Drew this Augusta Icon when I was downtown picking up some of my framed paintings at Art on Broad.

The old Whites water tower was gleaming in the midday sun glowing against the bright blue winter sky.

I know I should get up and go paint it. Wouldn’t take long since it’s small. 9×12″ cp fluid paper.

Twisbee pen Dartrementis document brown ink

#ink #watercolor #art #painting #artist #painter #aquarelle #georgia #artist #charlesreid #urbansketcher #urbansketchingaugusta #urbansketching #usk #globalsketchers

I got three of the small fluid blocks to do urban sketches on with my gift certificates. Light weight so highly portable. Always dries flat. Three to always have one blank. Thanks

I have one of the stuff backed fluid sketchbooks but it was so heavy my arm got tired before I was done sketching that’s why I think these are a great alternative.

On the news front two of my paintings were juried into a February March show at the Atlanta Artist Center.

The Little Professor

The Little Professor is a painting of my dad when he was three. My grandmother used to dress him up and have him answer questions from her friends to entertain them.

Margaret who must have been nuts to sign up for a 9am class in Aiken. Xoxoxo

YUPO which is a kind of plastic so everything floats around on top of it. The paint does not bind to it. Who knows what it will look like when it’s dry. The paints drying on the kitchen table which means it’s moving around.

Drawn w a red inktense pencil.

However the white spot on right was probably caused by oil from my hands or hand lotion. I can wipe it down with alcohol to remove it but too late now.

The inktense pencil also seemed to form a bit of a resist.

A good crop will take care of it.

I slathered on cad red and alizarin in the comb. Bits of ultramarine and mineral violet for darks.

Opera pink around the eye. Eye is burnt sienna and quin gold. Pupil ultramarine and burnt umber.

I lifted the highlights out w a clean damp paintbrush and a Kleenex non lotion kind.

Highlights lifted and a few small feathers around the beak

Feathers ultramarine Prussian Blue Burnt umber viridian.

Tail Feathers viridian ultramarine.

Beak cad yellow light burnt sienna and yellow ochre.

Background cad yw light cad yw deep peacock cad red lt splatters

Blue Heaven Rooster. Key West

So far. He will no doubt change as the background dries.

Margaret starting some new socks. Xoxoxo

Blue Heaven Chickens on Yupo #urbansketching #chickens #chooks has #keywest #islandlife #yupo #fluid #watercolor #art #painting #artist #painter #aquarelle #watercolor #painter #florida #lifestyleblogger #lifestylechange #charlesreid #food #restaurant #floridalife

Painting Macy is always a challenge because she’s SOOO long at 5 10 1/2 with long feet and hands. Did I say she’s known to quip she would fall over if she had small ones.

First break

The pose was a challenge with her long legs made even longer by the foreshortened pose.

a bit more drawing. I decided to shorten her feet a bit. They can get so huge if they are draw. Accurately. And I skimmed her legs a bit. Been having so much fun with the Canson watercolor board that I decided to use it this am. Get tired of stretching taping a large sheet on my foam core board especially at 8 am. So Canson was the paper of the day.

I also forgot to bring my mechanical pencil and started using a Derwent ebony. I thought it would be soft and dark. I was wrong. It was a hard pencil that did a dark line. A rare find. Second break. Macy’s also very pale. As Drew quips bring your white paint Macy is the model.

Still have to do some kind of background. Al Beyer first breakAl finished Drew Murphy first break. The is is fast. 2×3′

Drew Murphy finished.

Fred Baker first break and finished. I painted thru second break.

Amy Lockhard Ness oilLee Conte crayon Bill Daniels oil on metal Eve Charcoal

Rich KleinTom Needham Watercolor also on canson watercolor board.

Margaret done for the day xoxoxo

Macy – 12×16″ #watercolor #art #painting #artist #painter #aquarelle #southcarolina #aiken #allaprima #artist #painter #aquarelle #lifestyleblogger #lifestylechange #drawing #sketching #holbein #charlesreid #lifemodel

Done Done Done. Really no more painting on it!!😵😵😵

Never put a painting on the coffee table where you can see it while you watch tv. Been back twice more painting on Aiken Stroll. Small stuff.

So what did I do you say?! I darkened the sky with another coat of peacock blue softening the edge around the tree. The sky was just tooo pale and washed out. And yes crazy woman here painted sky into the tree asking for trouble but it worked. Did I say Hallelujah.

I lightened the sidewalk a lot. A painting should be darkest in the foreground and fade out as it gets farther away.

And no shadows from the trees on the sidewalk. Sooooo I wiped the sidewalk out wetting and blotting lifting paint to lighten it and repainted the dark tree shadows with burnt umber and ultramarine.

Back it went on the coffee table. What no tree shadows on the sidewalk?

