Day 1103 Its Saturday

August 5, 2017August 6, 20172 Comments

Katie Well this was not great. I forgot my watercolor brushes and didn't have a canvas so I played with my neocolor ii for first forty minute session.

All my sketches are on 16×20 Strathmore
Bristol.

I moved for the next forty minutes. Used my 6B chunk of lead and a bit of the 9b chunk of lead. Hmm wonder if you can get lead poisoning from it?

Third session drawing. My favorite although I think I made Katie look too old.

Drew Murphys. Acrylic 24×30" My favorite of the rest.

Jeremy's lovely sketch.

A lovely pastel by someone named Al or Alex maybe.

Also really liked this one by Marilyn Hartley. Oil

Al Beyer's HUGE oil.

Dawns oil 24×30"

Dr Fred's. Such a happy acrylic.

And the lovely Ilaina in her Matisse phase. Oil!

That's it. Ttyl

Margaret xoxoxo

Day 1102 Cleaning out

August 3, 2017Leave a comment

Getting ready to move shelves so a room can be painted I am going thru a box of old papers photographs for painting and sketches. Sometimes I will sit down with a pile of paper and just draw whatever I see. Less commitment with typing paper.

Bones was a sweet long haired stray cat that someone dumped in our neighborhood. Thin as a rail when I started feeding her and of course pretty soon she was in the house. Oops.

Eventually she went to live with my son in Atlanta.

Jamming herself into bookcases seems to have been her thing. Cats do the funniest things.

I should pitch these but have a feeling they are going back in the box with the photographs.

Sketched with a black Pitt pen. Love Pitt pens. They are hard to kill. Tips hold up to my hard treatment of them. The ink is India ink so it's permanent. And they just don't seem to dry up for years. I know I have some ten years old. A record I am sure for a felt tip pen. Only sharpies seem to last as long.

Ttyl Margaret xoxoxox

Day 1095 The Flowers

July 24, 2017Leave a comment

Flowers 20×30 Strathmore Bristol paper

Flowers Riechison 300 lb cold press After my friends loathed my sweet little Chinese doll I decided to have another go at this bouquet on some Strathmore Bristol paper. Since it acts like hot press it lets the colors slide around on it and mingle like no other paper I have tried.

That paper meant aLOT of fast painting. Smallest brush I used was a 10 Da Vinci Kolinsky Sable.

Despite that you will get runny drips which I love. It also meant using a lot of paint.

I had to leave it at this point. I will say it was easier to continue the background without hard edges like would have happened with hot press.

I got this far by about 8 pm and decided to quit because I couldn't find my masking fluid.

There was no way I was going to paint this saki pot without it. I finally remembered that I had put it up when I cleaned out my paint box before going to Charles Reid's class. He NEVER uses masking fluid.

Here it is ready paint. I used the tip of a paint brush handle to do this. Made great dots.

Just as I was finishing I got a smear of Quin gold which is staining even if you are using cold press paper let alone this type of paper. Eeekkk! Ruined?! I thought.

My friend Mike said NOPE looked awesome. Leave it alone.

So it's done.

Want to buy it?!

Colors used : Ted Nuttalls transparent palette plus cerulean and cobalt.

Margaret xoxoxo who went sketching at Starbucks today and had to resort to a pencil. FOUR pens all out of ink.

Day 1092 WIP

July 21, 2017Leave a comment

Thought this would be done by now. What was I thinking painting a 20×30?! I should have switched to a larger brush-maybe my 16 kolinsky especially for the background.

I put in too much background again. Even though I used cobalt instead of cerulean it’s the same tone as the old mason jug which is why the mason jar gets lost.

So will have to darken either the background or the jar.

I will say I like it much better this am than I did last nite. Sometimes things look better the next day. Last nite I thought it was pretty bad. But I think it’s fixable

This little saki pot made me quit. Looked high and lo for my masking fluid. Only found a dried out bottle. Noway was I paintingnit without masking those dots.

Like the painting looked better this am I realized I had unloaded my paint box when I took Charles Reid’s class (he never uses masking) and left it in my big box that was Dads. Sure enough it was there.

So how did I do all those dots?! The end of a cheap model paint brush dipped in. If the dots were smaller I would have used a BBQ skewer or a toothpick. I also tried to make those farther away smaller and keep them lined up and in concentric circles. 😱

Loving the start on the flowers.

