Palm tree time

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023Leave a comment

Busy day today. Lost the tall trunk of the palmetto tree darn it. Does that mean a do over?! Always interesting to draw or paint a palm. And a challenge.

The culprits and my antique strathmore 500 mixed media journal. Such lovely paper. only four spreads left in it now.

First go round. Sprinkling water on the neocolor ii Always loose the detail when u wet them. 🧐🧐😵 and I lost more details when I smeared it with a kleenex.

Redrawing details. So u add more color. Always fun to use the Neocolor in spots of water. you never know how it will turn out.

Getting there. Turned the trunk silver. They are NOT brown. 😵‍💫 Added some black and ultramarine to shadow areas to give the greens more definition.

And done. Well til I decide to mess with it some more.

Or these. If they were good enough for Picasso for whom they were invented good enough for me.

Don’t want to stop the tips on these up. Maybe another palm using these?! Winsor Newton watercolor markers.

Inktense blocks. Aways fun but not archival.

Prismacolor art sticks. A BIG fav of mine. Good for scribbling.

And then there is this pile. Not opened yet. The british unison landscape colors are just lovely and soft. Prismacolor pastels a little harder more like conte crayons. And opps another smaller pack of prismacolor artsticks.

The cats know how to end this day. Margaret. Xoxoxox

More inky goodness

April 16, 2023April 16, 2023Leave a comment

The sunflowers continues to go crazy growing like the weed it is. It grew from bird seed. You can surely almost see it grow every day. Wait til i fertilize it.

Catching fish at the dam. A big one today.

What’s for dinner and will be even better tomorrow. oh and healthy.

Coming soon and no its not esp heathy but SOOOO good.

Rain is over but still wet. So pretty out now.

Margaret tahred from doing taxes all afternoon. Done and on their way. Thank goodness. Xoxoxo

From the River

April 3, 2023April 3, 2023Leave a comment

Our volunteer Sunflower continues to shoot skyward. I swear it grows 3 inches a day. Jack and the Beanstalk don’t have anything on it. Hopefully a sunflower on the opposite page. An old Strathmore Mixed Media sketchbook I never filled up. Lovely paper but I abandoned it because it won’t lay flat which annoys me. Drawn w my original very first beloved coral Lamy Safari with carbon platinum black ink.

Cleaning continues. Found these two old sketches of dear Erica from 2014. Goes to show you can improve if you draw enough. Legs far too short. 😵‍💫

While she is long and very slim those tiny hands?! And once again foreshortened legs OFF. So keep those pencils sharpened and practice practice practice. Daily practice does work just like in tennis. Or should i say like golf since its Masters week here in Augusta Ga Ya gotta put the hours in.

The cleaned and sorted cupboard. Way too many brand new sketchbooks. Who knew i had all of those?

Sooty playing guard cat. No bird need eat. Clueless what he’s doing. And that’s the sunflower in front of him.

Margaret xoxoxo from the rainy river.

Getting done?

March 15, 2023Leave a comment

The Messy Table i have been letting pile up in the den. Lamy EF, watercolor and inktense pencils and tombow markers and Strathmore mixed media sketchbook which used to be my go to sketchbook til i found Stillman and Birn. The paper is much heavier than the S and B alpha i normally use. 140 # cp

I painted the wc pencil with my winsor newton momarch psuedo mongoose 1/2” flat love the way it painted.

But it still needed something.

Thr tombow greys did the trick i think. And then i cleared the table off.

Margaret xoxox

Day 143 Paint brushes flew

July 26, 2020May 19, 20212 Comments

300 lb Fabriano rough

Away to Dubrovnik Croatia paintalong with Vlad Yesilesev today. Great fun. Lots of mad painting. Vlad was funnier than usual today and he’s always funny. You really should join us.

The photo. Not much to look at as a photo is it?

The value sketch. Vlads. This is what we paint from.

The sketch

First wash. Yellow Ochre alizarin cobalt and card red orange rooftops. Not much paint at all.

Heading down the sidewalk. Sky cerulean cobalt neutral tint and whatever else Vlad decided to toss into the mix.

More washes. Darker ones.

Adding browns and dioxzine purple.

Trees cad yw cobalt ultramarine yellow ochre burnt sienna neutral tint.

And more darks. Scratching out lines. Think I might take some of the purple out of the wall but not til tomorrow.