I put it back in the easel and grabbed a couple of pieces of scrap watercolor Paper to protect where I didn’t want to splatter land. It tends to travel.

Splattered a little watery cobalt and a little burnt sienna on the far part of the sidewalk. Gave a lovely light shadow instead of that heavy dark grey thing that was there.

Tip 1- bricks. Use a flat. Makes great bricks easily. Just remember they have to recede IN PERSPECTIVE which means narrower and lighter the farther away they get. Those lines were made by the edge of the flat.

Tip 2 – Painting winter trees. I used several layers of very watery TRANSPARENT colors- alizarin burnt sienna peacock cobalt in the first two or three layers. Dry between each layers.

From Laurens St painting a little on the pink side

Peacock and Cobalt combine with the burnt sienna dots to make soft greys in great variety. The burnt sienna gives a glow as does the alizarin.

Finally adding opaque colors like mineral violet cerulean and turquoise in the last layer. All the different blues in the right layers combine to make great winter trees with a lot of interesting greys.

Draw some branches with you silver black velvet brush tip. Use different mud build up in the corner of your palette. Vary the water amount to get varying greys.

Keep the sky edges soft. Used to hate painting trees but now I like it. Well at least winter ones.

Ps that gold on some of the branches and tree trunks is quin gold.

Finished these socks that have been languishing in the knitting basket during the insane Christmas hat knitting round.

Margaret who actually cleaned her house today. 😬😳🤗 The dust was building up! Xoxoxo

Aiken Stroll. For My Art Show opening Feb 14 6pm Aiken Center for the Arts! #ink #watercolor #art #painting #artist #painter #aquarelle #southcarolina #charlesreid #urbansketcher #urbansketchingaiken #urbansketching #aiken #aikensc #usk #augusta #georgialina #csra #pleinair

For the show. HURRAH! Now I can paint something I want. 🤗

For the moment Aiken Stroll is done. I reserve the right to mess it up some more. 🤣 Painted on Canson Plein Air Art Board 12×15. Mixed media.

The sketch. That’s a baby Great Dane puppy. He was too cute.

The photo I based this drawing on. The vanishing point is just past the top of the sidewalks the distance. All the diagonals should converge there.

Notice the dog walker is not in it. BUT the empty sidewalk screamed for them. Here they are ready to jump in the drawing. Isn’t he the cutest big old puppy. Gotta love a Great Dane. No pulling on his leash for him.

Lamy vista Noodlers heart of darkness ink(don’t you love the name?!!) Charles Reid palette PLUS Holbein opera pink. I painted the dogs face and feet w that pink.

Why opera pink? Cads were too warm. Alizarin not pink enough. Opera pink was JUST right.

A few good YouTube videos Food for thought : My other wc hero Alex Powers

Exaggerating color Laurel Hart going to try this out on this photo of Zoe tomorrow I hope.

Stan Miller how to paint a face any color and cropping photos going to make a couple of those l brackets. Two sets one big one little. Most of his videos seem interesting. And just long enough w out being too long.

Fake or Fortune maybe you have a lost art masterpiece?!

Joseph Zbukiv, Alvato Castagnet and Herman Pikel AMAZING painting a large cityscape together.

The best synthetic brushes I have ever found. And so cheap. A good assortment of three on amazon for $29ish.

Nothing like watching paint dry in a TOO long YouTube video. 😵😵😵

Margaret ready to stream some YouTube videos. Xoxoxo

Aiken Stroll. For My Art Show opening Feb 14 6pm Aiken Center for the Arts! #ink #watercolor #art #painting #artist #painter #aquarelle #southcarolina #artist #charlesreid #urbansketcher #urbansketchingaiken #urbansketching #aiken #aikensc #usk #augusta #georgialina #csra #pleinair

A walk down Laurens Street in Aiken 12×12″ I might be done painting for the Aiken Show. Maybe. There’s one more started not finished. Instead I took a nice long nap today.

Wishing I had painted this a little brighter than I did especially that red jacket. Hmm.

Oh well it might be framed right now. Picked up a bunch of them from Art on Broad today. And Kristen was framing Plum Pudding when I walked in.

Lamy Ef Canson Plein Air Artboard Noodlers Heart of Darkness Ink Charles Reid Palette colors.

Back to my nap. Margaret xoxoxo

Laurens St for My Art Show opening Feb 14 6pm Aiken Center for the Arts! #ink #watercolor #art #painting #artist #painter #aquarelle #southcarolina #artist #charlesreid #urbansketcher #urbansketchingaiken #urbansketching #aiken #aikensc #usk #augusta #georgialina #csra #pleinair

Hmm well three out of four birds I like. Guess which one I don’t.

