Day 1096 Those Dogs

July 26, 20174 Comments

Last page in this sketchbook. Hurrah. So I decided to draw another page of Zoe.

Zoe is always up for a modeling job. She's cheap. She works for treats! She is NOT good at holding a pose. Her ears are always listening. Rotating line radar to see what you are doing.

I really like the way this head turned out. Both the sketch and the watercolor.

This is my second favorite head. I was drawing fast.

I still had not filled up my pens and reached into my purse to see what I had. Pulled out a 6B Charcoal pencil and drew with it.

After I painted her I set the charcoal with fixative. So far it seems to not be smearing. Cross your fingers.

Strathmore 400 sketchbook. Colors used. Quin burnt sienna cerulean cobalt Andrews Turquoise.

Ttyl Margaret xoxoxox

Day 1092 WIP

July 21, 2017Leave a comment

Thought this would be done by now. What was I thinking painting a 20×30?! I should have switched to a larger brush-maybe my 16 kolinsky especially for the background.

I put in too much background again. Even though I used cobalt instead of cerulean it’s the same tone as the old mason jug which is why the mason jar gets lost.

So will have to darken either the background or the jar.

I will say I like it much better this am than I did last nite. Sometimes things look better the next day. Last nite I thought it was pretty bad. But I think it’s fixable

This little saki pot made me quit. Looked high and lo for my masking fluid. Only found a dried out bottle. Noway was I paintingnit without masking those dots.

Like the painting looked better this am I realized I had unloaded my paint box when I took Charles Reid’s class (he never uses masking) and left it in my big box that was Dads. Sure enough it was there.

So how did I do all those dots?! The end of a cheap model paint brush dipped in. If the dots were smaller I would have used a BBQ skewer or a toothpick. I also tried to make those farther away smaller and keep them lined up and in concentric circles. 😱

Loving the start on the flowers.

Laid in background in a hurry. Should have been thinking less is more.

The Strathmore Bristol makes those flowers run together and look positively delicious. It’s swirls on the surface similar to yupo. Hmm maybe I should try yupo next?!

So far. It needs something to the left of the hot sauce. Maybe the trim on the bridge cloth its sitting on!? Maybe more fruit?!

It will tell me sometimes soon. In the meantime stay tuned. Ted Nuttalls transparent colors plus cerulean and Andrews Turquoise.

Ttyl Margaret xoxoxo

Day 1074 Dog Days?!

July 2, 2017July 2, 2017Leave a comment

My kids pit bull Briard mix Lucy Dog. Just the sweetest dog but a pain to paint. She’s a tawny brindle. So how do you paint that.

I think I tried every color I have I. The. Brown range burnt umber, Quin Sienna and Quin gold and piemonite. None worked well. Too dark to red too gold. All worked for small areas. I finally used quin Sienna w a bit of burnt umber. Ultramarine for the darks with the burnt umber.

Cerulean for greys mixed with Quin Sienna and Andrews turquoise with some Quin Sienna for the throw.

Mr Clean erasers were my friend to lift highlights lost.

The sketch done with a 6B pencil.

Ttyl. Thanks for stopping by. Margaret xoxoxo

Day 1073 Its Saturday

July 1, 2017Leave a comment

Sweet Emily! 18×24″ What happens when you use a two inch flat brush on Bristol!!

Charles reid watercolor hand held palette which put my hand to sleep. #allaprima #nude #lifemodel #watercolor #aquarelle #aquarellepainting #pencil #pencildrawing #lostedges #emily

1″&2″ Cheap Joes Golden Fleece Flat brush and #10 Da Vinci and that’s it.

Tip: curling thinner paper. To get it to lie flat, paint it w water on the back and it will flatten out.

First break 40 min.

Painted on strathmore Bristol 100# which is like hot press paper but cheaper.

Wash of DS Quin coral and yellow ochre w some cerulean and burnt sienna. Background, hair, drapes burnt umber ultramarine

Drapes Aurelion, Winsor Yellow, Quin Gold w burnt umber ultramarine darks

4B and 6B pencils

The crowd was thin today. So not many paintings. A lot of people on vacation but I do love to paint Emily!!

