Day 907 Still sneezing but

January 14, 20172 Comments

I know it’s allergies. Drawing more fabric!

The pens I used in my Stillman and Birn Zeta. Notice my nice yellow pencil from Cheap Joes. I got it when I took a class there or was it in an order from there? Joe always includes a little giftie with your orders. The sweetest mentally challenged young man packs all the gifties. His only job and he loves doing it. If you take a class at Cheap Joes you get to tour the warehouse where Joe introduced us to this special young man.

The quilts I used for my patterns. My Jack Russell Zoe is my art assistant in charge of quilt testing.

Ttyl

Margaret xoxox

Day 900 Augusta Ga

January 6, 2017Leave a comment

Home of James Brown. Yesterday I had wanted to draw a musician live and thought where the heck will I find one of those?!

Met a friend downtown at New Moon Cafe and as I was leaving guess what happened. A saxophone player started playing OUTSIDE!! Hurrah!!

So I sat out on this cold rainy day with Calvin and drew him. He was thrilled when he saw it. I also gave him a nice tip.

I asked him why he was out in 47 degree weather in the rain playing. He said he had gotten the notion that he needed to play “Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head” downtown today. So he did.

Here’s Calvin before I added the scratchy lines with my noodler Konrad. I think the thin lines really added to the energy of this sketch. He tended to stand still when he played so not much action to draw.

I used my Pentel Brush pen and Noodler Konrad. Tried to use a thick sharpie but it bled thru the heavy pages of the mixed media S&B zeta. So I did not keep using it.

I may paint this. I haven’t decided.

The quote on the top right is a quip from my friend Marsha over our breakfast at New Moon Cafe this am. Yummy but FaTTeNinNG!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Margaret in rainy Georgialina xoxoxox

Day 898 The Best Burgers

January 4, 2017Leave a comment

Are at Farmburgers in Decatur. Locally grown food to table restaurant on Ponce de Leon. I drew this with my Lamy Safari during g the end of rush hour.

The guy in the foreground who was maybe a foot from me was so involved in his conversation that he never noticed me drawing him.

The waitress did though. She loved it.

Of course all the people were not where they are at the same time. I dropped in the foreground people adding the background and the people in line with menus after the foreground.

Sometimes I mess up and do it the other way. That NEVER works out well. Oops.

Remember FOREGROUND first then background. Ok?!

Colors used same as yesterday.

Today’s sketchbookskool installment. Draw an electric cord with a brush pen. I used my pentel brush pen.

Not as easy as you would think. Really didn’t like it til I added the grey tombow shadows.

Used a light grey tombow for the cord shadows.

And splattered it with a bit of black watercolor paint.

Both sketches are in Stillman and Birn zetas.

Ttyl playing bridge today. NOT played inmore years than I care to think. Twenty maybe?

Pray for me.

Margaret who better get dressed. xoxox

Day 896- Happy New Years Again?!

January 2, 2017Leave a comment

Since it’s a Federal holiday and they even shifted the Rose Bowl Parade to today why not two Happy New Years wishes. I still have more Key West sketches but I finished this Atlanta sketch yesterday so thought I would “change it up” as some of my kids used to say.

I dew this a Friday after I made a quick visit to Sam Flaxs on Peachtree and I really like the way it turned out.

I painted it with my water brushes and my two small travel palettes. One is full of Winsor and Newton colors plus Inathrodone and Quin coral. The other is full of a few leftovers from my old Windsor and Newton travel palette that broke like Thalo blue and green and black plus white gouache and eight various quinacridones from Daniel Smith including the Quin gold.

Stillman and birn zeta with Lamy EF. Lexington Grey Ink.

Not having enough to do I decided to join the sketchbookskool class a drawing a day lead by Veronica Lawlor who teaches I think at Pratt or Columbia in NYC.

The directions were to draw a still life in a continuous line with a fine point sharpie. I couldn’t resist adding shadows oops. And lettering is always irresistible to me.

Since I still have Christmas up I decided to draw my collection of “misfit” snowmen and ladies. When Christmas is over I go to Tuesday Morning or TJ Max and get a deal on these who are usually missing an eye or a nose and I fix them.

