Day 578 – Chateau Gaillard

January 31, 2016February 5, 2016Leave a comment

I drew Chateau Gaillard several times while we were in Les Andelys. It sits high above the Seine Valley dominating the river and the quintessential French village at its base.

Richard the Lionhearted built it to control access to Normandy via the Seine around 1180-1200. No housing could be built until the Chateau aka castle was finished in a record ten years. Imagine a French winter in what tents?! Or sleeping outside for ten years?!

The second son of Henry II of England spent most of his life in Normandy even when he became king of England.

Legendary characters in Bristish history surround King Richard from his parents Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitane to Robin Hood who came to his aide.

The machinations of Richards younger brother, Eleanor’s favorite son -the notorious King John Lackland, and the infamous Sheriff of Nottingham who had the Germans kidnap and held him for ransom on his return from the crusades in the Holy Land are the stuff of many movies.

So there it’s sits wrapped in legend glowing in the French sun begging to be drawn. And I did.

This was drawn sitting in the warm lounge of the Viking Pride. Talk about cushy urban sketching!! Does not get any better!! Comfy chair, feet up, huge glass windows with incredible views and a glass of wine! What more could you ask for??!

Colors used – DS Green apatite, dioxzine purple, Quin gold Quin red orange. The castle is Winsor yellow and cerulean with raw umber and yellow ochre.

Read more about the Chateau at http://lesandelys.com/chateau-gaillard/

Thanks for reading.

Margaret off to enjoy this gorgeous 70 day.

Xxx

Day 577 – Meringue Deliciousness

January 30, 2016January 31, 2016Leave a comment

I had a serious love affair with meringues in France. I have always loved a good meringue whether on top of a lemon pie or as a small crispy bit.

An enormous one bought in Conflans.
They were everywhere in France. Our boat kept an endless supply of them at the snack bar ALL day long. Enough that you could have a diabetic coma everyday if you wanted. And so delicious.

I sat in front of St Maclou munching on this one. Who could resist a cat shaped meringue.

Run far away when you see a meringue or you might get addicted. Wonder if they sell them at Publixs?! They used to have the most delicious sugar free bits of meringue. Hmm…..

Colors used cerulean burnt sienna Winsor yellow. Chocolate color is burnt umber and Inathrodone blue. Vermilion mouth on the cat.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 576 – How many Gargoyles?!

January 29, 2016January 30, 2016Leave a comment

At St Mclou Rouen. St McClou is not a very tall cathedral so the gargoyles are close enough to the ground so that you can see them.

Drawn from a bench in front of the Cathedral. If you look closely in this picture you will see the gargoyles sticking out of the cathedral.

They also bristle from the left side and climb down the peaks. Eek! Fancy drain spouts.

Colors used Cobalt cerulean and burnt umber. Drawn with a Kuretake brush pen.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 575 – Monets Cathedral

January 28, 2016January 28, 20165 Comments

Due to the Christmas Market construction it was impossible to get close by to sketch so I stood in the middle of the street – swarmed by shoppers on the Rue de Gros Horolage which runs into the Rouen Cathedral.

Since Monet painted it 28 times I could not resist its lure and sketched. Sadly it was also closed so no tours that day. Rouen I shall return.

It’s gone thru lots of changes. This is the original light version of it.

I darkened the cerulean sky to make the cathedral pop aka contrast. Originally this was painted w a coat of Winsor yellow and vermilion for shadows with touches of cerulean and burnt sienna. I was trying to keep it light and airy.

Last nite that didn’t suit so I darkened the sky with Marine blue and added darks of Inathrodone Blue and burnt umber plus more burnt sienna to the cathedral.

A second sky wash did not make the Strathmore mixed media journal happy. It was very crummy and blobby. I almost wish I had left it alone.

Which do you prefer?! Tell me what you think oh readers. I can take it. 😘

Thanks for Reading!!

Margaret on 26 heading to Asheville. Xxx

Day 574 Place de la Concorde

January 27, 2016Leave a comment

The perfect ending to a gorgeous fall day exploring Paris, the Louvre and the Orangerie. Sitting with my feet propped on a bench overlooking the place de la Concorde Parisians swirling around us walking dogs and enjoying the late afternoon sun I had to draw the scene in front of me.

The tall ornate fantastical gold leafed street lights all by themselves were amazing. Nothing like that in Georgia or South Carolina. Add in fountains and statues and obelisks, the hustle and bustle of city life. Time to draw!

Madame guillotine who used to reign over the Concorde has been replaced with beautiful fountains statues the obelisk and the fantastic lamppost on the left. The Concorde is so vast that the cars and bus near the fountain were tiny. It’s truly an enormous vast open space near the Louvre.

