Day 914 – Your Own Coloring Book

January 20, 2017Leave a comment

Today’s assignment was draw a coloring book page with a marker and color it. Done!! Don’t forget you can copy your coloring book page and color it in lots of different ways.

Still trying to use the wild fauvist colors. Drawn with my black tombow pen in my Stillman and Birn Zeta.

Ps don’t know why I didn’t think about this but copying the coloring book page before you color r it you could also share it with your favorite short people like my grandson and niece who are four and five and LOVE to color. What better than their own coloring sheet made by their favorite artist?

Ttyl

Margaret xoxoxo

Day 911 Finally some color and Fauvism!

January 17, 2017January 17, 2017Leave a comment

Color always excites me. The more the better. The reason I took this class. This week in sketchbookskool drawing a day class we are finally using color. All 96 crayons. And Prismacolor pencils and a few pens.

The challenge today was to draw flowers two ways. One the normal way and one in a fauvist style using as many crayons as possible. See below for all the crayons I used!!

Fauvist is an early 20th century movement lead by Matisse that grew out of Impressionism. It means wild beast because the pictures have colors where you would never find them in nature.

This was drawn by drawing a bit then changing to another color.

Of the two it’s my favorite.

Here’s the first sketch drawn using the color the sunflowers and the case truly are. Much more boring than the first one don’t you think?! Try it!! Grab any crayon and draw a bit grab another and keep going. You can be a wild beast too.

All the crayons. 😱

You will find one or two will Judy not show up on the paper.

This is yesterday’s homework mark making in color. Instructions were to fill up a page with marks only.

I used just a handful of colored pencils and a couple of markers. This took about an hour believe it or not. Fun to do.

Prismacolor pencils are the best. If U don’t have some go get some. Michaels half price coupon.

Bytw don’t drop them. They break inside the wood and become hard to sharpen. Ask me how I know? !!

Here’s what I used.

Thanks for reading. More color fun tomorrow.

Margaret xoxoxo

Day 908 Lazy Saturday

January 14, 2017Leave a comment

After all that sneezing and Benadryl decided to be lazy today and binge on Netflix’s.

Maybe I should do some urban sketching off of Midsommer Murders? It’s always set in the most charming Bristish villages as long as you overlook a serial murder or two in every village.

About the sketch one of the Key West sketches. A steel drum player at Buzzards Roost. Sketched on location of course.

Colors are Ted Nuttalls transparent colors. Pentel. Rush pen in a Stillman and Birn Zeta.

Tip: I do much better painting all trees when I use my squirrel mops. I have a 12 and a big fat Isabey mop. It keeps me from getting to detailed. Then I usually splatter them to give the small lead effect.

Love my mops. Top one is the Isabey 12 second one is an Isabey 8 I think. Bottom one is a Richeson 2. The 12 is from Blick Atlanta Peachtree store. The bottom two are from Cheap Joes. I use the two smaller ones the most.

It’s really hard to get detailed with these which is great for trees or painting Charles Reid style. The smallest brush he likes to use is an Isabey 16 Kolinski sable.

That’s is for today. Go forth and sketch.

Margaret xoxoxo thinking about a run to the nearest park to sketch the kids in the manufactured snow park. One day only event.

Day 907 Still sneezing but

January 14, 20172 Comments

I know it’s allergies. Drawing more fabric!

The pens I used in my Stillman and Birn Zeta. Notice my nice yellow pencil from Cheap Joes. I got it when I took a class there or was it in an order from there? Joe always includes a little giftie with your orders. The sweetest mentally challenged young man packs all the gifties. His only job and he loves doing it. If you take a class at Cheap Joes you get to tour the warehouse where Joe introduced us to this special young man.

The quilts I used for my patterns. My Jack Russell Zoe is my art assistant in charge of quilt testing.

Ttyl

Margaret xoxox

Day 905 – the Bean

January 11, 2017Leave a comment

Everybody’s favorite place to eat lunch in Augusta or for a coffee or even better some of their amazing cake. They give you a slab of home made cake for $4 or $4.50. Today I had their Tuscan Bean Soup which was delicious. A big bowl and some delicious ice tea $5. A good deal.

I don’t think I have ever eaten anything that was not delicious at the bean as we call it. Their coffee is from that other fabulous cafe that I drew a couple of weeks ago The Dancing Goats in Decatur.

Painted in my new STillman and Birn Zeta. Drawn with a Lamy Ef loaded with Lexington Grey and painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent colors.

Sketchbookskool Homework.

Draw some textured objects. I might have gotten carried away but have had these on my art table for a while to draw. I can check them off my list now right?!

Pens used Staedler .01, carbon Platinum pen w carbon platinum black ink and a Pitt calligraphy pen which I soon abandoned because it was too dark to me.

Stillman and Birn mixed Zeta journal.

Ttyl

Margaret off to bed early after two hours at the gym and walking a couple of miles. Color me tahred. Xoxoxo

Day 903- I had to

January 10, 2017Leave a comment

Paint Calvin the guy who showed up for me to draw Friday. In the rain playing “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.”

47 degrees rain and I was out there with him drawing him. Which of us was crazier.

Stillman and Birn mixed Media zeta journal Ted Nuttalls transparent palette.

Here it is before I drew it.

Sketchbook School homework. Fill a page up with doodles using various pens and pencils.

Here are the six pens and pencils I used to make the marks with. I have to day I thought this was a dumb assignment but really enjoyed the 15-20 minutes it took to draw this.

Made me feel like Picasso or maybe Matisse.

Try it I bet you will like it too.