Now resisting the urge to paint it.
Ttyl French class soon!!

Margaret enjoying her new year.

Day 540 – quite a few travel journal pages done

December 23, 2015Leave a comment

Paris Day 1 – Giddy with excitement.

Now but since I am once again traveling will parcel them out and hope I get some more done. Not easy with an adorable three year old grandson “helping” you out. Lol

Like the layout. It evolved. The right page was done first sketched while we waited for our food. L’Artoise is a sweet little restaurant on Rue d’Artois around the corner from our hotel the Rochester. The Yelp reviews were spot on. Food was passable but not memorable.

Debbie and Tucker also cruising on Viking and staying at the Rochester.
The Proprietors were sweet and oh so French. The eggplant entree w a slab of store mozzarella was not great. The chicken an improvement – cow au vin I think.

We were so excited that dog food would have been wonderful lol. We imagined we were Phil who we followed on his adventures on PBS What is Phil eating. A hoot. Phil would not have eaten at L’Artois.
Dessert créme brûlée. Yummy. Then we walked the champs Elysees. I think we walked five miles even with out jet lag.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret off to make Christmas cookies but dreadfully in need of a long winters nap. On the 26th right?! 😊 xxx

Day 480 – one day till

November 3, 20152 Comments

Lift off. My suitcase is packed and I have plenty of room for art supplies. When I went to key west I actually needed more sketchbooks. Not this time!!

So why am I taking to sketch with?!! I know u r dying to know!!!

My two small palettes. Been painting with them and they really have all the colors you need. The whiskey painters palette has all the basic Winsor Newton colors plus Daniel Smith Quin coral which I love for skin tones and two ceruleans because I use it A lot!!

The cotman is full of quinacridones and a couple of paints that should be in the Whiskey painters palette the yellow and Thalo blue.
Paint brushes. Taking the good ones since I have room and just in case. Most of them are Isabey sables including the mops but the big sable is my cheap Joes legend which I love. Curious to see how much the Isabeys cost in France the land of their birth. They are made in Brittany and are Charles Reid’s favorite brush. I wouldn’t mind another one or two.

Back up colors in case I run they the ones in the palettes.

Pens loaded mostly with Platinum Carbon Black. Top to bottom Kuretake Brush Pen, Black pitt pen Fine, pentrl brush pen, sepia pitt pen Fine, two Noodler Konrads (one has Deartementis document brown ink in it) Platinum Carbon pen, and two of my favorite pens the Noodler Creaper ahab.

I am taking these with me in case I want to paint as I sketch. I usually paint when I get home because I hate to make my sister Jan wait while I paint. Bad enough that she waits while I sketch.

Lots of ink and cartridges.

Lots of paper. The two hand made sketchbooks have Cheap Joes Kilimanjaro, 3 strathmore mixed media sketchbooks(my current fav) a tablet of Fabriano squarely 149# cold press, some Canson post cards and some Strathmore 500 watercolor cards oh and a stack of accordion folded Stonehenge paper to draw strings of people and maybe a chicken or two on?!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret who is taking clothes I her suitcase and backpack too!!

Day 479 Two days to Paris 😳

November 2, 2015November 3, 2015Leave a comment

Well at least we leave then. Lol. Be in Paris by 2 pm Thursday.

Been raining cats and dogs do I am posting all of the family dogs but one today.

A quick sketch of my lab Honey. She walked off before I finished it but decided to paint it this am. Painted with ultramarine blue and burnt umber.
Grant – my sons newest put bull. Drawn with a Lamy Vista using Carbon Paltinum Black ink.

Drawing a new dog is always a challenge. To top it off he’s black and white. I smeared the ink with my finger to try to make his black more solid. I actually drew him three times before I was happy with him.

I wish I could give u some dog drawing tips but the only one I can give u is that a dog like a person or a horse is just geometric shapes. Check out Richard Schmidts wonderful Alla Prima book which is what he says about drawing anything. They are all just shapes.