Drew Murphys acrylic. The quips were flying between us. One of the things we paint for. I told him his was a little grey this time. Usually they are bright and vivid.

Fred the dentist. Oops he left early.

Als lovely huge oil. Amazing what he gets done in two hours. This is four by 3 FEET!

Rachel who’s only been painting anyear or so but she draws at every meeting. Drawing practice gets the job done! You WILL improve. Like anything else you want to do well you have to practice. ALOT!!!

Margaret who has a dog and a mill to paint. Oh and a couple of cars and some rubber duckies. Thanks for stopping by. Xoxoxoxo

Day 1069 Mary Alice Munroe

June 27, 2017Leave a comment

Went to a great book talk at AB Browns today by Mary Alice Monroe for her newest book in her Beach House series the quintessential summer beach book based on Isle of Palms near Charleston.

Though I have read some of the books with the turtles in them has no idea they are really to educate us about her latest passion. I tend to read the story for the story not to find hidden meanings.

That said I always enjoy them.

The latest book is about pelican rescue her latest passion. The raptor center even named a pelican that she rescued after her Mary Ann so I decided to draw Mary Ann to fill up the page.

The notes are just things that she said about her passions pelicans shorebirds.

She’s also an excellent palmetto bug stomper. One was running around the room the talk was held in. It’s a skill u acquire when you got to SC Low country beaches. I won’t tell you how I know.

The lunch was excellent. HEirloom tomato soup.

Shrimp and grits and a peach cheese cake for desert.

Ttyl. Off to Atlanta! Thanks for stopping by!! Margaret xoxoxoxo

Day 1061 -how many more?! And a beach party!!

June 17, 2017June 17, 2017Leave a comment

Still quite a few!!! 🤗We have no shortage of talking heads in this country. They offer great drawing practice. If you can pause your tv it even takes the pressure off of trying to draw them quickly.

And all they do is talk. And talk and talk.

And pass a lot of laws that half the country don’t like no matter which side you are on making the other half is unhappy!

The Decatur Businesses Beach Party in downtown Decatur on the square. Ponce de Leon became a giant beach!! Free beach buckets, beach balls and balloons oh and washable tattoos for all!!

An amazing stilt walker. The kids had no idea how he could be that tall! Several people on top of each other was their best guess.

And there he goes legging it down the block or should I say stilting down the block?!

And a rare shot of the old Decatur Courthouse with sun on its face. It usually sits in the shade. Bytw this is now an art gallery.

Off to play with my grandkids. Hugs!!

Day 1053 – Politics

June 8, 2017Leave a comment

Hard to avoid it today. It’s all over the tv the radio Facebook twitter. I don’t know about you but the last few days have been riveting. THIS IS WATERGATE!! 14×20 Mixed Media

Enough to get Rachel Maddow back from her sick bed where she had been for almost two weeks.

I got the brilliant idea to do this one on arches #140 cold press. BIG a mistake. Hard to write on with any ink pen or marker I had.

I finally picked up a Japanese brush pen I thought had permanent ink. I tested it on a scrap of paper. It didn’t run.

Fast forward to all the heavy lines in this sketch are done with that brush pen especially on Dan Coats.

When I started painting him he turned into a gray runny mess. This was supposed to be a watercolor. EEEKKKK.

I dug into my mixed media art supply grove. Caran d’ache Neocolor ii to the rescue. I started coloring. I lightened him up. The only person that didn’t have some runs was Comey. 😳

A lot of the letters ran. The names!! Eeeekkk. On this rough paper there was no clean edge. Tried a grease pencil which works great in my sketchbooks. NOPE TOO rough.

Got out a white gel pen on the letters. Better!! Got out a paint pen. Even better. More outlining with the Lamy Safari.

Done. Whew. Not what I had in mind BUT finally pleased with it.

Margaret planning another but it will be on hot press paper. Xoxoxo the news is calling.

Day 1052 – Take a Hike Mr President Key West #3

June 7, 2017June 7, 2017Leave a comment

Found a few more that I hadn’t posted. The Shark cruise. Guess they won’t be around. No clean water. It’s already pretty bad in the Gulf.

All this would be underwater.

And this fun whacky restaurant on the waterfront.

