Day 479 Two days to Paris 😳

November 2, 2015November 3, 2015Leave a comment

Well at least we leave then. Lol. Be in Paris by 2 pm Thursday.

Been raining cats and dogs do I am posting all of the family dogs but one today.

A quick sketch of my lab Honey. She walked off before I finished it but decided to paint it this am. Painted with ultramarine blue and burnt umber.
Grant – my sons newest put bull. Drawn with a Lamy Vista using Carbon Paltinum Black ink.

Drawing a new dog is always a challenge. To top it off he’s black and white. I smeared the ink with my finger to try to make his black more solid. I actually drew him three times before I was happy with him.

I wish I could give u some dog drawing tips but the only one I can give u is that a dog like a person or a horse is just geometric shapes. Check out Richard Schmidts wonderful Alla Prima book which is what he says about drawing anything. They are all just shapes.

Livia my sons other pitty. Small sketch with a Kuretake brush pen loaded w Platinum Carbon Black ink.

Lucy dog my youngest sons Briard Colie mix. Such a good puppy.

My other dog Zoe watching me pack. Maybe I should stick her in the suitcase?! I have enough room.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 478 – finishing up

November 1, 2015November 3, 2015Leave a comment

WIP??? Mermaid Lorelei and Mermaid McKenzie 11×14 super Aquabee tablet

Not sure these are done but at least they have some color now. Getting into travel mode so I used my travel Palette with Winsor Newton colors and my cotman palette with quinacridones.

The background in this painting is cerulean and yellow ochre. I may darken with ultramarine or inathradone to make the mermaids pop.

Remember this is what it looked like?

WIP – Mistress Princess Augusta – 11×14 drawn when I was done with one of the long mermaid poses. Her right arm still has problems. She was not posed so she was moving a lot and I drew her right arm too long. I shortened it with negative painting but now I think it is a smidge too narrow.
TIP: Really love her skirt. Both of these paintings were done wet on wet after watching a how to impressionistic watercolor video on Marcon Chews website http://www.marvinchew.com/ (You will have to scroll down for the video. Could not copy the exact irk for u! 😐) about wet on wet painting.The skirt turned out especially well I think. Done with ultramarine and burnt umber added to a wash of water that I painted on the skirt first. The background was done the same way.

I added the bowler hat to the original sketch.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 477 – last of Dr Sketchys

October 31, 2015November 3, 2015Leave a comment

Happy Halloween!!

The first three are all drawn with my Noodler Konrad and Lexinton Grey ink. The colors are all Winsor Newton watercolor markers a few tombows and Wink of Stella Glitter pens.

Mermaid Lorelei and Mermaid McKenzie. What librarians do when they are not working!! Wear mermaid costumes and makeup like a character from Avatar.

My two favorite mermaid sketches. Thier costumes were awesome which is why I saved them for Halloween. This was a twenty minute pose that had ten minutes added to it.

I was done in twenty minutes so i started sketching Princess Augusta our hostess.

Mermaid Lorelei and Mermaid McKenzie

Twenty minute sketch. If I ever sit down to watercolor these this one will be great. I barely had time to start painting.

This was a ten minute sketch. I spent most of the time on the tail. Much more fun coloring than the human part. I really like the tail part but the human part not so much.

Mermaid Lorelei

Looking at that part of would be an easy fix. Shave a tad off the right side of her face and draw in her right upper arm. Oops the things u miss when unate drawing fast. The last one with the Kuretake brush pen. Sometimes I just draw better with one than the other. I changed to my Noodler Konrad.

Day 476 – Dr Sketchys part 2

October 30, 20154 Comments

One more day in Inktober. The end is nigh!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Love this mermaid pose. Mermaid Lorelei who is on Instagram was great. Held poses like a pro not the librarian she is in real life.

This one needs her pretty quotient raised. Murray body. Face not so much.
All the poses and sketches are fast fast. Some poses are a minute. Some are five minutes. Longest pose is usually twenty minutes. The models though fascinating are not professionals. Sometimes they never hold still so you better draw fast. Draw the head draw the shoulders and work on down. Don’t go back. After three hours and ten large sketches I was exhausted. I intend to go back and finish these but between going to school packing for Paris, babysitting grandkids and dogs I haven’t. I will I promise.

This was a great drawing that turns into a disaster when I tried to color it. The eye ran. I changed pens after that.

More tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 475 – Dr Sketchys

October 29, 20153 Comments

The faun 14x 11″ 20 min Kuretake brush pen, platinum carbon black ink, Winsor Newton watercolor markers, wink of Stella metallic pens.
5 minute sketch her feet were like hoofs!!

Was great last nite. Lots of fun. Great costumes!! Contests, a drink or two and wild music to suit the fast sketching.

