Day 1056 – the View at Breakfast

June 12, 2017June 13, 2017Leave a comment

We always stay at the Country Inn and suites when we take a class at Cheap Joes. The people are lovely even if the breakfast is not so great. The view from the breakfast area and the staff make up for the lack of the great food. After class Mike and I frequently go prop our feet up and rock the afternoon away drinking a glass of wine and looking at this view of Howard’s Knob the mountain in the painting.

Of course on a good morning we got to share our breakfast with Charles and the ever adorable Judy Reid. Always a morning treat. They are so lovely! Judy will regale is with stories of the adventures of Chuck and Judy.

There are quite a few after 60 plus years of marriage. Like the time they almost were lost at sea helping a friend sails 50 foot Chesapeake bug eye catch when a storm hit them off of Charleston. Judy and Charles were the only ones who knew anything about sailing. So glad they survived!!

Painted with Charles Reid’s palette.

Off to hem those long overdue curtains. Wonder if my sewing machine still works?! Margaret xoxoxox

Day 1053 – Politics

June 8, 2017Leave a comment

Hard to avoid it today. It’s all over the tv the radio Facebook twitter. I don’t know about you but the last few days have been riveting. THIS IS WATERGATE!! 14×20 Mixed Media

Enough to get Rachel Maddow back from her sick bed where she had been for almost two weeks.

I got the brilliant idea to do this one on arches #140 cold press. BIG a mistake. Hard to write on with any ink pen or marker I had.

I finally picked up a Japanese brush pen I thought had permanent ink. I tested it on a scrap of paper. It didn’t run.

Fast forward to all the heavy lines in this sketch are done with that brush pen especially on Dan Coats.

When I started painting him he turned into a gray runny mess. This was supposed to be a watercolor. EEEKKKK.

I dug into my mixed media art supply grove. Caran d’ache Neocolor ii to the rescue. I started coloring. I lightened him up. The only person that didn’t have some runs was Comey. 😳

A lot of the letters ran. The names!! Eeeekkk. On this rough paper there was no clean edge. Tried a grease pencil which works great in my sketchbooks. NOPE TOO rough.

Got out a white gel pen on the letters. Better!! Got out a paint pen. Even better. More outlining with the Lamy Safari.

Done. Whew. Not what I had in mind BUT finally pleased with it.

Margaret planning another but it will be on hot press paper. Xoxoxo the news is calling.

Day 1051 Take a Hike Mr President #3

June 6, 2017Leave a comment

And what about where I live? Will the houses along the Savannah be in the Savannah?!

Will downtown Augusta be underwater?! And the island across from me already underwater sometimes. Will it be gone?!

Will the Savannah be 600 yards wide here instead of 300?!

I keep asking.

Nobody can answer me.

And you know 45 doesn’t care about our little spot of gorgeous earth.

Will

All

Be gone or

Bigger ?!

Or what?!

Ttyl Rachel Maddow is back tonite. I knew she wouldn’t be able to miss the recent NSA leak. Off to shower so I will be ready

Xoxoxox

Day 1046 – Let’s Make A French Omelette!

June 1, 2017Leave a comment

Ever since I read Julia Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking as a child I have been in love with the notion of all things French and especially the quintessiantal French food – the omelette.

But I never could figure out how they made that neat rolled omelette.

Watching Jacques Pepins American Master show on PBS I thought YOUTUBE!!

Sure enough. There he was teaching how to cook an omelette.

Omelette Number 1 of course I had to draw it to commemorate the occasion.

First mistake I had been making was not using the right pan so I got it a big 10-12″ round edged skillet that was coated w the green coating that releases easily.

And I hadn’t been using the spatula to scrape around the edges as I cooked. Who knew?

And I stuffed mine. Trying to eat those greens and I had to have some Cheddar cheese.

The most delicious thing I have ever eaten. I swear. Not so pretty but amazing.

Omelette 2 Today.

Prettier shape but too brown.

Anyway colors used to paint it. Cad yellow light, cerulean, yellow ochre, green apatite and sap green for the plate, Ultramarine Blue and burnt umber for the shadow.

TIP: Splattered with palette mess left from painting. Has to be really soupy to splatter. Use more water than you think. And I just use a large paint brush in this case my 10 Da Vinci. I also painted this with the same paint brush.

Margaret xoxoxo

Day 1044 – That Dirty Dried out Palette

May 31, 2017Leave a comment

Now that I am home for a day or two I wanted to use my Ted Nuttall palette. This is actually Teds Palette.

