Happy Christmas Eve Ya'll!

T'was the day before Christmas ....

I just had to share this photo of Casey and Rocky, my two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. They have loved playing in the snow this week and getting them to pose for the camera is a major accomplishment.

Commands like ..."sit" "stay" "wait" go in one ear and out the other.

What worked? Showing them a bag of "Beggin Strips" doggy treats did the trick!

Happy Christmas Eve Ya'll!
SUSIE

Holiday Greetings from Susie Short!

Happy Holidays!

This little landscape is one of my favorites from my Winter Landscape Collection for 2008. It has such a crisp clean and peaceful feel to it.

For those interested in learning how to paint this card I do have a pattern packet with written instructions available. Click here for more information

We are really experiencing winter here in the Seattle area this week. In my neighborhood the roads are icy and there has been about 8 inches of snow on the ground for 5 days. I took a lot of reference photos on the snow on the trees and I'm in the mood to paint some more snowy landscapes. I guess thats what happens when you get snow bound. I've never lived where the snow stuck around for very long so I like it! It really does make it feel more like Christmas!

My dogs love the fluffy white stuff and can't wait to go outside to play. Trouble is the snow attaches to their fur and they don't like sitting by the door with the hair dryer to melt the snow balls that collect on their feet and bellies.

Maybe tomorrow I'll build a snowman.

SUSIE

Painting a Pretty Poinsettia

Merry Christmas!

When we see a poinsettia we automatically thing of the Christmas Season. They make the perfect flower for the holidays. Painting a poinsettia can be as easy or as difficult as you want to make it. Easy is painting them like this on, looking down at them from the top. Painting them from the side view or other angles includes more shapes and perspective.

I've added a new watercolor tip on my website for Painting Pretty Poinsettias. Check your print preview before you print it. You may need to adjust your margins a little. I hope you enjoy painting these pretty flowers with me. Please email me a jpeg of your poinsettias I'd love to see your paintings or cards. I'll be starting a new page for paintings created from the watercolor tips on my website in a few months.

Merry Christmas!
SUSIE

Christmas Roses

Merry Christmas!

May the Joy and the Blessings of the Season

be with you through the coming year!

I thought I share a completely different type of Christmas card with you today. This was the card I painted as my own to be sent by me for 2006. Next year I will include it in a collection of Christmas Roses Cards for the public to purchase. I love to paint white roses surrounded by winter greenery like holly with red berries and sprigs of fir or pine. Each card is unique because I "build" them as I go. I'll share another of my Christmas Rose cards I painted this year in a day or two.

Perhaps this subject would make a good watercolor video. What do you think? I'd appreciate your feedback.

Meet my boys!

Allow me to introduce you to Rocky and Casey our two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. They are

the official "greeting committee" for students and guests coming to my studio. This photo was taken on one of my photo excursions to a local nursery to get reference photos of poinsettias of future painting or cards. If you live in the Seattle area you are invited to stop by my studio to be welcomed by the "boys" and see some of my latest paintings.

Merry Christmas to you all!

SUSIE

Susie Short Studio is located in Kent, WA @ 1311 Central Ave South Suite D

(Plemmons Bldg) (not too far from Emerald Downs)

Happy Holidays! Greeting Card by Susie Short

Warmest wishes for a wonderful holiday season!

When I sit down to paint winter cards I usually don't have an exact composition in mind. I like to paint on 4 or 5 at a time and let them evolve as I go. Do I ever mess one up? YES!

But I like to give myself permission to try something new and if it doesn't work try again or do something different.

One of my favorite techniques for starting a winter landscape card is using a plastic card (expired credit or gift card) to "scrape" or "scratch" out the white birch or aspen tree. Then I add the darker bark features and darker evergreen behind the 'scraped trees' to make them stand out.

If you are interested in learning more about this technique you will find instructions on my watercolor tips page on my website. Try it!

For my original cards I use blank greeting cards made for watercolor. Two brands that work well for me are Strathmore Watercolor Cards and Canson Watercolor Greeting Cards. Both come with envelopes in economy packs of 30-50 cards. Enough to goof up a couple and still have plenty of cards to paint on!

Of course you can always use regular watercolor paper and cut it to greeting card size.

If you do try this technique I'd love to hear your comments.

Happy Painting!

SUSIE

Winter Landscape Christmas Card

Season's Greetings!

Brrrr! It's been snowing at my house in Washington state. Talk about inspiration for winter snow paintings! This is another card I painted with a winter landscape theme. It is a composition that "happened" as I added brushstrokes to my paper. Instead of being painted from a real place it evolved from my imagination. I like to paint on several cards at the same time and while one card is drying I add something to the next card. Its always surprising how a little detail in one card is just what the other card needs too. That happened with the rocks in this card. And after the rocks I decided to add the hint of frozen water. I like the final results, don't you?

Being a gal from Texas where it doesn't snow much and when it does it usually melts almost as fast as it hits the ground I try to take advantage of "snow days" and soak up as much as I can. I do take photos for reference but nothing beats good observation and painting from memory.

Thanks for your comments! I enjoy reading each one.

SUSIE

Christmas Greeting Cards

As many of you know I paint what seems to be hundreds of cards for the Christmas Holiday season. My Christmas card classes and demos always seem to be a favorite topic for my students. And each year I try to come up with new and different ideas to share.

As a test to see if there was a market for them I took 10 of last years original watercolor cards, printed them and put together a sampler pack to sell on my website. The 2008 Winter Landscape Collection has really been selling well. Many thanks to those of you who placed your orders! In addition to the package of 10 greeting cards I also wrote step by step instructions for painting each card. Call them a watercolor mini lesson, because each little landscape "could" be a larger winter landscape painting.

There is still time to get more in the mail if you are interested.

Click here to order from my artstore. Or just to take a better look at them!

Autumn Leaves

I'm still in catch up mode here.....In November we painted leaves leaves and more leaves! I love the beautiful warm colors of the fall. I even create a special palette with extra paint colors that I don't use in my regular palette. Painting #3 is stamped from real leaves then when dry filled in with color. Painitng #1 is a composition of stamped leaves and freehand leaf shapes. Painting #2 is painted from a photo I took of a some leaves in the parking lot at my studio. Amazing what you can find when you look down.

Painting Pumpkins

Hello!

Wow! I am so far behind with my blogging! I had so many good intentions when I started this. And when things got hectic I didn't want to get things out of order or miss sharing my activities with you. What happened? I found out the "behinder " I got the more impossible it was to catch up. So ..... I'm going to share what I can when I can and not let the things I miss stop me from posting current activities.

In September and October I held several classes on painting pumpkins and other harvest bounties. Here are a few of those paintings.....enjoy!