art books, sketch books,  video tapes  and DVDs of art instruction and art history books.  I really love these books and go thru them on a regular basis.  

This is a photo of my daily painting table with my dog SAM lying underneath.  I have three large dogs and there is always one under the table as I’m painting.  
If you go to watch my video on Utube this part of the video is bascically black because it’s evening and a black dog in the dark is a dumb thing to video unless of course he opens his eyes.

This is a table I use for pressing the daily paintings. I also do most of my own framing and matting for the watercolor paintings.  I will usually send out larger works for shows but most smaller paintings I’m comfortable with matting and framing myself if I have time. The square item at the-top right is what I use to flatten out the small paintings. I place the painting right side down in between paper towels inside the little press. Then I use books or heavy objects to keep it weighed down till it drys.. the final result is a perfectly flat painting, ready to mat. All you need are two boards connected with a hinge. This was my brother’s idea, I used to just put a lot of books on top of the paintings which were placed inside of paper towels.

My cat is my best critic… she watches  and comments..  Everyone’s got an opinion!

I had a plan to up load a video with music or some fancy editing but as luck would have it no time… so if you would like to see my work space you can go to YOU TUBE and I uploaded a soundless video of my painting space you can look for it by going to youtube.com and putting in “Shantiartist” and my studio tour should come up. I was really under the gun today so I didn’t have time to really put much together. I hope you have enjoyed this slice of my life and a view of my work area. 

 HERE IS MY PAINTING FOR TODAY….  DID YOU THINK I WOULD FORGET?
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what is art?

I laughed out loud when I watched this… Thanks to David Darrow for pointing out this utube video. They have them on other topics too. I’ll never be able to sit with artists and discuss art again without thinking about the dog and his prints.

Early Snow ll

This painting is a full sheet of watercolor on paper it sells for $500.00   22 by 30

This isn’t a daily painting but I know you must be tired of the flower paintings. I spent most of the day in the Hospital with my husband. I woke up at 5 am and painted a couple of ACEO s but will put them up another day.
My husband has been moved out of ICU to a regular floor. I hope this means he will be coming home soon.

Vote for me….

I have submitted one of my paintings of Koi to the Saachi Gallery showdown. If you would like to see my work and vote for me, I would really love it! http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/showdown/index.php?showpic=24648

Zoltan’s Snow, watercolor landscape

This painting is painted in the style I was taught a few years back by Zoltan Szabo. The Size is 11 by 15 & Matted to 16 by 20 in a light mat.

This is for sale for 150.00