All those lovely transparent colors.

And it helped with my procrastination mode getting started painting the Raisin and Harley painting

which is finally transferred to paper and ready to paint.

Of course my Palette has dried out and filthy. They always dry out!! It needed revival and cleaning. Another way to procrastinate!!! The spray bottle was not getting the job done. The colors were lumpy and nasty.

So how did I get it clean and get the paint smooth and ready to use!?

First I sprayed it and tried stirring each color with its own tooth pick. That did not do much for the lumps. I wanted to paint!!!

I got out my trusty old palette knife. It has a tiny blade on it compared to most so it fit perfectly in the wells of my porcelain palette.

I used a jillion Kleenex wiping wells out where there was just a dribble of old hard paint. NO LOTION On those Kleenex.

I started bending my antique palette knife in some of the paint. Oh NO!! I kept going. What palette knife is supposed to last forever!?

I decided to rearrange the colors. Here and there I had added colors I MUST have to the basic Nuttall Palette like Cerulean, Andrews Blue, Daniel Smith Piemonite and Green Apaptite.

The Kleenex and the palette knife left crusts of color in the corners.

Then I realized I could fill the wells with water and used an old brush to swirl out the bits left in corners. Hallelujah clean wells at last.

I used a sharpie to rewrite the colors on the edges of the wells and I even have a few leftover slots.

So it’s new clean and lovely at this point.

What I learned while cleaning my palette.

Wear rubber gloves while cleaning your palette unless you want to have colored fingernails. 😱
Those dollar store Kleenex with lotion have something wierd in them. They gave me a rash when I used them on my nose. 😱😱 Now gone. 🤗🤗🤗
Now I know why some people have stacks of these palettes. It might be easier to just buy a new palette than clean the old one out.

Margaret who has some painting to do. Xoxox and no more reasons to procrastinate because I even cleaned up the studio and moved to the summer one aka the kitchen table and island.

Oh wait I need to use the glass cleaner on the winter studio table. It’s looking hazy. Procrastinate procrastinate. I need some flowers to paint!!

🌼🌻🥀🌷🌷🌸🌺🌼🌻🥀🌹🌷🌸🌺

Day 1043 – Chuck and Judy 3 or is it Brenda and Judy?!

May 30, 2017May 30, 20172 Comments

I don’t know about you but I can’t take enough classes with Charles and Judy Reid. I highly recommend them.

Did I say I own all of his books but one and several videos?!!

Brenda and Christine Again! – Charles Reid class

And evidently I can’t draw Brenda the Blonde- enough either.

The third time in Charles class.

Brenda and Rebecca – Peggy Habets class

. I have drawn her at least FIVE times because she stands and watches the teacher paint and she’s handy to draw. Some turnout better than others.

Oops way too dark.

I usually draw her pretty well but sometimes thempainting goes astray like in this one. Too dark.

But the sketch was great.

One more Brenda in Ted Nuttalls class May 2016.

Christine in Ted Nuttalls class May 2016.

Margaret whose going to paint raisin and Harley if I can quit watching the Keepers today on Netflix’s. Riveting show. Highly recommend.

Xoxoxo

Day 1040 – Canyons – Blowing Rock!

May 27, 2017May 28, 20172 Comments

Mike and I had lunch at the Canyons in Blowing Rock because as she said the view of the mountains was spectacular from dining room. The food was delicious too and the service was great.

Spring green was the key color out the window covering the trees and the mountains.

Painted with Charles Reid palette leftovers. He only uses 12 colors. All Holbein. The greens are hookers and Oxide of chromium. He also likes cobalt violet. Uses all of those a lot on flowers.

I guess I need to do a sample of them so you can see the colors. Just normal old colors. No Quins though I added my favs Quin gold and burnt orange which I sub for ochre and burnt sienna at times.

I kept trying to get a pic of this interesting guy when he was sitting at the bar inside but he was back lit which does not work in a photo. Don’t u love all the trash can background?!

Funnny story. I went to the trash cans when we got in the car to throw some junk out that I pick up like a pack rat and guess who was there!? The guy. And a waitress who had been watching me draw she told him to pose for me because I was a really good artist. Lights not great but it might work. I have more of him not smiling. Do t like painting teeth showing.

Should have told him to take off his hat but that would have ruined his charm. I did get him to turn around but still no light.

The Mountains from the porch.

