Day 724. Oops

June 25, 2016Leave a comment

Thought I had posted this but was too busy painting. Busy day. What can I say!?

Snacks at Costco were good today. That Kirkland wine is pretty tasty!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 723 -WIP – Three hours of work so far

June 23, 2016Leave a comment

This is HUGE 28×48 Acrylic. I have only worked on it about three hours this includes drawing the photo to paint it.

I have a few glaring problems which I need to fix before going on. I have made her face and body much too wide. The shadows are nonexistent on her body on the left.

She’s a friend and I intend to fix that. I would fix it even if she weren’t because I would rather make people thinner than they are.

I had intended to paint this but all my friends said paint the next photo because the light is better which is true. I really love her boots. If you know her she wears boots most of the time since she rides horses.

Only problem is that I had already drawn this to do a full sheet watercolor too. It took hours and hours to draw it and LOTS of erasing.

Even in this one the face appears a little wide. Possibly due to the lack of shadows?! 3/4 views are always a pain.

So I guess I will do two since this one took most of the day to draw.

I do think it’s interesting that it was so much easier to draw the second time out. Practice makes perfect right?!!

One last thing. A lot of times I will change the photo to black and white to paint from so if I want to I can give her a red shirt and a purple jacket. I do like the blues better but getting comments it’s TOO pretty.

Sigh! You just can’t make everyone happy can you?! 😋

Colors used so far Golden Quin Nickel Azo Gold, Thalo Blue and Ultramarine Blue ( great for denim), Liquitex Burnt Umber and Titanium white plus a tube of Winsor Purple.

Day 722 – the Miller

June 22, 2016June 22, 2016Leave a comment

Named after its owner Frank Miller the theater is an Arte Moderne theater built in 1938 in downtown Augusta.

This side of Broad Street rarely gets any direct sunlight and of course it’s the side where all the old stores are.

Business office buildings are largely on the other side of Broad the sunny side probably because who wants to shop in the hot summer sun??

The onset of the malls in the late 70s destroyed downtown Augusta business and forced the closure of the Miller in 1980s.

Currently under new ownership of Peter Knox it is slated to reopen fully restored in 2017 as the new home of the Augusta Symphony.

As kids we went to see Disney movies, Beatle movies, and the umpteenth screening of Gone with the Wind here. I distinctly remember watching Swiss Family Robinson and 101 Dalmatians here.

Colors used. Ted Nuttalls colors and sodalite. Really like the way the sodalite granulated on the front of the grey stucco building. I also used a white and a light yellow caran d’ache watercolor crayon and a white gel pen for the lights.

Anyway. Thanks for checking by.

Margaret xxx

Day 721 – Alexis

June 21, 2016Leave a comment

One of my Aiken painting friends blocking out her new painting.
Alexis always comes to paint dressed to the nines frequently with a scarf flung over her shoulder wearing ballet flats. She says she’s trying to wear out her old work clothes now that she’s retired.
I quipped at her it wouldnt take me long to do in my good clothes with acrylic paint smears.
This painting doesn’t do her justice because she’s also very tiny. I fattened her up a bit. 😁 Sorey Alexis. She works hard on staying slim. Always eating somethings healthy.
Speaking of which I think I will go eat a salad. Big wedding coming aka Mother of the Groom dress. Eeekkk.

Colors used – Ted Nuttalls transparent colors. And sodalite. Makes a great granulating grey.

Day 720 – a Watercolor Finally

June 20, 2016June 20, 2016Leave a comment

I drew this almost a month ago but have been busy painting other things so finally got around to it last nite.

This is an old theater on Broad Street in Augusta GA which still has shows and YES an Elvis show was and is coming up the end of June at Imperial.

Painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent colors with the addition of cerulean. I always have a hard time painting white without my beloved cerulean.

I also used Daniel Smiths primatek colors Serpentine Genuine and Sodalite after seeing samples of them at Jerrys Artarama. You can buy Daniel Smith at most art supply stores as well as online at Cheap Joes and Amazon.

While I am on the subject of Cheap Joes I know the owner and founder Joe Miller a lovely man who recently received a humanitarian award from AWS. He’s the first to step up and voluntarily help artists in need as well as his longtime home Boone NC.

During the devastation of Katrina Joe voluntarily went into the Cheap Joes database to find any artist in the seven states affected by Katrina. Each of them received a studio startup gift certificate from Cheap Joes. He has done this time and again. So BUY from Cheap Joes if you can!!

