Griffith 140 cold press arches. Not my favorite painting. Stan Millers grandson. Stan does phenomenal portraits and has some great YouTube videos.
I will say that by taking his demo at Watercolor Live I have saved myself the trouble of taking a class from him in person which Mike had wanted to do before covid. Stan doesn’t want you to interpret the person but to paint an identical likeness. He’s very 123 so easy to follow but as my long time teacher Al Beyer said don’t worry abt the likeness unless they are paying you for it.
That said Stan has some absolutely gorgeous watercolors and rightly so he has made his living for forty years selling and teaching it.
I should add that I could soften a lot of edges with the Mr Clean eraser if I wanted to. I did the one on his right cheek with it and the arches paper was just fine with it. I pulled it down his cheek a couple of times and they did the trick. I will say one of the things I don’t like abt this portrait is all the hard edges which of course I could soften.
TIP: I cut the Mr Clean Eraser up into smaller wedges so I don’t have to deal with the whole big eraser which is sponge sized.
Sometimes I seem better at drawing paintings than actually getting them painted. Hopefully tomorrow.
Daisies so I tweaked it a bit more today. I have to say Irena Roman gave the best directions. I wrote them down during her session at Watercolorlive 2023 then offline I religiously followed them. The only thing I would do differently is make a bigger one. All that work and it’s only 1/4 sheet of fabriano 300# cold press. Next one at least a half sheet.
Usually pouring you mix the colors on this page. Can’t wait to try Linda Bakers approach but this one you mixed them in a cup, masked the figure and sprayed the sheet with a spray bottle then flooded it with three layers of color.
The masking was endless ruined a brush in the process and took a half an hour of hard running to get off but it’s definitely interesting to play with. Didn’t make a huge mess.
Colors used. Well only five or six. Inanthrodone blue dioxizine purple viridian ultramarine violet and quin gold for the flooding.
Cad yellow aureolin cobalt teal and a few oddball greens for the leaves and details. Thalo blue added to the mix of blues for the jar.
I actually used a 2 and a 4 Isabey kolinski painting these. I don’t know when I last used those brushes. An 8 is small for me!
Last night off the back porch.
Margaret xoxoxo who forgot to upload this yesterday. Oops.
Almost done. Twelve hours or so just today on this 1/4 sheet. Fabriano Artistico cold press 300#
Endless drawing. Third time. First trace was wrong second draw was lifted by masking. Spent three hours redrawing. Or was it four. 🙃🙃🙃😵💫
Now to figure out where to put the masking on the bottle. 😳😵💫

Jar masked. Kept dipping the brush in soapy water and drying it off. Also dumped the masking in the lid. Went much easier after I did that. I think asking the whole letter and lifting the mask to paint the dark will be easier than masking the highlight around each one. We shall see
Masking on jar removed. I think it looks awful. so hard to soften those edges that masking leaves.
Quitting for now. Need to work on the jar some more esp 1858 BUT my hands and shoulder are DONE.
Finally standing back from it i think it looks amazing if I do say so myself. since it’s sucked up most of my life for the last few days glad it does.
Chasing after Iain Stewart for an hour and a half Saturday. Got WAY too purple in the foreground so I tried to calm that imperial purple down. Then I Vlad-it a bit. Putting in tiny details w a dark dark grey. That was fun.
Then I went too far on the water but I can’t leave water just plain. I mean the only time the water here is flat is when there’s no current or no breeze. One or the other is always happening. Turned the wowed tree on the top left into a Christmas tree. That was fun. I mean eek. What’s with that purple. I swear that’s the color he said to paint it. He does love that purple. He suggested using a palette knife for the dark lines.
I actually had the same one. Thanks dad. It was my fathers old one. I tend to the triangular springy small ones that look like cake knifes. Anyway I tried my old springy one to do the poles but didn’t work to well. Dug out dads during the break between classes. So much easier. Then I made a lot of lines w it. Did walkways gang ways porches. Over the top as usual.
Night night. Though I had. A nice long nap I need another one to get rid of this cold. Oh yes u have had quite the cold thru this whole crazy long days of painting. Xoxoxox @
But NO I promised I would bake a chocolate pound cake for book club which is today not next Tuesday. Did I say I used up all the eggs yesterday duh. So off to the store. I always end up with a few cupcakes because my pan is only ten cups and the recipe is for a 12 cup pan. A delicious side benefit right?!
We are going birds around here. Counted 30 cormorants flying south before it got dark last night. Add in a bald eagle or two and all the normal birds we enjoy the birds. Crows love to chase the bald eagles. Not sure why but they do. Here’s a few more. I do enjoy doing a scribbly great w with my black ink pen. One line crow on a page full of birds and cats. Drawn with a uniball micropen. Almost forgot these funky fabulous birds. Drawn during Inktober. Maybe next year I will draw a bird every day. So much easier than using the Inktober prompts. A pair of Hanukkah socks I knitted for a friend for her birthday. She’s all set for next year.
Margaret who will post the cake tomorrow after it’s out of the oven. The hubby pronounced those cupcakes perfect. Almost like a cheesecake.
