@Pencils4tea & paper drifts!

August 1, 2023August 1, 20233 Comments

Marcia! A lady with the boxing gloves you never know what people w pose w @pencils4tea which was zoomed live from Dundee, Scotland.

We had 17 poses in the hour. I am surprised I made it through. Was like chasing a lure for an hour. Never quite catching it but yes i will be there next week of i have time. A challenge is thrown. 👍🏻

My friend Ruth. You can follow her @Britpeach on ig one of my two favs.

General Hb charcoal pencil and watercolor in a 6×9 superaquabee. Its almost full. Either going to have to draw smaller OR buy a big stack of them. Lasting abt 2-3 weeks with their 60 pages because u cant paint on the back because of the charcoal. Maybe forced to. Hmm.

Any suggestions???! In the meantime roaring thru paper. Right now i like it in sketchbooks so we aren’t buried under paper drifts.

Hmm too bad I cant draw on a roll of toilet paper. Rofl.

Sleuthing Susanna. Love her big eyes. I took three screen shots of the less than two minute poses and finished later. All 3 were all less than two minutes to draw which left no time to paint. Had to go back later and paint this one, Ruth and Miss Marple aka Anna.

Anna Marple as one of the artists called her. Each person had a theme song from a tv show or a movie. Hers was Miss Marple, my fav Agatha Christie series.

Karen and a yellow rose accompanied by Henry Mancini’s Charade. Maybe she just oeft one of the flower vendors along the Seine?? One of my fav movies-Audrey Hepburn and Carey Grant. Her clothes and Paris! Perfection.

Silvia. 2:30 minutes to draw her. Slapping the paint on. Always gives it an immediacy.

Serena love her grey hair piercing blue eyes. The tilt of her head.

Audrey. Theme song Summer Place. Sweet face.

Ellas blue white and red perfect for her Inspector Clouseau theme song. all she needs is a beret.

Out of Africa. Did not catch her name. That purple vase was a trial. Turned out ok. At least i kept the white paper for highlights.

Michelle. You never know what her pose will be. Always something zany. Laurel leaves to go with the Gladiator music??

Lou not Katherine. A great drawing. But darn the wrong name. My friend Ruths high school friend who lives in London. Gone With the Wind theme song.

A nice quiet pose for sketch number 17. Amelie theme.

Time to go paint. Behind on the portrait challenge. Number 100 approaching. Xoxoxoxo Maggie aka Margaret

Day 91

July 29, 2023Leave a comment

Done. Oddly the face is the same painting in both pics. All I can say is go figure.

Day 91 Donella @darealsdonella really like painting animals and who could resist this kid?! An armload of adorable fuzziness. I want one, please!!!

Lighter background otherwise everything is the same.

Forgot process pics. Managed to use alot of quin burnt orange in the goat. Perfect for him plus burnt umber and cerulean for the fur. Doneallas hair barely used yellow ochre. My current fav skin quin burnt orange and quin pink. Cobalt and quin pink top. Cerulean and burnt quin orange for the background plus andrews turquoise.

9×12” superaquabee sketchbook.

Thanks! Judith @jyportraitchallenge and Donella @darealsdonella

Better color in this one. IPhone is reliably unreliable for accurate color.

Margaret ready for bed. Xoxoxox

Day 48!! #jyportraitchallenge

June 3, 2023Leave a comment

Lori @rubysshoes1

Popped out of bed at 7 am when I saw this sweet face. But 1st I got KOW-FEE as Al would say.

Otherwise no time for art today. Hmm she could go pinker.

Color is somewhere between the multiple pics. Annoying iphone camera messes w ths color.

Sorry forgot to take pics!!

TIP: Bytw i found out u can erase watercolor pencil and smear it to get rid of the pencil lines. Who knew?

Watercolor pencil in my stillman and birn alpha Thanks! Judith and Lori @rubysshoes1

An odd choice

April 23, 20232 Comments

Trying to loosen up some. Posting the process of this drawing. Day 5 done. #jyportraitchallenge! @mychorrhizal_arts #stillmanandbirnalpha #prismacolorartstix #portrait #portraitchallenge #portrait #dailydrawingprompts #peoplesketching #sketchingideas #challenge

When u arent invested in the subject its a good chance to loosen up.

Hmm. As i said not invested and hanging loose.

Almost done. Really should fix the ribbing on this sweater but why?! Rather play with the beard and udon’t want to spend too much time on this sketch.

Calling him done at least for the moment. prismacolor art stixs faber Castell watercolor pencils and 1 white prismacolor pencil. Where oh were are they ?! Stillmanandbirn alpha 8×10”

Worked on her some more trying to get rid of the yellow. Used a prismacolor pastel stick on her teeth. How dod i not notice i didn’t center her teeth on her nose. Duh?! The neck is not that dark. Chalking it ip to the stupid iphone.

And doesn’t this photo of my grandmother remind you of the sketch of Emily metalksin Will repost it below!

Grandmother always did think she was a vamp.

Margaret done for the night. xoxoxoxo

When you draw in the dark

April 22, 2023Leave a comment

Day 3 #jyportraitchallenge @juttama_rie She might get a little to yellow even for a cancer survivor. But isnt she joyful?! Also a gusty woman going public with her baldness. LOVE Her!! Makes interesting art too. Her page is mostly in German so good luck with that. She has a few en francais which i could read most of.

And oh my goodness does not Emily metalskin do a great vamp. Reminds me of my grandmother who was young in the 1920s. Have long admired Emilys modeling sessions on judith yaws page. Judith who lives in the Asheville are holds lifemodeling sessions via zoom for $15. She does them via zoom I think. Never quite got around to them. Maybe i will soon because her models are outstanding.

