Category: art journal

Before I run run run today

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I thought i would check in with my dear readers. Dont forget today at 1 pm EST pencils4tea on instagram. Another fb hour of drawing people. Its go go go and the hour flies. Sadly i will be at Little Mermaid and miss the fun.

Yesterday to keep my hand in i drew my friends @MarkLipinski and @leslietuckerjenison as they yakked abt Marks fun take on the 60 days of index cards hes been drawing. Zany sketches of things like his crocs and black and white saddle shoes we all wore as kids.
Leslie. Doesn’t do her justice. Leslie has talks every Wednesday on ig. Fun time to just take a break and listen to them natter on. But it was fun drawing it. Used the usual quin burnt orange and quin pink for the skin. Cobalt and ultramarine burnt umber.
I also learned those Chinese were smart. I painted them all with this big Chinese brush. Great for faces and wispy hair. Only brush i have that can do it all.
My fav and last of the three. Michele Muska i think. One other thing i learned. I do not like my new pack of general charcoal pencils. Too soft. A 2b a 4 b and a 6 b. I love a 4b or 6 b pencil nut not the charcoal. It lifts and smears. Back to my General hb on Monday for Drawing is free.
Really love this portrait. 8×8 and for sale. used the exact same colors plus manganese and mineral violet. Those eyes! It was done quickly with big brushes. Mostly the big flat and the 3/8” saber brush w an assist in the hair from the Chinese brush.
Sketch
Got tired of trying to draw the eyes the same size so i used the circle template, which I rarely use.
First layer
Face is done except for the eyes
Eyes are manganese and a bit of the Quinn burn orange.
Before I added more lace to the bottom inch.
And finished. I like this one a lot her eyes are very magnetic and the hair is the perfect combination of lights and darks.

Margaret up off to the grandkid races, little mermaid and a trip to target for birthday presents. Xoxoxo

Drawing is free yesterday!

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Indira

@drawingisfree_org yesterday. 1hr of free wild drawing and music fun live on Zoom from Paris. Thanks Chloe and models!

Hope to see you all @pencils4tea at 1 pm EST Thursday Link on her IG feed. Another hour of quickly drawing people.

Maggie 3 minutes

Watercolor slapped over Charcoal sketches. No time to redo. Just time to flip the page and keep up. Always produced lovely loose work.

Jan?
Paul from Lyon 4 min
Double trouble. Adrian and his son 5 minutes
Molly- 4 minutes 20 seconds.
The Blue twins five minutes.
Chloe our fearless leader. These were all painted w the 3/8”saber brush and a 1”flat Too much of my fresh squeezed quin burnt orange. Oopps. Oddly like it anyway.
Doesn’t do her justice. But like it anyway. too much quin rose. Oh well.
Another nope. Only had a minute fifty to draw her. Eeek
Mary. Hmm what else can i say? 3 minutes 58 swconds
Pretty lady whom I ruined. Yuck
Dave not bad considering all his changing his pose. i drew it once and didn’t change everytime he did. That’s always a formula for failure.

Margaret hanging out with the grandkids. xoxoxo

Before I get busy

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Who am i kidding. Already busy. Grandkids are here for the week. SOOOO BUSYYYYY

Today!!! LIVE from Paris! Drawing is Free at Noon EST on Zoom!! NO charge NO Nudity. Just drawing heads. GREAT practice!!

Missed it last week due to our osprey rescue effort that came to naught. He was dehydrated and had internal damage and bleeding. Died on Th or Friday sadly. We were hoping for a return to the river for him but it was not to be.

The last few I have not posted.

Day 79 Lots of fun painting her turban. Ultramarine and hookers.

Day 78 – #jyportraitchallenge as usual the fabric, the fabric, the fabric. Hookers green and ultramarine. Thalo blue would have been better BUT i make such a mess w thalo.

Quin burnt orange was the perfect hue for her lovely skin for her skin w a bit of quin rose for the bloom in her cheeks.

Day 79 funny pose from Ludmila Artola. Her hair and fuzzy knot hat turned out great. The face well it needs the jaw softened.
Leopold_artmodel Day 81 my current fav painting.

Had a rough time softening the purple shadow on his right arm.

Got to say w the superaquabee paper if u r not careful it will lift like the hahnemuhle will when u dont want it too. 😵

Otherwise i think my current fav paper in a sketchbook if only they made it in a heavier version or a bound one. Oh well. I no longer have the urge to rip paper out of the spiral. As Julianna Coles says u can always glue the pages together if u dont like them.

Skin is quin burnt orange and quin rose. Hair quin burn orange. The purple my beloved m graham mineral violet. Have a love hate w it.

