Day 450 – O.P.Taylor’s Toy Store

January 3, 2016January 4, 2016Leave a comment

O.P.Taylors Toy Store – Watercolor, Noodler Konrad w D’artrementis Document Brown in strathmore Mixed Media 500 sketchbook.

In Brevard NC a charming small mountain town near Sapphire Valley. We all love to visit O.P.Taylors Toy Store http://www.optaylors.com in downtown Brevard on the corner of Main and Broad Street.

O.P.Taylors Toy Store is truly a fantastic store that kids dream about. Toys packed to the ceiling in this old two story store. Even the staircase ballisters are popping with stuffed animals. There are several other locations including one in Biltmore Village and a website. If you find one nearby check it out. It’s truly ToYLaND!!

I drew the store as I sat outside waiting for my kids to come out of it. It’s a dangerous place for a grandma to go with her sweet grandchildren. They didn’t need another thing after the largesse of Christmas so I sat outside to avoid temptation.

This is not the front of the store but the side that faces Broad.

Colors used. Everything in my whiskey painters travel box. And a white gel pen on the Christmas lights.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 546 – Sycamores

December 29, 20152 Comments

Line the streets of Paris. The French like to prune them into odd shapes. I don’t like trees that Americans prune like this but in France there are so many I grew to like them. They line the Seine River and many streets.

In the 1880s it became fashionable to take the air but one did not want to get a tan so trees were planted and pruned to indulge this whim especially in Paris.

Colors used. Leaf French ochre w Quin sienna and Quin burnt orange. Cerulean. Splattered with whatever soup was on my palette. Strathmore 500 mixed media journal, Konrad Noodler, carbon platinum black ink.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 537 – Finally

December 22, 2015December 22, 20152 Comments

Figured out the title page for my France travel journal. I filled up two Strathmore 500 mixed Media journals but still have a lot of pages to paint in what I call my coloring book.

The light was bad on the boat for painting so I mostly drew with my Noodler Konrads while I was on board.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret making headway in her journals finally. 😘

Day 536 – Saturday in Aiken

December 19, 2015Leave a comment

Life modeling today at USC Aiken

The lovely Ilenia was our model. Great pose- The thinker!! Acrylic on illo board.

Felt good to be painting and hanging out with other artists today.

After first forty minutes – legs are too long!!

Lots of good natured banter and holiday cheer today. The pound cake that I took was devoured. Just a few pieces left for Al our esteemed leader who was off celebrating his daughters marriage.

After I got home I gave her a good look as I sat eating a sandwich. Her chin was jutting out to far. The arm under her chin was too straight. Nose too long.
More shadows in the foreground. Cerulean blue shadows in the drape.

Making progress. How she looks at present!! I think I need a nap now. Going to let Ilenia lean on the mantel and tell me if she’s done or not. She will know. Then I will know.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret who has presents to wrap and a sweater to finish knitting. Xxx

Day 534 Dr Sketchys

December 17, 20151 Comment

Tired Santa – Ink glitter pens and Watercolor in superbee tablet. 20 Minute sketch. My favorite of the ones I kept.

Was great fun last nite.

All the sketches are 10×14 watercolor and ink with wink of Stella glitter pens. I started with my Winsor Newton wc markers but found it easier to use my two small travel palettes I took to France- a whiskey painters palette and a cotman palette reloaded with artist grade watercolor. The skin tone is quinacridone sienna. Paintbrushes are the waterbrushes.

What every girl wants for Christmas – 20 minute sketch

Ink glitter pens and Watercolor in superbee tablet.
Princess Augusta got a little wild and XXX rated with her poses. I have this one to the guys because they stood for twenty minutes with their hands in the air and they were so embarrassed over the pose. Think cheeks were bright red.

Naught and Nice -15 min sketch

Ink glitter pens and Watercolor in superbee tablet.

WIP – Santa’s Ugly Christmas sweater. Ten minute sketch. Ink glitter pens and Watercolor in superbee tablet

First we did a fast sketch of the model and were suppose to just do the head. I forgot and started drawing his body and his tank top. After we drew him we had to make up an ugly Christmas sweater. The face could use more work.

I won two tickets to the Chat Noir New Years party with this sketch. Hurrah.

I also won a free drink with another sketch but I forgot to take a picture of it. Oops!!!

It was models choice.

Best prize we all received tickets for the current Chat Noir show. Thanks Chris and Princess Augusta.

