Tiger Swallowtails Alight

Remnants of Flight

oil on canvas, 11"x14"

email info@susannapantas.com for more info

When my friend found this Tiger Swallowtail butterfly in the grill of her little mini-cooper automobile, the incident prompted a bystander to proclaim "you killed magic!"  I find this hilarious. My friend urged me to title the painting, "The Death of Magic," but not being in the mood for the melodramatic.... I have chosen the title "Remnants of Flight"


I have also begun work on two other Tiger Swallowtail-inspired paintings:

The iridescent aqua color on each wing is absolutely spectacular. I hope I can accurately capture it, but iridescence is tricky!   Each little aqua speck appearing against the deep velvety black is like a dusting of chipped gemstones.  Will I be able to capture this in paint? Well, I'll try!

Bundles of twigs, horsehair, and bubble wrap = baby bird abode

Ah, winter.

Here are two in the works:

This painting, above, is the larger of the two paintings.  Woven within is actually a bit of bubble wrap amidst all of the pine tree twigs!

This second little nest includes a few strands of horse hair.

Pine needles, horsehair, and a few bits of fuzz make quite the welcoming bed for baby birds I'd say.

Stages of "Contemplation: Olive Shells"

Above are some photos that I took of "Contemplation: Olive Shells" in progress.  The last one is the finished painting. To find out more information about this particular piece, please click here to visit my website.

New Painting from the Contemplations Series

Contemplation: Anemone

oil on canvas, 8"x10"
SOLD

This painting will sell for $350 at ArtSource Fine Art in Raleigh, NC.   A fantastic gallery, ArtSource has been voted "Best Place to Buy Art" by Metro Magazine, an arts and lifestyle magazine covering NC from the capital to the sea, for the past 5 years!

If you are interested in purchasing, please contact Sarah at ArtSource - sarah@artsourcefineart.com or call 919-787-9533.  This painting is part of my "Contemplations" series of work - small oil paintings that focus on objects from nature.  This anemone was found on Wrightsville Beach, NC.

New Painting from the Contemplations Series

Contemplation: Imperial Moth

oil on canvas, 8"x10"

This painting is of an Imperial Moth that I found on a walk one day.  This painting is currently on its way to ArtSource Fine Art in Raleigh, NC.  It will sell for $350.  If you are interested in purchasing, please contact Sarah Heinsohn of ArtSource at sarah@artsourcefineart.com  or 919-787-9533.  

This moth has appeared in another of my paintings which was a part of my Treasures Series.  I find this nocturnal visitor incredibly beautiful with its golden and brown tones - and it is large too!  

Here is the other painting in which the Imperial Moth appears:

 "O Time, Suspend Your Flight! (Black Swallowtail Butterfly + Imperial Moth)" SOLD

updated - SOLD - New Painting from the Contemplations Series

Contemplation: Olive Shells

oil on canvas, 8"x10"
SOLD

This painting is on its way to ArtSource Fine Art in Raleigh, NC.  www.ArtSource-Raleigh.com

Update - SOLD - New Painting from the Contemplations Series

Contemplation: Blue Jay Feathers

oil on canvas, 8"x10"
SOLD

This painting is on its way to ArtSource Fine Art in Raleigh, NC.  www.ArtSource-Raleigh.com

Trio in the works

With Halloween right around the corner, I think it is fitting that the first of the three I began is going to be of a moth.   Frequent nocturnal visitors, I think moths are a bit under appreciated - then again, people don't like holes in their sweaters!  This moth in my new painting is a gorgeous yellow and brown "Imperial Moth" which I found while taking a walk one afternoon.  It is quite large - at least 3 inches wide - as big as a butterfly.  

The next two paintings are inspired not by the sky, but by the inhabitants in the depths of the ocean.   Two olive shells rest together in one painting, and a lone anemone in another.   In our busy lives where we jump from one subject to the next and where our senses are bombarded in so many ways by advertisements, people, and ACTION, I hope that this series of works will offer a respite from the "busyness" of the everyday. 

Contemplating the "Contemplations"....

I have been thinking about this new series I have been working on.   Inspired by small objects in nature,  I am going to call these small 8"x10" oil paintings my "Contemplations."  I enjoy getting lost in their beautiful details.

Here is the latest finished piece, of a moon snail:

Contemplation: Solitary Moon Snail

oil on canvas, 8"x10"

email info@susannapantas.com

for purchase info

One that is still in progress, of two Blue Jay feathers:

This drawing got me started on the entire new group of paintings:

This pencil drawing of my beloved small nest is only about 5"x5".   I remember drawing it late into the night last winter.   I enjoyed working on it so much that the memory of doing so has spurred me into starting the "Contemplations" paintings.

In Progress... moon snail

I am working on a series of small oil paintings.  "Contemplations" is what I am going to call this series.  The photograph below is an 8"x10" painting of a rather large moon snail shell that I found on Masonboro Island near Wrightsville Beach, NC.  This shell feels so lovely in the palm of my hand!  I will be sure to post the finished painting once it is complete.

Just finished

Contemplation: Small Nest

oil on canvas, 8"x10"

email info@susannapantas.com 

if you are interested in purchasing

update: SOLD

This little oil painting, one of the first of my "Contemplations" series, is a study of the beautiful details that are found in small, unassuming objects.   I found this wonderfully shaped bird's nest, measuring only about 4" in diameter, along a shady path in the mountains in western North Carolina.  It had blown out of a tree. 

Still Lifes Coming Along

Here is another photo of two works in progress. You can see the changes from photos I took a while back.

Two Still Lifes in Progress

Coming along.... I am really starting to have fun with these two paintings.  They're oils measuring 20"x20" and I am especially enjoying working on the one with the parakeet in it.  A screen print by artist and friend Kacie Rushton, her print features a parakeet and was made on an antique book page.  She and her fiance, photographer JP Corr III, owned the model - a sweet little budgie named Buster who recently passed away.  Her print is so colorful and his expression so inquisitive - I couldn't stay away from using it in a painting!