Day 1025 Its Saturday

May 13, 20172 Comments

But I am not home. Still on the road in Sapphire Valley. The painting of Andrea and Harley the Freisian will have to wait til I get home to finish but I am really tickled with it so far.

Paper Arches 300 paint mostly Holbein and Daniel Smith.

She took 2-3 hours to draw. Thought she would never show up. The horse was comparatively a piece of cake. Initial wash of flesh-Carmine and yellow ochre. Burnt sienna and cerulean shadows.

I decided she needed some more pink on her cheeks and added some carmine. The shadows of ultramarine blue and the flesh color are looking SCARY.

The red hair helps but still a little scary. Carmine cad orange pyrrole mineral violet and burnt sienna. A few ultramarine shadows.

Her top is mineral violet alizarin and ultramarine blue. I let it dry and brushed some washed out cerulean to knock back whites.

Harley painted with ultramarine blue and burnt umber. Pants ultramarine blue , cerulean and mineral violet.

I just slapped ultramarine blue and burnt umber on Harley with bits of mineral violet to get that splotchy look on his face. Mane is same colors just not as heavy and a bit of cerulean near the ears.

Bridle Quin gold, Quin burnt Orange and burnt sienna. The gems cerulean and cobalt violet. The last two colors were also used for the shading on her foot plus burnt sienna.

I also added some masking fluid to save the water drips.

Added oxide of chromium to make water reflections on his side and used cerulean ultramarine blue plus burnt umber slapping them on to cover his chest and sides.

Really liking this painting but going to have to wait til I get home to finish them.

Margaret hanging out with my grandkids. Xoxoxoxo

Day 1024 Some Charles R class!

May 12, 2017Leave a comment

Mari Mac aka Mari McMillan all the way from Hawaii! But used to live in Aiken SC.

Christine and Brenda. This is our fourth class together. We are the see you in May in Boone at Cheap Joes girls. I think there were seven people we have had class with every year the first week in May – Fealin Lin Ted Nuttalls and now Charles Reid.

Off to paint. Let’s see if we can get this one done today. 22×30! What was I thinking painting that big?! Too late now. No going back.

Margaret sitting on top of a mountain in Tennessee wondering what adventure we will have today. Xoxoxo

Day 1023 Raisin and her horses

May 10, 20173 Comments

Visiting my friend Raisin in Bristol TN where she lives on top of a mountain. She has two Freisians.

This is her daughter Kendal with her horse Bo and her tiny miniature Pomeranian when the ferrier was her yesterday.

Raisin and her horse Harley while he’s getting shod. Just the most beautiful horses.

Drawn on location with a Lamy Safari on arches cold press 280#

Colors used cerulean, yellow ochre, burnt sienna and umber, ultramarine blue, cad red light and Quin rose. Off to paint. Ttyl Margaret xoxo

Day 1021 Fealing Lin

May 9, 2017Leave a comment

Fealing Lin is the next teacher at Cheap Joes. She’s so adorable and such a terrific teacher. We would have been in her class except she was booked back to back with Charles Reid first.

Watching the demo on the big tv at Cheap Joes during class.

This morning there was a little knock on our door about 7:20 am. It was Fealing. She asked us to come by and see her so we did!! What a treat!!

She started her painting while we were there. This is the initial washes. She had already drawn the painting before class.

Her palette. Her two favorite colors are Cheap Joes American Journey Hot Mama and Andrews Turquoise.

Her paint brushes. I have the same paintbrush folder and have been trying to keep it clean. Scratching that off my list.

A few of her portraits.

Always liked this old guy.

A lot of great ladies.

This is from an old photo.

Love her great old men.

What a smile. Beautiful portrait.

Margaret off to dinner with Fealing Lin and Cheap Joes. Xoxoxo

Day 2014 I am HERE!!

May 2, 20175 Comments

In Boone NC at Cheap Joes. Hanging out with Charles Reid and his adorable wife Judy. And Joe Miller aka Cheap Joe is here too. Such great people. And my friend Mike and her husband Alan.

In the class of 18 we have had the first of May class with at least the same 7 or 8 people now for three years so we are all getting to be friends. Several of them were in my class in Charlotte too – a small world of watercolor painters.

So what did we paint today?! FLOWERS AND more FLOWERS.

This is Charles’ painting from today. He takes a break every 20 minutes. It took him maybe two hours to paint this. Down by 11:30. Sigh. One day.

This is what he was painting. Judy said they had large decoy collections at their house in Nova Scotia. No surprise there. He always paints his decoys.

His paint box. This box costs about $500. He finally bought it because he was going thru $80 Holbein palettes like mine every two years. This one will last him forever.

Ok so what did I paint today?! This is it. Well one of them. Half sheet of Fabriano 300# cold press. My almost Charles Reid!!

Ttyl. Time for bed. All this painting is exhausting. Margaret xoxoxo

Day 1011 Some Grafitti aka Extreme Journaling

April 28, 20177 Comments

Well let’s hope I don’t accidentally delete this post this time. ROUND TWO!!

