Bathing In The Moonlight

watercolor 12" x 16"

Back to getting some painting time in
after weeks of getting other things done.
Did this last night for a challenge to get
back up to speed with painting skin and
decided to do a nude. Painted this on
Fabriano 140# soft press and was not happy
with the washes and edge control. This
paper works great for fluid acrylics though.
This painting is NFS, just a study.

Website

Finally finished my website that I put
together myself! My daughter offered to do
it for me, but I knew she was busy with school
and I needed to learn to do this myself to
develop more computer skills. I will be adding
paintings as they come along and improving the
website.

Susan Liles

http://susanliles.com/

I also would like to wish everyone a Happy
New Year and thank those who have visited
my blog and left encouraging comments. May
my fellow artists have more time to paint and
reach our goals we have set for ourselves to
develop our talents even more.

Sold

This is the painting that was sold and was
a Christmas present for a lady whose maiden
name was also Susan Liles. She has a nice brother
who bought the painting because the family is
in the electrical and power business.
Had a wonderful Christmas with family and
now spending time with my daughter who is
home for her winter break from school. Hoping
to have more time by the end of January to
paint more when I pass off some of my responsi-
bilities to others. Yeah!!!

Signature Status-MTWS

Received my certificate this week stating
that I have attained the distinction of
Signature Membership in the Montana
Watercolor Society!
Now I just need to get busy and paint
more paintings and enter other watercolor
society competitions. Also sold a painting
this week!

Top Watercolor Blogs

OnlineGraphicDesignDegree.com

I received the news that my blog was listed
as one of the "Top Watercolor Painting Blogs"
presented by Online Graphic Design Degree.
Thanks Online Graphic Design for listing my
blog and giving me the encouragement to coninue
painting and posting my work.
Here is the link to see the list of other
watercolor blogs:
Top Watercolor Painting Blogs

Seeking Light

I painted this years ago from a reference
picture that was so dark I could hardly make
out the people. After tweaking the image in
photoshop, I was able to improve the lighting
and make out the individuals. While painting
this scene, I lightened the interior even more.
I was happy with the interior lighting, but
struggled with the people. Love Photoshop, it
can really save some bad photos.

Lummi Indian

My start of this painting, happy
with this first wash.



















At this stage of the painting
I have developed the facial
structure and still thinking
about how to paint the clothing
which he is wrapped in a large
blanket up to the top of the neck
with a red starred cloth to one side.
Up to this point everything was going
ok, then I decided to use a new mixture
for the color of the dark hair and
everything went down hill from there.
I wasn't listening to that little
voice in me that said "don't do it".
Oh, but I knew better, and thought
I could make it work. Wrong! I now
deserve the prize for the biggest
mudpie painting around!

Reflection

watercolor- half sheet

Finally finished this painting of lilypads
that has been half finished for months. May
work on it some more after I put it
away for awhile. Been working on another
portrait that has pulled me away from this
one.

Sepia portrait

12" x 16" watercolor

I was asked by Kaiwalya Rangari of India
to paint his portrait in sepia for his
profile picture on facebook. My first
time painting all in sepia.

Study

A study done recently to get back into the
swing of it since I haven't done much
painting this summer. Took a photo of it
before it was done and as I was finishing
up with it I dropped my paint brush on it
and a blob of paint ruined it. So goes my
world.

Montana Watercolor Society

This painting was accepted into the
Montana Watercolor Society show for this
year which will be in October in the gallery
in Bigfork, Mt. I will now have signature
status with the MTWS, since this is my
third painting accepted.

Happy Birthday America!

Wishing you a happy and safe Fourth of July!

Pansies

Having fun painting pansies from the garden.
Yesterday we had hail that smashed most of
the blossoms on my flowers, or should I say
the blossoms that the deer haven't eaten yet.
Montana also had a tornado in Billings. Still
waiting for summer and sunny skies.

Experimenting

I was experimenting with fluid acrylics
and messed it up bad with the background
which is way too busy and the yellow
orange color was not what I intended.
As you can see some purple washes dried
before I could rinse it off. Will redo
this one and re-work the drawing. Always
learning from our mistakes. I did enjoy
getting the batik look in the washes when
you can rinse off the half dried paint.

The Eyes Have It

These are some of my sketches of eyes that I
did awhile ago. When painting portraits, the
eyes are usually the center of interest so it
is important to get them right. I need to
sketch everyday because I believe it will
improve your drawings and also your paintings
in how the paint is applied in your brushstrokes.

