Almost done. Twelve hours or so just today on this 1/4 sheet. Fabriano Artistico cold press 300#
Endless drawing. Third time. First trace was wrong second draw was lifted by masking. Spent three hours redrawing. Or was it four. ππππ΅βπ«
Now to figure out where to put the masking on the bottle. π³π΅βπ«
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Jar masked. Kept dipping the brush in soapy water and drying it off. Also dumped the masking in the lid. Went much easier after I did that. I think asking the whole letter and lifting the mask to paint the dark will be easier than masking the highlight around each one. We shall see
Masking on jar removed. I think it looks awful. so hard to soften those edges that masking leaves.
Quitting for now. Need to work on the jar some more esp 1858 BUT my hands and shoulder are DONE.
Finally standing back from it i think it looks amazing if I do say so myself. since itβs sucked up most of my life for the last few days glad it does.
She showed us her home studio today. I want one like hers.
The background is poured. A whole lot of options for messy Margaret to flood the world with blue. Eeek.
A whole Lot Of Masking. Ruined the old paint brush I was using. Oh well.
One pour down and two to go. So far so good. Itβs a mix of inathradone blue ultramarine violet dioxizine purple and viridian.
Bytw I covered my chair seat which is cloth w plastic put on my old slippers and an apron wished I had a plastic one. π³
Pour number 2. Looks dangerous and a total mess. Number two dry. Supposedly it keeps the paint transparent. Not to sure abt that. Last pour is now drying. I added quin gold to the mix per the instructors directions. Amazing how dark it got.
Last pour and no catastrophes yet!! ππ. Next up removing all that masking. Canβt see how this was better than a wash. Hmm
Be sure to check out Irenas site. Her paintings are phenomenal.
In the middle of all this I was making my friend Mikes Cream of chicken rice and mushroom soup. DH said it was the best soup ever. He even cleaned up the kitchen. Yeah. Margaret xoxoxox
Matthew Birds realistic still life. While I like the looks I am not fond of all the masking and layering. I kept making mistakes and having to start over. My fault not his of course.
Attempt #3 was best. I kept my lights on most of the apricots. The rock looks good. Background wash might need another layer. Last.
Three looks much better in person. I saved almost all the lights on the fruit but the iPhone flattened them out darn it.
Apricots and a Bowl #2
Attempt number 2 screwed up the darks on the front of the stone. Painted it all alizarin. Oops off to a bad start from the first. Fabriano 300# cold press. Background washes hmm does it need more? I do like the bluey black.
Attempt 1
Attempt #1 140 fluid cold press paper. Not great for lots of washes. What was I thinking using a 140 for all those layers of washes?! Will probably finish it sooner or later. Someone will want it.
Still think they need more background washes. Might just mix up some green alizarin and indigo and give them two layers but I do like the blue shining thru the back. Really pretty in person.
Best of all. Those Dynasty faux squirrel reservoir brushes. Have had them for a couple of years and never use them. They worked great for those endless lines on the bowl. I loaded the 12 once and did ALL THE LINES WITH IT and the hearts too. Who would have thought??
There they are. My sweet kitty Haley being a good girl this am.
A fun paint with George Politis a lovely Greek guy who was such a helpful concerned teacher. He was worried I had a question about masking. And offered any help. I didnβt for him – it was for the teacher before him like why couldnβt you tell us we needed to mask BEFORE class. Not a lot to ask. He walked us thru this painting in a concise simple easy to understand manner with great results. I really enjoyed his class and would take from him again. He also has quite a few videos on YouTube though I have not had time to look.
Still slogging away at the blue black background washes. Tomorrow I am painting them no matter what else happens.
No idea how many times I have glazed these. But I think I might be done. Will sleep on it for now. Gorgeous blue. Prussian blue layer then a black layer repeat ad nauseum til itβs lovely. Now for those darn fruit. Fabriano 300# cold press Yesterdays sunset got better and better till it was just glorious. Today nothing but grey skies. Oh well you can have gorgeous everyday.
Chasing after Iain Stewart for an hour and a half Saturday. Got WAY too purple in the foreground so I tried to calm that imperial purple down. Then I Vlad-it a bit. Putting in tiny details w a dark dark grey. That was fun.
Then I went too far on the water but I canβt leave water just plain. I mean the only time the water here is flat is when thereβs no current or no breeze. One or the other is always happening. Turned the wowed tree on the top left into a Christmas tree. That was fun. I mean eek. Whatβs with that purple. I swear thatβs the color he said to paint it. He does love that purple. He suggested using a palette knife for the dark lines.
I actually had the same one. Thanks dad. It was my fathers old one. I tend to the triangular springy small ones that look like cake knifes. Anyway I tried my old springy one to do the poles but didnβt work to well. Dug out dads during the break between classes. So much easier. Then I made a lot of lines w it. Did walkways gang ways porches. Over the top as usual.
Night night. Though I had. A nice long nap I need another one to get rid of this cold. Oh yes u have had quite the cold thru this whole crazy long days of painting. Xoxoxox @
In the dining room madly painting. I signed up for watercolorlive 2023. Itβs all my friend Mikes fault. She talked me into it. What a mad three days of wild fun painting. Classes and seminars lasted from 10 am til 9 pm. Will be posting them the next few days.
