Day 1102 Cleaning out

Getting ready to move shelves so a room can be painted I am going thru a box of old papers photographs for painting and sketches. Sometimes I will sit down with a pile of paper and just draw whatever I see. Less commitment with typing paper.

Bones was a sweet long haired stray cat that someone dumped in our neighborhood. Thin as a rail when I started feeding her and of course pretty soon she was in the house. Oops.

Eventually she went to live with my son in Atlanta.

Jamming herself into bookcases seems to have been her thing. Cats do the funniest things.

I should pitch these but have a feeling they are going back in the box with the photographs.

Sketched with a black Pitt pen. Love Pitt pens. They are hard to kill. Tips hold up to my hard treatment of them. The ink is India ink so it's permanent. And they just don't seem to dry up for years. I know I have some ten years old. A record I am sure for a felt tip pen. Only sharpies seem to last as long.

Ttyl Margaret xoxoxox

Day 1102 Urban Sketching Atlanta and the burbs

Sort of house hunting in Atlanta. 800 sq feet for $209k. Think extremely dilapidated in the outside. But so adorable.

Not easy to do since where I would like to live my house would cost $1.3 million like this one down the street from my sons house in Oakhurst. Maybe I should become a realtor?!

Love Petite Marche in Kirkwood. These will get painted soon.

Hard to get the paint out with a 3&5 yr old grandchild around. They want to paint too. Oops.

Cute little fixer upper in Pine Lake. Has tons of very dark knotty pine that needs to be painted white. And a disaster of a side porch with jalousy windows that will no longer open or shut. Eeekkk. Keep looking?!

Off to walk the dog and have a taste of living urban style in a walkable neighborhood. Then more house looking.

Drawn with my Lamys in a Stillman and Birn Zeta.

Ttyl Margaret xoxoxox

Day 1100 A big number!!

When I started this new blog I thought I would try to make 50 days of daily blogging and here we are at day 1100. Who knew. As Wayne Dyer said anything is possible if you do it one small piece at a time.

20 minute sketches. The last of the dr Sketchys really liked the wings. Great fun to draw. The flowers NOT so much fun to paint. Jessie was some kind of woodland fairy. I think. She held the pose rock steady for 20 minutes which after 2 1/2 hrs of paint is no easy thing to do.

Bytw I set the sketchbook up vertically while I drew and painted these. Anymore I almost can't paint or draw on a flat level
Surface. Strange but true. It feels odd. Time was short so these are all alla prima
Paintings. Love the way the darks in her legs and wings blended themselves.

Like Charles Reid says it's 50% you 50% the watercolor.

10×14 superaquabee sketch book which loves pentel brush pen and watercolor alike. Winsor Newton travel palette watercolors and all the Daniel Smith quinacridones. #10 DaVinci Kolinsky Sable.

Ttyl time to play with the grandkids. Hugs. Margaret in Atlanta xoxoxoxo

Day 1098 More Dr Sketchys


Ten minutes

Five minutes

Five or Ten minutes. Add texture contest which I won. The feather is done with glitter pens.

A contest. Add a beast to a sketch. Added the Chat Noir cat. Kinda wished I hadn't. Liked it better before oh well. Always another sketch. 10 min then 10 more to add the cat. I think. Mask is done with wink of Stella glitter pens.

Done in a superaquabee tablet 10×14 or 16. W pentwl brush pen and winsor newton travel palette colors plus all the Daniel smith quinacridones.
Ttyl off to run errands in Atlanta
Margaret xoxoxox

Day 1087 Sweetwater Fly Fishing Camp


The Cabin sits on the Thompson River one of the best wild  trout rivers in North Carolina and it’s one of the few places there is access to it.  The property is surrounded by Nantahala National Forrest so the only access to the Thompson at the fish camp. 

The rhidodendrons were in full bloom last week as was the wild flower meadow. Gorgeous setting.  The shed is a picnic shed with adirondack chairs and a fire pit over looking the river. 

Ttyl Margaret heading home today xoxoxo I mean we have to watch GOT tonite right?! 

Day 1086 Cornucopia in Cashiers

Our favorite place to eat  Cornucopia in Cashiers. A great big open air barn of a restaurant. Even when you eat inside it’s like eating outside. They do have a large section of umbrellas to eat under too. 

It’s open year round. They roll large clear plastic sheeting down to keep the cold air out. It used to be BYOB so check before you go. Good food. Great service. Kid friendly. 

Painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent palette. 

Henry’s big birthday party today. Art with 20 something five year olds. 

Margaret already exhausted in Decatur. Xoxoxo

Day 1084 – Cashiers Fourth of July Extravaganza

Finally happy with one of the paintings. About time. I got out my #2 Isabey mop to loosen up and I think it worked. 

Always does because it’s impossible to be exact with a mop. 


These spreads are long. About 6×15 so they are time consuming to paint. 

Painted with Ted Nuttall Palette of transparent colors. Bytw don’t people know they are suppose to wear red white and blue on the fourth. What’s with all the grey shirts!? 

Thanks for stopping by. Margaret with three more to paint from this trip. Xoxoxo

Day 1082 Watercolor 

Never turns out the way you think it should. I think it is Charles Reid that says it’s part you but at least 50% it’s doing what it wants to do.  

The Cashiers Fireworks Extravaganza. That and played from about 5 till midnight with fireworks in between. A fun nite and they only ask for a donation. What a deal!!  

Of course it would help if you could find the picture of the scene before you start painting. My phone aeeemd to have eaten this when I was painting it yesterday. Eeekk. And of course now that I am done I have found it. Oh well. 


I will say the camera tends to darken the shadows so who cares?! 


On to the next page right?! Painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent palette. 


I did draw this at the Extravaganza. Just my grandkids would have wanted to help me paint it. They would have been covered in paint with no access to clean up. 

Day 1081- Still feeling like I 

Can’t paint. And am thinking I don’t like the pencil. Turns into a grey mess that has to be erased. My son and his family at our Fourth of July picnic in Cashiers in the Green.  

We were thrilled to find our favorite popsicle for sale on the Green. It’s an Atlanta based company started by a friend of my sons and his wife that went to law school with them and the popsicle are delicious. My favorite is raspberry lime and only 45 calories. 

Ttyl Margaret xoxoxo home from Sapphire and worn out. But the laundrys done and I bought some groceries. 

Day 1069 Mary Alice Munroe


Went to a great book talk at AB Browns today by Mary Alice Monroe for her newest book in her Beach House series the quintessential summer beach book based on Isle of Palms near Charleston. 

Though I have read some of the books with the turtles in them has no idea they are really to educate us about her latest passion. I tend to read the story for the story not to find hidden meanings. 

That said I always enjoy them. 

The latest book is about pelican rescue her latest passion. The raptor center even named a pelican that she rescued after her Mary Ann so I decided to draw Mary Ann to fill up the page. 


The notes are just things that she said about her passions pelicans shorebirds. 

She’s also an excellent palmetto bug stomper. One was running around the room the talk was held in. It’s a skill u acquire when you got to SC Low country beaches. I won’t tell you how I know. 

The lunch was excellent. HEirloom tomato soup.  

Shrimp and grits and a peach cheese cake for desert. 

Ttyl. Off to Atlanta!  Thanks for stopping by!! Margaret xoxoxoxo