Category: Portrait

Day 2126 Motor Supply Bistro

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In Columbia is hard to beat for food or ambience. I met my sister in law there for her belated birthday dinner.

Had delicious wild caught SC shrimp for a Sunday brunch with a bed of Anson grits and a blood orange cocktail. Think it was a martini. Did I say this place never disappoints. So yummy.

Cocktails are also interesting and off beat. Blood orange anything is hard to beat.

I was sitting in the bar area drawing this as people drifted to and fro at the bar.

Drawn with my Lamy Ef loaded w Noodlers Brown Ink. Maybe I will paint it. Maybe I won’t.

Margaret xoxoxo who has been schleepping all over town for safflower seed. Evidently the squirrels hate it. Who knew. Thanks Miss Mike for the tip. Xoxoxox

Day 2124 Across the street

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Can’t decide if I like this one better painted or not. Maybe is my verdict. Painted w my tiny whiskey painters box and a waterbrush.

Lamy vista noodler eelskin Ink.

Also used my red watercolor pencil on it. Think it always perks a sketch up.

Margaret heading back to Decatur for a birthday party this weekend and a trip to the puppet show. My name is Margaret and WHERE do I live?!! Xoxoxo

Day 2116 Court reporter part deux

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These were such fun to color with the tombows whilst I watched tv last night. Four tombows flesh green and two blues one of which was light. The other was so dark I could use the blue on my brush for shadows.

Think the color improved him greatly.

Page two colored. Just used two tombows flesh and a wierd green. Then added water to the green. You never know what will happen with tombows. Sometimes good sometimes not.

This is before. I think it too was improved by color even though it’s simpler.

These are my friend Ruth Pearls. You can follow her on Instagram at Britpeach She used Derwent watercolor pencils and a copic market.

Her second one. I think the bottom sketch somehow is perfect of Mueller. Such expression.

Margaret who wants to finish her book called. The Irressistible Blueberry Bakeshop and café. I think I have gone Blueberry crazy baking too many blueberry pound cakes. I discovered I am NOT a lover of big wads of cooked blueberry. However I have friends that LOVE it.

Day 2113 Court reporter time!!

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Best thing about congressional hearings is getting to draw the talking heads. My dear friend Ruth Pearl and I would LOVE to be court reporters of any needs us. Too much fun. Will share a couple of hers with you after I ask her.

Page 5&6

AND I finished this hahnemuhle journal. Now I can go back to stillman and birn. The hahnemuhle hated the tombow markers. When I tried to brush them out the paper peeled. WHAT?!!

And the spine is totally broken and falling apart. Last time that happened was when I first used Stillman and Birn. They sent me a stack of four to replace that one book. WHAT was I thinking changing even if it was to try out a nice non plastic covered journal. Sigh.

Page 1&2

Tombows. Always fun not as messy as watercolors BUT I think I will paint the other two pages I drew today. 11 heads all together.

Have to say he’s DIFFICULT to draw. Not sure why.

One tip. You can draw these guys in 5-10 min. If u start where he’s looking right and don’t finish wait. Sooner or later he will resume the same position and you can finish. Try it – it’s a lot of fun. That’s how I did the big one. Every time Schiff or Nunez questioned him I worked on the big one some more.

Page 3&4

Page three. Especially like the one on the bottom right.

Ink ones are my Lamy Ef a sweet writing pen with noodler brown ink.

Margaret who might have to listen to more news. Xoxoxox

Day 2114 Done done done

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Think this one is done. I added shots of burnt sienna to the gold and a few wet splatters softening the edges w water. Added a few washes out cerulean strokes mixed w palette mud here and there for shadows. A bit of flesh to the people.

Before the quin gold and cad yellow was over powering the sketch. So when it’s messed up there’s nothing to lose playing with it.

The original sketch.

Lamy EF Noodler Eelskin Ink stillman and birn Zeta.

Margaret who really needs to contact wordpress to get rid of the annoying popup in the ap. xoxoxo

Day2112 hmm that looks wrong

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Out the second floor window at the High

This still needs work. Meant to do it today but went to Lion King instead. It was almost standing room only. The cgi was amazing. The animals looked so real.

And still haven’t decided if this is done. Maybe there’s too much yellow background?! Seemed like a good idea except I don’t seem to like one solid color. Will have to think about this.

