Day 908 Lazy Saturday

January 14, 2017Leave a comment

After all that sneezing and Benadryl decided to be lazy today and binge on Netflix’s.

Maybe I should do some urban sketching off of Midsommer Murders? It’s always set in the most charming Bristish villages as long as you overlook a serial murder or two in every village.

About the sketch one of the Key West sketches. A steel drum player at Buzzards Roost. Sketched on location of course.

Colors are Ted Nuttalls transparent colors. Pentel. Rush pen in a Stillman and Birn Zeta.

Tip: I do much better painting all trees when I use my squirrel mops. I have a 12 and a big fat Isabey mop. It keeps me from getting to detailed. Then I usually splatter them to give the small lead effect.

Love my mops. Top one is the Isabey 12 second one is an Isabey 8 I think. Bottom one is a Richeson 2. The 12 is from Blick Atlanta Peachtree store. The bottom two are from Cheap Joes. I use the two smaller ones the most.

It’s really hard to get detailed with these which is great for trees or painting Charles Reid style. The smallest brush he likes to use is an Isabey 16 Kolinski sable.

That’s is for today. Go forth and sketch.

Margaret xoxoxo thinking about a run to the nearest park to sketch the kids in the manufactured snow park. One day only event.

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 906 Sneezing is not

January 12, 2017Leave a comment

Conducive to art making or exercising. Allergies beseech but they should be much better by tomorrow. That’s the good thing about allergies.

I did this last nite when I was just tired. So I misspelled Kaffe. Only one e. I drew the pike of fabrics with just marks no lines separating each fabric. Used 8-9 pens in the process. Fun project you should try if you have a spare hour and a pile of tea towels or shirts. Variety is the key thing.

So were did that other e go?! Photoshop. Took about five minutes to figure out how to use the clean up tool as in which was the right tool and BOOM it was done.

Ps that Stillman and Birn Zeta does love ink.

Hmm wonder that bandaid tool works on allergies. Erase them?!

Ttyl

Margaret xoxoxo

Day 905 – the Bean

January 11, 2017Leave a comment

Everybody’s favorite place to eat lunch in Augusta or for a coffee or even better some of their amazing cake. They give you a slab of home made cake for $4 or $4.50. Today I had their Tuscan Bean Soup which was delicious. A big bowl and some delicious ice tea $5. A good deal.

I don’t think I have ever eaten anything that was not delicious at the bean as we call it. Their coffee is from that other fabulous cafe that I drew a couple of weeks ago The Dancing Goats in Decatur.

Painted in my new STillman and Birn Zeta. Drawn with a Lamy Ef loaded with Lexington Grey and painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent colors.

Sketchbookskool Homework.

Draw some textured objects. I might have gotten carried away but have had these on my art table for a while to draw. I can check them off my list now right?!

Pens used Staedler .01, carbon Platinum pen w carbon platinum black ink and a Pitt calligraphy pen which I soon abandoned because it was too dark to me.

Stillman and Birn mixed Zeta journal.

Ttyl

Margaret off to bed early after two hours at the gym and walking a couple of miles. Color me tahred. Xoxoxo

Day 904 Movie challenge

January 10, 2017Leave a comment

There’s something about a Miss Marple show. I love all of them in their various reincarnations.

I have sketched Miss Marple before – the previous actress before Julia McKenzie. Julia portrays a sharp tougher version of Miss Marple and GPTV our PBS channel has been replaying her series on Thursday nites and Sunday afternoon.

Sunday I like to just let PBS run as long as it’s not begathon time. Thank goodness they are done with that for a week or so.

I paused the tv and took a pic of her in an interesting pose.

I drew her with my pentel brush pen off my iPad. And it didn’t go well. I got too heavy handed with the dark shadows.

Gouache to the rescue. Almost like using acrylics. The background is watercolor. Peacock blue and hematite green. Then I scratched the wc off the palm tree.

Last spread in my Stillman and Birn Zeta. Hurrah.

Ttyl

Margaret xoxox

Day 903- I had to

January 10, 2017Leave a comment

Paint Calvin the guy who showed up for me to draw Friday. In the rain playing “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.”

47 degrees rain and I was out there with him drawing him. Which of us was crazier.

Stillman and Birn mixed Media zeta journal Ted Nuttalls transparent palette.

Here it is before I drew it.

Sketchbook School homework. Fill a page up with doodles using various pens and pencils.

