When you draw in the dark

April 22, 2023Leave a comment

Day 3 #jyportraitchallenge @juttama_rie She might get a little to yellow even for a cancer survivor. But isnt she joyful?! Also a gusty woman going public with her baldness. LOVE Her!! Makes interesting art too. Her page is mostly in German so good luck with that. She has a few en francais which i could read most of.

And oh my goodness does not Emily metalskin do a great vamp. Reminds me of my grandmother who was young in the 1920s. Have long admired Emilys modeling sessions on judith yaws page. Judith who lives in the Asheville are holds lifemodeling sessions via zoom for $15. She does them via zoom I think. Never quite got around to them. Maybe i will soon because her models are outstanding.

Stillman and birn alpha journal Prismacolor art sticks w some Faber Castel watercolor pencils.

Margaret xoxoxox

30 day portrait challenge

April 21, 20232 Comments

Judith Yaws @judithyaws is doing a 30 day portrait challenge on ig @jyportraitchallenge Shes posting awesome photo references for the challenge. Thought i would join my friend Ruth @britpeach in this challenge.

Day 1 done. 10-15 min drawing. 8×10” stillman and birn alpha w prismacolor artsticks #jyportraitchallenge #portraitchallenge #prismacolorartsticks #stillmanandbirnalpha Thanks @prettywackbeats

Day 2 Done. Did i say i started out three behind?! Hope to be caught up by Saturday. Took too long on this one but she is interesting so fun to do. Hard to maneuver the artsticks which are conte crayon shaped prismacolor pencils no wooden case. No sharp edges on them. Hmmm gotta be a way around that. Thanks!@artzkt83

Cant wait to do this one tomorrow. Love her look.

Using these prismacolor artstixs. Hard to tell where the flat edge is so that causes problems. Wondering of breaking them into pieces would help?! Might just get out my colored pencils and use them when i need a straight exact line like for the eyes or the edge of the face. Now where did i put my colored pencils. Hmmm.

These are done by drawing the large shapes first then the details. I am bad abt starting with the outline and details then filling it in like a color book so trying to change. If Mary Whyte can draw the big shapes first so can i?!

Peaches visiting at our house with our sister in law. Sweet puppy but big feet. You know what that means?!

Margaret xoxoxo

Woodpeckers

April 20, 2023Leave a comment

However I did get some great osprey pics on out boat ride this evening. They are nesting on the railroad trestle at the end of our neighborhood.

The osprey did not like the boat bear their nest. You could hear them shrieking til we drove off.

There were three nests on the trestle but only seems to be one active now.

All in all a nice river ride. More tomorrow. Margaret xoxoxox

A history with birds

April 14, 2023April 14, 2023Leave a comment

Worked on the goose some more. Funny thought about my bird drawing. I remember in third or fourth grade making bird books. Probably traced the birds and copied the descriptions. All in pencil because god forbid the kid had an ink pen. She might be lethal then. Evidently the bird affair is a long standing one with me.

Funny the things you forget til something jogs your memory. The jog was an old paper my brother wrote about the brown thrasher the Ga state bird. It was in a bag of papers my mom saved for him that I need to mail to him along with his less than stellar report cards. His daughters will enjoy those. I for one would have loved to see my dads.

The goose before i worked on jt some more. You know i think the neck is too short. Odd. I watch geese alot. I should know better. This was not deliberate like the neck of the heron. Hmm the things u dont notice when u r in the heat of drawing.

Drawings are all done w watercolor, Caran dache neocolor ii,some prismacolor art sticks in an 8×10” stillman and birn alpha. NO PENCIL drawings aka direct painting. All done with a watercolor base first.

I have alot of trouble telling the difference in these two birds when they come to the feeder. So do others. Alot of people identify them both as flickers. Like my mom a bird nut if there ever was one. These two birds sure did get cute. Except for the ink smear. No idea where that came from.

In my dreams they would all be as good as this crow. Something to strive for right?!!

Anyway enough birdie thoughts. Nite note Margaret xoxoxo

And like that it was over

March 3, 20233 Comments

Loved Judge Newman. What a great even keel kind of guy. My fav sketch today too. Funny story. I didnt notice he had a beard and mustache til i was almost done because i was so intent on drawing him. His hair. Well he had alot less til they read the verdict and i said wait he has alot more hair. Then i added it.

