Day 1095 My Flabrador

July 25, 2017Leave a comment

My sweet flabrador Honey. She's fat as a butterball. She's very fond of food especially bread and cookies. Pumpkin pie. NEVER Leave any on the counter if you want to eat it later.

Yesterday drawing at Starbucks all my pens were empty. Huh. Four of them. So I drew with pencil. Today yet to fill them tried a 6B charcoal a la Alex Powers. It loved this Stillman and Birn Alpha. Unlike the pencil it does not repel watercolor.

There's actually a screwed up pen sketch hidden on the left of my grandson.

Labs are hard to paint. The highlights are almost blue. I slapped combos of mixed burnt umber and ultramarine in the dark areas and bled out the edges w clean water for the highlights. Shadows are cerulean and Quin burnt sienna.

Ttyl Margaret who had another busy day xoxoxo

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 1094 A Rewind

July 23, 2017July 23, 2017Leave a comment

As I am prone to do with a painting I hang them or prop them on the fireplace so I can study them while I watch tv at nite in the den.

Ilaina had problems. For some reason I had made her chin too long her forehead too high. And that awful purple blob on her chin.

I gotut my winsor newton synthetic badger flat and started lifting that purple blotting it with dollar store Kleenex. I lifted some Highlights with it too on her chin and reflected light under her chin.
Lifting and blotting. Always finding the brush with clean water.

Lowered that hairline. Lifted 1/2" of the brown background along her neck. After letting it dry I added a quick brush of the brown cerulean mix lightly where I had lifted it.

I hung her back up and Realized that I needed to lower her right shoulder. I lifted a bit of the flesh color to see if it worked. Blotted it with tissue. Let it dry. Added about a 1/2" of background to lower it.

I also trimmed down her hip and right leg a bit brushing it with some of the burnt umber cerulean mix with a two inch flat.
I think she's done but you know how we women are we want to look our best. She might be a little too square still. But that's for another day.

Time to finish this one up.

Margaret tying up looses ends today. Hugs xoxoxo

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 1087 Sweetwater Fly Fishing Camp

July 16, 2017Leave a comment

The Cabin sits on the Thompson River one of the best wild trout rivers in North Carolina and it’s one of the few places there is access to it. The property is surrounded by Nantahala National Forrest so the only access to the Thompson at the fish camp.

The rhidodendrons were in full bloom last week as was the wild flower meadow. Gorgeous setting. The shed is a picnic shed with adirondack chairs and a fire pit over looking the river.

Ttyl Margaret heading home today xoxoxo I mean we have to watch GOT tonite right?!

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!?