River Bend sunset out my back door tonite. So bright it lit the den up which was how I noticed it. I was too busy blogging to look. Oops.

Ttyl

Margaret xoxoxo

Day 899 – Some More Urban Sketching

January 6, 2017Leave a comment

I pass this cute diner every day twice a day on the way to class at USC Aiken or on Saturdays when I go to life modeling. I am always on a mission to get to Aiken on time or to get home and let the dogs out so I never have stopped to eat there. I hear the pies are great. They decorate it up for fall. Lots of pumpkins corn stalks and roosters. There’s even an old ford truck that gets strung with garlands of fall leaves. I didn’t draw it. I ran out of space.

Here are the brushes I use. The bottom is my fav a sable Da Vinci 10 but the tree and the sky were painted with a Richeson mop. A 12 that I bought at cheap joes two years ago. Very difficult to get any detail with it which is good in tree foliage. The tree branches and trunk were painted by a big goats hair dagger brush that I got at Sam Flaxs a couple of weeks ago. Very long and loopy designed for sign painters. So far I can only get it to paint lines – Straight and curved ones. Practice right?

And I love this sassy rooster sculpture out on the highway in front of the cafe. I need to draw him with a brush pen on a sunny day. School starts Monday so will passing the charming fellow again several times a week. Maybe one day on the way home again soon.

Stillman and birn Mixed media Zeta with a pilot Carbon pen. Really fine point.

Colors used. Quin gold. Cerulean, ultramarine, burnt umber, Quin burnt orange, pyrrole red, cad orange, hematite green, peacock for the sky. And a bit of American Journey Andrews blue a turquoise that I added to my pallet lately.

Homework done. Done. Had to make myself do this one and I love doing calligraphy just not fond of the word hate. Used my pentel brush pen -heavy lines- a Noodler Konrad – fine black lines – and a red tombow for hate. Oh a light Gray tombow for shading in love.
That’s all folks. Got to do my homework for sketchbookskool. Did I say I am behind because I went sketching Mahjong ladies at a local cafe after yoga today when I should have been doing my homework.

A bientot Margaret xoxox

Day 898 The Best Burgers

January 4, 2017Leave a comment

Are at Farmburgers in Decatur. Locally grown food to table restaurant on Ponce de Leon. I drew this with my Lamy Safari during g the end of rush hour.

The guy in the foreground who was maybe a foot from me was so involved in his conversation that he never noticed me drawing him.

The waitress did though. She loved it.

Of course all the people were not where they are at the same time. I dropped in the foreground people adding the background and the people in line with menus after the foreground.

Sometimes I mess up and do it the other way. That NEVER works out well. Oops.

Remember FOREGROUND first then background. Ok?!

Colors used same as yesterday.

Today’s sketchbookskool installment. Draw an electric cord with a brush pen. I used my pentel brush pen.

Not as easy as you would think. Really didn’t like it til I added the grey tombow shadows.

Used a light grey tombow for the cord shadows.

And splattered it with a bit of black watercolor paint.

Both sketches are in Stillman and Birn zetas.

Ttyl playing bridge today. NOT played inmore years than I care to think. Twenty maybe?

Pray for me.

Margaret who better get dressed. xoxox

Day 897 More Urban Sketching or the Best Coffee in Georgia

January 4, 2017January 5, 2017Leave a comment

I drew this the other day when I met Nellie Brannan for coffee at the Dancing Goats in Decatur. It’s Decatur’s favorite coffee shop. Their coffee is sold in Augusta at Augusta’s favorite coffee shop the Inner Bean.

I drew the brave people sitting out on the sidewalk in front of the dancing Goats as they walked thru the scene. There was alot of coming and going.

Colors used cerulean quin gold cad orange cad red hookers green ultramarine blue quin coral and marine blue. Stillman and Birn zeta Lamy Safari Lexington Grey

Sketchbookskool homework. Draw a still life with thick and thin lines. I used a tombow instead of a fine and a thick sharpie.

I really didn’t like the line drawing so I got out a watercolor brush and some water and let the tombow bleed. Then I added some water to the shadows and picked up the grey to splatter it. Like it a lot better now.

Thanks for checking by.

Margaret xoxox

Day 896- Happy New Years Again?!

January 2, 2017Leave a comment

Since it’s a Federal holiday and they even shifted the Rose Bowl Parade to today why not two Happy New Years wishes. I still have more Key West sketches but I finished this Atlanta sketch yesterday so thought I would “change it up” as some of my kids used to say.

I dew this a Friday after I made a quick visit to Sam Flaxs on Peachtree and I really like the way it turned out.

I painted it with my water brushes and my two small travel palettes. One is full of Winsor and Newton colors plus Inathrodone and Quin coral. The other is full of a few leftovers from my old Windsor and Newton travel palette that broke like Thalo blue and green and black plus white gouache and eight various quinacridones from Daniel Smith including the Quin gold.

Stillman and birn zeta with Lamy EF. Lexington Grey Ink.

Not having enough to do I decided to join the sketchbookskool class a drawing a day lead by Veronica Lawlor who teaches I think at Pratt or Columbia in NYC.

The directions were to draw a still life in a continuous line with a fine point sharpie. I couldn’t resist adding shadows oops. And lettering is always irresistible to me.

Since I still have Christmas up I decided to draw my collection of “misfit” snowmen and ladies. When Christmas is over I go to Tuesday Morning or TJ Max and get a deal on these who are usually missing an eye or a nose and I fix them.

Now resisting the urge to paint it.
Ttyl French class soon!!

Margaret enjoying her new year.