In the restaurant from our table. What a view. Love this place.

Ttyl Margaret xoxoxo

Day 1036 – The Farrier

May 23, 2017May 28, 2017Leave a comment

I took a great photo of Raisins farrier when he was showing Harley and Beau a couple of weeks ago.

He has luxurious mustaches.
Here’s the photo I took in the barn when he took a quick break.

Filing shaving who knew it was such a job. Not to speak of holding up the foot of such a large beast. Harley is 17.2 hands. A big fellow!

As you can see it’s hard work shoeing horses. They have been known to sit on farriers while their shoes are being changed.

I was surprised he was all done in about an hour. Busy guy!!

The sketch. Drawn on 140# cold press fluid paper.

Marking progress.

At this point he’s pretty scary looking. The shadows on his cheek look too dark.

Not fond of the no lost edges look of his head. Every thing was too hard edged. Not what I had envisioned. So I left him here to think about it overnite.

Besides I had to watch the last show of Call the Midwives. LOVE that series. Now I can watch it all over again. Yes I have it on DVR!

Here he is with the beard in progress and some background added. Starting to loose some edges. I decided to do him what I do when I don’t like the way a painting is going. Add some sloppy dots.

Once you don’t like a painting it’s a good opportunity to just mess with it.

I started reading this great watercolor book that Raisin gave me. Ran across his art at Cityart when I went on the Vista Gallery Walk last month and was thrilled to find he had a book.

One of the things he suggested was spraying the hard edges with a spray bottle?! WHAT?? Yes SPRAY the edges to loose them.

So I hit the background with the spray bottle. What a great effect. Juicy runny spotty color. LOVE The effect.

Did the same thing on the left background. And swished it with a big brush.

Love the speckles the runs and then the light areas. Try it. Such fun!!

It did leave a few horizontal drips on the left that I didn’t like but a few swipes with Mr Clean and zip they were gone.

See?! All gone! Got to love fluid paper for its liftability.

Yesterday I didn’t like the dark ick colored shadows on his cheek. Funny today they don’t bother me. I guess time fixes paintings as well as the heart. Lol!

So he’s done for now. Fixating on his mouth and that hard edge Sean on his shoulder. Oh well nothing’s ever perfect. Going redraw him on an offer sheet of 300# paper today.

Margaret who has to get drawing now. Xoxox

Day 1035 Its about a dog!

May 22, 2017May 22, 2017Leave a comment

I took a great photo of my friend Raisins white English retriever Lucy lounging around on the window seat.

This is a small practice painting for bigger painting. Note to self LOOSE THOSE EDGES! It’s very hard to do a loose painting when it’s so small.

It all starts with a great photo of a gorgeous dog.

Click the link for a short video on how to draw your own dog.

Think I will draw Zoe. It’s been a while and she’s curled up ready to be drawn.

Colors used Winsor yellow, ds carmine, cobalt violet, mineral violet, oxide of chromium, viridian?, cerulean, ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, cad orange, cad red light or scarlet lake.

Ttyl Margaret who had to get walking again. Been on vacay TOO along now. Xoxox

Day 1033 Those darned teapots!

May 20, 2017May 20, 2017Leave a comment

In every class you take there is usually very useful fact that sticks out that you learn.

I have learned that rubbing alcohol dissolves and removes acrylic paint even when it dries.
I learned about Mr Clean erasers in my first Charles Reid class in Atlanta and have been using them ever since.
In John Salimens class I learned about masking taping your painting when you use a Mr Clean on your painting. That way you can hone in on an exact spot.

For some reason when I drew the above painting I decided it would be a great idea to put the teapot behind the leaf. DUHHHH!

I absolutely loathed it when I was done. As no doubt you know that might mean the painting was ruined. So yesterday I decided to lift it with a Mr Clean and masking tape. It couldn’t hurt it.

Here is the top of the teapot taped off and the star on top of it.

And here it’s all erased in one swipe and a blot with a Kleenex.

I had to do the spout twice. Once to remove the leaf over it. And once to correct my not so great painting of the inside of the spout.

This is the tape job before I lifted the color off the spout.

And here’s the spout after I swiped with the Mr Clean. Be sure to use clean water and a clean sponge.

Here’s the spout and the top repainted after lifting with the Mr Clean.

And here’s the painting now. I also went back in and added some carmine to the lilies in the left. They were too purple.
And I tried to soften their edges. Those darn Lilies are asuch a pain. Always sticking out.