Day 345 – That Paper!!

June 19, 2015Leave a comment

Gets five Gold stars in my book.

as I said yesterday I bought a landscape tablet of Aquabee Super Deluxe paper when I was at Binders at Ponce Market in April. Great store!! How often have you had an art store manager ask you what you would like to see carried in their store?! Told her a class with Charles Reid. I hope I hope!!

Anyway I had read in David Millards great watercolor books about Super Deluxe Bee sketchbooks. These books are 140 pages each just packed with information on watercolor. The price can not be beat. $4 or less on Amazon. Why do you ask?! The books are from the early 80s. The author died in 2002. Sadly I can’t take a class from him. He is big on sketchbooks big lots of tips on drawing crowds and buildings. The man knows sketchbooks. His favorites took all the water I threw at them and flattened out when I was done. Rare in a 93lb paper. And reasonably priced. Amazon has the big 11×14 listed for $22 and full price is $25 for a 100 pages!! I am stopping by Cityart in Columbia on my way to Charleston to pick up an 11×14 for Dr Sketchys and a smaller one to take to Key West in July. And maybe a tube or two of paint. Last week Randy the owner had Holbein paint half price. Why didn’t I order some?! Cityart is the store that Charles Reid and Mary White use to supply their classes. Great store down in the Vista. They also have a great website and shopping is almost overnite and so reasonable.

I drew this last April in my super deluxe bee 6×12 landscape book with my Kuretake brush pen from an overlook in Gatlinburg. Never quite got around to painting it. I was too tired from all the running around. The brush own had loved the smooth paper. Would the watercolor?! Despite what Millard said I am always a sceptic. And as Roz Stendhal says one thing you can count on is that paper will change. His books are 30 years old.

Thank goodness he was right. I lost count of the washes I threw at this paper. Big watery wet washes layer after layer. While the paper buckled a little as I painted it was almost perfectly flat when it dried!!! Hallelujah. A 93# paper that dries flat and doesn’t cost a fortune?!

TIP!!! Bytw I started the lower hills with a wash of light yellow Aureolin for the trees and gradually darkened it with very watery layers of red for the red oaks in the spring and darker greens and blues and mineral purple. Really like using the mineral purple as a dark. Using lots of layers of this colors let me keep the colors transparent. Aka didn’t make MuD!! Sky is a couple of layers of cerulean.

This is another sketch from the same overlook up in the Gatlinburg bypass. I meant to fill in the town but never did. It started raining. It rained a lot the week we were in Gatlinburg. And the pen ran out of ink. My kuretake converter holds a drop of ink. I swear. I did later find cartridges of platinum carbon black that fitted it so now I am good to go.

Another plus for this paper. I just realized that the Pentel brush ink supposedly permanent but so often runny in my Stillman and Birn zeta did not run on this paper when I went back over the lettering and decided to add yet another wash. Hurrah.
Thanks for reading.

Margaret who needs to get packing!!!xxx

DY 341 Snuggling and Drawing

June 14, 20154 Comments

Zoe loves to snuggle. Drew this while we were watching CBS Sunday morning. Painted it while listening to Super Soul Sunday my two favorite shows. Noodler Creaper Ahab in my Stillman and Birn Alpha. Wish I had bought a zeta. The paper buckles a lot with washes but will flatten out somewhat when the book is closed. Also the paper does not let you live color without some pilling. No book is perfect but S&B tries hard.

Noodler creaper Ahab Carbon Black ink. Greys – Cerulean and Quin Sienna on the blue side darker grey Quin Sienna and Inathridone blue. Red fur Quin Sienna and Burnt umber w touches of Inathradone blue. Letters and border Quin red and cad orange. Background cerulean and Aureolin yellow. Scarf. Hmm all the above colors and mineral purple. Splattered with cerulean.

TIP!! Paint brushes. Thought you might like to see my favorite brushes, my kolinsky Isabeys. I have six now. – 2 4 6 8 and two big mops a 2 and an 8. They are Charles Reids favorite brushes.

If you think your paintings are too tight get a big mop or the biggest paint brush u can afford. Though I want a huge 12 or 14 Isabey they are very pricey but I am happy with my cheap Joes kolinsky Legend which is a 12 for $65.

Fealin Lin loves her Isabey mops. Lucky lady got hers off the reject table at Cheap Joes for $9 instead of the normal $65 ish.

Ink sketch stage.

Used negative space to keep the legs and nose in proportion. That’s looking at the shapes that surround the object like the hole in the coffee cup handle aka the inside shape that Zoe’s legs form almost a square.

Zoe posing.

And doing her favorite thing. Snuggling!! Couldn’t wait to paint this but hated dislodging her. Now she’s annoyed with me and staying in her bed. Sigh.
Fur soresto flea collar regular collar. She is such a princess. She loves to dress up. Newest scarf a triangle of amy butler fabric.

