Tahred. Busy busy day

April 29, 2023April 29, 2023Leave a comment

And tomorrow is the same. 12 Days done. Woke up and checked my phone to see Judiths post at 1:45am. And there he was. Day 12 #jyportaitchallenge. And still going strong.

Jesse! Thanks @judithyaws and Jesse @rejextion_arts Love the hat, the scarf and the tude. A fun look. So hard to draw. He looks like i got carried away with the beard on the left! And I think he’s slightly crosseyed the way i painted him. Oh well.

Working on getting looser which isn’t easy and loosing edges. Stillman and Birn alpha which usually loves watercolor but think my hands were greasy so it repelled it somewhat. Note to self NO hand lotion when you use watercolor. Mgraham watercolor which always rewets was not happy with the bits of grease. Or was it hand lotion?!😵🧐

The sketch. Was a pain. Took ant half an hour. The angle on his head was difficult to do. Then i painted for abt an hour and a half more.

Something to remember from my dear friend Ruth Pearl on fb and britpeach on Instagram.

Todays #jyportraitchallenge The longer you spend the more details and alterations you need to make but at some point you have to call it a day. Thank you Jesse @rejextion_arts – and yes, his neck really is that long!

What??! Two. Probably would have picked this one darn it.

Mary Whyte palette colors Stillman and Birn Alpha.

Margaret xoxoxo

Triple threat I mean Treat hmmm…

April 27, 20232 Comments

Three people instead of just one. 😵😵😵😳 This watercolor painting was done without a pencil drawing.

First i eyeballed the placement of the faces on the page and painted approximateshapes with cad yellow and quin rose.

Then i started painting the left guy. Probably went to far but never done the no pencil technique this small or on three people in one painting. Usually do it on a half sheet. Cobalt, UB and browns

So i got too detailed and moved onto the other two. Should have listened to Charles Reid who said never paint a face smaller than 4”

Doesn’t look bad but does not look lie the guy in the photo. Trying to loose some edges. Should have left the teeth like this one. Ez fix.

Hmm i know this is different but clueless how.

Still not happy. Left face is off. The woman is a bit too fat. Oh well.

Really don’t like his teeth. Think i need to lighten the lines a bit. I also fattened his face a bit. Anyway took way too long. But good to be doing a wc portrait again. Stillman and birn alpha w the Mary Whyte palette colors.

Margaret who painted too long on this 8×10 xoxoxoxo

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

Palm tree time

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023Leave a comment

Busy day today. Lost the tall trunk of the palmetto tree darn it. Does that mean a do over?! Always interesting to draw or paint a palm. And a challenge.

The culprits and my antique strathmore 500 mixed media journal. Such lovely paper. only four spreads left in it now.

First go round. Sprinkling water on the neocolor ii Always loose the detail when u wet them. 🧐🧐😵 and I lost more details when I smeared it with a kleenex.

Redrawing details. So u add more color. Always fun to use the Neocolor in spots of water. you never know how it will turn out.

Getting there. Turned the trunk silver. They are NOT brown. 😵‍💫 Added some black and ultramarine to shadow areas to give the greens more definition.

And done. Well til I decide to mess with it some more.

Or these. If they were good enough for Picasso for whom they were invented good enough for me.

Don’t want to stop the tips on these up. Maybe another palm using these?! Winsor Newton watercolor markers.

Inktense blocks. Aways fun but not archival.

Prismacolor art sticks. A BIG fav of mine. Good for scribbling.

And then there is this pile. Not opened yet. The british unison landscape colors are just lovely and soft. Prismacolor pastels a little harder more like conte crayons. And opps another smaller pack of prismacolor artsticks.

The cats know how to end this day. Margaret. Xoxoxox

Ready for a break!!

April 6, 2023April 6, 2023Leave a comment

Sketching in my strathmore mixed media. For some reason my ink did not dry. When i wet it w paint it smeared. Grrrr. Makes me want to toss the pens and the ink. Should not be doing that. Bytw red pen on bottom is straight. The bend in the fold makes it look like its not.

Drawing what i saw. Sometimes its quite a challenge to draw whats in front of you.

Sketch before i hit it with the watercolor

Raw Sienna background color. Annoying smears.

Telling the story. I actually journaled abt my busy day. Bytw i can get off the floor again easily since i have turned into a cleaning fool. I added the red pen because it needed something there. I drew it with the pen on the right.

Margaret done for the night! xoxoxox

31?! Key West Cycles

March 30, 2023March 30, 20232 Comments

Pouring after watching a Linda Baker segment on Watercolor live 2023 which has been worth every penny. You really should consider this. Finally finishing it up. We got a 60 day extension which cost $200 more. Cheaper to sign up now than wait. Price increases. So glad Mike talked me into it. U can hit the pause button and do it at your leisure. If u do tell them i sent you. I don’t get a thing i just want them to know i am doing it. Truly a bargain at $297 right now.

I think i love pouring. May make a bigger one of these tomorrow. This is a quarter sheet of fabriano cp artistico. 300#.

The photo i took in Key West. Sucker for bike pics. I have abt 255 of them.

First pour. Cobalt Yellow ochre raw sienna

Pouring indigo. I may have gotten carried away. You add masking before each pour.

I also added a grinder of salt all over it. The small bottle is soap to wash out the masking in the brush. It survived.

Oops getting a little too dark aka too much indigo

The masking off was not a pretty site. I guess i should have take A pic anyway. Adding paint w a brush to get rid of the hard edges left by the masking.

Quitting for now. This is the color it is now. No idea why my iPad pro takes accurate color like this and my iPad phone 13 does not. The phone is so much newer than the ipad. Maybe two years newer?!

Now to do a bigger one. But first the grocery store

Also made a jar Martha Stewarts sweet red onion pickles today. They are pretty even if they don’t taste good aren’t they? will have to try them shortly.

Margaret worn out exhausted w an unmade bed. Sigh. Xoxoxo

#30 Bluebonnet time

March 28, 2023March 30, 2023Leave a comment

Somewhere in the Texas hill country the bluebonnets are blooming. 11×15 fluid cp

The image. Swiped from @ericrhoads who held the worldwide pleinair last Thursday. That was so much fun they are doing it again. 4300 people showed up for it. There was even a group in England staying up late to join in. Somehow i dont think he will mind. Hmm somehow i lost the glow in the foreground. Oh well. I nailed it on the big trees.

First wash. This is a graded wash. You wet the area to be washed aka the sky in this one. Start at the top with thalo blue and cerulean and don’t add more color til the bottom when i added a shot of quin rose. Gives a really nice sky that lightens toward the bottom.

Here it is loosing its sheen. I forgot to take one of it dry sorry.

When i ran out of steam last night. as usual the colors are OFF. Does not matter where or how i take it they are off. Hmm maybe i should try my big camera. Its much darker and has lost alot of transparency.

Kind of handy you can see how i painted the trees to start. I used quin gold and quin rose for them. adding in transparent blues -cobalt ultramarine and thalo for shadows. The greens were made using chrome green and same w the same blues and cad yw med. Bluebonnets only bloom in spring aka right now so greens have to be springy greens.

Done for now though i have noticed a few things i might change.

I finally added some burnt sienna and some mixed orange to the trees as well as purples in the tree tops.

Bluebonnets done w the same colors. I tried splattering them w variety of brushes. I tried the chinese brush. None of them made me happy not the effect i was looking for.