Day 481 – one more day

November 4, 20154 Comments

Boarding the plane tomorrow nite at 11:21. Arriving in France at Charles de Gaulle at 1:30 pm!! Oh my it’s almost here.

One of the things I am taking with me unless I run out of room are my Winsor Newton watercolor markers. If you recall I bought them to use at the state fair and then lost my sketchbook.

I added to the original 6 yesterday at Binders at Ponce Market where they are on sale for $4.79 each. I still need to go by and buy a yellow one. How do you watercolor without yellow?!

The six grew to 14!! These markers are loaded with color and they are lightfast unlike my tombows which evidently fade when they are in a closed sketchbook!!😢 I really liked the Tombows but there is a lot more pigment in these WN watercolor markers.

They also have two tips. A fine point and a brush tip.
Another thing that I like about them is that the color can be dry and you can go back and blend it out later. When I did these samples I first drew all the squares then I wrote all the names and THEN I added water to show the range of the colors.
They really are very intense. JUICY even. I know they will be great fun to color some of my people accordion strip drawings.

I thought u might like to see what I have colored wit them so far.

I use the Tombows a lot at Dr Sketchys. This is the first Dr Sletchys I did with the WN watercolor markers. I think they were up to the challenge. They really blend out well. Very forgiving.

She was done with the markers too augmented with my friend Toms watercolor palette.

My first experiments with them why I only had six. I never liked this sketch much so I didn’t care if I messed it up.

He was done completely with the watercolor markers. I really like all the colors I got from just the first six. A lot of fun. Try a set. There are 36 colors to choose from. They may be the best thing since Crayola markers!

Here is a link to Winsor newtons page where there are a couple of videos about themhttp://www.winsornewton.com/na/discover/articles-and-inspiration/introducing-water-colour-markers-us

I bet there are some on YouTube. If I find any I will share them with u.

Day 480 – one day till

November 3, 20152 Comments

Lift off. My suitcase is packed and I have plenty of room for art supplies. When I went to key west I actually needed more sketchbooks. Not this time!!

So why am I taking to sketch with?!! I know u r dying to know!!!

My two small palettes. Been painting with them and they really have all the colors you need. The whiskey painters palette has all the basic Winsor Newton colors plus Daniel Smith Quin coral which I love for skin tones and two ceruleans because I use it A lot!!

The cotman is full of quinacridones and a couple of paints that should be in the Whiskey painters palette the yellow and Thalo blue.
Paint brushes. Taking the good ones since I have room and just in case. Most of them are Isabey sables including the mops but the big sable is my cheap Joes legend which I love. Curious to see how much the Isabeys cost in France the land of their birth. They are made in Brittany and are Charles Reid’s favorite brush. I wouldn’t mind another one or two.

Back up colors in case I run they the ones in the palettes.

Pens loaded mostly with Platinum Carbon Black. Top to bottom Kuretake Brush Pen, Black pitt pen Fine, pentrl brush pen, sepia pitt pen Fine, two Noodler Konrads (one has Deartementis document brown ink in it) Platinum Carbon pen, and two of my favorite pens the Noodler Creaper ahab.

I am taking these with me in case I want to paint as I sketch. I usually paint when I get home because I hate to make my sister Jan wait while I paint. Bad enough that she waits while I sketch.

Lots of ink and cartridges.

Lots of paper. The two hand made sketchbooks have Cheap Joes Kilimanjaro, 3 strathmore mixed media sketchbooks(my current fav) a tablet of Fabriano squarely 149# cold press, some Canson post cards and some Strathmore 500 watercolor cards oh and a stack of accordion folded Stonehenge paper to draw strings of people and maybe a chicken or two on?!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret who is taking clothes I her suitcase and backpack too!!

Day 479 Two days to Paris 😳

November 2, 2015November 3, 2015Leave a comment

Well at least we leave then. Lol. Be in Paris by 2 pm Thursday.

Been raining cats and dogs do I am posting all of the family dogs but one today.

A quick sketch of my lab Honey. She walked off before I finished it but decided to paint it this am. Painted with ultramarine blue and burnt umber.
Grant – my sons newest put bull. Drawn with a Lamy Vista using Carbon Paltinum Black ink.

Drawing a new dog is always a challenge. To top it off he’s black and white. I smeared the ink with my finger to try to make his black more solid. I actually drew him three times before I was happy with him.

I wish I could give u some dog drawing tips but the only one I can give u is that a dog like a person or a horse is just geometric shapes. Check out Richard Schmidts wonderful Alla Prima book which is what he says about drawing anything. They are all just shapes.

Livia my sons other pitty. Small sketch with a Kuretake brush pen loaded w Platinum Carbon Black ink.

Lucy dog my youngest sons Briard Colie mix. Such a good puppy.

My other dog Zoe watching me pack. Maybe I should stick her in the suitcase?! I have enough room.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 478 – finishing up

November 1, 2015November 3, 2015Leave a comment

WIP??? Mermaid Lorelei and Mermaid McKenzie 11×14 super Aquabee tablet

Not sure these are done but at least they have some color now. Getting into travel mode so I used my travel Palette with Winsor Newton colors and my cotman palette with quinacridones.

The background in this painting is cerulean and yellow ochre. I may darken with ultramarine or inathradone to make the mermaids pop.

Remember this is what it looked like?

WIP – Mistress Princess Augusta – 11×14 drawn when I was done with one of the long mermaid poses. Her right arm still has problems. She was not posed so she was moving a lot and I drew her right arm too long. I shortened it with negative painting but now I think it is a smidge too narrow.
TIP: Really love her skirt. Both of these paintings were done wet on wet after watching a how to impressionistic watercolor video on Marcon Chews website http://www.marvinchew.com/ (You will have to scroll down for the video. Could not copy the exact irk for u! 😐) about wet on wet painting.The skirt turned out especially well I think. Done with ultramarine and burnt umber added to a wash of water that I painted on the skirt first. The background was done the same way.