Nashville Tennessee Flood 2010

We were in Nashville back in Dec and stayed in a downtown
hotel for a few days. I walked the downtown area and it is
so amazing to see the under reported flooding that occurred
this spring and to see the damage to the places that we
visited like the Opryland Hotel, which was huge, the Grand
Old Opry, downtown at the famous Robert's Bar where we
listened to the local talent, and Opryland Mall. The people
of Nashville were friendly and loved people from Montana,
(we have real cowboys here!) Hope the people of Nashville
recover quickly! Yes Honey, all those guitars are ruined.

"Shades of Spring"

watercolor 7" x 9"

Those who won an award in the 2009
Montana Watercolor Society
were asked to paint a watercolor for the
2010 raffle book using the theme of "It's
Hard to be Green" or "Vision". I chose the
theme "vision" and painted this one of my
youngest daughter who was then in high school
at the time the photo was taken. The youth
see the world differently than us old folks
and she admitted the other day how immature
she and those that age were in high school.
The submitted paintings are made into two books
that will be raffled off to raise money for the
MTWS at the show banquet this fall.

Five Years

The picture above is a photoshoped picture of a
robins nest from the backyard, which I was planning
to paint. This symbolizes my life now that all the
kids are grown and gone, my husband and I are "empty
nesters" as they say.
Crstal Cook tagged me on her blog to answer the five
questions about ourselves. I'm a pretty private person,
but will be a good sport and reveal some things about myself.

What were you doing five years ago?

1-I sprained my ankle in the early spring and am still feeling
the aches and pains of cracked cartilage.
2-My youngest daughter is now a freshman in high school
so I had more time to devote to painting. (I home schooled
the two youngest so I only painted when I had time)
3-I started attending a weekly watercolor class.
4-Helping at church with my compassionate service calling.
I was helping organize ladies to do meals, cleaning, or
moving if a member in need needed it.
5-Traveling, & enjoying the family and friends

Where would you like to be five years from now?

1-Painting with more confidence and selling more artwork
2-Entering watercolor shows and receiving signature status.
(will get it with MTWS if accepted again this year)
3-Being recognized by an art magazine.
4-Enjoying being a grandma and kids with no problems!
5-Enjoying good health and traveling to fun places.

My to do list for the day was:

1-Went to help a lady who needed medical help early in
the morning.
2-Took a nice nap.
3-Sold our old computer desk to a nice kid who needed one.
(Thanks honey for hauling it for him to his place)
4-Potted and watered some flowers for Mother's Day presents.
5-Household chores and rearranging my art room now that I
have more room with the desk gone!

My favorite snacks:

1-All things sweet!
2-Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate
3-But, I am cutting back, it will be nice at the
lake before we know it and I want to get into
my swimsuit!

What would I do if I was a billionaire?

I know money doesn't make you happy and can cause more
problems in the long run if you have no self control.
But....I would pay off the mortgage and my kids' mortgages.
I wouldn't donate to charities (except for disasters)
because I think other people misspend the money too much.
I would donate to our church perpetual education loan
program (students in poor countries are loaned money
interest free for an education and pay it back over time
when they have a job. I would set up my own perpetual loan
program, (people get too lazy when they get something for
nothing); start a lot of new businesses to employ people,
open about 20 watercolor galleries throughout the country
and invite other watercolorists to show their "best" paintings.
I'd buy some awesome paintings for the house.
And last, but not least, I'd have a large house in a warm and
sunny location! (Add in a sweet ride too.) Oh! and the hubby
could buy as many guitars as his heart desires.

These artists are tagged for the challenge to
answer the same questions:

Jane Minter

Jeanette Jobson

Katherine Cartwright

Blog Cartoon

Saw this and had to post it. Tried to describe
blogging to my Mom who is now 81 yrs old and it
was hard for her to comprehend. Today's kids are
almost born with computer skills, amazes me how
fast they learn the computer. Yesterday I sent
my grandkids a link of a web cam of a bald eagle's
nest to watch the development of the eggs and
growth of the eagle chicks. One had already
hatched and the grandkids were squealing about the new
baby chick they could see and later of one of the
parents ripping apart a fish and feeding it to the
chick. So cool for the kids! Amazing technology
that we have today, if only it was used for good
all the time.

Our Addictions -- Hillarious Sony Vaio Commercial

Many of my fellow art bloggers have gone over to
facebook to network and meet new artists, which
may have evolved into an addiction with how many
friends some "facers" can acquire. Must admit it was an
addiction at first, but have learned ya can't
get much done if ya have to see what's new with everyone
all the time. I know the artists on facebook are talkative
and fun with an occassional polictical issue thrown
in to fan some flames. Promised myself to never twitter!
The electricity went off today (yes I paid the bill)
and couldn't paint without the lights, too cold out-
side, so worked on matting and framing some paintings,
which is the reason I paint--NOT!!!
Is facebook an addiction for you?
What's your addiction? (Keep it clean)