Day 696 – Memories

May 25, 2016Leave a comment

Best thing about a travel journal is the memories when you look back through it.

Raisin and I shared some awesome deserts and a free shot of Jameson’s is always welcome!!

This was a pretty great strawberry shortcake at Calhouns on the Tennessee River. The view was fabulous. Will post it when I get done painting it! Riverside is a wonderful place to eat especially when it’s a different river than the one i live on.

The lines on this page are made with a Wonsor Newton watercolor markers and a Daniel Smith watercolor crayon that I got at Jerrys Artarama during the demo.

I color with them – draw lines -and then release them with water which let’s them bleed where they want to go. A really fun effect.
And I started this last nite. Forgot to eat dinner. Must be fun right?! Hmm 🤔 full sheet arches 300# 22 x 30″ eeekkkkk

Thanks for checking by.

More Knoxville fun to come.

Margaret xxx

Day ?! St Pauls

March 30, 2016Leave a comment

I drew the inside the other day and decided to draw the outside when I was downtown yesterday. It’s a beautiful old colonial style church. Really like the way this painting turned out.
All the main colors were done in one wash of color and then other colors dropped in while it was still wet.

Here’s the inside again.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx

Day 635 Ponce City Part two or three?!

March 28, 2016Leave a comment

Szechuan Restaurant and Bar
I had a perfect seat to have another go at this dragon. I think I did a better job at the perspective this time.

While there is a lot I like about this the perspective on that bar is wild and I still think the people look like the walking dead.

A nervy young couple say not two feet from me between the restaurant and me blocking my view. First time that has ever happened.

I kept craning my head to look around them as I drew. They never noticed nor did they notice when I took this picture of them.
I really should turn them into a large painting similar to the one I am working on now.

Waiting at Waffle House which no loner looks like this. Who could resist those crosses arms and those faces?!

Ponce City Market looking toward the Beltline stairs. No walking dead in this sketch.

Taped down and reading to watercolor.

The Cuban restaurant LL Superpan.

All three Ponce City Restaurants are drawn with the very fine tip pilot pen with Carbon Platinum Black ink on Strathmore 500 watercolor paper which is lovely paper. I can’t wait to use it. Takes the color so well.

A tea towel from French Silver Shop. Sooner or later I will buy some. I just can’t pick which one.

Ohhhhh

Ahhhhhhhh

We were “hangry” from all the oohing and ahing, the walking, the two hour drive, the packing, the loading of the car. Which restaurant would we choose?? There were so many.

Marakeesh Mediterranean Market North Africa East of Atlanta

We decided that though the hamburgers smelled oh so delicious wafting thru the air we were not doing burgers. So many restaurants how did we choose?!

We got food from Marakeesh Market because there was a small line and well it was just exotic to eat Moroccan food.

The potato stuffed burekas,tahini, Israeli pickles and Israeli salad which looks just like feggous – a Morrocan tomato and cucumber salad except for added radish sticks were all just simply delicious. I can’t decide which item I liked best. Best pickles ever. Perfect iced tea.

Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx

Day 628 – Costco Love!

March 21, 2016Leave a comment

Urban sketching at Costco. And NO I did not eat a hotdog when I drew this. I usually do though. Probably good snacks this day whxib everybody knows are calorie free right?!

I did hide in the corner behind my purse which is of course big enough to carry my sketchbook and pants.

Tip: when you take the grandchildren to the zoo you don’t want your bevy purse loaded with sketching stuff when you pick up a 45 lb kid to look at the snakes Be sure to take your over the shoulder sketch purse with sketching stuff and the other important thing MONEY for the gift shop train and carousel!! 😋

These people were drawn as we all stood in the return line. I love to buy stuff and bring it back to Costco. They ALWAYS take stuff bought there back no questions other than can I Have your members card please. I do LOVE Costco!!

Off to class. Need to go by Costco and fill up. Gas is always 20-25 cents cheaper!! And Booking a trip to Paris and maybe Lindon and Dublin via Iceland. No time to list colors but I did use the usual ones.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 611 – Stick fun!

March 4, 20164 Comments

I have been playing with my stick bamboo stick all week. Done a sketch everyday. The Carbon Black ink from Gouletpens works best with my stick. Not the India ink. It seems to load on the stick better.

Anyway after I tried to shade the ibis in the back grey since he’s in the shadow I decided to do negative painting in the background letting the ink puddles bleed into the brush water to make various shades of grey.

It seems impossible to get control of that ink flow. It leaves a lot of hard edges which are great for Key West underbrush but not on a bird.

After the grey puddles dried a little I went back in and drew ink lines in for sticks on the ground.

If I could change this I would get rid of the grey on the farthest back ibis.

This is yesterday’s ibis. I actually like them except for all the black. These are young ibis and have a lot of mottled grey on their necks.

Maybe I will redraw them and add some background? I think they are funny. The Ibis at the Key West Wildlife Center are beggars and wait for snacks aka dog food that was fed to them.

My favorite still are the chickens. I don’t know why but I LOVE chickens.

Did I say writing with a stick does not produce the most graceful writing?

Here’s another chicken sketch done earlier. I can’t imagine dong this on location. I would have an inky mess everywhere. Not good when it’s permanent and very black!!

