Day 371

July 14, 20154 Comments

a year and 6 days of consecutive daily blogging. Not easy when u r on vacation!!

My sis in law while we waited for the concierge so we could book some tours. Right now we are going on the ghost your Tonite and the food tour Thursday.

Lettering done with my Noodler Creaper Ahab and Carbon Black Ink in my moleskine Wc sketchbook.

Colors either Holbein or Daniel Smith. Ultramarine blue and burnt umber in the chair with yellow for the couchins. Cerulean and burnt sienna for the magazine, shorts, light, the table and the background all done wet on wet. The light is burnt umber, Quin gold, burnt sienna and ultramarine blue.

The blouse is cerulean and Winsor yellow which is a transparent yellow.

Skin Quin coral and yellow ochre. This usually makes a really pretty skin tone but NOT on this darned paper.

Ok next up. Rant about that moleskine I am trying to finish. So skip it if you don’t want to hear me froth.

Wishing I had brought another sketchbook. Really LOATHING the moleskine Wc sketchbook. It acts like Hotpress paper. Very annoying. Colors act oddly on it. Thinking of ordering an S&b zeta or a strathmore ASAP from amazon.

There is a Ben Franklins here BUT no hard bound sketchbooks. Great clerk there. We chatted for a while about art quilts and sketching.

Don’t ask me how many new clean sketchbooks I have at home. At least four! Groan. Oh well. They keep.

I don’t know what it is about this paper but I DO NOT LIKE IT. NO more moleskines for me. At least til they start making them here again and improve the paper. I used to love them. Makes me sad when a product changes so radically. Greed will get you!!

Last nites sunset. First one is in the moleskine. The colors just don’t look so bright and clear as in the next one which

Is on a lovely piece of Strathmore 500 watercolor paper. GREAT stuff. Love it!!! All the usual colors with the addition of cheap joes Andrews blue, Holbein mineral Violet, and DS Orange which is transparent. Oh and any red I thought would work. Can u see how this one flies compared to the one done in the moleskine?!

Thanks for reading!!

Margaret xxx who needs a nap before the ghost tour.

Day 357 Henry Time!!!

June 30, 2015July 1, 2015Leave a comment

Always one of my favorite people to hang out with my grandson Henry. I meant to post these a few days ago before I got bogged down in elephant mania. Still have at least one more elephant in mind.

These were done Fathers Day Weekend so they have been in the sketchbook for a week waiting their turn.

He’s very good at holding still only when watching his favorite tv shows or when reading. Otherwise a perpetual motion machine.
Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 356 – Love my Noodlers

June 29, 2015Leave a comment

I am embarrassed to tell you how many I have.

This was done with my latest acquisition a ReD Noodler Konrad loaded with Diamanté Wild Strawberry. Don’t knowwhich I like better. The red ink or the red pen.

I wrote it in my Super Deluxe Bee sketchbook. No fuzzy letters. The paper loves ink.

My new Konrad loaded with wild strawberry and my beloved Noodler Creaper Ahab loaded with carbon platinum black ink. I have four more Noodler pens. LOVE their flex nibs. Super for both sketching and lettering because they have an interesting line similar to a dip pen. I only occasionally make messes with the ink. I always do with dip pens. Try the Ahab. A bargain at $20 and holds a huge amount of ink.

My other Noodler pens all loaded with different color inks. A girl needs choices, right?! The top pen, a Noodler Konrad is loaded with Noodlers Lexington Grey, the brush pen is new. Not sure what color but probably will get Lexington Grey since I have Carbon Black in my Kuretake pen. The slim red Noodler is loaded with deartrementis document brown. The bright yellow one is loaded with deartrementis Petrol a turquoise greeny bluet color. The two small pens were dirt cheap at Goulet. $10 or so each. The Konrads are the priciest at $40. I have a couple of Lamys that I never use. Hmm I while gift them on at least the safari. May be great for writing but didn’t like it at all for drawing.

Thanks for reading
Margaret xxx

Day 355 – like elephants better.

June 28, 2015June 28, 20152 Comments

Now I am done. The letters are Reinked with platinum carbon black ink in my favorite Noodler creaper Ahab. A great pen and so reasonably priced. Mine was $20. And it holds cats of ink.