This is the assignment for week five of the Juliana Coles The Book of the Night class. Based on the Persephone Demeter Greek Myth. As usual first we journaled. Then I painted it out.

And I painted collaged and stamped it.

I added some red paint wiping it off and some purple on the spring side.

Added the white lettering with caran dache neocolor ii and scribbled on it some of the neocolors.

I also used my new favorite toy a 6B lead that I bought at Cityart last Thursday for $1.29. They have a storefront and gallery in the Vista.

The lettering on the leaves was done with the lead. I also enhanced the skulls in Hades on the bottom right with the caran dache neocolor iis. They didn’t show enough

Then I added some more red to the wrap on the girl on the left. I was hoping it would add to the flames of hades. Not sure it did But it’s done for now.

Ttyl. packing one more day til I leave for Charles Reid class. Margaret xoxoxox

Day 1010 Bits and Bobs

April 27, 2017Leave a comment

I painted this a while back and never got around to posting him. An older gentleman enjoying his kindle or his iPad in the window of the Inner Bean. I have painted that light several times. It alway eludes me. MAybe tomorrow when I meet Marsha there forBrunch?!

Ted Nuttalls transparent palette.

That light. I coated it with Quin gold first. Then cerulean. Probably the color that got me into trouble. It’s opaque. I think the shadow is Daniel Smith piemonite with ultramarine blue. Love piemonite.

Two days til Boone!!! And Charles Reid. Ttyl Margaret xoxoxo

Day 1007 All About the Raisin or is it Horses!?

April 24, 2017Leave a comment

If this painting of Raisin looks familiar it is. I started her last summer. I had also started a large watercolor earlier of the same photo when Al coopted it for an acrylic for school. He didn’t like the other photo I suggested.

Then she hung around the Aiken art studio waiting to have a few problems resolved like the upper corner and th iPhone.

Before you think I am obsessing over my friend Raisin the third photo is a study for the large full sheet watercolor and I really want to finish it after spending all day sketching it.

I decided to add the horse her Freisian Harley when I was taking Peggi Habits class in Charlotte and make the painting the Raisin story. She loves to ride and she loves her Freisian Harley.

I am meeting Harley soon but used a photo of a Freisian I took at the flat track races last month. Friesians are all big black and just gorgeous. Fairy tale horses with big curly manes and tails.

Here’s what it looked like before the gesso!!

I gessoed out the whole upper left -the picture frame and the iPhone that was in her hand in the original photo.

Then Al dissed the horse idea. WHAT?!! Too late. The gesso had done its work.

The photo from our Knoxville painting trip.

Here’s the watercolor study. The Freisian is too small. Bigger next time. It’s about 10×15″ Why do big?

I swore I would never do another tiny horse after doing this one last month. He may look great but he took HOURS ago do. Way too long for an 8×10″ painting.

What u say next time?! Still have that big watercolor to do. I only spent most of a day drawing it. And I AM going to paint it. Third times the charm right?!

Margaret whose hungry and going to eat.

Ttyl xoxoxo

Day 1006 The ArtistaVista!!

April 23, 2017April 26, 2017Leave a comment

The Vista is an artist area down near the old rehabbed train station on Gervais in Columbia SC. Thursday – Friday they had an art crawl and studio open house on Thursday in the galleries including a shuttle bus for those not up to walking.

All the galleries we visited. We walked FOUR miles that evening.

Red Wimmer One of Those Days Mixed Media $2300

Ginny Bojanowski asked if anyone wanted to go to the vista tonite at luck Thursday something I have had on my bucket list for five years so I said YES despite teaching my first watercolor class the next day.

Two hours later we were off! We started at City Art on Lincoln which has a wide assortment of eclectic art for sale and Also a terrific art supply store and also online seller.

Red Wimmer Sideways Glance Mixed Media $600

Loved these!!

I had to talk to City Art owner Randy who Charles Reid recommends for art supplies for his classes. I told Randy I would tell Charles hi for him next week in Boone. It always makes them both light up when I tell one or the other he said hi! CHarles does not do any technology. Since he’s a little deaf I doubt he deals with the phone either.

I didn’t take a lot of photos as we hit every gallery.

This one gives me food for thought at that price. Have to talk to Randy about my sketches!!

Risk into Buckhead Bruce Nehsmith Graphite and Carbon on paper $1000

Tiger Woods and baseball players. Interesting combo.

Loved these mixed media sketches.

Obviously Alex enjoys altering his drawings as much as I do!!

Huge and a good price for frames large art.

Alex Powers

Multiple baseball images and all were great like this one.

More of his work. Always hard to take pics thru that plastic.

These are all at Cityart.

We walked across the street to If Gallery. Smaller but another great eclectic assortment of art. My two favs were Laura Spong and Leo Twiggs both whom I have long admired.

Laura has supported herself and her children since her divorce in the 60s by painting. She was a housewife with no means of support when she started. Now her paintings sell for thousands.

Leo Twiggs was an art prof at SC State and a batik artists. Gorgeous work both of them.

On to the next gallery tomorrow – the Vista Studios.

Ttyl Margaret packing for Boone so I don’t schlepp everything I own.