Day 82 Camilla i didnt find the pose exciting til i focused just in her head w all that awesome curly hair. Was thinking preraphaelite.

Used my cheap 2 B Mechanical pencil on her. A papermate sharpwriter.

Brushes I am using right now. Mary Whytes cats paw brush from cityart. 1 1/2” cheap joes golden taklon flat for the background & #4 cheap joes golden taklon and a 3/8” dagger striper from masters touch.

DS quin burnt orange and quin rose, Cheap joes andrews Turquoise, cj yellow ochre, cj burnt umber, cj cerulean, cj cobalt , cj alizarin, and cj hookers green, cj Cad Yellow, m graham cobalt, mineral violet, and ultramarine watercolors, 9×12” superaquabee sketchbook.

Thanks! Judith @jyportraitchallenge @JudithYaws

Onward to day 84 or is it 85?! 🧐😱

Margaret w 15 left to go til she reaches her goal of 100 portraits. Then u am taking along nap. xoxoxoxo

Way behind Day 76!Iggypop_art_model

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Check my ig feed @maggieinsc to catch up!

Took alot to get him done.

Day 76 – #jyportraitchallenge That hair was alot of fun. Tried to loose the edge of his hair w wet on wet. All the shadows on his face caused alot of trouble.

The reference

Used these brushes a 1 1/2” chip brush for the background & #4 cheap joes golden taklon, a Chinese brush that I got at Binders In Atlanta and a 3/8” dagger striper from masters touch. The chinese brush is fun to use on hair.

The sketch

Mostly used Cheap Joes American Journey for this painting. You get alot of paint for a good price.

Eeekkk the ugly time

DS quin burnt orange and quin rose, Cheap joes andrews Turquoise, cj yellow ochre, cj burnt umber, cj cerulean, cj cobalt , cj alizarin, and cj hookers green, cj Cad Yellow, m graham cobalt, mineralq violet, and ultramarine watercolors, 9×12” superaquabee sketchbook

Going too dark?

Thanks! Judith and Stephen @iggy_popart_model

Stephen

#portraitsocietyofamerica #portraitsocietyofatlanta #sketchingideas #challenge #watercolor #watercolorpaintings #watercolorportraitpainting #freereference #freedrawing #artist #figuredrawing #painter

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Day 57. Well it was sooo Busy

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First I did Drawingisfree_org on IG. 13 Drawings in an hour. Two had TWO people in them😵😵😵. i got so lost in drawing i didn’t realize when time was up. As the last time they got better and better.

#1 Chloe our fearless leader not my fav alot to draw in 2 1/2 min.

#2 mother daughter duo but seriously TWO people in Five Minutes???!

#3 she had one eye closed. Alrighty then. And in and out of shade.
#4 much better. An older lady who moved alot but…still like her.
#5 Now we are rocking.
#6 interesting woman w a huge head band.
#7 like this one
#8 another good one. words are from the music being played.
#9 a dont mess with me lady! alot to draw in a couple of minutes.
Actually think this one was 8 but a crazy pose. My peast fav eyes and mouth wide open.
#11 Joe or was it Bill. One of my favs.
#12 A South African bundled up because its winter there. And i thought he was an elf. Lol
#13 An Irish lass w pink hair. Really wanted to color it but thought i would mess her up since this is done w water soluble graphite.
Some of the pencils i have been using.
Lots of water soluble graphite and lead.
Day 57. Was not wild abt her but hated not to show up. Did not like her fake nails aka daggers of her glued on looking eyebrows. The red hair was fun.
And she was done. Might Not be the actual one i posted because i for once deleted them ALL.
Last but not least a commission I am working on. A Sweet little girl so cute.
Yesterdays. Day 56 #jyportraitchallenge. Bacchus or Dionysus – God of Wine! Interpreted by @modbodadrian

All i can say about todays paint is never make the head smaller than four inches according to the wisdom of Charles Reid. Oh he also said don’t paint what you can’t see!! Could not see the right eye or the where the nose was no matter how hard I tried!

M Graham watercolor and a few Daniel Smith. 11×14” Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook

Painted w a Mary Whyte fav paint M Graham and her fav brush a cats paw, @davinci_northamerica #10 Charles Reid kolinsky sable (both brushes and paint at Cityart in Columbia, SC @cityartsc ) and 1/2” Robert Simons synthetic flat, arches 140 cp 9×12”.

Margaret ready for bed. I guess u know why now. Xoxoxox

Day 48!! #jyportraitchallenge

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Lori @rubysshoes1

Popped out of bed at 7 am when I saw this sweet face. But 1st I got KOW-FEE as Al would say.

Otherwise no time for art today. Hmm she could go pinker.