Here are the six pens and pencils I used to make the marks with. I have to day I thought this was a dumb assignment but really enjoyed the 15-20 minutes it took to draw this.

Made me feel like Picasso or maybe Matisse.

Try it I bet you will like it too.

River Bend sunset out my back door tonite. So bright it lit the den up which was how I noticed it. I was too busy blogging to look. Oops.

Ttyl

Margaret xoxoxo

Day 902 Mahjong Ladies and a guy

January 8, 2017Leave a comment

Trying to fill up the last few pages of my Stillman and Birn zeta sketchbook. Drawn with my Lamy Safari filled with Lexington Grey ink.
Stopped by Higher Grounds cafe to look for a book and found multiple tables of Mahjong filling the cafe.

Irresistible. I sat down to draw them. I don’t think any of them ever noticed me sitting a few feet away sketching them. They were very involved in their games.

Oddly enough they had been there the day before when I played bridge there with my friends. I am now wondering if they are there everyday. Will have to drop by and see.

This old man was also irresistible. He was sitting there reading something and enjoying his coffee. Clemson orange shirt. A lot of that lately. Championship game tomorrow nite.

Painting. Ted Nuttalls transparent colors. Been adding slot of purple to the quin sienna in the backgrounds. And my painting with my Richeson #12 mop. Keeps me from getting too picky.

I resisted the urge to splatter. Think the guy could use some don’t you?!

Have a great Sunday. Stay warm.

Margaret xoxoxo who thinks it’s time to shed her flannel jammies don’t you?!

Day 901 And you thought it was Saturday

January 7, 2017Leave a comment

Didn’t make it to life modeling due to snowmaggeddon that never happened. We were told to stay off the roads. I didn’t fancy an early morning 60 mile drive on icy roads. But wait no ice no snow. Sigh.

I was going to draw the old railroad trestle downtown but could not get near it on the wet rainy day we had yesterday. I drove around to be sure I couldn’t get near it and draw in my car.

I realized I could park and draw this old church that way.

St Paul’s is one of the oldest churches in Augusta and is built on the site of old Fort Augusta. It has a great old cemetery which I wasn’t drawing in the rain. Lol.

This is drawn with my pentel brush pen and my noodler Konrad embellished with a grey and a black tombow which I wet down with a water loaded synthetic brush to let it run.

Splattered with the inky rinse water. Think it adds to the pic giving a raindrop effect.

This is how the sketch looked when I left downtown. Can’t decide which one I like better.

Thanks for checking by.

Margaret xoxoxo

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 899 – Some More Urban Sketching

January 6, 2017Leave a comment

I pass this cute diner every day twice a day on the way to class at USC Aiken or on Saturdays when I go to life modeling. I am always on a mission to get to Aiken on time or to get home and let the dogs out so I never have stopped to eat there. I hear the pies are great. They decorate it up for fall. Lots of pumpkins corn stalks and roosters. There’s even an old ford truck that gets strung with garlands of fall leaves. I didn’t draw it. I ran out of space.

Here are the brushes I use. The bottom is my fav a sable Da Vinci 10 but the tree and the sky were painted with a Richeson mop. A 12 that I bought at cheap joes two years ago. Very difficult to get any detail with it which is good in tree foliage. The tree branches and trunk were painted by a big goats hair dagger brush that I got at Sam Flaxs a couple of weeks ago. Very long and loopy designed for sign painters. So far I can only get it to paint lines – Straight and curved ones. Practice right?

And I love this sassy rooster sculpture out on the highway in front of the cafe. I need to draw him with a brush pen on a sunny day. School starts Monday so will passing the charming fellow again several times a week. Maybe one day on the way home again soon.

Stillman and birn Mixed media Zeta with a pilot Carbon pen. Really fine point.

Colors used. Quin gold. Cerulean, ultramarine, burnt umber, Quin burnt orange, pyrrole red, cad orange, hematite green, peacock for the sky. And a bit of American Journey Andrews blue a turquoise that I added to my pallet lately.

Homework done. Done. Had to make myself do this one and I love doing calligraphy just not fond of the word hate. Used my pentel brush pen -heavy lines- a Noodler Konrad – fine black lines – and a red tombow for hate. Oh a light Gray tombow for shading in love.
That’s all folks. Got to do my homework for sketchbookskool. Did I say I am behind because I went sketching Mahjong ladies at a local cafe after yoga today when I should have been doing my homework.

A bientot Margaret xoxox