Laid in background in a hurry. Should have been thinking less is more.

The Strathmore Bristol makes those flowers run together and look positively delicious. It’s swirls on the surface similar to yupo. Hmm maybe I should try yupo next?!

So far. It needs something to the left of the hot sauce. Maybe the trim on the bridge cloth its sitting on!? Maybe more fruit?!

It will tell me sometimes soon. In the meantime stay tuned. Ted Nuttalls transparent colors plus cerulean and Andrews Turquoise.

Ttyl Margaret xoxoxo

Day 1091 A definite HMM

July 20, 2017July 20, 20172 Comments

Half sheet on Richeson 300# cold press 15×20. Everybody hates my antique Kowloon doll in the painting so I tried to knock him back by loosing my whites on him and making him darker with ultramarine. I also washed his head with Quin burnt sienna and cerulean. I did the same to the background to make the light flowers pop more.

I also added a bunch of blobby bits a la Fealin Lin to it to define the flowers more. Like it better now but still don’t know if it’s done.

One friend thought my little guy was creepy. Lol. He’s actually a mandarin dressed in a black Silk jacket and beautiful blue silk pants w touches of bright saffron yellow which have faded over the years.

Last nite it looked like this. I actually liked the bottom half. I just didn’t like the way the flowers were lost in the background.

I think it’s because the values were too close. When I converted it to gray scale in iPhoto not much difference in tone. Which is why I darkened the background.

The sketch. Bytw this was painted upright on an easel.

Having another go without the doll on Strathmore Bristol board which is like hot press watercolor paper but even slicker making the colors slide around on it. This one is 20×30. Why not make my screw ups bigger?! 🤗

Ttyl Margaret xoxoxo

Day 1088 A recap

July 17, 2017July 18, 2017Leave a comment

Thought you might like to see the order of the sketchbook so far. Still at least one more sketch to paint which will go here in the order. Painted on Kilimanjaro with Ted Nuttalls Transparent colors or Charles Reid Palette. Pen Lamy Safari loaded with Noodler Black.

Seemed like and especially good idea to me

Since the upstairs AC was dripping water thru the ceiling and it’s turned off.

So I “slept” on the den sofa

But mostly tossed and turned

Getting just a few hours of sleep.

AC fixed. Nap time now. Enjoy. Margaret xoxoxox worn out.

Day 1086 Cornucopia in Cashiers

July 15, 2017Leave a comment

Our favorite place to eat Cornucopia in Cashiers. A great big open air barn of a restaurant. Even when you eat inside it’s like eating outside. They do have a large section of umbrellas to eat under too.

It’s open year round. They roll large clear plastic sheeting down to keep the cold air out. It used to be BYOB so check before you go. Good food. Great service. Kid friendly.

Painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent palette.

Henry’s big birthday party today. Art with 20 something five year olds.

Margaret already exhausted in Decatur. Xoxoxo

Day 1084 – Cashiers Fourth of July Extravaganza

July 13, 2017July 13, 2017Leave a comment

Finally happy with one of the paintings. About time. I got out my #2 Isabey mop to loosen up and I think it worked.

Always does because it’s impossible to be exact with a mop.

These spreads are long. About 6×15 so they are time consuming to paint.

Painted with Ted Nuttall Palette of transparent colors. Bytw don’t people know they are suppose to wear red white and blue on the fourth. What’s with all the grey shirts!?

Thanks for stopping by. Margaret with three more to paint from this trip. Xoxoxo

Day 1081- Still feeling like I

July 10, 2017July 9, 2017Leave a comment

Can’t paint. And am thinking I don’t like the pencil. Turns into a grey mess that has to be erased. My son and his family at our Fourth of July picnic in Cashiers in the Green.

We were thrilled to find our favorite popsicle for sale on the Green. It’s an Atlanta based company started by a friend of my sons and his wife that went to law school with them and the popsicle are delicious. My favorite is raspberry lime and only 45 calories.

Ttyl Margaret xoxoxo home from Sapphire and worn out. But the laundrys done and I bought some groceries.

Day 1068 Fathers Day at Pine Lake

June 25, 2017Leave a comment

It actually poured on us before we left so not a bright sunny day BUT who wants a swimming hole with no sun?!

One thing about painting you can make it sunny or overcast.

Pine Lake is the smallest town in Georgia with a population of less than 800 and used to be a weekend escape place for Buckhead elite when all the roads were dirt.