Thought I had posted this but was too busy painting. Busy day. What can I say!?
Snacks at Costco were good today. That Kirkland wine is pretty tasty!
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Category: Portrait
Day 720 Happy Fathers Day
My dad, a young 93, loves dogs. He’s a sucker for them. And they love him. Feeds them endless snacks. Feeds them of his dinner plate.
I should be painting something new to post. Goodness knows my sketch books are full of ink sketches begging to be painted BUT there’s a new dog in town. I am babysitting my sons rescue the sweet Wesley aka Cowdog because he’s black and white like the Chic Fil A cows.
I took a photo of this and noticed his head was too small so I added about an 1/8 of an inch along his jaw line.
Here’s the one when his head is too small.
Drawn with a Noodler Konrad with carbon platinum black ink.
Thanks for checking by! Hope you all enjoy your Fathers Day!
Margaret xxx
Day 712 – so it continues.
Not done yet.
I drew Donna and Ann as they discussed Donnas abstracr. The conversation went on for quite a while giving me plenty of time to draw them.
Another sketch of Dinna done during lectures. The shadow under her eye got a little dark.
Painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent palette.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Day?! Rhineharts
Sold a painting to Rhineharts that will be on their Masters Week shirt. How exciting is that. I know stacks will be sold that week.
The shirt pocket
I sat out front of Rhineharts waiting for my high school friends Peggy and Karen. We are all excited to be on the shirt!!
Yesterday I got in Charles Reid’s class at Cheap Joes. It fills the instant its released. My friend Mike and I got one of the 16 places. Now to contain our excitement til May 2017!!!😳😃
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Day 610 – The Home Stretch is ON!!
30×40″ acrylic
Major Dad is making progress. In case u missed passed posts will add some of the process.
- Original photo. Major Dad at 93! Did not want to paint all those chickens!!
The block in.
Playing with the photo in Waterlogue
Washing in the foundation colors. Recent reading about acrylics told me NOT to do this with just water. If you use more than 25% water with your acrylics it breaks down the polymer binders. I used polymer gel to thin it.
Read about more than you ever wanted to know about acrylic paint and mediums here on liquitex.com. 120 plus pages of anything and everything about acrylic paints. I read the whole book and it’s actually very interesting.
Bytw I use both Golden and Liquitex. I still have a few older paintings that are painted with liquitex which was the first acrylic and they are still in great shape. I buy whichever is on sale with a coupon. 👍🏻
Layering in color. Did you know u can use the cheap paints for this later and finish with the expensive stuff?! Sounds like a lot of work, right?!
I added back in a lot of the lines I had painted over trying to tie the painting together. I also lost some of the lines on the face. Probably need to loose a few more on his hands.
When he’s done he’s getting a coat of acrylic varnish as soon as I get the kind the book lists. Evidently there is one that liquitex makes that is removeable with ammonia. Who knew. The book also said all acrylics should be sealed because otherwise. they remain porous.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Day 606 – Sunday Fun!!
Been drawing with platinum carbon black ink and a bamboo stick. Really a lot of fun.
I started going thru the pics to find something to draw. I mean why would I want to go outside on such a lovely day?!
Watching Downton Reruns ff thru the begathon. I already send them $$
Anyway I found a cute one of my granddaughter and drew it. I had a few too many black lines in her tiny face like the eyebrow. So I painted her w gouache.
First gouache portrait ever. Not easy but at least she’s not black from her nose to her chin.
The only way I could get a soft edge on the face shadow was to feather white over her dry cheeks. Totally different experience from watercolor or acrylic.
Gouache brands used Winsor Newton and Horadam. Colors red yellow white blue and burnt sienna.
A
My lab Honey drawn with the Noodler Creaper and smudged with a wet finger. She’s a very long nosed lab. Not a block headed English lab like Isis on Downton. Touches of burnt sienna gouache for her eyes.
This one was drawn with the stick too. Fun fun. I think her eyes are a little high but oh well.
Get a stick and try it. You might like it.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Day 589 – Art and Inspirations Meeting
And a little urban sketching/journaling in downtown Augusta. I think this sketch got better as I worked my way from left to right.