The obelisk is one that Napoleon brought back from Eygpt on his conquests.

Can you find the Jack Russell in the sketch? Who knew they were all ver Paris. Such an English dog for a Parisian to own. I even met one in Rouen walking his mistress one early morning.

Colors used winsor yellow and Quin gold, Andrews turquoise from cheap joes, Holbein marine blue and the usual suspects. Quin red orange, burnt umber and sienna. Inathrodone, Quin magenta Quin coral Inathrodone Quin magenta.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret off to paint. Xxx

Day 574 Place de la Concorde

January 27, 20162 Comments

The obelisk is one that Napoleon brought back from Eygpt on his conquests.

Can you find the Jack Russell in the sketch? Who knew they were all ver Paris. Such an English dog for a Parisian to own. I even met one in Rouen walking his mistress one early morning.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret off to paint. Xxx

Day 572 – the Latest Painting

January 26, 2016January 26, 2016Leave a comment

Approximately 20″x 30″ Acrylic

Drawing this was tough to say the least – getting the proportions right.

Here she is roughed in.

She’s gone thru a lot more tweaking since then. I spent hours trying to get her right before I started the painting. You can see in this photo her nose and mouth are off.

There were hash marks on the half way points on the edge of the canvas along each side. I also marked the mid point on the canvas and then tripled her. Measuring measuring which I hate to do but I think it was worth it in this case.

Can u see the hash mark on her face for the center and the two center ones on the bottom and right side?
One hand/arm is huge and foreshortened the other is just the opposite. Skinny and delicate. And tough to get in the right proportions. Thought I would never get them right but I persevered.

Progress.

And here she is again now. I may work on her hair a bit more and lift the heavy shadow on her right arm but I think she’s done. Now she needs a name.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 571 – Save the Date

January 25, 2016Leave a comment

The finished product.

I thought you might like to see how I arrived at this final save the date map.

The pencil sketch was sent for final proofing and approval before I inked and painted it.

The inked proof. It got changed.

The inked map before I painted it.

Here it is with locations colored. The colors are off in this scan.

Background 1. I copied it and tried out different backgrounds.

A pencil background.

A different green. Hard to maintain the green wash on typing paper.

I used the scrap on the left to test colors. This was TOO solid green so I blotted it off and added some gold. I have to say the color lifted easily from the paper. Just a wet tissue did it.

The final product drying. I like the more mottled background.

Thanks for reading. Map on!!!!

Margaret off to class. Xxx

Day 570 – A quickie

January 24, 2016Leave a comment

Thought that would get your attention. I shop too much at Costco and these are just Some of the things that I bought on two trips- one to pick up croissants and one to pick up those luscious new crop strawberries.

I also bought a dog bed and four pounds of butter. 😋

Two friends and I were doing lunch when we started talking about we had on jeans we had bought at Costco the Amanda by Gloria Vanderbilt.

And of course we had a good laugh about what else we were wearing that’s as bought at Costco like my boots.

Next time we need to do lunch at Costco aka sample heaven in the afternoon. Hard to resist those impulse purchases.

Yesthe Florida strawberries are in!!

I may go back and paint the background yellow. I meant too but got carried away on a map for my sons weddings save the date in September.

Colors. The letters started out as cobalt but were too pale so I added Inathrodone to them. Cad red on strawberries. All the green is hookers w cobalt. Same on the hydrangea and strawberry tops. Blacks are Inathrodone and burnt umber or burnt sienna.

Currently dyeing a mouse brown scarf red.

Right now it’s a nice rust but going to dunk it in food coloring since I already used all the koolaid. It’s soaking in vinegar and water for the next go round. If that doesn’t work back to Krogers for more tropical punch.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 569 – Rolling down the River -Moisson

January 23, 2016Leave a comment

I was really into the sketch out the window by the time we got to Moisson. Or should I say floated by Moisson.

If you go there you won’t see this exact landscape started with the church and kept adding interesting houses as we passed them. The foreground trees were added last.

A fun challenge to see how quickly you could draw the passing buildings.

Odd now that I think about it we didn’t see people in the landscape. Or maybe I was so fascinated with the unique character of the buildings I didn’t notice the people?

The trees lining the riverbank were often a frothy light green and always loaded with mistletoe. As one of our guides said ” We French like to kiss a lot so we leave the mistletoe in the trees.”

Colors used Apatite green and hookers. The apatite green granulates into lovely purples and Browns. Quin gold and red orange in the rusty trees. Winsor yellow to lighten the greens. Greys are burnt sienna and cerulean or Inathrodone. Blacks Inathrodone and burnt umber. Sky water blues cerulean.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret watching the grey muddy Savannah River rush by during another deluge. Xxx