In my 93# Super Bee Deluxe sketchbook.

Problems problems. I guess that’s why I like watercolor. It’s prone to misbehave.

I had started out with a yellow green background to go with my band of “kente cloth”. It was terrible. I painted over it with green. Also bad. Just not so bad. So I added cerulean blue to it. Improved. Then I added some cobalt blotches. And was happier with it.

The cad red light outside band was to cover up some of my ink smears.

For a while it looked like this. Decided the blue band on the right had to go. Made it to match the right side by adding the same colors.

So what colors did I use on the elephants?! Quin gold and Quin Sienna mixed with a grey made by adding Inathradone to burnt sienna or burnt umber. The darks are made with the Inathradone with cad orange added to it while it was wet. I also saved a lot of whites which makes the elephants sparkle.

I do still need to go over the lettering. It always seems to dull out when I paint over it.

Thanks for reading!!

Margaret xxx

Day 352 – More Super Deluxe Bee

June 26, 2015June 25, 2015Leave a comment

workout.

As you no doubt know I love sketching and lettering with my Noodler pens. They make such great lines. HOWEVER most bound sketchbooks do not like them. Well I don’t like the way the paper in them bounces when I try to draw on them leading by to stray marks I didn’t intend to do. I love the Strathmore 500 Mixed Media Paper but it feels oddly spongy and draggy to me when I use the pens on it.

Crosshatching – if you don’t use crosshatching the lines are streaky. Add in the cross lines the streaks go away.

NOT so with the Superbee. The letters are sharp and clear on the paper as are the sketches. There’s no drag on the pen so it’s easier to write the letters. Of course more practice would help. Big believer in practice even in art.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 351 – Tomato Pie Time!!

June 24, 2015June 24, 20156 Comments

Nothing says summer like an heirloom tomato pie! I made two tomato pies today and since this recipe is frequently requested I decided to draw it.

I am going to take u thru it as the recipe evolved.

The pie fresh out of the oven. Lots of yellows, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, burnt umber, cad red light, green apatite and dark neutrals.

The ink sketch. I usually pencil in a recipe to be sure I don’t run out of room for anything. Then I ink it.

I laid in a yellow wash first. And dropped bits of yellow ochre, burnt sienna, burnt umber, cad red light, green apatite and dark neutrals while the pie was still wet.

Line green background added and more dark neutral around for the pies edge inside the crust.

I added the cad red line because as usual I smeared the bottom edge into the white. Maybe one day I will learn to keep my band out of the paint. MaYbE!! I can only hope. I also added more dark neutral around the edge of the pie inside the crust fluting and wiped some of the purple under the leaves off. Too purple.

Listening to a thomas Schaller video yesterday. He said you could tell when a painting is done when u start telling yourself I need to do one more thing. I Reinked the letters after I thought I was done not sure I like them.

I also sponged on a little dark neutral to make the surface shadows and it’s done.

I found this recipe from a book called ‘Pon Top Edisto when I was looking for my copy. It’s a great cookbook. Some people add onions. A little or a lot. Cooked or not. Thought garlic might be a tasty addition. And grits would be oh so tasty or fresh corn on the cob.
Thanks for reading

Margaret xxx

Day 343 -Urban Sketching

June 17, 2015June 17, 20152 Comments

Couldn’t resist drawing at the beauty salon today while I waited. Actually fun to draw except I didn’t quite finish before it was my turn. I filled the gap with the sign on the left.

My favorite part is the toes of the girl in the chair. Drawing the reflections in the mirror was interesting. A lot of complicated shapes what were not in my sight line like the shelves full of towels.

You probably know feb colors I used by now BUT if u don’t. Blacks burnt umber and inanthradone blue. You could use ultramarine instead. Wall color yellow ochre and cerulean. Shadows mineral Violet and cerulean.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 343 – Lorikeets

June 16, 20152 Comments

As perhaps you know I enjoy sketching birds. I drew the lorikeets from a shady spot while I waited for my family to show up at the zoo. For $2 you got a cup of nectar to feed them.