I seem to be obsessed with taking photos of the cardinals and wrens when I catch them on the sun on the back deck eating sunflower seeds. The little wren is brave hopping right up to the back door. Poor thing! He must be starving.

Painted with Charles Reid colors plus quin gold. I covered his tummy with the quin gold first. Then I added burnt sienna dabs of green cerulean and or sometimes heavier quin gold. Yummy. Darks burnt umber raw umber and ultramarine.

Background cerulean burnt sienna and bits of umber/ultramarine mix.

Loving YouTubes about Richard Diebenkorn whom I love. A retrospective

Also a new heroine Marlene Dumas the highest priced female artist. Her Tate exhibit Did I say she likes to make marks and draw. Me too!!! Warning: some of her artwork is quite unsettling.

Margaret xoxoxo lost in youtube land which accounts for the late post.

#outmybackdoor #nature #watercolor #animals #birds #squirrel #drawing #sketchbookskool #cardinals #naturalworld #savannah #savannahriver #augusta #mixedmedia #art #artist #wildlife #stillmanandbirn #sketching #drawing

The Willcox Inn 10×16 Cannon Art Board.

The drawing.

In process. No red watercolor pencil. And it needs a few finishing touches. I decided the leaves were overpowering the Inn. And decided to crop about an inch and a half off the top.

Painted with Charles Reid colors. Lamy EF.

Canson Plein. Air artboard is great. You can practically erase your mistakes off it and repaint without a problem. Precut in smaller sizes is a plus for Plein air painting. Minus. Kind of heavy when the pads new. I like to travel light.

Margaret Xoxoxox

Willcox Inn for My Art Show opening Feb 14 6pm Aiken Center for the Arts! #ink #watercolor #art #painting #artist #painter #aquarelle #southcarolina #artist #charlesreid #urbansketcher #urbansketchingaiken #urbansketching #aiken #aikensc #usk #augusta #georgialina #csra

Even if it’s really Sunday. 🤗

Macy 15×22 hot press fluid.

I still think she looks too old. Macy is only 21. A mere babe. First break. That forward leg was giving me a fit. The hand and foot were both extremely long due to foreshortening. and it made her head look small. This is the drawing I finally went with because I wanted to paint. I lightened it with an eraser. second break. I should have started with the face instead of leaving it til last. How I left her yesterday. I had to peel the tape off on the left to get her foot long enough.

The shadows on her face and the heavy eye brow made her look older than she is. Always a problem when you get heavy handed with the shadows.

So this morning I decided to blot her face with a damp Kleenex and lighten the shadows. Didn’t expect much but it worked. Now she’s only five years too old.

I darkened the background with bits of burnt sienna cerulean cobalt teal alizarin and viridian. By then I was just playing to see what effect I could get with little spots all over

Also darkened the lower fingers a bit of shadow on the foot made an eye bigger and darkened her hair.

Quitting for now.

Drew Murphy acrylic second break.

Finished.

Eve. Charcoal

Tom Needham small watercolor 8×10

Al Beyer first break oil

Finished.

Looks just like Macy. Sorry abt the shine on it.

Fred 2×3′ acrylic. Finished for the day. Always makes me smile. I bet he pints over it. Usually does.

My friend Ruth Pearls lovely pastels that she did Thursday in Chattanooga. You can follow her @britpeach on instagram.

And that’s a wrap kids. Everybody else rushed off before I got a chance to take pics.

Margaret xoxoxo

Macy – 15×22” Fluid hot press #watercolor #art #painting #artist #painter #aquarelle #southcarolina #aiken #allaprima #artist #painter #aquarelle #lifestyleblogger #lifestylechange #drawing #sketching #holbein #charlesreid #lifemodel

My favorite store Plum Pudding at the Corner of Laurens and Richland Street in Aiken, SC.

12×16″ Canson Art Board.

Two more sketches til I hit the magic 12 I need for the show. Plus seven flower paintings. painting under way. I really like the way my size 12 black velvet brush did the trees. Lots of nice calligraphic marks. The black velvet comes to an ultra sharp tip and holds a ton of water Aset of three only costs $28 on amazon. Hard to beat as a paint brush. A friend said she had been using hers for two years and still sharp as a razor wish I could say that about my $100 beloved Raphael Kolinsky #10. No longer points well. 😓 Drawn with my Lamy Vista and my EF. Noodlers heart of darkness ink. Red watercolor pencil. Charles Reid palette colors.

Margaret ecstatic she only has two more paintings to do for the show and she will be done. Xoxoxo

Plum Pudding@Laurens and Richland Ave! My Art Show opening Feb 14 6pm Aiken Center for the Arts! #ink #watercolor #art #painting #artist #painter #aquarelle #southcarolina #artist #charlesreid #urbansketcher #urbansketchingaiken #urbansketching #aiken #aikensc #usk #augusta #georgialina #csra