March 4, 2020 – Margaret McCarthy Hunt Art

Been reading this great book called Turners Apprentice by Tony Smibert who has studied Turner for years.

Great book with lots of tips from this master watercolor painter.

A lot on how Turner achieved his stunning watercolor effects.

A wealth of Turners to drill over.

And how to achieve some of these same effects.

The brushes NOPE Not your good sables. Said one brush is from the kitchen and it looks suspiciously like my basting brush. The round one at top right.

I do know Cheap Joes sells a similar one that is Jamie Wyeth favorite to wear out. Then Joe replaces it free under their warranty. Hmm or was that Skip Lawrence?! Joe has the returned one framed in their art gallery in the shop in Boone NC.

Combining colors. Smibert leaves no stone unturned.

The drawings and adding color to them. Those ethereal colors are to die for.

Color manipulations. I do love juicy transparent color.

A screen shot from his website. I am pretty sure I have been there. Haven’t you?!

Then I discovered his student Scott Swinson on YouTube. He shares a lot of the wet on wet techniques in his great videos. You can also follow Scott on Instagram.

Another Scott painting.

https://youtu.be/qxnAXWamjt8

Crazy man uses 3m scotch tape to tape his paper down. Who knew. And releases it with a hair dryer when it’s trying to stick to the painting. Betting the tape is cheaper than masking tape.

Margaret whose missing her YouTube video. Xoxoxo

will keep us from gathering at USC Aiken to paint. The weather predicted today was terrible (tornadoes and torrential rain) but we soldiered on.

First break. An all over wash of quin gold some burnt sienna alizarin a touch of mineral violet.

Coming along more of the same colors.

When I left Aiken

Now. I keep losing the edge across her arm and thigh where the drippy background meets the body but really liking the background. I can lift the burnt umber off the skin.

I also lifted her shoulder about 1/2″ to make her body more in proportion with her head which is a touch too big.

Added some more darks to her face especially around the eyes and the chin.

Really like the background which is a combo of all the colors used plus cobalt. Nice swirly look made mostly by splattering wet on wet.

Will post her again after I lift the spillover on her body. Have to let it dry first.