Oddly I like the double page spread as long as he pages are separated. I think it’s because there are six birds. I like odd numbers in compositions.

I drew the big bird first. He was off. The beak too low the biggest error. The eye off. He should have looked like the one to the right. They were great fun to paint. Mixing and slapping greens around. Started with light yellow green. Then added darker and darker greens and blues with bits of mineral Violet to the leaves and the birds.

The left page. I added the tree trunks after I drew them as I did the leaves. I only drew the birds on site. It was fun making up the background as I went. Really like the limbs which are Quin gold mineral Violet and Inathradone blue. They started out a grey of burnt umber and Inathradone blue. How boring. Paint red them wet on wet. Sometimes with Quin gold and mineral Violet on the paint brush at the same time.

Here’s the whole page. Just isn’t quite right. Oh well. Beaks are cad orange and Quin coral. Fun stuff to paint. I just wish I had drawn the red ones. Oh my goodness red from head to toe. How did I miss those.

Day 342 – at the zoo

June 15, 2015Leave a comment

I went to Riverbanks Zoo last Thursday with my extended family. While I was waiting I drew some of the animals and the carousel. Finally gettin around to painting them. Today’s its the lion. All of the writing and sketching was done while I was at the zoo.

The lions were chilling and I could hear them thinking dumb humans standing in the sun in the heat to see us. Like the lions I chose the shade.

Tiring of the Orange and cerulean on journal pages I used this Stephen Quiller book to find a different color combo. Thus getting the purple and gold combo. Like the new look. Great book for color. Check it out.

Used of the purple gold theme on the lioness page too. She kept moving. I decided to full in the background with a journal page to remember he fun we all had at the zoo.

Colors used. Yellow ochre Inathridone blue and. Mineral Violet. The lions main Quin burnt sienna burnt umber and the Inathradone blue and purple.

Lots of layering of the colors. Always fun to me. I love the way you can leave the lighter colors shining thru the darker ones.

Gotta run.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

DY 341 Snuggling and Drawing

June 14, 20154 Comments

Zoe loves to snuggle. Drew this while we were watching CBS Sunday morning. Painted it while listening to Super Soul Sunday my two favorite shows. Noodler Creaper Ahab in my Stillman and Birn Alpha. Wish I had bought a zeta. The paper buckles a lot with washes but will flatten out somewhat when the book is closed. Also the paper does not let you live color without some pilling. No book is perfect but S&B tries hard.

Noodler creaper Ahab Carbon Black ink. Greys – Cerulean and Quin Sienna on the blue side darker grey Quin Sienna and Inathridone blue. Red fur Quin Sienna and Burnt umber w touches of Inathradone blue. Letters and border Quin red and cad orange. Background cerulean and Aureolin yellow. Scarf. Hmm all the above colors and mineral purple. Splattered with cerulean.

TIP!! Paint brushes. Thought you might like to see my favorite brushes, my kolinsky Isabeys. I have six now. – 2 4 6 8 and two big mops a 2 and an 8. They are Charles Reids favorite brushes.

If you think your paintings are too tight get a big mop or the biggest paint brush u can afford. Though I want a huge 12 or 14 Isabey they are very pricey but I am happy with my cheap Joes kolinsky Legend which is a 12 for $65.

Fealin Lin loves her Isabey mops. Lucky lady got hers off the reject table at Cheap Joes for $9 instead of the normal $65 ish.

Ink sketch stage.

Used negative space to keep the legs and nose in proportion. That’s looking at the shapes that surround the object like the hole in the coffee cup handle aka the inside shape that Zoe’s legs form almost a square.

Zoe posing.

And doing her favorite thing. Snuggling!! Couldn’t wait to paint this but hated dislodging her. Now she’s annoyed with me and staying in her bed. Sigh.
Fur soresto flea collar regular collar. She is such a princess. She loves to dress up. Newest scarf a triangle of amy butler fabric.

TIP: I love the bit of fur above the scarf. It’s done by painting lightly with grey. Letting it dry and adding more greys and Blues on top letting each layer dry.

The dark grey under the scarf is the Inathridone and Quin Sienna with dabs of mineral Violet added.