There are a few more but they really require more work.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 494 -Vive La France!! 🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷

November 16, 2015November 16, 20152 Comments

🇫🇷Feel free to use this image. Posting France sketches on my website and will continue til they are done. 🇫🇷

Gussie and Bob in front of pregothic Saint Sauveur Eglise in Les Andelys.

First a Bob joke. We discussed whether or not to do the climb to Chateau Gaillard. Bob told me it was the third worst climb on the trip and many were known not to ever return from it. Lol.

Started in 1220 and finished 100 years later Saint Saveur Eglise was one of the first churches with Gothic elements. A rooster or chanticleer tops the spire as they do most churches in France. They represent the denial of Peter and from the blog myfrenchheaven.com “Thereafter, the kings of France will adopt the cock out of bravado. When meeting their rivals who treated them as roosters, they would say that the cock is a brave and early rising fighter.

The cock is also the bird of light and faith, the enemy of evil and darkness, etc….”

🇫🇷As most of you know we are just back from the best trip ever is Viking from Paris to Normandy and well not quite back because of the bombings. We stayed in Conflans near Paris and disembarked from there instead of a few blocks from the awesome Eiffel Tower. 😒🇫🇷

Leonard Porkchop Zimmermans Happy sticker I stuck on a street post near the Eiffel Tower. He’s blanketing the world with these free stickers. Check him out on Facebook.

🇫🇷A chilly nite in St Germain en Laye section of Paris. 🇫🇷

The day after the bombing Parisians were out doing what they do best enjoying the city.

Richard the Lionhearted’s Chateau Gaillard in Les Andelys. The chateau and the town were built in the lye twelfth century. Of course they had to build the chateau before he permitted them to build the town. Hmm

Les Andelys from the boat. So charming. Did I say that already!!?

Map of Les Andelys borrowed from the Viking bulletin board. It changes with each port of call.

Garden in Conflans
  The rooftops of Conflan From the Chateau Mountjoie. All the chateaus sat above the river to command the river.

The Cpunt of Montjoies tomb in the Conflan church. Too cool. i have read about crusaders tombs but never seen one.

The tomb below the church window. The Viking chefs favorite fromagerie in Conflans and Tetons de Venus. Yes it means nipples of Venus. Wonder if hers were encrusted with mold? Guess they are by now. Lol

More mold encrusted cheeses.

That’s a lot of mold to make that delicious cheese!! 😳 Of course my son Ben said that’s how they make cheese. I guess like everything else in the US ours is sanitized before we see it.

The Viking chefs favorite chocolate shop in Conflans. Lots of deliciousness there.

My sis at the Eiffel Tower on a rainy gloomy day.

Sacre Couer.

Well enough photos for the day. Go forth and book a Viking cruise. They are awesome. There were people on our cruise who had been on six or seven. Some had done the Seine cruise more than once.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret in Atlanta recovering jet lag!

Day 488 Wifi problems

November 10, 2015November 10, 2015Leave a comment

Sketching from the boat. More in a minute.

No idea of my posts are making it. But I am trying. So we are now arriving at Vernon after spending the morning in Auvers sur Oise. Lovely little town. You might have heard of it. Van Goghs last town where he died?!

Begins the inn Van Gogh died at. The houses and lane are still there.

The wheat field he painted with the crows is still there. It’s also where he was shot or he shot himself depending on who you believe.

Back on the boat heading to Vernon I discovered that I could draw buildings I like and did them to the sketch making my own towns. The houses are real but maybe not next to each other. Trees are real but not where they were necessarily because we might move down the river before I got done drawing the house and it’s foliage.

The first house at the locks at Mericourt. Those trees were not next to it. Oops. We moved. I wanted to finish the sketch.

Then I tried a one page sketch of the river hillside. Fun drawing but no these houses are not exactly like this in Rolleboise. What a great name, non?!

And the first double page

Day 485 – La pause de beaubourg

November 8, 20153 Comments

Le Brasserie La Pause Beaubourg near the Hotel de Ville and Georges Pompidou Contemporary Art Center. Delicious food and wonderful staff. This is the view out their window. We are there again today – so delicious.

Despite being exhausted and walking 7 miles today I drew two sketches when we ate there again after our visit to the Georges Pompidou. I even drank a Coke. Something I rarely do.

La Pause Beaubourg where u can eat in the window in the most charming barrel chairs. Tiny furniture in France unlike supersized everything in America. Always too big pour moi!