Color is somewhere between the multiple pics. Annoying iphone camera messes w ths color.

Sorry forgot to take pics!!

TIP: Bytw i found out u can erase watercolor pencil and smear it to get rid of the pencil lines. Who knew?

Watercolor pencil in my stillman and birn alpha Thanks! Judith and Lori @rubysshoes1

That portrait challenge Day 44

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Trinidad Day 441/4 sheet cp fluid. Mixed media #jyportraitchallenge on ig

My friend Ruth and I keep each other going. You can see her posts @britpeach on ig. When one flags the other says where’s your post today?!
Our #jyportraitchallenge photo from IG. Judith Yaws is an Asheville NC area based artist who holds lifemodeling zoom sessions several times a month. Her models are world class and have kindly donated their photos to Judith for the challenge.
Almost forgot to take pics. The beginning.
Something is off. Omg and i can not lift on this piece of fluid. That’s a pickle to say the least. Her mouth is far too low which means everything from there down is too low!! 😵😵😵
Trying to lift/move that mouth and getting into big trouble because quin pink is staining. And whats with the cross eyes?!
For better or worse i moved it. The paper really was terrible. There were dots all over below her nose on her chin like there was no sizing on it. Did i say this was the back of the cp fluid 140?!
Luckily she had a heavy shadow under her lip which helped disguise that I loved her mouth. Well i hope it did.

I added a lot of white gouache to her top w a 1/2” flat to give it texture. Lots of fun. Think i may need to do some acrylics again.

Anyway here she is done as she will get.
Off the back deck this am. Gorgeous day on River Bend. Margaret xoxoxoxo

Another day another portrait or two

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Katie. Lovely girl.
Lots of back lighting in this photo. And those blue shadows and golden skin. A scary mix for turning her green. Eeek
The sketch. Stillman and Birn Alpha
Drove me crazy trying get the eyes straight. Finally got out the ruler which i never do and drew a perpendicular line for them. kept drawing the right eye too high. 😵 And then i forgot to take any pics. Oops. Sorry.

Her skin is basically quin gold and pink. A very light mix. Then i added cobalt teal for the shadows. Her hair was splattered. More quin gold for a base. Added burnt umber and ultramarine splatter. Drew some curls with my Cheap Joes Scroogys Loose Goose saber brush. Always fun.
Out back today. The water was like glass.

Busy day so now putting my feet up. Margaret xoxoxoxo

Loosing edges

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Day 14/30 portrait challenge #jyportraitchallenge Clueless as to why I posted this painting on ig earlier taken w my iPhone instead of my ipad pro. Duh is all i can say. She is so much brighter than the pic my phone took. Spent about a half an hour twitching the portrait around a bit. Lifting the green shadows on the right arm. Adding a few more dark blue greens and finding her chin again. Wonder where it went?! 8×10” Stillmanandbirn alpha. Mgraham watercolor easily rewets. Thanks @judithyaws and Amanda @queenamanda25
The sketch.
This is the iphone photo. Always looks greyish to me. So i decided to take an iPad pro photo to post on ig. Sat on the sofa and looked at all kinds of small problems. I wanted to loose the edges of her hair and paint the background first. i used my cats paw brush which is very big esp for this small picture. But as Mary Whyte says use the biggest brish you can. Got me into trouble when i brushed over her arm with it. Then some of the green ran down the same arm and across the shoulder shadow. Lost any edge which isnt bad in the shadows but too much here.
The twitching began. Cleaning up those green shadows. Took another photo.
Still not happy. Worked on that green shadow some more but finally gave up. It would not lift. Sap green. Not suppose to stain. Oh well. . And added some blue and green in the background aka negative painting.

Anyway. Color me tahred but still wondering what Judith will post for us to do tomorrow. Margaret xoxoxox

Busy busy

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Lovely sweet photo for Day 13. Thanks #jyportraitchallenge and @ latestqq Stillman and birn 8×10” Alpha always a nice size to draw on. Not too big and not too small. Really got loose with her clothing and finally her hair with my Cheap Joes scroobys loose goose saber brush.
Pencil sketch spent too long fiddling with it. Abt an hour
What can i say love the shot of turquoise. Used alot of indian Lake on her. Or is it Indian yellow mixed w quin pink for her skin. Never can remember.
Then i decided to give her another try just painting. No drawing. i quit shortly as too annoying to deal with.
I couldn’t resist painting this awesome photo of Jessie @rextion_arts instead. Somehow i missed there were two options yesterday.
Not perfect. The face is a little fatter but alot looser which i think is due to the lack of a drawing. Anyway like this one alot despite its imperfections.

Margaret ready for bed. G’Nite xoxoxox