Flags flying at half staff on the Thurmond Dam.The sketch. The only pencil I had was a thick leaded 2B derwent sketch pencil. Yes I forgot a regular pencil too. Sigh. You know when fisherman are ready to go they are ready to go. 😂😂😂Off course I didn’t finish them. Left the big wash brushes at home. Both of these were painted with a tiny size 4. I rarely use anything smaller than a 10!
Both are fairly small. 1/4 sheet 140 arches rough. The pad just fits in my painting bag so I took it along.
Will finish these when I get home but off to moms memorial so these will languish on the studio table while I am gone.
Mom at 90. She does recently from Covid. Refused to get the shots. On her 90th. She was 96 when she died in April. RIP Lucy June!
The long pose – 40 minutes – pentel brush pen and watercolor in my superaquabee tablet. Crystal of @crystallinecreative did a terrific job as usual during this live zoom session thru Townsend Atelier. She’s doing online modeling sessions via Townsend Atelier about once a month on Monday at 5 EST. You can contact them at mailto:peggy@townsendatelier.com.Two minute posesFive minute poseFive minute poseTen minute pose
Ten minute pose
Fishing again today. That’s my husband up at the top of the dam – the blue dot. You run up and down that hill to land fish. Not me. I sit at the bottom and paint. Of course I didn’t finish anything today. Maybe I will get them down tomorrow. Some dummy left most of her brushes at home. Duh.
In my small Stillman and Birn alpha w a Office Depot mechanical pencil.
The best of the lot. My sweetie Hunt. 4×6”
I measured his head when I drew this one by holding up my 2B mechanical pencil. His head is very long and narrow. Kind of like the rest of him. He’s 6’3”. Lots of whiskers. Mustache and goatee. Going grey but still has a lot of pepper in his once black hair.
Next up a watercolor or two of him sooner or later.
This is the First go round and his face was not long enough. Made him look squat. Vaguely looks like him but the mouth is his mouth. Oops. Easier to redraw than erase all that pencil. 4×6”And Sam I Am a Siamese stray on the back porch. Sweetest of all the back porch cats. once he’s fixed he’s looking good for a house kitty. He wants in every time I feed him or pet him. Another man of good taste.
Oldest eating establishment in Key West is their Moniker.
Margaret xoxoxox who needs to do a whole series of Key West quirky places.
Across from the Key West Bight.
This place serves the most awesome coconut pie you will ever eat. I ran across this sketch when I was looking for photos of Chrystalline creative in my superaquabee sketchbook and really like it a lot so thought I should publish it.
Pepe’s Coconut Cream Pie
Crust:
1 1/2 C Graham Crumbs
1/4 C Sugar
6 T Butter melted
Stir all together and press in 9-10″ pie pan
Filling
3 Egg Yolks
2 t Coconut Extract
1/2 C Sugar
3 Heaping T cornstarch
3 C Half and Half
1 C Flaked and Sweetened Coconut
1/2 C Heavy Cream
mix yolks and extract, set aside.
Combine sugar, cornstarch , half and half in heavy sauce pan over medium high. Bring to boil stirring constantly.
The recipe for Pepes Coconut Pie.
Pepe’s Coconut Cream Pie
Crust:
1 1/2 C Graham Crumbs
1/4 C Sugar
6 T Butter melted
Stir all together and press in 9-10″ pie pan
Filling
3 Egg Yolks
2 t Coconut Extract
1/2 C Sugar
3 Heaping T cornstarch
3 C Half and Half
1 C Flaked and Sweetened Coconut
1/2 C Heavy Cream
mix yolks and extract, set aside.
Combine sugar, cornstarch , half and half in heavy sauce pan over medium high. Bring to boil stirring constantly.
When it starts to bubble and 1/2 C of mixture to eggs very slowly to temper them. Return all to the saucepan whisking constantly over medium low. When the sauce is thick and coats the back of a spoon remove from heat and stir in coconut. Cool to room temperature and turn into the crust. Chill for 2 hours. Whip cream (1/2 T powdered sugar) and spoon over pie.
If you love coconut pie this is the one to eat. We passed up pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving for this one when I made it. And I make a great pumpkin pie too.
I actually like this so far. The morning will tell. Paint along with Vladislav Yesileyev
The value sketch The photo First wash
Yellow ochre cobalt and alizarin This layer will eventually disappear or appear to be white.
Sky wash cerulean instead of cobalt. Otherwise the same colors. Yellow ochre alizarin and neutral tint My terrible blotchy trees that I dry brushed. Colors cobalt Dioxzine purple yellow ochre for the purple color. Indigo and cad yellow w a bit of burnt Sienna for the greener colors. Well zap a lot more done. Too much to tell u even a bit abt it but omgoodness that dinky little boat. Fixing mistakes. Well trying to. Adding blacks to the trees. And done for now. So glad those overhead branches hide my terrible rigging on the boats or the blotchy trees. Thank goodness. A reprieve.
Margaret ready for a nap after four hours of madly chasing after Vlad today. Eeek.
Margaret McCarthy Hunt Art 