Livia my sons other pitty. Small sketch with a Kuretake brush pen loaded w Platinum Carbon Black ink.

Lucy dog my youngest sons Briard Colie mix. Such a good puppy.

My other dog Zoe watching me pack. Maybe I should stick her in the suitcase?! I have enough room.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 451 – A few Paintings

October 4, 2015Leave a comment

Henry – background Quin gold. Sofa Quin sienna and Quin burnt orange – skin Quin coral and French yellow ochre

Got the nasty virus still that half of the people in Augusta seem to have but forced myself to paint some in my coloring book aka my ink sketches.

About Henry sketch. Really like the way the darks make his legs pop and take shape. My favorite of the ones I painted yesterday.

Inktober day 4 – Forgot to take a pic of the black and white sketch. Oops.

Random customer at the inner bean sitting less than three Feet from me. So absorbed in her phone she didn’t notice I was drawing her.

Drawn with Noodler Konrad and carbon platinum black ink.

Hair – burnt sienna Quin burnt orange. Shirt cobalt and inathradone. Skin Quin coral and yellow ochre. Grey is cerulean and burnt sienna.

A reindeer head that was over the cabin fireplace last weekend. Why a reindeer in the western North Carolina mountains?! NO idea! A friend told me he was a moose but we decided he was a reindeer probably from Norway or Sweden. Along way from home.

Quin gold and burnt sienna wall. Same with the splatters. Grey is cerulean and burnt sienna. Piemonite and cobalt used in the shadows.

Out my back door. Glad to report the Savannah is still units riverbanks!!

Thanks for looking!! Back to watching the BIG Flood in nearby Columbia and Charleston and glad Augusta dogged the bullet.

Stay safe and dry my chickadees!

Margaret glued to WIS Columbia. Nope no football here!!

Day 451 – A few Paintings

October 4, 2015Leave a comment

Henry – background Quin gold. Sofa Quin sienna and Quin burnt orange – skin Quin coral and French yellow ochre

Got the nasty virus still that half of the people in Augusta seem to have but forced myself to paint some in my coloring book aka my ink sketches.

About Henry sketch. Really like the way the darks make his legs pop and take shape. My favorite of the ones I painted yesterday.

Inktober day 4 – random customer at the inner bean sitting less than three Feet from me. So absorbed in her phone she didn’t notice I was drawing her.

Drawn with Noodler Konrad and carbon platinum black ink.

Hair – burnt sienna Quin burnt orange. Shirt cobalt and inathradone. Skin Quin coral and yellow ochre. Grey is cerulean and burnt sienna.

Quin gold and burnt sienna wall. Same with the splatters. Grey is cerulean and burnt sienna. Piemonite and cobalt used in the shadows.

Out my back door. Glad to report the Savannah is still units riverbanks!!

Thanks for looking!! Back to watching the BIG Flood in nearby Columbia and Charleston and glad Augusta dogged the bullet.

Stay safe and dry my chickadees!

Margaret glued to WIS Columbia. Nope no football here!!

Day 437 – Sacred Heart

September 20, 2015September 20, 2015Leave a comment

A beautiful old deconsecrated Catholic Church in downtown Augusta. Supposedly it even has a ghost in one of the bell towers.

It’s hard to get a clear view of the entire front of the church. Trees have been planted that block the view so I only drew the top.

I knew the sketch had problems when it was drawn but painted it anyway. Painted with my Isabey mop #2. No control over it and should have changed to a sable to even up the towers. Oh well. I think it might be my Rouen cathedral to paint over and over.

From Wikipedia

It was built by Jesuit priests and its first service was on December 2, 1900. The church had been in Augusta for 70 years, until it closed in 1971 due to modern suburban advancements. While the building was vacant, it endured much vandalism and was near destruction.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.[1]
In 1987, the Knox Foundation renovated the building and opened as a vibrant center of the city for cultural events. The building now host events such as wine festivals, choral concerts, and Christmas events. It is one of the best examples of redeveloping downtown Augusta.

More Sacred Heart tomorrow. The inside!!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx whose actually reading a book instead of drawing or painting.