Author: Margaret Hunt

Born in Oceanside, California, Margaret studied fine arts at the University of Georgia and Augusta State University where she was a protege of Freeman Schoolcraft and studied under Jim Lyle, Eugenia Comer and Dave Jones. In addition she has studied with Ken Umbach at John Campbell Folkschool and locally with Jim Ginsheer and Thomas Needham. An award winning artist, her work is represented in collections throughout Europe and the United States. Galleries and museums across the United States have represented and shown her work. Her creations have received numerous awards including multiple Best of Shows, have been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally and are part of art collections across the world most notably including the Quilts, Inc. collection and the Thomas Quilt Collection. Her art has been published in numerous art magazines and has also been included in several books such as Creative Quilting: A Page from My Journal. Highlights are her art quilts were selected Favorites at International Quilt Show, Houston. Art critics have compared her art to Thomas Gainsborough paintings. More Recently she has taken classes with the great Charles Reid, Fealing Lyn and Ted Nuttall. Margaret creates art of one kind or another almost every day at her studio on the Savannah River and teaches at various venues across the country.

Every day a sunrise

March 4, 2021Leave a comment

Making mist in the blue ridge. Arches 280#cold press. Cheap Joe’s American Journey paint.

Took photos of the process today. But it might be easier if you wanted David R. Smiths YouTube videos. This is the short one. Then the longer more involved one. Or you could sign up for his online class next Tuesday. Should be fun. His students give him rave reviews.

First layer wet the paper add yellow sun red ring and cobalt. Spray it with a spatters spray. Dry it.

First row of trees. Wet under the trees and spatter again. Lift some color form the bottom w a thirsty brush. Aka dry brush which will suck up the paint making the mist. Dry after the colors run and mix.

Repeat on the left.

And so on and on. Repeat repeat. Repeat. Getting darker with each layer. Load bottom of trees w water. Paint the trees. Spatter tops w water. Lift some off bottoms w a thirsty brush. And dry.

Last layer is the darkest. It’s wet here.

I lifted some with my thirsty brush and this one is dry.

Crash and burn

March 3, 2021Leave a comment

Go round 2. Misty Mountains arches

Watched a free YouTube video on shopkeeparty with David R Smith this am. Very interesting technique. Uses lots of water. Wiping spraying letting colors run.

This was go round 1 on Kilimanjaro. I used too much alizarin and could not get the ring to lift. Oh well.

Too tired to type more.

Margaret putting her feet up. Xoxoxo

Toyota time

March 1, 20212 Comments

Now that I have had my second vaccine I decided time to brave the Toyota showroom cesspool and get my car a check up.

Was fun to have a real human to draw for once. This lady held quite still for a long time reading a real book.

Drawn with a fine Pitt pen stillman and birn alpha. Painted with this set of travel fuumuui kolinsky brushes I got from Amazon. Sizes 4,8,12. They have brass tubes for handles so they can collapse into the leather folder they come in. Nice brushes for $25. Great reviews. People love them and they hold up well.

Evidently Zoe’s kitty missed her while we were in Atlanta. This cat will not come near me. I can only pet her when she’s eating. But Zoe. Much to Zoe’s chagrin she follows her around rubbing all over her. Doesn’t she know most Jack Russells like to eat cats!? Lucky for her Zoe tolerated them.

Margaret xoxoxo

Bordeaux Hillside

February 27, 2021May 19, 2021Leave a comment

Bordeaux hillside. Paint along with Vladislav Yesileyev

I tweaked it a little this am. The photo is a little dark.

The photo

Vlad’s value study

The sketch. Hahnemuhle 140# rough cezanne

First wash. Ripply paper.

Sky wash.

Adding bushes everywhere. Midtones and darks too. Eeek.

A few more darks. Lots of dark greens and browns.

done and dusted and tahred. The peace of the roof on the house is off and aggravating me. Maybe I can figure out how to fix it.

On the Adriatic

February 25, 2021May 19, 2021Leave a comment

Croatia. Paint along #three with Vlad Yesileyev. He’s taking a group there to paint this summer he hopes. Covid willing.

Done for now and maybe forever.

The photo

The value sketch.

The sketch. 140# rough Hahnemuhle Cezanne great paper. Only thing I don’t like abt it it buckles when soppy wet but dries flat. Paint and paper from Cheap Joes. Love them.

First washes. Looks very ghost like. This photo was taken when it was wet. See the buckles?!

Adding midtones.

Adding darks and the water. Painting those darn boats. Hmm they were the easiet thing to paint. Actually this was not a hard painting. Just a lot to do.

And done. I need a nap now after the paint along. Work slap out!! 😂

Margaret whose ready to tuck up on the sofa with a blanket. Xoxoxo

Wild and Wet

February 25, 2021February 25, 2021Leave a comment

Winter Petersburg: Blue bridge, Moika Embankment

With Tatiana Asinismova. She was speaking Russian and was on St Petersburg while Vlad Yesileyev translated. When his internet went south his wife Marina who is in Moscow visiting family stepped up and ably continued translating.

This painting was done completely wet on wet using Paynes grey, burnt sienna, sepia, cad yellow, yellow ochre, white gouache. Period paragraph. I added some ultramarine because there was no blue in my Paynes grey.

Draw fast the paper is suppose to be being soaked. Times like this all the sketching I do comes in handy.

Soaked both sides of the a half sheet of 140# Kilimanjaro cold press paper first w a hake brush. No taping. Cheap Joe’s American Journey paint.