La Pause Beaubourg

We did sit resting our aching feet and recooperating before we took off for some Marveilieux au Fred on Rue de Pont St Louis Phillippe three blocks from the Hotel de Ville in the Marais.

Can I say Heaven!? Delicious meringues filled with what might be marshmallow fluff?!

Tiny cakes called Marveilleux that melt in your mouth. Wonderful staff. The young homme who helped us spoke English like an American. When I asked him where he was from he said he learned English from American tv shows.

Beautiful churches abound. This one is interesting because it has a gothic flying buttressed church with a neoclassic facade. Gorgeous lit in the afternoon sun.

Hotel de Ville the crenelated embellished jewel also know as City Hall. Amazing building. This is the Seine River side.

Hotel de Ville from the plaza side.

Even the lights, the metro signs and

the advertising kiosk are amazing in Paris.

Notre Dame across the river from Hotel de Ville was amazing. The building is just incredible. So large! I am sure it’s bigger than a football field.

The Rose Windows and all the stained glass unbelievable. We just sat in awe of quite a while. Well worth getting up early and beating the crowd which stretched across the plaza when we exited the building.

To think that only Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame kept it from falling down in the 183os/. Thank you Victor Hugo and Quasimodo.

Views from the fifth floor of

The Pompidou were worth the admission alone.
Parisians packed the plaza in front enjoying the sunny warm fall day.

The children loved the bubble lady and so did we.

The architecture near the Ljmpidoy was quite eclectic. Gothic to modern in a row.

A few more views from the Pompidou.
Ze Eiffel Tower.
We are off the Viking Pride today and the Louvre. No hopping night club to keep us awake tonite on the quai.

Day482 Paris

November 5, 2015November 3, 2015Leave a comment

We should be touching down any minute in Paris. Can’t wait to get sketching in France. To stand in the haunts of some of my favorite painters Monet Degas Matisse Van Gogh and Cezanne will be amazing. To visit the Rouen cathedral that Monet painted how many times?! Got to paint it at least once.

In the meantime going to post some of my Inktober sketches that I painted with the palettes I am taking with me.

This one lit up my Instagram feed. And yes I did strip my kitchen floor. Evidently it also striped my fingernails even though I wore gloves but hey my floor looks brand new!!

A quick brush pen sketch of one of the audience members at Best of Augusta. I just loved her look and couldn’t resist sketching her. Sometimes I find the audience members much more entertaining to draw than the bands that are playing. Her skin is burnt sienna with ultramarine blue for shadows. The hair is ultramarine blue and burnt umber.

My dog Honey was painted with the Whiskey Painter palette only two colors. Ultramarine blue and burnt umber. Period.

Thanks for reading. Pass me a croissant please!!

Margaret xxx

Day 480 – one day till

November 3, 20152 Comments

Lift off. My suitcase is packed and I have plenty of room for art supplies. When I went to key west I actually needed more sketchbooks. Not this time!!

So why am I taking to sketch with?!! I know u r dying to know!!!

My two small palettes. Been painting with them and they really have all the colors you need. The whiskey painters palette has all the basic Winsor Newton colors plus Daniel Smith Quin coral which I love for skin tones and two ceruleans because I use it A lot!!

The cotman is full of quinacridones and a couple of paints that should be in the Whiskey painters palette the yellow and Thalo blue.
Paint brushes. Taking the good ones since I have room and just in case. Most of them are Isabey sables including the mops but the big sable is my cheap Joes legend which I love. Curious to see how much the Isabeys cost in France the land of their birth. They are made in Brittany and are Charles Reid’s favorite brush. I wouldn’t mind another one or two.

Back up colors in case I run they the ones in the palettes.

Pens loaded mostly with Platinum Carbon Black. Top to bottom Kuretake Brush Pen, Black pitt pen Fine, pentrl brush pen, sepia pitt pen Fine, two Noodler Konrads (one has Deartementis document brown ink in it) Platinum Carbon pen, and two of my favorite pens the Noodler Creaper ahab.

I am taking these with me in case I want to paint as I sketch. I usually paint when I get home because I hate to make my sister Jan wait while I paint. Bad enough that she waits while I sketch.

Lots of ink and cartridges.

Lots of paper. The two hand made sketchbooks have Cheap Joes Kilimanjaro, 3 strathmore mixed media sketchbooks(my current fav) a tablet of Fabriano squarely 149# cold press, some Canson post cards and some Strathmore 500 watercolor cards oh and a stack of accordion folded Stonehenge paper to draw strings of people and maybe a chicken or two on?!