Category: Fabriano

Day 44 A Day in Provence with Vlad

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Did a paint along with Vlad Yesilesev today. He will be doing some more. Think it’s a great format that lets what he says sink in. And you get a copy of the class to download. Some dummy didn’t get that 911. They expire after a couple of days. OPPPSEY. I Will do it this time. Using a 2B mechanical pencil we all do a value sketch under his tutelage. Lots of squinting.

Light washes of yellow ochre cobalt and dioxzine and alizarin.

First wash. Oopsey. Always leave holidays and then duh go back and repaint. That does NOT work on damp watercolor. You get blooms.

And opps forgot to take more photos duh. Next time.

Hugs Margaret. Xoxoxoxo

Day 43 Koosje’s Killer Sketchbook Filler

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A fun live class today. And oh my were we busy. We drew 16 pages but have ideas for 34 more pages all neatly enumerated in our journals.

The title page. Just a small 4×6″ Venezia Fabriano 90# paper journal. Had it for years and never used it. It’s day has come.

Two Blind Contour Selfies done with 2 Crayola crayons. NO mirror. Put your finger on your nose and trace your face with the finger as u draw it. WHAT?! Not so bad considering and quite interesting to try.

P. 4 Draw the contents of your purse. A veritable jumble but also fun. So much stuff I missed drawing my sunglasses in the pile-all THREE pairs!! 😳 Namiki Fude. Really having fun with that pen.

Draw a musician. Micron uniball. Wish I had used my Namiki Fude. Cal Scott is quite the guitar player. Excellent job!!

We had two more opportunities to draw Cal and listen to him. Did NOT like my brush tip pit pen. I think I will toss it. The tip is all splayed and chewed. Wonder how that happened.

Last time drawing Cal with the Namiki Fude. Like the lines MUCH better.

Draw your shoe four times- each time faster. Five minutes to start. Last time 15 seconds. What?!

Added the story of my poor lost Chaco flip flop which I actually found in a parking lot over in Columbia FIVE DAYS LATER. Still wearing them. Fav want weather shoes.

Draw a double spread of various things around the house. Fun. Lamy Safari!!

Drawing Meditation. Focus on the wrinkles in your hand. Micro Uniball

Sixteen pages in TWO hours. Only 34 more pages to finish. What?!!

I decided to add the background colors.

Margaret whose Tahred. Xoxoxo

Day 42 – From the corner of my sofa

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The Days drawijngs. Draw your weekend plans. Not much planned but cooking and art. Still getting over my bronchitis. Blue uniball pen and watercolor pencils. I stumbled across Morgan from Sketchbookskool drawing love today. Memories of home.

Soooo of course I had to draw the huge red Maple in my front yard. The beaver ate the one thatwould have been on the right side of the house. The maple Is three stories tall!!

Namiki fude pen lent itself well to this drawing. Title page of my first journal book filled in a record three weeks. The skeletons came from Juliana Coles when I bought my pirate cat painting frim her. Love the skeleton.

And me playing at drawing myself as an Egon Schiele sketch. Alwaus loved his ink drawings. Namiki Fude again.

Margaret ready for bed. Busy day again tomorrow. Xoxoxo

Day 39 How do the days

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Just get so busy?! Maybe the double shot of Espresso this am?!

Lifted the area taped on this drawing with a damp sea sponge. Still have to repaint it.

Here it is now. It was the same color as the bottom part and I didn’t mess up the light. Thank goodness.

Thought you might like to see the only way I know how to load a palette without skipping colors. Getting ready for Vlads Tuesday paint along.

Here it is loaded and ready to go. This palette worked well with his technique. It will seal and keep the paint wet. It’s either an Alvin or Miele.

So here’s The Green Door (Fabriano rough press 140# paper) painted today when we spent the afternoon in Prague. I am quite pleased with it. My friend Ruth said NOT to touch it. Hmm. She usually knows. But maybe those red flowers need a little brightening?!! Just a tad.


Paint along with Vladislav Yesileyev
Vlads photo. Kinda wish my flowers showed more but oh well.

My value sketch. Off to the races with Vlad.

Greens done. Cad yellow cobalt teal and cobalt. Oh a bit of ultramarine.

adding windows

Getting heavy handed but painting as fast as I can to keep up.

Flowers Done.

adding dark calligraphic lines.

Done.

This is Vlad yeliseyevs. Still way better than mine but I am getting better. Three hours of painting as fast as I could and I can paint fast. Pant pant. We did get breaks today. Hurrah. Tough task master but learning a lot. He explains everything from the colors to use to how to do it as he paints. Oh and he has to handle the video production too. A man of many talents.

Take his class!! You will be glad you did.

Margaret who needs to call her mom. Xoxoxox

Neither rain nor sleet nor hail

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will keep us from gathering at USC Aiken to paint. The weather predicted today was terrible (tornadoes and torrential rain) but we soldiered on.

First break. An all over wash of quin gold some burnt sienna alizarin a touch of mineral violet.

