Day 628 – Costco Love!

March 21, 2016Leave a comment

Urban sketching at Costco. And NO I did not eat a hotdog when I drew this. I usually do though. Probably good snacks this day whxib everybody knows are calorie free right?!

I did hide in the corner behind my purse which is of course big enough to carry my sketchbook and pants.

Tip: when you take the grandchildren to the zoo you don’t want your bevy purse loaded with sketching stuff when you pick up a 45 lb kid to look at the snakes Be sure to take your over the shoulder sketch purse with sketching stuff and the other important thing MONEY for the gift shop train and carousel!! 😋

These people were drawn as we all stood in the return line. I love to buy stuff and bring it back to Costco. They ALWAYS take stuff bought there back no questions other than can I Have your members card please. I do LOVE Costco!!

Off to class. Need to go by Costco and fill up. Gas is always 20-25 cents cheaper!! And Booking a trip to Paris and maybe Lindon and Dublin via Iceland. No time to list colors but I did use the usual ones.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 624 – A touch of whimsy

March 17, 2016Leave a comment

A few quick pen sketches I did today at the Augusta Area Newcomers luncheon.

I actually was hiding the sketchbook under the table. I warmed up with the lady on the left and proceeded to our auctioneer Ken and then one of my friends hiding behind a huge basket. If I paint them they will know who they are by their clothes. They don’t look a lot like them.
This one however does look a lot like our esteemed adorable sweet president Susan. Warming up does help!!

I actually won the silent auction on this wonderful acrylic by friend and Dr Sketchy/Saturday life modeling sketching friend Ruth Pearl. LOVE it. Now where to hang it?!

Noodler Konrad and strathmore 500 Moxed Media sketchbook. Stick those sketchbooks in your lap and get your pens busy. If I can sketch in the middle of 200 people I know you can do it too.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 623 – a bit more France

March 16, 20162 Comments

Arrowmonches Les Bains in Normandy near the D Day invasion site. Charming quintessential French village by the seaside. Some of the WW2 beach defenses still remain out in the breakers.

We had a delicious coq au vin lunch at Brasserie 6 Juin.

I almost missed the bus drawing this picture. 😳 I could have happily sat there drawing the village all afternoon while the others went to the landing sites but it would have been a LONG walk back to the boat moored at quai in Rouen.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx dreaming of France

Day 622 The Major

March 15, 20162 Comments

30×40″ acrylic
Is done. What else can I say. Hmm should I add at least for today?! 😊 you never know what I might decide needs fixing when I look at him tomorrow BUT I really do think he’s done.

He will be entered in the big show in Anderson SC next month so let’s hope he doesn’t talk to me anymore.

Detail of his hands

Tip:The smallest brush he was painted with was a 1″ hog bristle filbert. Impossible to get to picky with these brushes. He was also painted with a three inch house painting brush.

The only work done with a small brush was the original sketch. It was done with a 1/4″ Winsor Newton monarch filbert. I do love those brushes.

I also finished her up yesterday but she reserves the right to talk to me and say MORE!!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx whose drowning in the early pollen. Green snow covers the world in Augusta Ga.

Day 611 – Stick fun!

March 4, 20164 Comments

I have been playing with my stick bamboo stick all week. Done a sketch everyday. The Carbon Black ink from Gouletpens works best with my stick. Not the India ink. It seems to load on the stick better.

Anyway after I tried to shade the ibis in the back grey since he’s in the shadow I decided to do negative painting in the background letting the ink puddles bleed into the brush water to make various shades of grey.

It seems impossible to get control of that ink flow. It leaves a lot of hard edges which are great for Key West underbrush but not on a bird.

After the grey puddles dried a little I went back in and drew ink lines in for sticks on the ground.

If I could change this I would get rid of the grey on the farthest back ibis.

This is yesterday’s ibis. I actually like them except for all the black. These are young ibis and have a lot of mottled grey on their necks.

Maybe I will redraw them and add some background? I think they are funny. The Ibis at the Key West Wildlife Center are beggars and wait for snacks aka dog food that was fed to them.

My favorite still are the chickens. I don’t know why but I LOVE chickens.

Did I say writing with a stick does not produce the most graceful writing?

Here’s another chicken sketch done earlier. I can’t imagine dong this on location. I would have an inky mess everywhere. Not good when it’s permanent and very black!!