The prosecutor Waters did an awesome summation. His side kick today was even better. Well done to all the prosecution team. We didn’t think it would go their way but it did. Guilty!!!

And this guy what can i say but he was B O R I N G today. No wonder they lost.

Guilty. Hope he enjoys the rest of his life in the SC jails. More than his wife and son got.

Watercolor and inktense pencils superaquabee book. Each drawing is about 6×9”.

Margaret xoxoxo

Morning scribbles

January 20, 2023Leave a comment

To say my sketchbook habit has fallen off would be an understatement. Been working on this stillman and birn alpha sketchbook for a year. Oops. Mostly these are birds and 2 cats on the back porch done with a uniball that I smear w a damp finger.

Daisy the cat was done with grey tombow. She loves to sit in the window and stare in at us in the den. Sooty the black male being solitary like he’s prone to be and yes he’s fixed. All our outdoor cats are.

Out back last night. It went from a nothing to this in about a minute last nite. Then it fizzled out just as quickly. Sunsets are so fleeting.

And yes the kitties still think they are starving ever morning.

Margaret show has to get busy drawing for Watercolor Live today. xoxoxox

Online Live modeling session

May 23, 2022May 26, 2022Leave a comment

Crystal was awesome. She’s a rock steady model holding the pose for long periods of time without moving and her poses are always fascinating. Her costumes which she makes are always phenomenal.

We started off with five minute poses then two minute and up to forty for the long fairy pose.
You can follow her at @crystallinecreative on Instagram.

*10 min pose with pentel ink brush pen, watercolor in my favorite super aquabee sketchbook.*

Crystal is a super model. Been drawing her off and on for a while since going to the Atlanta Artist Center where she also models. Now She’s doing online modeling sessions via Townsend Atelier about once a month on Monday at 5 EST. You can contact them at mailto:peggy@townsendatelier.com. They have a phenomenal range of classes.

Well chop her head off. Another two minute. Love the body but that neck is toooooo long. Lol.

10 min u really should fix her left eye. Will eye. Probably not. Lol.

Another ten minute but I went back in later and touched it up. Looked lame because it was done in pencil and needed more paint.

The Fairy is painted on a half sheet of Fabriano hot press. 15×22. It was nearby when I decided the long pose was too interesting for my smaller aquabee. Drawn in pencil painted with my Mary Whyte colors palette.

*Screenshot from the online zoom session.*

One advantage to doing a zoom session is that you can capture her pose with a screen shot.

Handy if you want to tweak your sketches. Doesn’t matter if there’s not enough detail because you really don’t want to get bogged down with the details.

The camera was down near her feet so there was a lot of odd foreshortening. She really doesn’t have big feet except from that angle. Lol.

Margaret who needs to get busy xoxoxo

Gone fishing

May 17, 2022Leave a comment

Me fishing. Incredible but it happened today. Actually I was painting in my Hahnemuhle journal while my dh fished. Of course the fish started hitting less than five minutes after he threw out his live bait. 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

I can see this one needs work after looking at it just now.

The weather was perfect behind Clarke’s Hill Dam or floating lazily on the river under a turquoise umbrella fishing.

He caught four like this. Two were big enough to keep. The other two were slightly smaller. This one is over 28 inches long a big boy!!

Maggie having a relaxing Sunday after WordPress tried to eat this post. Xoxoxox

Update

April 23, 2022April 24, 2022Leave a comment

Calling Teri done now. I lifted highlights on her arm and face. Also added quite a few darks along her tummy and her hand and here and there. most importantly I gave her her middle finger. No idea why I didn’t paint it in yesterday since I did the other four. I also shortened her thumb. It was far too long.

Played with her a lot. Added a dark juicy background. Slung some paint at her with my Scroobys Loose Goose from Cheap Joes. Might try some paint rolling too with it. Too bad she’s really a very light blonde.

Might have too many hard edges. Will see what my fav two critics say.

Portrait Society of America is currently meeting in Atlanta and running live streams on their Facebook page. The paint out TH a nite was awesome. 12 portrait painters painting four models live. Here’s the link.

Also a link to last years winners here. Tonite we think they will live stream this years winners.