When I was home I spent a lot of time looking for a sketch of Kate I did a while back. Finally found it in the FIRST palace I looked. And I looked there several times. How did I miss it. Now to get Miss Kate painted. Time is running OUT!!

Margaret who has to watch the first Fantastic Beasts so I can figure out what was going on in the second one. Of course I find all the cgi highly entertaining. Xoxoxo

Day 2110 High Museum of Art European Masters

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Taking a sketchbreak after going to see the European Masters from Phillips in DC. sad to see it go.

There are three large statues n the lobby of the High with benches to sit on in between.

Since I wanted focus on the one of the left I drew it in a lot more detail than I did the others farther away.

Lamy Vista Noodler Eelskin Ink

Margaret xoxoxo

Day 2109 Where or where has Margaret been

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Well the WordPress site is at full quota. So we are working on migrating it to a new less expensive server. Address will stay the same – I think. 🤔

Good news is you should be able to buy prints soon. Well maybe by Christmas. 😵🤗🤣

Tufted titmouse on Stonehenge print paper

I reduced the image size so I HOPE they aren’t too bad.

Purple finch. On cheap Joes Kilimanjaro 140#

I have to say that the Stonehenge is much less user friendly. I tried to lift the to intense grey on the titmouses back and it was a no go. It was stuck like gorilla glue to the paper.

However it stayed flat and gave nice clear crisp colors.

The Kilimanjaro waffled while it was wet though now it’s dry it is just about flat. But the waffling makes the watery washes float on the surface. Eeek.

That’s how I got the nice blob on the purple finches back. Or at least that’s what I am blaming the blob on. And yes it’s a prestretched block.

Painted with my Vlad Yesilev sword brush. Bytw it’s getting much easier to use. PS it holds tons of water.

For a local show next month. Watercolor to come.

I am still in shock over Notre Dame. This is for a local show next month. Watercolor to come. It was really a miracle that the north tower didn’t burn and take down the whole thing when the huge bells fell. Due to brave firemen that did not happen. Here’s a fascinating article about the fire fight after investigation of what happened.

Thank god for brave firemen fighters. One squad that risked their lives in the north tower was lead by a young 27 year old woman Master Cpl. Myriam Chudzinski. What a woman!

Margaret back to dusting her pillows in the dryer. Xoxoxo

Day 2108 Rachel remembered

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Saucing it up at Dr Sketchys a few years ago. I carried these around in the hold of my car to give to her and kept forgetting them. I finally gave them to her family today at a memorial at Le Chat.

She was quite the Burlesque dancer. At today’s memorial at Le Chat we got to see old burlesque with Dirty South YouTube’s of some of her performances and outtakes from the movie Old Man of the Rocks she and her daughter made a couple of years ago.

Marian the Librarian from her favorite musical the Music Man. Her fans were many and her talents were legion. Her grandpa called her Marian the librarian.

Vamping for the Dr Sketchys crowd. Not my greatest sketches but they are now owned by her family. I hope they enjoy them.

Pentel brush pen superaquabee sketchbook caran d’ache neocolor ii. Tomboy markers.

Margaret tucked in for the night Xoxoxox

Day 2084 – the kid

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At this point. The Kid 15×22″‘hp Fluid. Forgot to ask his name yesterday when he modeled for us.

Started without a drawing. Drawing large shapes Like oil painters do.

Both light and dark. WHERE are his glasses?!! Took til almost second break before I notice oh wait I can’t see his eye because he has on glasses. Duh.

Started adding

And adding. How did I not notice his mouth was too small too forward?! 🤪

More shadows but that mouth. I am an idiot? The things you don’t notice when you have a live model. And YES I got up and walked off and looked at it.

Finally his mouth is where it belongs. Sigh.

When I went to bed last night.

And the way he looks right now. I moved his right eye up and widened it.
Burnt sienna cerulean cobalt burnt umber hematite burnt scarlet or other. Vlads neutral tint. White Gouache mixed w cad yw light. Ultramarine
Andrews blue Alizarin dioxzine violet vandyke brown indigo

Hmm is that all of them.

Paper is 140# hot press fluid which has stayed oh so flat despite my repeated drenchings of the paper. Love this stuff. Need to order MOH from amazon. AND you can even lift on it which never happens on hot press. Once it’s there it’s there on most hot press.

Margaret who just got a new grand baby today David Christoper 8.8 lb. A BIG boy just like his dad whose birthday was today. Super birthday present for my son Ben.

Xoxoxoxo