Burnt Out

oil on hardboard 6" x 6"

I haven't done an oil painting for quite awhile
and did this one as a daily painters challenge
of zippo lighters. The only colors we could use
was ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, and white.
The hardest part was painting in those air vent
in the lighter, had to redo them three times
before I was ok with it.
Also working on two watercolors when I have time.

Daily Crossing

nfs watercolor

A painting I did way back in 1997 which was
to hang in a restaurant in town with a group
of local artists. I was actually in the
process of painting it as I received a call
to see if I had the painting ready to hang in
three days,...I work better under pressure,
just glad I didn't mess it up really bad. I
have since learned not to put a date on the
front of your paintings. My youngest daughter
called dibs on this one.

Reflecting

pastel 13" x 19"

My latest "fix it" after the painting stayed
packed away for several years. It was way too
dark on the left which made the painting seem
heavy on that side. I lightened that area and
evened out the colors more and it is much better
now. Will probably work on it a little more.
This is a painting of Rattlesnake Creek in the
early fall. Now on to other things.

Flower Box

pastel 11.5 x 15

Been thinking lately about doing more pastels
and went through my old pastel paintings to
try and rescue some of the bad ones. One was
beyond rescue and I ripped it up, another one
still needs work. Funny how you can put a painting
away for months or a year, pull it out and
know exactly what's wrong with the composition
or colors used and can then fix it if it's
not that bad. The painting above is one that
needed a little adjusting and one I did to
learn how to work in pastel.

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.