Category: Tips

Going to a Garden Party

4 Comments
Day 23 #jyportraitcsllenge Loved Lyn @lynaylwardart Loved her big hat. To me she looks like shes heading to a garden party in her hat. Fluid 140# cp M Graham watercolor
The background was fun. I did it FIRST by wetting it down w a two inch flat then dabbying in pure thick color into the background-sap green, ultramarine and yellow. Then u just let it flow. DO NOT touch it. Hard to resist i know.
The photo
And i sketched. Too low too small
And i sketched. I got the head angle wrong and the eyes. Well i just done know. Sigh.
And i sketched
The final sketch. A little masking for the holes in the straw. Finally she arrived. Or I gave up.
The hat was also done all at once adding in hair color so it would melt into the brim. you have to use paint right out of the tube when you do that. Burnt sienna and quin gold with some mineral violet.
Close to done. The skin got too pink but not as pink as this. I used quin coral, light yellow permanent and mineral violet. The dress was done like the background wetting it down but adding in mixed and water downed colors.
Added a few more shadows and tried to lighten the pink. Not easy to lighten quin coral its staining. Mostly happy with her just wish she weren’t so pink

Margarer xoxoxoxo

A history with birds

Leave 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

Fun with David R Smith

2 Comments

Stay tuned for part two.

Never wear blue readers when you paint. Lots of fast slapping paint around. And splattering water to make dots in the damp paint. Then painting again.

Arches 280# cold press paper

Well who knew I would be painting rocks? But I did. I liked it so much I did two. Another Shopkeeparty class.

And then I took another longer class from David and his friend Bob Ross today. Another crazy fun class. He sweetened the class by giving a 20% discount. Now I am thinking abt buying the video. 😳😳😩

The first layer. Quin gold Andrew’s turquoise alizarin cobalt. Maybe ultramarine?! You can watch the cideo too on Shopkeepartys YouTube channel.
The photo. Just those plain rocks they use in landscaping yes those. If you wet them they are actually colors. Who knew!!
The splattering. And striping.
The second one on Hahnamuhle 140 Cezanne. And yes I wore the blue readers again like a dummy. Then I took them off and returned them to Costco. Nowhere on the wrapper did it say they turned everything yellow. But truly why didn’t I take them off. This one is better BUT just think what it would look like if I took off my blue readers DUH!!

Two for one. So this one counts for Friday too. Off to Atlanta tomorrow for the next week. plenty on my phone that you have not seen so I can continue my knitting.

Hate to leave this morning view out my back window but needs musts. Off I go tomorrow.

Hugs Margaret. Xoxoxox

Day 109 Cumberland

2 Comments

Half sheet Fabriano. 300#

Took a day long online class from Vlad yesterday. Have to say it was the best class EVER and I have two masters aka taken a lot of classes.

The photo

I have taken classes from some great art teachers Charles Reid and John Salimen who I would take more from if they were on line. Vlad just shares all his knowledge and the man knows ALOT!

I have had some teachers that spent the class trying to sell you their stuff. Annoying and not what I paid for. I have had other teachers that don’t tell you all the info to do what you are trying to do. Also annoying. I have had teachers who never explain things only demo and then want to fix your painting when he doesn’t like what you did. Annoying and NOT helpful.

Value study. Kinda like it a lot.

the sketchFirst wash.

He showed us how to do the sky. His approach is quite interesting. Three four colors all wet on wet. Lotsa water. Let it dry. I defy you to reproduce this sky.

Onto the next layers

The class was very interactive. We could talk to him and he could see what we were doing one at a time. I learned a lot. I even learned some new things about perspective. Two points. The vanishing point and the point of sight lines from the person taking the picture.

Jamie Oliver’s ez pizza and scones from his YouTube. His pizza is a dump pizza. Use what u have and the toppings I ised were delicious. Was not fond of the crust. Will use yeast dough next time and yes I will do it again. There’s also a very tasty pot of his minestrone soup from YouTube.

Then I cooked all morning today and painted all afternoon. So tired I can barely type.

Day 57 Sat= recipes

Leave a comment

Especially when I have another pile of facemasks to sew. Thank goodness they are done. 36 so far.

My favorite bread recipe. So good. Saw Martha make these last Sunday on cbs Sunday Morning Show. Looked too delicious so I wrote the recipe down but think I would sub raisins and cranberries. I have plenty of those. Thought these sounded good til Martha showed me hers. I do like a good oatmeal cookie. And I am quite fond of keeping a large bowl of this kind of salad in the fridge. Did I remember to get cucumbers NOPE. Trip to the store required. With a mask of course.