TIP: I love the bit of fur above the scarf. It’s done by painting lightly with grey. Letting it dry and adding more greys and Blues on top letting each layer dry.

The dark grey under the scarf is the Inathridone and Quin Sienna with dabs of mineral Violet added.

Details of furwith cerulean toothbrush splatter.
More fur and scarf details.
Thanks for reading!!

Margaret and Zoe xxx

Day 337 – More Ponce Market

June 10, 20152 Comments

My favorite side of the old Sears building now known as Ponce Market. Both have problems.

I drew this one first but really had just wanted to feature the tower and the sign. Love that sign. Vintage but brand new.
TIP: Since I didn’t use a pencil or a ruler you might be wondering how i get all those lines parallel and fairly straight. I put the pen on the paper with my hand on the side of the paper and run it down the page with my hand sliding down the edge of the paper. It really does work. Try it.

Colors same as yesterday. Noodler Creaper Ahab loaded with Carbon Platinum Black Ink. Stillman and bIrn Alpha. The color was hard to move on the sky and blotched. That did not make me happy. Oh well. They are done right?!

Thanks for reading!

Margaret xxx

Day 335 – Thirty Days to

June 8, 2015Leave a comment

go till I make a year of daily blogging. On the downhill slide.

A sort of contour drawing of Bear who decided to move in the middle of the drawing. I have drawn him so many times I can get him more or less right even so.

He’s a big brown brindled pitty that somebody dumped. Wisely Bear attached himself to my son Ben two years ago and there he stays. He’s really a very laid back relaxed dog who would rather be petted than ever chew on you. He was fun to journal about with my Noodler Creaper Ahab in Carbon Platinum Black ink.

Once again he was painted with Quin burnt sienna and ultramarine blue, Inathridone blue and burnt umber was added for the stripes and shadows.

The background started as a dirty grey cerulean. I stood the sketch book at a 90 degree angle and let bits of Quin burnt sienna, yellow ochre, Inathridone blue for the drops and splats.

I thought about painting the background another blue layer to even put the color but decided I liked it as is and left it alone.

Here’s the whole double page spread. I thought you would like to see it.

I am going to enter it in a win a free pen and ink contest on Instagram. They like to know what the pen and ink is in writing plus a photo of the pen. The white page looked so plain I quickly wrote one of my favorite dog quotes and painted the leftpage to match the right page.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 332 – Those Darn Squirrels

June 5, 2015Leave a comment

On our day trip to Columbia SC Tuesday we stopped by City Art which is carries all the supplies for both Charels Reid and Mary White then we went to Nonnahs and last Mast General on Main Street ended we found this super SQUIRREL PROOF bird feeder.

Mast General Store an old fashioned general store on Main St. The original is in Valle Crucis near Boone NC.

The squirrels are gluttons for bird seed gobbling voraciously. This bird feeder is actually squirrel proof. They are now entertaining us trying to figure out how to get into it. The top locks on and the bar across the front licks the seed up when the weight of the squirrels sets it. LOVE it. They don’t. They are actually hanging out on the porch rails staring at it with occasional attach forays and leave soon after. Very entertaining to watch their consternation over the shut off food supply. And of course they sit there staring making them easy subjects to draw.

Colors used. Inked with my Noodler creaper Ahab loaded with platinum carbon black my go to ink. Greys cerulean and burnt sienna or Inathridone and Burnt umber for darker greys on squirrels. All done wet on wet. Bird feeder is vermilion and cad red medium. Same greys were used on the roof. Background is cerulean toothbrush splattered with Inathridone blue.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 329 – Urban Sketching

June 2, 2015Leave a comment

in Columbia at Nonnahs on Gervais.

The view of the restaurant from our table. Delicious awesome from scratch biscuits made with the famous SC flour Adluh and great chicken salad on a bed of mixed greens with artichoke hearts and lots of iced tea. Deliciousness.

I had hoped some more victims I mean patrons would come in but all there were walked by on the sidewalk after I drew the buildings. OPPS!

Noodler Konrad with Lexington Grey ink and Caran d’ache.

The zigzags of color are applied after the base color dries. I think it gives a little Zing to the sketch.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 328 – Quick Dog Sketches

June 1, 2015Leave a comment

The Watch Dogs aka Pits on guard

Happy June!! Can hardly believe it’s amer again!

After one false start this one went very well. The two dogs were guarding the house while strangers were getting giveaways on Craigslist off the porch.

They will sit still barking their heads off for what seems like hours. This sketch took at most ten minutes and perhaps ten to color it. Quick and dirty. It was done with my Noodler creaper Ahab loaded with carbon platinum plus. The ink should not have run. Maybe I will make this mixed media when I get home by adding a piece of ledger paper over the lettering on the right.

