Day 721 – Alexis

June 21, 2016Leave a comment

One of my Aiken painting friends blocking out her new painting.
Alexis always comes to paint dressed to the nines frequently with a scarf flung over her shoulder wearing ballet flats. She says she’s trying to wear out her old work clothes now that she’s retired.
I quipped at her it wouldnt take me long to do in my good clothes with acrylic paint smears.
This painting doesn’t do her justice because she’s also very tiny. I fattened her up a bit. 😁 Sorey Alexis. She works hard on staying slim. Always eating somethings healthy.
Speaking of which I think I will go eat a salad. Big wedding coming aka Mother of the Groom dress. Eeekkk.

Colors used – Ted Nuttalls transparent colors. And sodalite. Makes a great granulating grey.

Day 720 Happy Fathers Day

June 19, 2016Leave a comment

My dad, a young 93, loves dogs. He’s a sucker for them. And they love him. Feeds them endless snacks. Feeds them of his dinner plate.

I should be painting something new to post. Goodness knows my sketch books are full of ink sketches begging to be painted BUT there’s a new dog in town. I am babysitting my sons rescue the sweet Wesley aka Cowdog because he’s black and white like the Chic Fil A cows.

I took a photo of this and noticed his head was too small so I added about an 1/8 of an inch along his jaw line.

Here’s the one when his head is too small.

Drawn with a Noodler Konrad with carbon platinum black ink.
Thanks for checking by! Hope you all enjoy your Fathers Day!

Margaret xxx

Day 719 – Saturday

June 18, 2016Leave a comment

Already again.

Ilania 20×24 acrylic

This only took about an hour to paint. Somehow the thinned nickel Azo gold prepainted background really helped getting her done.

After the first forty minutes.

Of course after I started looking at her on my phoneI thought maybe I should have painted the drape she was sitting on. Her left arm looks chopped off. It’s really behind the chair she sat on. And her right arm though it looks great is suspended in space. So hmm. What do you think?!
She was painted with Winsor violet, liquitex burnt umber and titanium white, and golden fluid pyrrole red and nickel Azo gold.

Al Beyers lovely large oil. Anout 4 feet long. The hand is just amazing. Remember these were all painted in about an hour and a half.

Drew Murphys acrylic. Some lovely skin tones. Cezanne looking today. Great effect.

Cathe Dennis from Lansing, Michigan’s pastel. She even knows where Diamondale is. My daughter in laws family lives there. Love her scribbles. For some reason it reminds me of Toulouse Lautrec.

Ruth Pearls awesome large pastel.

Tom Needhams El Greco he always does beautiful skin tones.

Fred Baker with his always interesting sense of color.

Thanks for checking by.

Margaret xxx

Day 718 A JRT or two

June 17, 2016Leave a comment

Really have to find something else to draw besides the dogs. Well at least something to practice fast sketching on.

This one is a little off but chalking it up to Zoe moving when she was giving me the Jack Russell stare while eating which means she really wants it cause she might be fainting from starvation any second if I don’t give it to her.

I did start this sketch for a really big full sheet watercolor that I have been wanting to start since I got back from Knoxville. She still has some kinks to work out before I start it.

So that’s what I have been up to today.

Thanks for checking by!

Margaret xxx

Day 617 Done and a dog or two

June 17, 2016Leave a comment

All the squiggly lines are glued down now. I like it but will live with it a while before I sign my name. My biggest problem is always deciding when something is done. But for now it is done.

Back to drawing dogs. Noodler Konrad loaded with Deartrementis document brown ink.

Begging ever hopeful Honey. She did get to lick my breakfast plate. This is drawn with a Pentel Hybrid Techna pen that I like to write with a lot. It did a good job drawing too. It’s so fine it requires a lot more cross hatching than the Konrad. The pen isn’t waterproof so a little water and smudging took care of that problem.

HOWEVER when I used it to mark grid lines to enlarge a photo I am going to paint the ink on the photo killed it.

Now I am wondering if Cheap Joes will replace it. They have a one year warranty on all their products. I got it during my class with Ted Nuttall last month and just finally used it. I used their warranty when my paintbrush had a loose ferrell and they replaced it without a problem. Cheap Joes is such a great place.

Thanks for checking by
Margaret

Day 712 – It’s Saturday

June 11, 2016June 11, 2016Leave a comment

Been a while since I posted one of these. Been out of town I think for the last two months or sick so haven’t been going to life modeling.

And did I say rusty?! What happens when you don’t paint regularly. She looked good when I painted her. Not so sure now. Oh well there’s always gesso!!

Or maybe she needs a good crop?! That’s one good thing about painting on hardboard you can crop it with a table saw.

Thought I would share some of the other paintings done today. All but the watercolor are at least 24×30.

This is Drew Murphy’s acrylic, my favorite one today I think. Really like his colors. Drew recently won a blue ribbon for best Abstract at the Aiken Art Guild juried show.

Al Beyers’ oil hard to top Al but I think Drew did today. Al is a professor at USC Aiken and currently part of a faculty show at Aiken Center for the Arts.

Tom Needhams watercolor. Tom teaches watercolor at the Gertrude Herbeet Institute of Art in Augusta.

Fred’s acrylic. His Mondigliani. Love the orange background. He was just to my left 4 feet. And what a difference that made in the view.

Interesting how different Ilania looks from different angles.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx

Day 712 – so it continues.

June 10, 2016June 10, 2016Leave a comment

Not done yet.

I drew Donna and Ann as they discussed Donnas abstracr. The conversation went on for quite a while giving me plenty of time to draw them.

Another sketch of Dinna done during lectures. The shadow under her eye got a little dark.

Painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent palette.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 711 and then

June 9, 2016June 8, 2016Leave a comment

There were more.

Sweet Mary our backdoor neighbor and our new bff.

Donna. She’s much prettier than this sketch of her.

Once again these were painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent colors. The notes were colored with Winsor Newton watercolor markers, a caran d’ache watercolor pencil and a Daniel Smith watercolor crayon

Thanks for checking by.
Margaret xxx

Day 696 – Memories

May 25, 2016Leave a comment

Best thing about a travel journal is the memories when you look back through it.

Raisin and I shared some awesome deserts and a free shot of Jameson’s is always welcome!!

This was a pretty great strawberry shortcake at Calhouns on the Tennessee River. The view was fabulous. Will post it when I get done painting it! Riverside is a wonderful place to eat especially when it’s a different river than the one i live on.

The lines on this page are made with a Wonsor Newton watercolor markers and a Daniel Smith watercolor crayon that I got at Jerrys Artarama during the demo.

I color with them – draw lines -and then release them with water which let’s them bleed where they want to go. A really fun effect.
And I started this last nite. Forgot to eat dinner. Must be fun right?! Hmm 🤔 full sheet arches 300# 22 x 30″ eeekkkkk

Thanks for checking by.

More Knoxville fun to come.

Margaret xxx

Day 694 – A Few Journal Pages

May 23, 2016Leave a comment

In between doing the laundry and unpacking I have been playing painting my class notes travel journal.
This one has a lot more sketches of fellow students and even sketches of local spots in Knoxville. A GREAT town to visit. Very walkable. Great restaurants and shops.

This is Mary. She sat behind us and we really enjoyed getting to know her.

Barbara Jernigan the president of Tennessee Watercolor Society that made all our fun possible. Kept us organized and eating OUT at the delicious local restaurants.
Thanks for checking in.
Margaret home between the fun.