Wildly painting lines with my sword brush which worked fine today skimming out electric lines without a problem.

Some splatters for crepe Myrtle tree flowers.

Margaret who needs a nap now. Xoxoxox

Day 44 A Day in Provence with Vlad

April 26, 2020May 19, 20215 Comments

Did a paint along with Vlad Yesilesev today. He will be doing some more. Think it’s a great format that lets what he says sink in. And you get a copy of the class to download. Some dummy didn’t get that 911. They expire after a couple of days. OPPPSEY. I Will do it this time. Using a 2B mechanical pencil we all do a value sketch under his tutelage. Lots of squinting.

Light washes of yellow ochre cobalt and dioxzine and alizarin.

First wash. Oopsey. Always leave holidays and then duh go back and repaint. That does NOT work on damp watercolor. You get blooms.

And opps forgot to take more photos duh. Next time.

Hugs Margaret. Xoxoxoxo

Julio Reyes

October 23, 2019Leave a comment

A undercover spy drawing if the teacher Sunday – Julio Reyes. Really a great class. They taught us everything they know about how to mix paint and prepare surfaces for egg tempera. He and Candace his wife poured their generous hearts into this class.

They gave us the biggest most detailed handout I have ever gotten in a class outside of college, provided all the materials but the painting panel continually going beyond what is normally done in any class I have taken. I highly recommend them. Too bad we don’t have a picture of the amazing paintings turned out in this class. Can’t wait to polish mine. Yes they taught us how to do that too with a piece of old silk scarf.

These are powdered pigments that I bought today at CityArt over in Columbia also known as Art Express on the internet. The owner Randy is great so I do like to buy from him when I can.

You mix these pigments with water and egg to make egg tempera. I couldn’t resist. Not quite the colors we used in class but they were there. Gamblins a great reliable company soooo I scooped them up. More about that tomorrow when I post Candace.

Margaret who has driven all over NC and SC in the past two days and is Tahred now. Xoxoxox

Another Ibis

September 10, 2019September 11, 2019Leave a comment

My friend who joined me while I painted. Did I tell you he tried to eat my Charles Reid Holbein palette. He likes expensive food. Rofl.

And then there was the poop. What is it with birds and their indiscriminate bathroom habits – aka go wherever. On my table. All over the floor. Yuck.

The green is made from cad yellow light and peacock blue. Makes a spring green. The reverse painting aka background makes the ibis pop. If I darkened it he would stand out even more.

Margaret packing to head for DC in the am. Xoxoxox

Day 1102 Its Saturday

November 11, 2017November 11, 2017Leave a comment

I was busy torturing Ilaina today. Hard to soften the edges on the inexpensive strathmore bristol but the colors blend and mingle deliciously

Might be done? May get more backgroundAt second break Ilaina and I decided to try green for the background since there was a lot of red in the painting. Complimentary colors play well together.

Really like this one though I think I will add a bit more of the green apatite on the left.

Second break

Colors used flesh- Quin pink & raw sienna added dioxzone purple burnt sienna for shadows combined w Quin pink & raw sienna for shadows. Hair- sepia & ultramarine blue. Green apatite and Quin gold background. Ilaina said green was for her heart chakra. She is definitely a sweetheart.

First break forty minutes

The rest of the group!! Some great painting and sketching today.

Al Beyer huge oil

Tom Needham 12×18 wc

Nice oil by Bill

Jeremy’s beautiful one.

Love Katy Padgett’s charcoal and Pastel

Don’t know his name. But a great job.

Dawn. Sweet face. I even like the writing. Dawn takes beautiful photographs of Ilaina which you can see on instagram.

Bills very nice small oil.

Our boy Fred. Who else would drive to life modeling in an open converitable in 41 degree weather. Gotta love Fred!

Amy’s oil I think.

Beautiful pencil sketch but never found out who the lady was that did it.

A couple of the college kids drawing on the cold concrete floor. Ah youth.

And that’s it. Off to sew some more.

Margaret on a chilly Saturday in SC!

Day 1130. An oops

September 5, 20173 Comments

Can you figure out where I messed up?! The tall guy on the right. No idea how I did that. Thinking of painting over him with watercolor ground and having a redo.

As it is it’s unusable and I really like the rest of it. We shall see. So aggravating.

Ttyl margaret on Melt down. Xoxoxo