Stillman and birn alpha journal Prismacolor art sticks w some Faber Castel watercolor pencils.

Margaret xoxoxox

30 day portrait challenge

April 21, 20232 Comments

Judith Yaws @judithyaws is doing a 30 day portrait challenge on ig @jyportraitchallenge Shes posting awesome photo references for the challenge. Thought i would join my friend Ruth @britpeach in this challenge.

Day 1 done. 10-15 min drawing. 8×10” stillman and birn alpha w prismacolor artsticks #jyportraitchallenge #portraitchallenge #prismacolorartsticks #stillmanandbirnalpha Thanks @prettywackbeats

Day 2 Done. Did i say i started out three behind?! Hope to be caught up by Saturday. Took too long on this one but she is interesting so fun to do. Hard to maneuver the artsticks which are conte crayon shaped prismacolor pencils no wooden case. No sharp edges on them. Hmmm gotta be a way around that. Thanks!@artzkt83

Cant wait to do this one tomorrow. Love her look.

Using these prismacolor artstixs. Hard to tell where the flat edge is so that causes problems. Wondering of breaking them into pieces would help?! Might just get out my colored pencils and use them when i need a straight exact line like for the eyes or the edge of the face. Now where did i put my colored pencils. Hmmm.

These are done by drawing the large shapes first then the details. I am bad abt starting with the outline and details then filling it in like a color book so trying to change. If Mary Whyte can draw the big shapes first so can i?!

Peaches visiting at our house with our sister in law. Sweet puppy but big feet. You know what that means?!

Margaret xoxoxo

Woodpeckers

April 20, 2023Leave a comment

However I did get some great osprey pics on out boat ride this evening. They are nesting on the railroad trestle at the end of our neighborhood.

The osprey did not like the boat bear their nest. You could hear them shrieking til we drove off.

There were three nests on the trestle but only seems to be one active now.

All in all a nice river ride. More tomorrow. Margaret xoxoxox

A lazy Saturday

April 16, 2023Leave a comment

Drawing at the Farmers Market this am. Thought I would get it colored BUT couldn’t find my caran dache neocolor ii.

It was a gorgeous morning blue sky temps hit 80. Perfection for a spring day in the south.

I was hoping to sketch when we got to Aiken and I schlepped the big sketchbook and the neocolor now found in my purse along with an assortment of pens and pencils. Well I am now ready for the next happening l, right?

I did manage to get some nice riders and horse when we rode thru the horse district. Maybe a future painting?!

Then it was outside watching the river float by hoping for an osprey pic which was not to be. A perfect day all in all. Hope yours was as lovely. Margaret xoxoxox

A history with birds

April 14, 2023April 14, 2023Leave a comment

Worked on the goose some more. Funny thought about my bird drawing. I remember in third or fourth grade making bird books. Probably traced the birds and copied the descriptions. All in pencil because god forbid the kid had an ink pen. She might be lethal then. Evidently the bird affair is a long standing one with me.

Funny the things you forget til something jogs your memory. The jog was an old paper my brother wrote about the brown thrasher the Ga state bird. It was in a bag of papers my mom saved for him that I need to mail to him along with his less than stellar report cards. His daughters will enjoy those. I for one would have loved to see my dads.

The goose before i worked on jt some more. You know i think the neck is too short. Odd. I watch geese alot. I should know better. This was not deliberate like the neck of the heron. Hmm the things u dont notice when u r in the heat of drawing.

Drawings are all done w watercolor, Caran dache neocolor ii,some prismacolor art sticks in an 8×10” stillman and birn alpha. NO PENCIL drawings aka direct painting. All done with a watercolor base first.

I have alot of trouble telling the difference in these two birds when they come to the feeder. So do others. Alot of people identify them both as flickers. Like my mom a bird nut if there ever was one. These two birds sure did get cute. Except for the ink smear. No idea where that came from.

In my dreams they would all be as good as this crow. Something to strive for right?!!

Anyway enough birdie thoughts. Nite note Margaret xoxoxo

Sandi Hester and some birds

April 13, 2023April 13, 20234 Comments

I ran across Sandi, a terribly charming Nashville TN artist, when I subscribed to her substack An Artists life a few weeks ago. I am kind of hooked on her entertaining youtube feed. She talks about everything from art supplies to art books and how to lake the most art possible. I could spend entirely too much money with her helpful tips. Oops. Been trying to swear off art supply buying.

Having fun playing in my big 8×10” Stillman and Birn alpha. Watched a youtube by Sandi Hester who said leave everything set up so all you have to do is sit down and draw something. So I did. Something i had been meaning to do anyway. She suggested drawing birds from a book but i have so many pics on my phone I don’t need to. Somehow I discovered that they are NOT Canadian Geese but actually Canada Geese. Too late. I had already written the name. Sigh.

Anyway this is done with all that leftover watercolor from pouring and Caran dache neocolor II. Oh and Moltow paint markers. A true mixed media bird.

Was just thinking of the diff in these two birds and WHY did i like the heron best? I drew the goose with caran dache and sprayed it to wet the color. I used the watercolor in the background with a big Chinese brush wet on wet with cobalt and indigo. Smack smack and it was done.

The egret was painted first with the cad yellow light indigo and raw sienna. The water is cobalt. I let the bird dry and then drew on it with the neocolor ii. Too much fun. The grass is neocolor ii and prismacolor art sticks. The water. I got the tipples by folding a kleenex w a knife edge dragging it croswise in the paint. It lifts it and leaves a wave. Hmm or is it a reflection?!!🧐🧐🧐