Day 945 Fat Mans!

February 20, 2017February 23, 2017Leave a comment

A long time Augusta institution. At Christmas everybody went to Fat Mans Forest to oh and ah over the animated Christmas decorations or to find the perfect tree or ornament or ride the Christmas train. Or do all of the above everybody on town went. But the owner Mr Usry died. The kids wanted to sell the land and move it which never happened. Thus Fatmans Forest passed into history. Fat Mans was also the go to place for Halloween decorations and a house of horrors.

However the younger Usrys Fat Mans Cafe is still going strong turning out “soul good” food at their Enterprise Mill location. Excellent squash casserole. Vintage Oolie on Broad bought out the costume part of the business.

I could not resist drawing their catering trucks as the gleamed in the noon day sun after our luncheon Thursday.

Painted in an S&B alpha with Ted Nuttalls transparent colors. Drawn w a Lamy EF pen with Lexington gray ink.
Ttyl! Time to Parker vous Francais!

Margaret xoxoxo

#fatmans #EnterpriseMill

Day 944 Enterprise Mill

February 19, 2017February 23, 20173 Comments

This sketch took the longest of all the sketches I did Thursday. Large double spread in my Stillman and birn alpha. Drawn with my Lamy ef.

The building is vermilion or scarlet lake mixed with a bit of burnt umber or Piemonte. I also used Piemonte w ultramarine for shadows and windows. Makes a nice purpley blue dark.

I drew the last old house on Upper Broad Street yesterday. It’s a sad mess. Probably a tear down because nobody wants to live in the middle of a used weedy car lot.

Windows open rotted away and boarded up. But you can buy a Prius from the front porch! It must have been quite a house in its younger days 100 years ago. I wonder who lived there.

These two houses sit to the right across the weedy car lot from the lone house .

Ted Nuttall’s transparent colors. #2 Richeson squirrel mop brush.

Ttyl

Margaret who refuses to catch a cold but has a stuffed up head xoxoxo

#fatmans #EnterpriseMill

Day 943 The Two Dowagers

February 17, 2017Leave a comment

Upper Broad Street used to be lined with these late Victorian houses. Now there are only three left. They look tired but not quite derelict. These two stand by themselves like two old ladies.

The light was great yesterday – and the houses were bathed in the bright winter sun which lit them like a spot light.
I added the guy walking by. He’s really just an oval, a rounded triangle for the body, and a couple of strokes for legs and feet. Ditto for the arm.

I coated the houses w a very light Quin gold. Makes them look sunny I think.

Colors used-Sky. Hmm peacock blue?! Hookers green and hematite, Quin gold, cerulean, burnt umber and ultramarine, Quin burnt orange, vermilion.

The trees are done w a watery soup of cerulean and Quin burnt orange to give the effect of bare winter limbs.

The biggest thing that gives this look is using my small squirrel mop. You cannot get to picky with it. An #8 I think.

In a Stillman and Birn Alpha w 92 pages which means they are thin. And they are wavy causing puddling. Not sure I like that but will continue on since it cost a pretty penny $27 from Amazon. Hoping they will flatten out as they dry.

Drawn w a Lamy EF loaded with permanent Lexington gray ink.

Ttyl

Margaret xoxoxo

Day 942 Sacred Heart

February 16, 2017Leave a comment

I never get tired of trying to draw it and paint it. My fav building in Augusta. I think I got it this time.

It’s an old deconsecrated Catholic Church downtown on Greene Street. I used to take Spanish from the nuns in the school to the read of the church as a third and fourth grader. My mom thought it was how we needed to spend our Saturdays. Asks me if I speak Spanish. Nope!!

Colors used. Piemonite, cerulean, ultramarine blue, Quin burnt orange, burnt umber, Quin gold, vermilion, green appetite, sap green.

Drawn w my Lamy EF in a stillman and Birn Alpha. Paper will dry flat but it’s a little wavy now.

More to paint.

Xoxoxo

Margaret

Day 941 A few more als and that urban sketch

February 15, 2017Leave a comment

Sketched at the Aiken Brewing Company on Laurens St downtown Aiken

Colors used Quin gold Quin red orange cerulean, burnt umber, ultramarine, hookers and a gel pen or two.