Tips aka How I did it. Colored with Caran d’ache watercolor crayons wet with a waterbrush. The brindle pitty was a problem as usual with his tiger striped coat. I started with the same colors as the fawn pit bull Livia. Then I added black to Bear. I wet it down hitting it here and there with the waterbrush. If I had brushed the water on it it would have blurred the colors.

The blinds were done by coloring with a burnt umber crayon and washing the blinds with it. Then letting the wash dry and drawing new lines on the blinds with the burnt umber crayon.

I had thought about getting my fine mister out and spraying it allowing the colors to run. Glad I didn’t. I really do like this sketch. The mister spray effect is totally unpredictable.

This is the first attempt at drawing them. A contour sketch that didn’t have room for all of Bear the pit on the left or all of Livias tail or the chair. Sometimes it’s just easier to start over.

Thanks for reading!!

Margaret xxx

Day 326 Flying High

May 31, 2015Leave a comment

Went out to lunch yesterday with my sister in law Jan at the Peachtree DeKalb Airport where they were preparing for their Spring Open House. We watched the planes come

And go during lunch. Then I decided to draw a few. All their antique WW2 planes lined up asking to be drawn.

These were drawn on site with a Noodler Creaper Ahab in my Stillman and Birt Alpha painted with watercolor and touches of white get pen.

The Grumann Avenger Torpedo Bomber was the first one I drew. A nice Navy blue. How could u resist it shining in the sun, saying draw me?!

Sometimes crosshatching the background fixes mistakes but NOT this one. I think A bad line would have been better. Planes are hard to draw because there are so many angles going every which way. Typical perspective rules apply but don’t seem too. Easy to get off track.

I tried to stay on track by looking at the angles of the real wings compared with the angles I drew on the page starting with the fusillade then adding wings and tails. As it is I forgot to add the tail gun. So many small details it’s easy to miss a few.

When I got home I looked up the plants to try to figure out which ones they were. The Grumann Avenger was the plane Pres George Bush flew in WW2.

The navy blue is a mix of ultramarine and black a color I rarely use. It was hard to get a deep deep blue without the black.

Next was the infamous WW 2 Mitsubishi Zero famed for dogfights in and kamikaze missions in the Pacofoc campaign. We thought surely it was not a zero but it had that big red circle on it. We knew what that meant. I looked it up and yes it was. This was fairly easy to draw. Profile views are easter even in a plane. Even the military green was easy. A bright green mixed with yellow ochre. Piece of cake. Success at last. I added a touch of Quin burnt sienna to the cad red of the circle.

Not sure what kind of plane this is. A WW2 Army Spotter plane I was told. Of course now the tail says USAF. Hmm I noticed that as I was drawing.

I used the same greens on this plane as the zero. The gold is Quin gold. Yellow ochre was just being when I tried it. Grey is ultramarine and Quin burnt sienna.

More planes tomorrow and a comparison of paint.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret XXX

Day 320 – only 45 days til it’s a YeAr!!

May 25, 20153 Comments

Oh my the goal is getting so close. I will be in Key West I think then so look south for skyrockets. Lol. The year long odyssey can almost see the finish line.

What’s for dinner? Caran d’ache, brush pen 8.5 x 11″
Memorial Day a day for families getting together to eat. So I drew my dinner yesterday. Haven’t done that in a month.

The first time I thought it was finished. Scribbling red and orange around the border to frame it. Also scribbling random colors on the various objects like the knife.

A fast fun sketch with caran d’ache in my sketchbook. They are a lot of fun. You can use them as crayons or you can hit them with a waterbrush and turn them into watercolor. They are a touch opaque if you color too heavily. Also great fun to spray with a fine mist and let them drip drip drip. All those juicy colors sliding down the paper and mingling into mini rainbows. Really a must try.

Adding some finishing touches with my Pentel brush pen or so I thought. The crayons always lighten the brush pen so a lot of times I go back over it when I am done with the caran d’ache.

So treat yourself to a pack of Neocolor ii Caran d’ache crayons. You can get as few as ten though I think 30 or so is better. More is always better right?!!

Thanks for reading!!!

Margaret💋

Day 318 just a quick post

May 24, 20152 Comments

because I am busy painting. More about that tomorrow.

Cropping can be a good thing. This was a practice sketch. A warm up for painting this sketch. I did not like the way the drawing went.

I liked this sketch much better than the one in the first picture.

This is the whole spread uncut. The sketch of Livia on the left is pretty bad. A warm up for the next sketch. But the good thing about a bad sketch or painting is that it liberates you to slap paint around and have fun. Loved making the drips and applying the sheer colors. Think it helped with this painting. I did the drippy baby painting first. Do you see a connection? Sometimes the most interesting painting gets done on a painting that you no longer care about the way it turns out. The fun stuff in this bad sketch are the dots of the hair and bow on her head the washes and drips from the dress and the luminous center of the spread. Really like that luminous glow and. I used all of that in the lady in the white dress.