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 1059 – How many did I draw?

June 15, 2017Leave a comment

12 I think. As my friend Ruth pointed out I probably spent at most five minutes drawing each person since they only spent ten minutes taking.

I will say they took longer to color than five minutes. I spent the last two days coloring them in the evening.

My friend Dee asked me why in a gen cent Target notebook. I didn’t want to look back in a sketchbook and see some if these faces.

Bytw I did get out a sketchbook for the next time I get the urge to document this madness.

And people love to look thru my sketchbooks.

This sketch of Susan is the worst one I think. She’s much more attractive than the drawing. Chalking it to I had to warm up!

I do think they look better colored which I find odd because I love ink sketches.

Colored with my Prismacolor art sticks. Thick juicy color like their colored pencils but cover a lot of area quickly. The scribbles are grease pencils. And or a 6B pencil.

Off to Atlanta. Stand by for more.

Margaret documenting this madness one hearing at a time. Xoxoxo

Day 1056 – the View at Breakfast

June 12, 2017June 13, 2017Leave a comment

We always stay at the Country Inn and suites when we take a class at Cheap Joes. The people are lovely even if the breakfast is not so great. The view from the breakfast area and the staff make up for the lack of the great food. After class Mike and I frequently go prop our feet up and rock the afternoon away drinking a glass of wine and looking at this view of Howard’s Knob the mountain in the painting.

Of course on a good morning we got to share our breakfast with Charles and the ever adorable Judy Reid. Always a morning treat. They are so lovely! Judy will regale is with stories of the adventures of Chuck and Judy.

There are quite a few after 60 plus years of marriage. Like the time they almost were lost at sea helping a friend sails 50 foot Chesapeake bug eye catch when a storm hit them off of Charleston. Judy and Charles were the only ones who knew anything about sailing. So glad they survived!!

Painted with Charles Reid’s palette.

Off to hem those long overdue curtains. Wonder if my sewing machine still works?! Margaret xoxoxox

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 1051 Take a Hike Mr President #3

June 6, 2017Leave a comment

And what about where I live? Will the houses along the Savannah be in the Savannah?!

Will downtown Augusta be underwater?! And the island across from me already underwater sometimes. Will it be gone?!

Will the Savannah be 600 yards wide here instead of 300?!

I keep asking.

Nobody can answer me.

And you know 45 doesn’t care about our little spot of gorgeous earth.

Will

All

Be gone or

Bigger ?!

Or what?!

Ttyl Rachel Maddow is back tonite. I knew she wouldn’t be able to miss the recent NSA leak. Off to shower so I will be ready

Xoxoxox

Day 1049 Happy Birthday Ben

June 4, 2017June 4, 20174 Comments

Today is my son Bens birthday. I have drawn him quite a bit and his dogs even more. And of course his adopted hometown Atlanta.

Hanging out at Little Five Points.

Going to Weddings!

Binge watching Netflix!

Waiting for breakfast.

Video game player.

The Broken Arm

LIvie his Pitt bull

And Bear the stray that showed up on his porch.

Bear

LIvie

Bear

Ttyl Party time.

Margaret xoxoxox

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!!

🌼🌻🥀🌷🌷🌸🌺🌼🌻🥀🌹🌷🌸🌺

Day 1043 – Chuck and Judy 3 or is it Brenda and Judy?!

May 30, 2017May 30, 20172 Comments

I don’t know about you but I can’t take enough classes with Charles and Judy Reid. I highly recommend them.

Did I say I own all of his books but one and several videos?!!

Brenda and Christine Again! – Charles Reid class

And evidently I can’t draw Brenda the Blonde- enough either.

The third time in Charles class.

Brenda and Rebecca – Peggy Habets class

. I have drawn her at least FIVE times because she stands and watches the teacher paint and she’s handy to draw. Some turnout better than others.

Oops way too dark.

I usually draw her pretty well but sometimes thempainting goes astray like in this one. Too dark.

But the sketch was great.

One more Brenda in Ted Nuttalls class May 2016.

Christine in Ted Nuttalls class May 2016.

Margaret whose going to paint raisin and Harley if I can quit watching the Keepers today on Netflix’s. Riveting show. Highly recommend.