Draw with a Lamy Safari and Lexington Grey ink in a Stillman and Birn Zeta.

Als painting of a student circus 1990. Even then he was trying to paint like Vermeer.

Als friend from the gym who loved to tell stories. He was a rower in the 52 and 56 Olympics for Hungary.

Al after his heart attack. He used his computer camera to take this photo.

The models make Al look like a great painter so he says but we know he’s a great painter.

Ilaina gorgeous as ever. A Saturday painting. 3×4′

Als office. Always neat. Painted with acrylic. Much wilder than his oil paintings. LOVE This one. Think it got a certificate of merit at the State Fair.

Als an awesome painter and teacher the reason. I drove 60 miles three times a week to Aiken to become a better painter I HOPE!!

Xoxoxo

Margaret

Day 939 Urban Sketching at Earthfare Cafe

February 13, 2017February 14, 2017Leave a comment

Always a good place to draw. Add people as they drift into your picture. Next time we are drawing at Wet Paint party at Sacred Heart an incredible setting Saturday Feb 18 7-10 pm. Trying something new. This is my Woman’s March sketch on a small canvas. What do you think? It’s 14×16.

This is the original sketch.

Gotta run. Another busy day. Tomorrow I collapse and go to the Y for yoga. Relaxing.

Ttyl Margaret xoxoxo

Day 933 Urban Sketching

February 7, 2017February 7, 2017Leave a comment

Went sketching downtown with my sweet friend AC Daniel. We ended up at the Soy Noodle house eating. Gotta keep your strength up. So far this is my fav sketch done that day. It looks terrible after I painted it but turned it into a journal page with the lettering.

Stillman and Birn Zeta Pentel Brush Pen and Lamy EF. My whisky painter travel palette and waterbrushes.

Wish I had taken a photo of it before the lettering. The brown was just dullllll.

Pleased to announce Augusta is having its first Urban Sketchers meeting. Hopefully Sunday February 12 at Earthfare Meeting Room at 1 pm. Click on the link to join our facebook page, to keep up to date, and to see our art!!! Lots of sketching will be going on.
Ttyl

Margaret xoxoxo who had to work on her sketchbookskool homework.

Day 932 – Al Beyer

February 6, 2017February 7, 2017Leave a comment

I drew this during art history lecture last Wednesday. Not meant to look like him exactly just the essence and to take notes on the lecture about how to compose a painting and be sure you get all the parts in perspective. When people are added the heads have to line up on your sight line or they will appear to float. Check out John Salimen, another great art teacher. He’s a master at composing from photos with many national and international art awards. His new coffee table book is just gorgeous.

His DVD on urban landscapes explains how to compose a picture from several photos.

Painted with my tiny whiskey painter palette loaded with Windsor newton travel Paullette colors. Refilled with Daniel Smith using the same colors plus DS quin coral.

A bientot Happy Mondayoff to class I go.

Margaret xoxox

Day 931 Panera on a Sunday

February 5, 2017Leave a comment

The Panera on Robert C Daniel Parkway was jam packed last week. It was much multiracial than the Evans Panera is.

This is the first sketch I did there. Not perfect but hey it gets you out of the house.

This one was better. I just dropped people in as they wandered by. Lettering could be a little darker.

Ted Nuttalls transparent watercolor palette. Lamy Safari Stillman and Birn Zeta.

Time to go do some urban sketching.

Xoxoxo Margaret

Day 928 Getting Squirrely

February 2, 2017Leave a comment

The back porch squirrels and their antics are always fun to sketch. A ready model. Cheap. Will work for bird seed anywhere anytime anyplace. And of course I like to imagine what they are thinking as they gobble. Really need to name them Oreck and Dyson or Hoover. Miele?!

Drawn with a Lamy Safari in a Stillman and Birn Zeta mixed media.

Colors. Background Quinn gold squirrels cerulean Piemonte ultramarine. Splattered with Quin sienna or burnt orange.

Have a go at the squirrels. The back porch birds are fun to draw too. Use some gestures. It doesn’t have to look just like a particular squirrel it just had to look like a squirrel – the way they hold their food and hunch up over thier paws or spread their tails. Fun stuff.

Ttyl

Margaret off to look downtown and see what there is to sketch in this 72 degree day of sunshine. Xoxoxo