Category: Atlanta georgia

Day 578 – Chateau Gaillard

Leave a comment

  
I drew Chateau Gaillard several times while we were in Les Andelys. It sits high above the Seine Valley dominating the river and the quintessential French village  at its base. 

Richard the Lionhearted built it to control access to Normandy via the Seine around 1180-1200. No housing could be built until the Chateau aka castle was finished in a record ten years. Imagine a French winter in what tents?! Or sleeping outside for ten years?! 

The second son of Henry II of England spent most of his life in Normandy even when he became king of England.

Legendary characters in Bristish history surround King Richard  from his parents Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitane to Robin Hood who came to his aide. 

The  machinations of Richards younger brother, Eleanor’s favorite son -the notorious King John Lackland,  and the infamous Sheriff of Nottingham who had the Germans kidnap and held him for ransom on his return from the crusades in the Holy Land are the stuff of many movies. 

So there it’s sits wrapped in legend glowing in the French sun begging to be drawn. And I did.  

This was drawn sitting in the warm lounge of the Viking Pride. Talk about cushy urban sketching!! Does not get any better!! Comfy chair, feet up, huge glass windows with incredible views and a glass of wine! What more could you ask for??! 

Colors used – DS Green apatite, dioxzine purple, Quin gold Quin red orange. The castle is Winsor yellow and cerulean with raw umber and yellow ochre. 

Read more about the Chateau at  http://lesandelys.com/chateau-gaillard/

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret off to enjoy this gorgeous 70 day. 

Xxx

Day 571 – Save the Date 

Leave a comment

  
 
The finished product. 

I thought you might like to see how I arrived at this final save the date map. 

  
The pencil sketch was sent for final proofing and approval before I inked and painted it.  

  
The inked proof. It got changed. 

  
The inked map before I painted it. 

  
Here it is with locations colored.  The colors are off in this scan. 

  

Background 1. I copied it and tried out different backgrounds.  

   
A pencil background. 

   
A different green. Hard to maintain the green wash on typing paper. 

  
I used the scrap on the left to test colors. This was TOO solid green so I blotted it off and added some gold. I have to say the color lifted easily from the paper. Just a wet tissue did it. 

  
The final product drying. I like the more mottled background. 

Thanks for reading. Map on!!!!

Margaret off to class.  Xxx

Day 436 – Ben

2 Comments

  
Ben – watercolor on crescent watercolor board 28″  x 20″ SOLD!!

This painting has taken about three weeks working on it off and on.

     

 Here are a few in progress photos of it. I use my cell phone to stand away from the painting and judge it’s progress. 
  His legs seem a bit short but I have measured and measured against the original photo and they are right. The photo is just taken at an off angle. 

   

    
 Thanks for reading!!

Margaret xxx off to sketch live at Arts in the Heart.  Eeeekkkk!!!

Day 431 – Two point perspective Trick(TIP)

1 Comment

  is tough to say the least. And mine was confused on this painting. The bricks were off especially above his head. Oops!! 

   

 Al Beyer showed me a technique that is easy to do when you have two point perspective, i.e. perspective with two vanishing points. 

  The vanishing points are to the right and left of the painting on the horizon line which runs across the top of the OPEN letters. 

ALL parallel lines should converge at the vanishing point. The runs of bricks make up these parallel lines as do the top and bottom of the window and the bottom of the OPEN letters. 

So how to get them done correctly.  

 Get a piece of paper. Lay the straight  edge along the horizon line. Then fold the bottom edge up to follow  parallel line. I chose the window sill. 

  This is the order you fold the paper in.  

 Match 1 to the horizon line to get fold 2. Of course you can’t see 1 now!!  

Here it is on the painting. 

  Make fold 3 by matching up fold 2 with the horizon line. 

  Then make fold 4  by folding the paper in half between the bottom fold and the #2 fold. 

Ideally before you paint match the horizon line on your folded paper with the horizon line on the painting draw along the folds with a watercolor pencil to transfer the lines to your painting.

Flip the paper with the horizon line on the bottom edge  to get the top lines. 

Some thinking is required. And the whole thing reverses on the right side to complicate your life. 😳  

  
  

What you end up with looks like this. The lines were drawn with a brown watercolor pencil. The horizon line comes off of his shoulder.

 

Let me know if you have more questions. I will try to answer them. Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 422?? Painting 

Leave a comment

  

 Update. Painted for a couple more hours. 

 So far 

This painting had been fermenting in my brain all week. And really ever since I saw it. Love the grunge look of it. 

  
And always liked this photo of my middle son. I started over for two reasons. The first one was on 140# and he had no feet.  This is on a full sheet Crescent watercolor board.  Heavy stuff. 

 The feet thing did it for me. Lol. Do over. He needed feet. And I had trouble with his head. Still too big. As I said on my fb wall watercolor is a roll of the die.  Sometimes you win sometimes not. Like the new one better anyway. 

  
Here’s the sketch of it. All those grey lines worried me. Hard to have transparent color and those lines not show. I think they are going away. I HOPE. 

  The face was a hash of lines. 

Professor wants you to paint the drawing with a brush. 😳 I don’t know any WC people who do that but I was game to try. 

  
I did draw a little with a grey watercolor pencil because toooo many grey WC lines. I erased all the grey lines I could with my moo erasure from cheap joes. We love our moo erasures. 