I also had a paper problem. I used my beloved 93 # Aquabee first but the ink is so thick from the stick that I got out my #98 Canson mixed media sketchbook and used it. No more ink soaking they the paper. At least not yet.
And here’s Livia again. One of the first sketches withy the stick from last Sunday. I don’t know why I didn’t notice one of her legs is smaller than the other. But that’s an easy fix. Sketching frequently had a lot of surprises like a too skinny leg.
Enjoy your day. Happy stick sketching.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 610 – The Home Stretch is ON!!

March 3, 20162 Comments

30×40″ acrylic

Major Dad is making progress. In case u missed passed posts will add some of the process.

Original photo. Major Dad at 93! Did not want to paint all those chickens!!

The block in.

Playing with the photo in Waterlogue

Washing in the foundation colors. Recent reading about acrylics told me NOT to do this with just water. If you use more than 25% water with your acrylics it breaks down the polymer binders. I used polymer gel to thin it.

Read about more than you ever wanted to know about acrylic paint and mediums here on liquitex.com. 120 plus pages of anything and everything about acrylic paints. I read the whole book and it’s actually very interesting.

Bytw I use both Golden and Liquitex. I still have a few older paintings that are painted with liquitex which was the first acrylic and they are still in great shape. I buy whichever is on sale with a coupon. 👍🏻

Layering in color. Did you know u can use the cheap paints for this later and finish with the expensive stuff?! Sounds like a lot of work, right?!

I added back in a lot of the lines I had painted over trying to tie the painting together. I also lost some of the lines on the face. Probably need to loose a few more on his hands.

When he’s done he’s getting a coat of acrylic varnish as soon as I get the kind the book lists. Evidently there is one that liquitex makes that is removeable with ammonia. Who knew. The book also said all acrylics should be sealed because otherwise. they remain porous.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 609 -The Party’s Over

March 2, 2016Leave a comment

This is the last sketch done during Wet Paint party. I drew Sallie doing check out as we waited to pick up painting. Thank goodness Sallie bought mine.

This sketch started the quotes. I started to write “Even James has a cell phone” but I thought it would be more fun to write a JB quote. Did you know there’s a website with endless James Bond movie quotes?!

Hope I didn’t post this one but evidently the modern James Bond likes his cell phone! I only drew a bakers dozen James Bond sketches si it gets confusing.

Thanks for reading!!

Margaret xxx

Day 608 How many More?

March 1, 2016Leave a comment

Hard to resist drawing James with one of his many ladies. Turns out the girl in the foreground is actually newly wed to James Bond who you can see in the background.

I still haven’t painted this. It’s not very big 6×9″maybe. Lots of tiny details but who knows it might actually be fun for a big painting?

I have a few pages of these….the models changed their poses before au had a chance to finish them but I still think they are interesting especially the girl on the right. She managed to twist her hands in front of her body planting her hands on her hip bones and HOLDING the pose. Wow!

Thanks for reading. I still have quite a few French sketches I have yet to post too. Hoping to get to them soon.

Margaret xxx

Day 607 – 22 Sketches

February 29, 2016Leave a comment

When you do that many you can post sketches for a week or more never repeating yourself. The girls costumes begged to be painted and the many columns lining Sacred Heart. Great fun to paint wet on wet.

The second or third sketch I did that night. I had not quite warmed up. Gouache is great for covering the background fast. When you have 22 sketches to paint you better have something that gets done quickly besides the sketching.

One day when I grow up I want to paint urban sketches like this one by Al Beyer done in India a couple of years ago. Can you see the moped flying by? This is a big oil painting 3×4′ not a tiny sketch but definitely falls in the urban “sketching” genre. You can see more of his work here but sadly non of his urban sketching he does on his Maymester trips abroad – India – China – and this year Cambodia. Watch out Angkor Wat.

Thanks for reading!

Margaret xxx

Day 606 – Sunday Fun!!

February 28, 2016February 28, 20162 Comments

Been drawing with platinum carbon black ink and a bamboo stick. Really a lot of fun.

I started going thru the pics to find something to draw. I mean why would I want to go outside on such a lovely day?!

Watching Downton Reruns ff thru the begathon. I already send them $$
Anyway I found a cute one of my granddaughter and drew it. I had a few too many black lines in her tiny face like the eyebrow. So I painted her w gouache.

First gouache portrait ever. Not easy but at least she’s not black from her nose to her chin.

The only way I could get a soft edge on the face shadow was to feather white over her dry cheeks. Totally different experience from watercolor or acrylic.

Gouache brands used Winsor Newton and Horadam. Colors red yellow white blue and burnt sienna.

My lab Honey drawn with the Noodler Creaper and smudged with a wet finger. She’s a very long nosed lab. Not a block headed English lab like Isis on Downton. Touches of burnt sienna gouache for her eyes.