Xoxoxo

Day 1042 – Happy Memorial Day

May 29, 2017May 29, 2017Leave a comment

Which somehow seems an odd thing to say when you are remembering the deaths of millions of young men in battles.

American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandie.

The 73rd anniversary of the D Day Invasions is coming up June 6 so Memorial Day seems like a good time to revisit the invasion sites in Normandy and remember the many brave young men who died there so long ago.

Bytw Rick Stevens visits all the places we want to in Normandie including Rouen the Norse capital and of course d Day sites.

Arrowmanches les Bains, Normandy, France in the heart of the invasion zone.

Last night I watched a Pbs show about a group of D Day survivors who returned to Allemanche and the landing beaches on the 75th Anniversary in 2014. They had not wanted to go do fear the French would reject them.

The D-Day Landing map

It was so touching to see how much the French of all ages opened their arms to the returning soldiers now extremely old men giving them many hugs and kisses and thanking them for giving them their freedom that they still enjoy 70 years later. In Normandy they still celebrate the arrival of the Allies every June 6 so that it will never be forgotten.

The Pegasus Bridge Commander, General Hill, and the US Divisions who were at Normandy.

The one of the old men said they were not the Beatles but to the French of Normandy they were something better. Men who had fought and died to free the French. Such a touching show.

This is the Canadian WW2 Cemetery at Bien Sur Mer. A touching spot it’s a beautiful parklike place where 70 years later everything is in pristine condition bushes trimmed gravestones scrubbed and flowers planted everywhere.

The Canadian Museum at Juno Beach. Gleaming in the afternoon sunshine if viewed from the air it looks like a large maple leaf. The exhibits are all up to date state of the art interactive exhibits. It sits on the bluff above the beaches and La Manche -the Arm- what the French call the English Channel.

Pegasus Bridge. The spot where the Brits lead by Gen Hill parachuted into Caen, Normandy the DAY BEFORE the D Day Invasions. And of course many died there. Some never touched the ground. One hung from the church tower acting like he was dead and lived to tell the story. Brave Man!!

This fascinating museum is shaped like one of the gliders they parachuted out of.

Pock marked with bullet holes, Eglise de Ranville, the site of another allied cemetery, where even on a cold grey November day there were bright flowers marking the graves. This Ranville, Basse-Normandy, France claims to be the first village freed by the Allies in June 6 1944.

Another Map of the D Day Invasion.

The full spread from my sketchbook.

And a journal page of a few other places we visited on our trip to Normandy to the D Day sites.

Happy Memorial Day!

Margaret xoxoxo whose going to listen to old WW 2 movies on TCM while she paints. #usk #urbansketcher #traveljournal #watercolor #aquarelle #ink #strathmore #viking #strathmore500 #arrowmanches #normandy #normandie #normandietourisme #vikingcruises #PegasusBridge #bayeux #Ranville #beny-sur-mer #Rouen #omahabeach #junobeach #dday #alliedinvasion

Day 1040 – Canyons – Blowing Rock!

May 27, 2017May 28, 20172 Comments

Mike and I had lunch at the Canyons in Blowing Rock because as she said the view of the mountains was spectacular from dining room. The food was delicious too and the service was great.

Spring green was the key color out the window covering the trees and the mountains.

Painted with Charles Reid palette leftovers. He only uses 12 colors. All Holbein. The greens are hookers and Oxide of chromium. He also likes cobalt violet. Uses all of those a lot on flowers.

I guess I need to do a sample of them so you can see the colors. Just normal old colors. No Quins though I added my favs Quin gold and burnt orange which I sub for ochre and burnt sienna at times.

I kept trying to get a pic of this interesting guy when he was sitting at the bar inside but he was back lit which does not work in a photo. Don’t u love all the trash can background?!

Funnny story. I went to the trash cans when we got in the car to throw some junk out that I pick up like a pack rat and guess who was there!? The guy. And a waitress who had been watching me draw she told him to pose for me because I was a really good artist. Lights not great but it might work. I have more of him not smiling. Do t like painting teeth showing.

Should have told him to take off his hat but that would have ruined his charm. I did get him to turn around but still no light.