  
Love the pants and the drip down the neck of the tshirt. The right arm is too wide but I think I can correct that with the background. 

Pray for me !👍😃

  
Last page. 

Thanks for reading. Back to painting. 

Margaret xxx

Day 346 – Goat time! 

Leave a comment

  since taking Sketchbookskool classes online. Highly recommend them!! I have foud that I love to draw animals and people. I could have spent the whole day at the zoo drawing the animals and the people. 

This was drawn with my Noodler Creaper Ahab in my spiral bound Stillman and Birn Zeta. A lovely book great paper that dries flat even with a lot of washes. Now if you want a paper that dries very flat this one is for you. I normally use small binders clips to hold my sketchbook paper down as I paint because I have yet to find one that does not curl when you wet it. The most important thing is does it dry flat and I can say YES Stillman and Birn Zeta does. My  Stillman and Birn alpha which is much thinner paper does NOT ever dry flat. Most annoying since the Super Delixe Bee does. Both the Alpha and the Bee are the same weight paper. Hmm.  

 

Before splattering. 

 Back to the goats. The only thing I did different than usual was to splatter the left goat with white gouache using an old toothbrush. Why?! The goat is a kind of roan color peppered with white.  Hard to Dow I th watercolor. I could have used masking fluid but this is just a sketch so I opted for splattering. More fun than masking fluid anyway.  

That’s it for today. It’s Henry and Livia time in Decatur!! 

Thanks for reading!! 

Margaret ️xxx 

Day 339 – Sgt. Wyatts Bar B Que

Leave a comment

 
Sgt Wyatts Barbecue is around the corner from one of my kids.  I keep thinking we need to stop. It’s so funky and charming it’s been on my to draw list for a while. It’s bright yellow and sags a lot. Smoke billows from the chimney. 

 I found this photo of the side fence when I was looking for more information about it.  I forgot to write on two signs and used artistic license after I found this photo on http://foodio54.com/restaurant/Atlanta-GA/20836/Wyatts-Diner. Evidently the food is really good. It’s moved up my list to try next time I am in East Atlanta. Most of the reviews are great. 

The old Chevrolet truck was at Flying Biscuit on Piedmont Ave. I think I need an old Chevy truck. Thought of fit with the funkiness of Sgt Wyatts building so I added it.  

Yellow is Aureolin yellow and yellow Ochre, grey my current fav Inathradone blue and burnt umber. Green roof was painted with a viridian green dulled with a burnt sienna. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 337 – More Ponce Market

2 Comments

    

My favorite side of the old Sears building now known as Ponce Market.  Both have problems. 

 
I drew this one first but really had just wanted to feature the tower and the sign. Love that sign.  Vintage but brand new. 
TIP: Since I didn’t use a pencil or a ruler you might be wondering how i get all those lines parallel and fairly straight. I put the pen on the paper with my hand on the side of the paper and run it down the page with my hand sliding down the edge of the paper. It really does work. Try it. 

Colors same as yesterday.  Noodler Creaper Ahab loaded with Carbon Platinum Black Ink.  Stillman and bIrn Alpha.  The color was hard to move on the sky and blotched. That did not make me happy.  Oh well.  They are done right?! 

Thanks for reading! 

Margaret xxx

Day 336 – Ponce City Market

5 Comments

  

This is the back side of the Ponce City Market from the Binders store parking lot. 

It was sketched with my Noodler Creaper Ahab no pencil first. Silly me. Wish I had painted the building farther down. Oops!!!

Sky is cobalt blue brick cad red and vermilion with yellow ochre and a bit of Inathridone to grey it slightly. Black is Inathridone and burnt umber. Letters are cad red and vermilion. 

Stay tuned for more drawings of this building on Ponce de Leon in Atlanta. It’s the old Sears building that’s being rehabbed as condos and a market similar to the Pike Market in Seattle. There’s something about the tower on that old building with its flag flying against the blue sky that I never tire of. Add in the signage and its a winner. Best part of it to me is the new Binders store minutes from my kids houses!! Love that store. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 335 – Thirty Days to

Leave a comment

go till I make a year of daily blogging. On the downhill slide. 

 
A sort of contour drawing of Bear who decided to move in the middle of the drawing. I have drawn him so many times I can get him more or less right even so. 

He’s a big brown brindled pitty that somebody dumped.  Wisely Bear attached himself to my son Ben two years ago and there he stays. He’s really a very laid back relaxed dog who would rather be petted than ever chew on you.  He was fun to journal about with my Noodler Creaper Ahab in Carbon Platinum Black ink. 

Once again he was painted with Quin burnt sienna and ultramarine blue, Inathridone blue and burnt umber was added for the stripes and shadows. 

The background started as a dirty grey cerulean.  I stood the sketch book at a 90 degree angle and let bits of Quin burnt sienna, yellow ochre, Inathridone blue for the drops and splats. 

I thought about painting the background another blue layer to even put the color but decided I liked it as is and left it alone.

  

Here’s the whole double page spread. I thought you would like to see it. 

  

I am going to enter it in a win a free pen and ink contest on Instagram. They like to know what the pen and ink is in writing plus a photo of the pen. The white page looked so plain I quickly wrote one of my favorite dog quotes and painted the leftpage to match the right page.  

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx