Day 557 – Saturday Life Modeling

January 10, 2016Leave a comment

Ilenia after about an hour and a half of painting. Acrylic 30×36 hardboard panel

Always a fun weekly event.

I thought she was going well for working in the dark. For some brilliant reason I had my easel turned AWAY from the light. Maybe because we breeze in right before start time. Hopefully next time I will set it up right.

Obvious problem was the bottom leg was too long. Her knee sticks out to far. I think that was due to slight shifts in the pose during breaks. Hard to resume the exact pose every time.

Here she is now. Knee shortened. Top hip lengthened a bit on the left. All that foreshortening is such a pain.

The background needs more work. The brown is too dark and those triangles at her feet need to go! 😳

Hard to paint such a big piece in a few hours. I think I have about five hours in it now. Dos I say I use big brushes.

Ilenia by Al Beyer – oil – at least 3×4′

This is Al Beyer’s aka painting. He was painting a few feet to my left. Always interesting to see how he goes about painting the model.

And how different the model looks just a few feet to my right or left. Al to my left barely saw her head.

Lee drawing on my right had her full profile whereas I barely saw her nose.

Als after two hour session which is really an hour and a half or so.
Colors used: all golden or liquitex -titanium white, nickel Azo gold, pyrrole red, cad yellow, ultramarine blue, burnt umber, alizarin Crimson. I buy artist grade but whichever is cheaper or the color I like better.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 555 Notre Dame

January 8, 2016Leave a comment

Ok so it’s not really pink. I just like the way the alizarin looked. All yellow ochre was oh so boring. Cerulean and some Quin sienna in the shadows.

Drawn with a sputtering skipping Noodler Ahab. I bought a new one because my beloved old standby was leaking. This one is worse than the first one. Going to get the leaky one out and put in some new seals. Maybe that will fix it.

Anyway. Got to knit the yahd guy a hat so he won’t freeze in this lovely cold snap.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 554 – La Bouef Sur la Toit

January 7, 2016Leave a comment

A slick restaurant around the corner from our hotel. It means Beed on the Roof. Delicious food. Glad I finally got this one painted.

I used lots of Quin gold, also Quin sienna and Phthalo blue. Quin coral. Grey hair is burnt sienna and cerulean.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 553 – Montmartre

January 7, 20164 Comments

Do you like it better with the red Moulin Rouge or all ink?!

I really have to quit drawing these in my sketchbook. Somebody is already asked to buy it or a print. So now I have to draw it over. WHY do I do these things?!

Carbon pen with carbon platinum ink. Great fine point pen but sometimes it leaks BLOBS On your just drawn paintings. Sigh. BIG blobs.

I have a French Seine riverbank landscape I was working on yesterday. Yes. You guessed it. BIG BLACK blob. No warning.

It also leaks into the cap which can cause problems. Sigh. What’s a girl to do?!

I know. White out?! 😜

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 552 More Brevard!

January 5, 2016January 4, 2016Leave a comment

Main and Broad in Brevard. I think it’s the town hall or the court house?! Watercolor, Noodler Konrad w D’artrementis Document Brown in strathmore Mixed Media 500 sketchbook.

I drew this sitting out near O P Taylors on Broad which has a good view of the court house.

The tree and building were still decorated for Christmas. I love that people no longer zip the decorations into storage the day after Christmas.

A great view of the mountains as Broad Street drops off toward Asheville.
My biggest dislike about the Strathmore Mixed Media 500 journal is that it’s very difficult to make lay down flat giving a large shadow down the spine. Not very attractive in the middle of a painting!

I guess I need to flatten it on the scanner but so much easier to use the cellphone for a quick pic.

Colors used. Cerulean sky w a touch of cobalt. Red w yellow ochre for brick colors. Burnt umber and Inathrodone for shadows, roofs, truck and street. Hookers green w Inathrodone for the for tree.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx who is off to the Columbia Art Museum for the Georgia O’Keefe exhibit.

Day 551 – Sapphire Valley NC

January 4, 2016January 4, 2016Leave a comment

Out the Back door. Watercolor, Noodler Konrad w D’artrementis Document Brown in strathmore Mixed Media 500 sketchbook. .

Spent the last week in Sapphire Valley at my sons trout farm that he bought last fall. A truly lovely spot. I sketched this as I sat on the back deck on one of the few sunny days we had.

The Thompson River, a trout river, runs through the property with at least two waterfalls. When you fall asleep at night you can here the river rushing by. It’s surrounded by stands of hard woods and pine trees.

This was painted with my whisky painters watercolor box and waterbrushes.

Colors used. Cerulean sky. Grey is Inathrodone and burnt umber with touches of hooker green for the moss on the trees. River. Hookers, cerulean and yellow ocher.

Rhododendrons hookers and cad yellow.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

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 542 – that travel journal

December 25, 2015December 26, 2015Leave a comment

🇫🇷Or breakfast at the Rochester hotel.

A lavish spread. Heaps of croissants and tasty rolls. Several kinds of delicious cheeses, quiche, home made yogurt and the list goes on and on. There was even some kind of baked chicken and veg. 👀

🇫🇷If you didn’t like what they had you could order whatever you wanted. I always ordered an omelet. We were up so early I did’t want to get hungry before we found a place to eat lunch!! And of course since it was a buffet we tried lots of goodies-perhaps only a bite.

🇫🇷This lady sat next to me at breakfast one day. I knew she would not notice me drawing her since she was engrossed in her IPad.

🇫🇷Strathmore mixed media 500 paper, Noodler Konrad pen, platinum carbon black ink, Daniel smith, winsor Newton, and Holbein watercolor.

🇫🇷 I think I left my heart in France when it’s not in Decatur with my grandkids. 😢 I dream about it a lot!!

Merry Christmas🎄🌲🎄🌲🎄🌲🎄

Thanks for reading.

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