And my favorite wacky restaurant Blue Heaven. Such delicious food and awesome chickens. never tire of the crazy chickens in Key West.

And my other favorite spot Louie’s backyard eatting on the water enjoying delicious Caribbean breezes. All gone with global warming.

Sad that it would disappear.

My sis in law who doesn’t believe in global warming would be very said at Key Wests submergence beneath the waters. Here favorite spot in the world.

One of my favorites too.

Busy day. Off I go. Setting up for a flower painting. If only they stay alive long enough.

Margaret xoxoxo

Day 1046 – Let’s Make A French Omelette!

June 1, 2017Leave a comment

Ever since I read Julia Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking as a child I have been in love with the notion of all things French and especially the quintessiantal French food – the omelette.

But I never could figure out how they made that neat rolled omelette.

Watching Jacques Pepins American Master show on PBS I thought YOUTUBE!!

Sure enough. There he was teaching how to cook an omelette.

Omelette Number 1 of course I had to draw it to commemorate the occasion.

First mistake I had been making was not using the right pan so I got it a big 10-12″ round edged skillet that was coated w the green coating that releases easily.

And I hadn’t been using the spatula to scrape around the edges as I cooked. Who knew?

And I stuffed mine. Trying to eat those greens and I had to have some Cheddar cheese.

The most delicious thing I have ever eaten. I swear. Not so pretty but amazing.

Omelette 2 Today.

Prettier shape but too brown.

Anyway colors used to paint it. Cad yellow light, cerulean, yellow ochre, green apatite and sap green for the plate, Ultramarine Blue and burnt umber for the shadow.

TIP: Splattered with palette mess left from painting. Has to be really soupy to splatter. Use more water than you think. And I just use a large paint brush in this case my 10 Da Vinci. I also painted this with the same paint brush.

Margaret xoxoxo

Day 1044 – That Dirty Dried out Palette

May 31, 2017Leave a comment

Now that I am home for a day or two I wanted to use my Ted Nuttall palette. This is actually Teds Palette.

All those lovely transparent colors.

And it helped with my procrastination mode getting started painting the Raisin and Harley painting

which is finally transferred to paper and ready to paint.

Of course my Palette has dried out and filthy. They always dry out!! It needed revival and cleaning. Another way to procrastinate!!! The spray bottle was not getting the job done. The colors were lumpy and nasty.

So how did I get it clean and get the paint smooth and ready to use!?

First I sprayed it and tried stirring each color with its own tooth pick. That did not do much for the lumps. I wanted to paint!!!

I got out my trusty old palette knife. It has a tiny blade on it compared to most so it fit perfectly in the wells of my porcelain palette.

I used a jillion Kleenex wiping wells out where there was just a dribble of old hard paint. NO LOTION On those Kleenex.

I started bending my antique palette knife in some of the paint. Oh NO!! I kept going. What palette knife is supposed to last forever!?

I decided to rearrange the colors. Here and there I had added colors I MUST have to the basic Nuttall Palette like Cerulean, Andrews Blue, Daniel Smith Piemonite and Green Apaptite.

The Kleenex and the palette knife left crusts of color in the corners.

Then I realized I could fill the wells with water and used an old brush to swirl out the bits left in corners. Hallelujah clean wells at last.

I used a sharpie to rewrite the colors on the edges of the wells and I even have a few leftover slots.

So it’s new clean and lovely at this point.

What I learned while cleaning my palette.

Wear rubber gloves while cleaning your palette unless you want to have colored fingernails. 😱
Those dollar store Kleenex with lotion have something wierd in them. They gave me a rash when I used them on my nose. 😱😱 Now gone. 🤗🤗🤗
Now I know why some people have stacks of these palettes. It might be easier to just buy a new palette than clean the old one out.

Margaret who has some painting to do. Xoxox and no more reasons to procrastinate because I even cleaned up the studio and moved to the summer one aka the kitchen table and island.

Oh wait I need to use the glass cleaner on the winter studio table. It’s looking hazy. Procrastinate procrastinate. I need some flowers to paint!!

🌼🌻🥀🌷🌷🌸🌺🌼🌻🥀🌹🌷🌸🌺