A few swipes of yellow ochre. Next we used a cat’s tongue brush loaded with layers grey. Swoosh swoosh the sky was done.

Dabs of burnt sienna across the horizon line.

Smidges of black verticals. Hmm what are those?

Next knocking out the bridge all the while painting into this wet morass. Burnt sienna and paynes grey.

What are those things poking up we are painting?! 🤔🤔🤔 A light!! Zip zip done. (It’s really pretty straight but the paper has a ripple because some sunny stood it up and let it dry standing up making a ripple. Duh!)

On to the river and the snow. Oops I didn’t draw it so I winged it. A little rewetting of the paper. Very interesting making the light and dark areas, fuzzy and sharp edged.

And don’t forget to leave some ice chunks.

Painting the right hand side of the bridge. My least fav part but we soldiered on. Burnt sienna and Payne’s grey. Are there any other colors?! Oh a dab of ultramarine. Splatter splatter. Paint faster. Splatter with white gouache.

Finally use a tooth brush loaded with white gouache to make the snow. I am sure there are 89 YouTube videos on how to do this. Looks just like snow. Hoping this is as close as my house will get to snow this year.

Tatianas class sample. You can follow her on Instagram at Tatianaasimova6056

She’s also teaching a class with Vlad Mar 7. The painting will be similar to the above photo. Can’t wait. Click the link to check it out.

If you want to try this technique Vlad or Marina is going to post this class on YouTube soon. Was really so much fun. I love splashing paint about. Paint flinging c’est moi!!!

Margaret exhausted because she finished another painting today too but that’s for another day. Hugs. Xoxoxox

Summers Day in Prague

February 20, 2021May 19, 2021Leave a comment

Thinking it might be done. Prague! Paint along with Vladislav Yesileyev. Love the Hahnemuhle paper. It makes the colors sing. And so easy to wipe away a mistake not that I would make one. 🤣 Vlads photo. It’s an old Jewish Synagogue.

The sketch.

First wash. I had to blot my sky with Kleenex because when I added grey it started blossoming. Eeekk.

And then I forgot to take pics. See how dark the building on the right is?? I decided I had gone to purple and used my big size 14 loaded with water and washed it off. I was amazed because the surface was fine despite my treatment of it. Painting cars and people. Not fond of painting tiny people but do like painting cars.

Oops I lost part of my bright white while madly painting. But not a problem. I taped it up and wiped it off.

It’s the long strip above the small White House. Have to say the Hahnemuhle cezanne paper really makes the painting easier. The colors are so bright and transparent. Just like I always wanted. Buy some. U will be glad u did.

Ps the 22×30″ fox km ull sheets always show as back ordered on Cheap Joe’s website. So call them. Place an order. They will charge u for it when it comes in. And if u are lucky they will have it in stock and send it along to you. You have just won the Hahnemuhle lottery.

Margaret xoxoxo

What you see is what you get

February 18, 2021May 19, 20212 Comments

With Hahnemuhle rough paper. Half sheet 140#. I think it’s called Cezanne. Paint along with Vladislav Yesileyev. I repainted the Havana arches today.

This was on Fabriano 300#rough. Not nearly so bright. Soaked the color up like a sponge. But the Hahnemuhle. Just wish I had bought it earlier. Whatever color you put on it stays close to the same color not fading away like on the Fabriano.

Something else it does which Fabriano doesn’t is you can splatter it with water abs get these drops. Useful for cobblestones and rough walls.

The sketch. A fairly easy draw.

First washes.

Well I got a little too dark on the arches oh well but see all the spots from flinging water at it before it was quite dry?! Nice!!

Adding darks to the foreground.

And done for now.

A wonderful painting of Christopher Plummer who died last week as Prospero. Stolen from my friend Gordon Shriver on Facebook. “Here’s a combination of two of my favorite things in the world–art and theater. Everett Raymond Kinstler (who died in 2019) was one of America’s foremost portrait painters, whose subjects included Presidents as well as show people. I heard him talk at a Portrait Society of America convention. Christopher Plummer has shuffled off this mortal coil, and this excellent 2011 painting by KInstler is of Plummer as Prospero in THE TEMPEST. Plummer did the show at the Stratford Festival in Canada. “Our revels now have ended…”

Margaret who is tahred. Seems to be a theme here lately. Xoxoxo

Off to Croatia

February 17, 2021Leave a comment

Second time drawing this. Not that it’s hard to draw but I got some new Hahnamuhle 140 rough paper from Cheap Joe’s after I drew the first one on Kilimanjaro 140 cold press. Vlad swears by it.

Today I made myself redraw it but then I needed a nap. Zzzz. Zoe watched over me. Actually she loves a good nap herself. Lol

A great painting by my watercolor hero Charles Reid who left us too soon two years ago. You can read all about him on Wikipedia or visit his website Charelsreidart.com to see some of his fabulous watercolors and a few of his oils that are for sale.

Margaret watching the Biden town hall. Xoxoxo

Old Havana the Arches

February 13, 2021February 13, 2021Leave a comment

Doing a paint along with Vlad Yesileyev. Went to Havana for the day. This was it wet.

And this is what it dried too. How many layers do I have to put on this nasty Fabriano rough to get it dark enough? Already did another layer. Can not wait til my Kilimanjaro gets here. I also bought some Holbein sizing for watercolor paper in hopes of fixing this nasty Fabriano. I only have at least 15 pieces of it. Groan.