After ten 11×14 watercolor sketches I was totally exhausted when I got home last nite. 😳
WIP – Let’s play a game! Trivia anyone?! Noodler Konrad, Lexington grey ink. Winsor newton red watercolor Marker.

Even our hostess Princess Augusta was dressed up. I drew her when I finished some of the other sketches but she’s not done.

Her stockings get black stripes. And her clothes are black.

A teaser. There’s more to this mermaid!! Noodler Konrad, Lexington grey ink. Winsor newton watercolor Markers, wink of Stella glitter pens.
Stay tuned for more faun and the piece de resistance the MERMAIDS!!!

Thanks for reading!!

Margaret xxx

Day 472 – She was too pretty!!😳

October 26, 20152 Comments

She was too pretty 30×40″ ??? acrylic

At critique today the class loved the way she looked but the boss aka professor said she was too pretty so I spent today trying to make her less pretty. It’s hard to make a pretty girl not pretty. This is what she looks like now. I should have known better than to use any pink. .

I decided to use contrasting colors adding a lot of orange with cad yellow light for highlights. I also added some pure phtalo blue for darks. And bits of cad yellow light for sparkles.

I also like the area of carpet under the sofa. All the busy stuff. Fun!

This is what she looked like earlier today. A lot of white on the sofa. I do like the sofa with more cad yellow light on it. The yellow in this photo is nickel Azo gold a rusty gold.

Thought u might want to see her pretty face that wuz up close. I do actually like her better now. Now to get her a little wilder and crazier.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 472 – A Toasty Day

October 25, 2015Leave a comment

Aquabee sketchbook with a fine point sepia Pitt Pen.

And more Inktober. Danny Gregory http://www.dannygregory.com the guru of Sketchbookskool and Everyday Matters is posting a Friday Challenge. The first one was draw your toast in INK. You should try it. Takes a while to get all those books and crannies.

Thought u might like to see it I stages. I also did a flipagram of it that I will post at the end.

Lots of seeds on this Costco multigrain organic bread.

And lots of holes for non artisanal bread.

The seeds as something to the sketch but the bread made with cane syrup is too sweet for my taste.

Everything seems to have sugar added to it lately whether or not it needs it – like chicken salad and pimento cheese and Krogers pie crust. Sigh.

Almost done.

All done. It took about an hour. The sketch is about 5×5 inches.

Now get those pens out and sketch your toast!!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 466- The Girl

October 19, 2015Leave a comment

Gets blocked in. This is how she looked after about four hours of work.

Blocking in is the start of a painting. Why he direction it will go gets started. It’s a thin layer of acrylic paint and it’s done for either a finished acrylic or oil painting. I thought you might like to see the process.

First four hash marks are placed along the edge of the canvas dividing it into quarters. The same thing is done to the photograph. This helps in more accurate placement on the canvas.

Next thin layers of color are painted in. I was having a hard time with of all things CONTRAST. duh. I was using Phtalo Blue and Alzarin Crimson and not much else. A little flesh on the face.

Still more Phthalo blue and Alizarin Crimson. A lot of it was applied with foam brushes. They were a lot of fun and I may use them more. They also do a great arrow straight line.

It’s not really as dark as this but it will be. I added alot of Goldens Nickel Azo one of my favorite acrylic colors. It’s a sheer transparent color. All I had to do was add some water to it and brush it over the color already on the canvas. It was like magic making the painting pop. Somewhere I had forgotten about using contrasting colors. Duhhh. Probably this cold that came back with a vengeance when I was in the mountains or more likely the fact that I did not review my painting notes- use a work of complimentary colors. In this case it could have been gold on one end and violet blue on the other.

It takes practice. The more you do the more you remember and do it right the next time.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 464 the last Best of Augusta #4

October 18, 2015Leave a comment

Another favorite of Bill Karp. Bytw he’s playing at the Cotton Patch in downtown Augusta this Saturday nite.

I really like Bill’s stance in these. Especially the first one.

Hand is a little rough but otherwise I like it. My excuse??

It was 9 pm and I was tired and on a sugar high from all the sweets at Best of Augusta.
Oh what was my favorite food?? T’s out on Mike Padgett Hwy. They kept the hot hush puppies and fried catfish and tartar sauce flowing. And it was perfectly cooked. Everyone else had chicken chicken and more chicken.

The last sketch I did of Bill. Not a perfect hand but I like it.

We left loaded up with cake, cookies and Krispy Kreme donuts. All those sweet treats still sitting on the kitchen counter.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 463 more Best of Augusta #3

October 17, 2015October 15, 2015Leave a comment

Once i switched to the Pentel brush pen life improved. Or maybe it was Bill Karp singing Frank Sinatra?! His 100th birthday. Frank’s not Bills!!!
This is my favorite sketch of Bill. A good stance. Shoes look good and a good hand. Score!!

I kept trying to draw Bills hand. He waved them around a lot. I. Perpetual motion.