Margaret Tahred. Xoxoxox

Out the Back Window

Leave a comment

The view out our backporch. Love that tree. Probably my fav tree. My amaryllis are really white but I thought red so much more attractive.

The backporch crew is gobbling the sunflower seeds wildly. Can u find them in the painting.

Handprint journal – micro uniball pen.

Last nights baking. Oatmeal bread from kingarthur.com. Love my kitchen aide.

A gift for you all. In case u need a mask scientifically tested fabrics to use for one. Please read. It could save your life.

Margaret knitting and listening to GPTV shows. No kiddy shows this week. Hurrah. So far I have learned about the history of discovering the planets, the invention of flying-fascinating, and now Louisa May Alcott bio. Next up Little Women.

Hugs and stay safe!! Xoxoxox

Turner watercolors

3 Comments

Been reading this great book called Turners Apprentice by Tony Smibert who has studied Turner for years.

Great book with lots of tips from this master watercolor painter.

A lot on how Turner achieved his stunning watercolor effects.

A wealth of Turners to drill over.

And how to achieve some of these same effects.

The brushes NOPE Not your good sables. Said one brush is from the kitchen and it looks suspiciously like my basting brush. The round one at top right.

I do know Cheap Joes sells a similar one that is Jamie Wyeth favorite to wear out. Then Joe replaces it free under their warranty. Hmm or was that Skip Lawrence?! Joe has the returned one framed in their art gallery in the shop in Boone NC.

Combining colors. Smibert leaves no stone unturned.

The drawings and adding color to them. Those ethereal colors are to die for.

Color manipulations. I do love juicy transparent color.

A screen shot from his website. I am pretty sure I have been there. Haven’t you?!

Then I discovered his student Scott Swinson on YouTube. He shares a lot of the wet on wet techniques in his great videos. You can also follow Scott on Instagram.

Another Scott painting.

Crazy man uses 3m scotch tape to tape his paper down. Who knew. And releases it with a hair dryer when it’s trying to stick to the painting. Betting the tape is cheaper than masking tape.

Margaret whose missing her YouTube video. Xoxoxo

Done well maybe

Leave a comment

Calling Henry done for now but may mess with his right eye some more. Going to look at him a whole and then decide.

Here he is like he was this morning when I started. I darkened just about everything.

Lifted a highlight or two like the one on his index finger. Added some fingernails. BYTW u add the line denoting the nail ABOVE THE FINGERNAIL not under the it. A little blush of cad red on the nail and you are done.

So what else did I lift. Some weird yellow ochre dots on the background that looked like I hit it with the brush accidentally. Always surprised how easy it is to lift on Fluid hot press. I think it’s easier to do on hot press than cold press.

Added the background wash on the left. It’s made up of Cheap Joes Andrews turquoise yellow ochre has mineral violet with maybe a little alizarin.

So I stayed up til 2 am knitting on this sock. I had to draw a pattern for it first. I know you are thrilled to know that. Calling it Jos sock for the polka dot socks Jo March had on in the latest version of Little Women. Gorgeous movie but NOT faithful to the book. After I watch it a few more dozen times I will I hope get over that like I did with Under the Tuscan Sun.

Margaret taking a nap before Book club. Do I have to go?!! Xoxoxox

Julio Reyes

Leave 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

Progress made

2 Comments

So after what I said yesterday I decided to finish Henry my grandson. What a sweetie.

He still needs some jewelry as Fealing calls it. Some dots here and there.

Had to lift all the blue I put on the highlight not paying attention to what I was doing. Thought I had ruined it totally. As it is the paper is a little rough there but nobody would notice it but me.

Hot press fluid 15×22″ paper.

Brevard gypsy lady dressed for Halloween. No I don’t know if she’s actually a gypsy but maybe disguised as one.

A lot of fun painting her. Her sunglasses her scarf her jillion bracelets and necklaces. I think I there are seven of the later. But what a FUN figure.

She’s close to done. Going to negative paint around her white hair so it will show. And the. Who knows. Three more to finish and only one partial day left. 9-1 pm. Maybe one more will get done?! We shall see.

Margaret not dead tired for once but in bed after a fabulous dinner at Over Yonder Restaurant out in Valle Crucis. So delicious. Xoxoxoxo