Coming along more of the same colors.

When I left Aiken

Now. I keep losing the edge across her arm and thigh where the drippy background meets the body but really liking the background. I can lift the burnt umber off the skin.

I also lifted her shoulder about 1/2″ to make her body more in proportion with her head which is a touch too big.

Added some more darks to her face especially around the eyes and the chin.

Really like the background which is a combo of all the colors used plus cobalt. Nice swirly look made mostly by splattering wet on wet.

Will post her again after I lift the spillover on her body. Have to let it dry first.

Highlights mostly lifted out now.

My favorite bit. Andrews turquoise and yellow ochre stripes. Or was it burnt sienna

Margaret watching the Super Tuesday returns. Xoxoxo

It’s Saturday

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First break

Drew this view first but I really am not fond of a small figure in the middle of a large page. The figure turned out nicely but it’s almost as if a microscope is needed to see the figure in this drawing. So I moved to another more interesting angle that would fill up the page better.

This is what I ended up with. I only had an hour when I started so not bad for an hour. I should finish but probably won’t.

Her torso is a bit too long and what is with the left foot?!

Mostly painted with card red and yellow for flesh tones. Alizarin for darks or cobalt violet or a bit of Cheap Joes Andrews turquoise. Darkest darks cobalt and burnt sienna.

Black drape cobalt and burnt sienna. Yellow ochre and cobalt ok the lighter one.

Second break.

Drew Murphy who was to my right.

Al Beyer who was even further to my right.

And Fred’s. Gotta love this wild painting.

Henry

Gypsy

Then I was off to the framer to get Kristin to put these into frames I already had. Gypsy is off to a show in McCormick.

I also entered her in the National Transparent Watercolor Show. Wonder if she will get in. 🤔🤔🤔

Henry is going on a wall at my house unless my kids say pretty please for the painting.

Heading to Brevard

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I past this cute cabin on the way into Brevard over the holidays but lazy me just got around to painting the sketch.

I stood on the side of Highway 64 on a bright cool day to draw the cabin which was so cheery and bright in its field. Not always easy to find a place to draw on the busy windy mountain road.

Here’s the sketch. On some kind of cold press watercolor paper. Probably Fabriano.

I used a lot of white gouache on the tree in the foreground which was fun. Have a rough texture over the grey of the smeared pen.

Sky is Cheap Joes Andrews turquoise. Gold is Daniel Smith quin gold. I mixed burnt sienna and the Andrews turquoise for the trees greens and the greys. Love dual purpose colors

Micro Uniball pen.

Margaret ready to hang it up for the day xoxoxo

A Commission

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A good by present for a friend that I was commissioned to do. It’s suppose to be a book cover for a book club group present with her house in the background. I did do it in pencil first. Also trying to get everyone’s name on it. Still missed one. Sigh. No matter how many times I checked. You have to wonder how that happens.

Here it is inked and ready to paint.

Drawn with a Lamy vista. Lettering a Lamy joy on Fabriano cold press.

She loved it they loved it. Back to my knitting. Margaret Xoxoxox whose managed to post three days in a row. However one sock is almost done. Turquoise cashmere. How decadent is that??! 🥰

Christmas in the WNC

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Not a sketch of the cabin but a random house on the road into Brevard from Sapphire. Scene Looks pretty in the morning sun so I pulled into a loggers driveway across the road and drew it.

Drawn on some random loose paper in the car with a black ultra fine uniball pen.

Almost a week with no wifi no cable. We twitch our noses at it will start up fro a second or two two bars of u are lucky. Then without even moving the signal is gone. 😵🤔 So didn’t even bother with blog posts.

Time to get back in the swing of things. Hmm why didn’t I draw my croissant. Sooo good at Bracken Mountain Bakery in Brevard.

Headed into Brevard to meet a freeing from USC Aiken to do an art gallery walk in Brevard. Hard to do when you have young grandkids along. We tend to hit the toy store and the ice cream shop which are also a lot of fun.

The wild flower field in front of the cabin. Now brown but it’s so gorgeous when it’s full of purple Dutch iris and lupine. Later Joe Pye weed fills the field.

And the mighty Thompson Rover from the front porch of the cabin. Best wild fly fishing river publicly accessible in the WNC aka western North Carolina. My son is lucky enough to own that stretch. The rest is in the Nantahala National Forest.

Ends and Beginnings

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Quitting on her for now. Taken in direct sunlight today. I did fix her arm. Too much purple on her left arm but oh well. And still a bit to lift on top of her thigh or maybe some of my friend gouache.

Sunlight thru the window. She’s darker. Hmm.

and last nite while she was still wet under some pink lights. Hard to take photos when the paper is waving like that because she’s so wet.

Beginnings. Time to get a painting done for GWS. I don’t know why I procrastinate but this one needs a bit of study because the right hand is def off. So must be fixed before I paint it. And no clue what’s wrong with the hand. M

Margaret off to bake some banana bread muffins for a drop in tomorrow am. Xoxoxo