Really love the front row ladies.👍🏻😃 Drawn with my Noodler Konrad loaded with Platinum Carbon Black ink in my Strathmore 500 mixed media journal. Can’t wait to get it painted.
The speakers were great. Cheryl Goldslegger, the Morris Eminent Scholar at Augusta University and the new art department chair Scott Thorpe – the Dynamic Duo outlining bright plans for the future of artists in Augusta and art students at Augusta University.
Thier next event is LASER next Tuesday at 6 pm on campus. There will be a Q&A period.
Ruth and I are going and getting our questions ready!! See you there!!
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Day 586 – Ilenia
Ilenia 24″ x 30″ Acrylic I have been paying attention to what Al said and trying to block everything in exactly before I start painting even though it’s more fun to just paint paint paint but the results are always disappointing when it comes to the human figure. They are almost always just off a bit here and there.
Here she is blocked inat about 40 minutes of work. I didn’t notice till much later that her head was too big and as Dave said her haunch was too small. 😋
If u look u can see my hash marks from measuring her head. They are dark blue above her hip and to the left of her arm.
I actually had started measuring her from the orange hash mark on the far right when I realized she would be painted on the right side of the board. So I drew another hash mark and started measuring her from the dark blue one.
Here Ilenia is mostly sorted right before Daves she needs a bigger haunch remark. Funny thing is I had just told Charlie that he need to draw hers rear bigger on his drawing. That it was bigger than we think lol. An easy fix. Just add a curved swath of flesh color to fix her rear problems. Lol.
Here she is now. I think she could use a bit more work on her left eye and on her hand but hey I have a sweater to finish knitting.
Colors used cerulean cobalt Winsor purple. The green is one of the blues and nickel Azo gold. Combines for an interesting color. Flesh is cad yellow, pyrrole red and white. Sometimes I used the nickel Azo gold for the yellow. Can’t live without that color. Love it!!
Ultramarine blue and orange for her dark brown hair and brown shadows.
Thanks for reading.
Day 583 – Eglise Sainte-Sauveurs
In Les Andelys. 10″ x 16″
This was drawn leaning on an old building across the narrow street. Very hard to get a good view. Hard to draw in a floppy sketch book with nowhere to put the book but hey how often do you get a chance to draw a church built in 1198-1202 a very short period for such a huge building.
Because of the short building period it’s very cohesive in its early gothic design unlike most of the churches and cathedrals which took two or three HUNDRED years to build.
This lovely gothic Eglise aka church sits in the heart of the small river town Les Andelys, Richard the Lionhearted’s stronghold on the Seine. A small park or market square sits beside it where the citizens could promenade under the trees and enjoy the weather.
Originally I painted it a little too grey so I perked it up with a very diluted wash of Winsor yellow and hits of Quin gold.
Most of the churches and cathedrals are really not grey but the color of limestone which is yellower. The grime of centuries has turned them grey.
A bit of history. Richard the Lionhearted would not allow the town of Les Andelys to be built til his Chateau Gaillard was built. What the king wants the king gets right?! Another interesting bit of history. Most French churches are topped with a crowing rooster.
More about the church at http://lesandelys.com/church/
Colors used. Winsor yellow background. Stone cerulean French ochre and burnt sienna. Inathrodone blue and burnt umber shadows. Strathmore 500 mixed media journal, Konrad Noodler, carbon platinum black ink.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Day 545 – Summer Madonna
A large watercolor commission that it’s finally safe to share with you. Delivered on the 26th to the mom as a Christmas present. Oddly this picture looks best at a distance which is the way you view most paintings unless you are an art geek like me whose never happier than when she’s nose to nose with a Van Gogh or a Cezanne.
Paper is crescent watercolor board. Color used Quin coral, Quin sienna and Quin burnt orange with French ochre for skin and skin shadows. Be careful ! Strong staining pigments!! Shadows burnt umber and inathrodone blue with some mineral violet very lightly applied. Lips alizarin. Hair Winsor yellow, yellow ochre, burnt umber. Water Cheap joes Andrews turquoise, burnt umber, inathrodone blue applied wet on wet. Black bathing suit is burnt umber, inathrodone blue
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Margaret McCarthy Hunt Art 