Oh before I forget the tree was done with a sea sponge. I also used Caran d’ache watercolor crayons to add color to the drawing – white yellow and orange.

I also used a few Winsor Newton watercolor markers – indigo, lamp black, and turquoise.

Thanks For Checking by.

Margaret xxx

Day 720 Happy Fathers Day

June 19, 2016Leave a comment

My dad, a young 93, loves dogs. He’s a sucker for them. And they love him. Feeds them endless snacks. Feeds them of his dinner plate.

I should be painting something new to post. Goodness knows my sketch books are full of ink sketches begging to be painted BUT there’s a new dog in town. I am babysitting my sons rescue the sweet Wesley aka Cowdog because he’s black and white like the Chic Fil A cows.

I took a photo of this and noticed his head was too small so I added about an 1/8 of an inch along his jaw line.

Here’s the one when his head is too small.

Drawn with a Noodler Konrad with carbon platinum black ink.
Thanks for checking by! Hope you all enjoy your Fathers Day!

Margaret xxx

Day 719 – Saturday

June 18, 2016Leave a comment

Already again.

Ilania 20×24 acrylic

This only took about an hour to paint. Somehow the thinned nickel Azo gold prepainted background really helped getting her done.

After the first forty minutes.

Of course after I started looking at her on my phoneI thought maybe I should have painted the drape she was sitting on. Her left arm looks chopped off. It’s really behind the chair she sat on. And her right arm though it looks great is suspended in space. So hmm. What do you think?!
She was painted with Winsor violet, liquitex burnt umber and titanium white, and golden fluid pyrrole red and nickel Azo gold.

Al Beyers lovely large oil. Anout 4 feet long. The hand is just amazing. Remember these were all painted in about an hour and a half.

Drew Murphys acrylic. Some lovely skin tones. Cezanne looking today. Great effect.

Cathe Dennis from Lansing, Michigan’s pastel. She even knows where Diamondale is. My daughter in laws family lives there. Love her scribbles. For some reason it reminds me of Toulouse Lautrec.

Ruth Pearls awesome large pastel.

Tom Needhams El Greco he always does beautiful skin tones.

Fred Baker with his always interesting sense of color.

Thanks for checking by.

Margaret xxx

Day 718 A JRT or two

June 17, 2016Leave a comment

Really have to find something else to draw besides the dogs. Well at least something to practice fast sketching on.

This one is a little off but chalking it up to Zoe moving when she was giving me the Jack Russell stare while eating which means she really wants it cause she might be fainting from starvation any second if I don’t give it to her.

I did start this sketch for a really big full sheet watercolor that I have been wanting to start since I got back from Knoxville. She still has some kinks to work out before I start it.

So that’s what I have been up to today.

Thanks for checking by!

Margaret xxx

Day 716 – While digging

June 15, 2016June 15, 20164 Comments

For collage papers I also found my citrasolve altered papers. I have a two inch stack of them.

Multimedia collage with citrasolv papers, ginkgo leaves, tissue paper and tuna fish pak cardboard from Krogers.
It’s a great way to make altered “antique” photos for framing or for collage or any thing else you can dream up. Art on a Budget.

So I am posting some of my favorites I made 3-4 years ago.

They are made from old National Geographics the only magazine that can be used for this.

Use the straight UNDILUTED citrasolv CONCENTRATE. Also rubber gloves and a sunny NOT WINDY day is required. More detailed directions are here.

Mine is from Jerrysartarama. I have quart. Let me know if u need some if u live in the Augusta area.

Put some citrasolv in a shaker container like a pill bottle with holes punched in the lid.

Flipping thru the National Geographic sprinkle some citrasolv on all the pages but the ads. It doesn’t work well on them. The papers different.

Close the book and let the citrasolv sit til the ink starts moving.

Maybe ten – twenty minutes. Yes you can peek.

When the ink is moving open the book.

Start ripping the pages out one at a time and lay them out flat and separately. No stacking no overlapping. The spine will come apart easily.

Lay them on the grass to dry in the sun. You will have a lot of pages. Don’t let them blow away.

They take a while to loose the citrasolv smell.

This is a copy of one I liked a lot.

You can make copies so that you can keep your favorites.

Then you can use them over and over.

Bytw you can buy National Geographics for .50 at our Salvation Army of you don’t have a friend that will give you stacks of their old ones.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 715 – the Abstract

June 14, 2016Leave a comment

Been working on this today adding the collage bits. I used paper that I painted a few years back. If I had used scrap book paper it wouldn’t be eligible for a lot of watercolor shows.