My Swan from the hour Paint along with Shelley Prior one of 18 teachers we had . She was awesome. She held our hands and walked us thru it step by step. I am in love w my swan and will be checking out her extensive YouTube feed. Her instructions were clear step by step with no need to rush to keep up. This swan just glows. My favorite out of my stack of paintings. Most of the paintings I did. There are TEN still left to do that I didnβt get around to for various reasons.
This took abt five minutes and was Julieβs tip. A fun way to start the day and to loosen up. We were all tense. I mean 18 teachers and all those hours. Eeek. Out agenda. We were VERY busy. No potty breaks no lunch breaks. A good way to diet. Lol.
Next up the great Thomas Schaller. Now almost all the teachers supplied a sketch for us to draw before class started. This was NOT a drawing workshop but a painting workshop. For some reason. Thomas didnβt think we needed a drawing. Hmm. Off to a rocky start. I madly drew it and started flinging paint around.
On a half sheet. My perspective was off. Supposedly his odd idea of firefly houses. Who knew they donβt have fireflies in S California where heβs from. They got his attention in his new home in NYC. My husband loves it Me not so much. Fireflies half sheet 140lb. So I had to cram in time to tinker with it. It was really bothering me. The perspective was wonky. Hate that and all that glaring white paper on the top left screamed at me. Better. Still wonβt be my fav. He can hang it in his mancave. Lol. Still may need more tinkering. Time will tell. Next up a portrait with Patricia Guzman a lovely painter from Mexico who specializes in indigenous people. Sheβs a realistic portrait painter not my bag but she was a great teacher. At some point I got tired of painting every wrinkle and quit. LOVE the way this painting turned out. 1/4 sheet arches 149 Cold press I think.
Every artist had a different kind of paper or color of paint so I just used what I had and matched it up as closely as I could from my stash. Did I say I have way too much paper?!
My friend Mike my cohort in art crimes I mean classes. We met at a Charles Reid class in Boone at Cheap Joes 8 9 years ago and been friends and Charles Reid worshippers ever since. we are going to have a weekly zoom meetup til we finish out pile of not done drawings. There are quite a few. EekAnother day another sunset. More tomorrow. My fingers are tired. Xoxoxox Margaret
Chrystall as a fairy. You have to love her as a model. You never know what she will wear or if she will wear anything. She designs and makes all of her awesome costumes and also does fire batons as well as other performing. You can follow her adventures at crystallinecreative on instagramThese are both gesture sketches with a pentel ink pen drawn quickly. Then painted. This one was probably ten minutes The first one was a longer pose. Chrystal posed for us in a Zoom session. Lots of fairy poses. Best $10 I have spent recently. My favorite type of sketchbook when I am doing live model drawing. Lotsa sheets. Loves watercolor and ink plus it flattens out mostly when it dries. I have it in every shape and size they make. I usually use the two biggest sizes for life modeling thru zoom or Dr Sketchys. Great for all those gesture poses. This is one I use for everyday things when I donβt have my other fav Stillman and Birn handy.
Flags flying at half staff on the Thurmond Dam.The sketch. The only pencil I had was a thick leaded 2B derwent sketch pencil. Yes I forgot a regular pencil too. Sigh. You know when fisherman are ready to go they are ready to go. πππOff course I didnβt finish them. Left the big wash brushes at home. Both of these were painted with a tiny size 4. I rarely use anything smaller than a 10!
Both are fairly small. 1/4 sheet 140 arches rough. The pad just fits in my painting bag so I took it along.
Will finish these when I get home but off to moms memorial so these will languish on the studio table while I am gone.
Mom at 90. She does recently from Covid. Refused to get the shots. On her 90th. She was 96 when she died in April. RIP Lucy June!
Half sheet Kilimanjaro 300# M Graham watercolors w Mary Whyte colors in it per her portrait painting book.
My niece was excited about eating her chocolate milkshake at Rutledge Cab Company in N Charleston. Great restaurant bytw!!!
Why do I always make problems to fix like the light background? Almost done Sheβs done for now. Storm blowing in from Georgia. Mostly a deluge but no tornadoes thank goodness. Hugs Maggie xoxoxo
The long pose – 40 minutes – pentel brush pen and watercolor in my superaquabee tablet. Crystal of @crystallinecreative did a terrific job as usual during this live zoom session thru Townsend Atelier. Sheβs doing online modeling sessions via Townsend Atelier about once a month on Monday at 5 EST. You can contact them at mailto:peggy@townsendatelier.com.Two minute posesFive minute poseFive minute poseTen minute pose
Ten minute pose
Fishing again today. Thatβs my husband up at the top of the dam – the blue dot. You run up and down that hill to land fish. Not me. I sit at the bottom and paint. Of course I didnβt finish anything today. Maybe I will get them down tomorrow. Some dummy left most of her brushes at home. Duh.
Margaret McCarthy Hunt Art 