I also had a paper problem. I used my beloved 93 # Aquabee first but the ink is so thick from the stick that I got out my #98 Canson mixed media sketchbook and used it. No more ink soaking they the paper. At least not yet.
And here’s Livia again. One of the first sketches withy the stick from last Sunday. I don’t know why I didn’t notice one of her legs is smaller than the other. But that’s an easy fix. Sketching frequently had a lot of surprises like a too skinny leg.
Enjoy your day. Happy stick sketching.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 610 – The Home Stretch is ON!!

March 3, 20162 Comments

30×40″ acrylic

Major Dad is making progress. In case u missed passed posts will add some of the process.

Original photo. Major Dad at 93! Did not want to paint all those chickens!!

The block in.

Playing with the photo in Waterlogue

Washing in the foundation colors. Recent reading about acrylics told me NOT to do this with just water. If you use more than 25% water with your acrylics it breaks down the polymer binders. I used polymer gel to thin it.

Read about more than you ever wanted to know about acrylic paint and mediums here on liquitex.com. 120 plus pages of anything and everything about acrylic paints. I read the whole book and it’s actually very interesting.

Bytw I use both Golden and Liquitex. I still have a few older paintings that are painted with liquitex which was the first acrylic and they are still in great shape. I buy whichever is on sale with a coupon. 👍🏻

Layering in color. Did you know u can use the cheap paints for this later and finish with the expensive stuff?! Sounds like a lot of work, right?!

I added back in a lot of the lines I had painted over trying to tie the painting together. I also lost some of the lines on the face. Probably need to loose a few more on his hands.

When he’s done he’s getting a coat of acrylic varnish as soon as I get the kind the book lists. Evidently there is one that liquitex makes that is removeable with ammonia. Who knew. The book also said all acrylics should be sealed because otherwise. they remain porous.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 587 – The Bény Sur Mer Cemetery

February 9, 2016February 9, 2016Leave a comment

Is a beautiful four acre cemetery where the Canadians buried their dead after the D Day invasions. Americans have 170 acres of cemetery.

Something about spot is poignant. This is the favorite sketch of many on our cruise. They eventually started looking over my shoulder to see what I was drawing. This one got alot of that’s my favorite sketch.

It was quite an easy one to do so I find the comments interesting. Not complicated like the Centee Juno Beach sketch or the Pegasus Bridge sketch.

Simple colors too. A bright cobalt blue sky. Cerulean and Quin sienna for greys. Hookers with Quin yellow in the grass. Quin burnt orange for trees. Cerulean jeans. And that’s about it.

As I said a simple sketch and painting.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 586 – Ilenia

February 8, 2016Leave a comment

Ilenia 24″ x 30″ Acrylic I have been paying attention to what Al said and trying to block everything in exactly before I start painting even though it’s more fun to just paint paint paint but the results are always disappointing when it comes to the human figure. They are almost always just off a bit here and there.

Here she is blocked inat about 40 minutes of work. I didn’t notice till much later that her head was too big and as Dave said her haunch was too small. 😋

If u look u can see my hash marks from measuring her head. They are dark blue above her hip and to the left of her arm.

I actually had started measuring her from the orange hash mark on the far right when I realized she would be painted on the right side of the board. So I drew another hash mark and started measuring her from the dark blue one.

Here Ilenia is mostly sorted right before Daves she needs a bigger haunch remark. Funny thing is I had just told Charlie that he need to draw hers rear bigger on his drawing. That it was bigger than we think lol. An easy fix. Just add a curved swath of flesh color to fix her rear problems. Lol.

Here she is now. I think she could use a bit more work on her left eye and on her hand but hey I have a sweater to finish knitting.

Colors used cerulean cobalt Winsor purple. The green is one of the blues and nickel Azo gold. Combines for an interesting color. Flesh is cad yellow, pyrrole red and white. Sometimes I used the nickel Azo gold for the yellow. Can’t live without that color. Love it!!

Ultramarine blue and orange for her dark brown hair and brown shadows.

Thanks for reading.

Day 579 – More Chateau Gaillard

February 2, 2016January 31, 20162 Comments

I did say I drew Chateau Gaillard a lot! This was my first attempt and the same view as yesterday post.

I seriously ran out of room before I could get the whole town in at the base. Just rooves looked odd so guess what’s under the accounting ledger?! You got it!! The bit of town I drew before I turned the page and started over.

This turned into a fun opportunity to do a bit journaling, mixed media and add some stamps.

I chose this quote because Richard was the quintessential adventurer traveling from France to the Holy Lands, got kidnapped and ransomed, hung out with Robin Hood, battled the wicked King John and his lackeys. Now that’s a life spent in adventure. He even took on his father the original tough King Henry II to usurp the throne.

Colors – the same as yesterday’s.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret off to class in Aiken. Xxx

Day 580-One Last Chateau Gaillard

February 2, 2016January 31, 2016Leave a comment

I sat on the corner in Les Andelys watching my cruising companions hiking up the hill from which “many don’t return” according to my new friend Gus’ husband Bob. Gus and Bob have done the Paris to Normandy cruise several times annually.

This painting was done wet on wet and is one of my favorite paintings to date. I felt like I was finally getting Charles Reid!!

Since hill hikes make my asthma go crazy I elected to draw while they hiked. Les Andelys is just a charming tiny village. A cute row of shops. A church dating to 1200! Half timber buildings.

What’s not to love?! And Richard the Lionhearted walked these streets. Fascinating to me with our young American history.