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 623 – a bit more France

March 16, 20162 Comments

Arrowmonches Les Bains in Normandy near the D Day invasion site. Charming quintessential French village by the seaside. Some of the WW2 beach defenses still remain out in the breakers.

We had a delicious coq au vin lunch at Brasserie 6 Juin.

I almost missed the bus drawing this picture. 😳 I could have happily sat there drawing the village all afternoon while the others went to the landing sites but it would have been a LONG walk back to the boat moored at quai in Rouen.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx dreaming of France

Day 621-Duval Street

March 14, 2016March 13, 20162 Comments

I love this beautiful old episcopal church on Duval. St Pauls is supposedly haunted by the sea captain that donated the land to the church. He haunts the tower.

Here’s another view of St Pauls tower against the bright blue Caribbean sky.

More about Haunted Key West. Great ghost tour.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 607 – 22 Sketches

February 29, 2016Leave a comment

When you do that many you can post sketches for a week or more never repeating yourself. The girls costumes begged to be painted and the many columns lining Sacred Heart. Great fun to paint wet on wet.

The second or third sketch I did that night. I had not quite warmed up. Gouache is great for covering the background fast. When you have 22 sketches to paint you better have something that gets done quickly besides the sketching.

One day when I grow up I want to paint urban sketches like this one by Al Beyer done in India a couple of years ago. Can you see the moped flying by? This is a big oil painting 3×4′ not a tiny sketch but definitely falls in the urban “sketching” genre. You can see more of his work here but sadly non of his urban sketching he does on his Maymester trips abroad – India – China – and this year Cambodia. Watch out Angkor Wat.

Thanks for reading!

Margaret xxx

Day 600 – Wet Paint

February 22, 2016February 29, 2016Leave a comment

Will be posting the winner and the prize in a couple of smears. Thanks for sticking with me thru 600 days of consecutive posting. I wonder how long I will go on?!

Did I forget to say that this little mixed media angel I did flew away to a new home aka she sold at Wet Paint. Hurrah!! She’s stitches scribbled glued bubble wrap printed and three d. Genuine Lutheran hymnal pages in the background. A lot of fun!

But not as much fun as drawing the models at wet paint.

Another James Bond model sketch. I really need to fix his hand and his foot. Maybe. I had a lot of fun looking up James Bond quotes to write on the JB sketches.

Beautiful model that could hold a rock solid pose. She’s wearing turquoise culottes with huge buttons. The half you can’t see is white. Harlequin style. She has lost had spectator pumps on. I had forgotten about them til I saw hers. I had a pair I loved. All tan leather so I painted those instead of the two tone ones she had on

Thanks for reading. Will post the winner in a couple of days. Class today.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 599 The Name is Bond

February 21, 2016Leave a comment

James Bond -6×10″ Arches Carnet de Voyage HOT Press

Lots of fun last night sketching at Wet Paint party at Sacred Heart Cultural Center.

The Vintage Olie models were styling James Bond movie fashion style. Lucky Ruth Pearl and I had a table right next to one of their six pedestals as they rotated around the audience.

I really liked this just as it is EXCEPT all my gooey only fingerprints all over it. Sigh. The light we were drawing in was terrible and my beloved Noodler was leaking as usual. Not conducive to clean drawings.

Misplaced my non leaky Noodler

Konrad. 😱

Background is gouache. Covers those ink prints!!

Wc Used Quin coral , French ochre, cerulean, burnt sienna, burnt umber, ultramarine blue.

More urban sketching coming!!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 593 – Back to Rouen

February 15, 2016Leave a comment

Somehow I forgot to post this sketch I did of Rue Martainville from the square in front of St Maclou in Rouen.

These half timber frame houses proliferated in the Rouenduring the medieval period. More still remain here than anywhere else in France. The medieval Europeans thought they were more fireproof than timber houses. Hmm?!

Notice how the bottom leans. Oh my!!
Rouen has them in great variety and shape, overhanging streets, leaning crazily. Often doors and windows are totally leaning a kilter on the front of the houses. Nothing is square though we were told they were inside. How is that possible. Je ne sais pas. I don’t know! But I have seen them with my own two eyes. Now you have too.

Lining an alley.
And how is it that these crazy wonky leaning buildings don’t fall down upon our heads. Once again. Je ne sais pas! C’est un miracle.

Surrounding the market place.

Marching toward St. Mclou.

And of course cheek to jowl with St Maclou.
Rouen has street after street lined with these teetering ancient beauties like old women in spikes towering and tilting down the narrow cobbled lanes waiting to tumble down momentarily.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx hot planning maps to make to fill in blanks in my French travel Journals.

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 585 – Juno Beach

February 7, 2016Leave a comment

The Canadians built this beautiful museum to remember the D Day Invasion and the valiant men who fought there on June 6 1944. From above its shaped like a maple leaf.

The museum sits on the shore at Les Courselles in Normandie above La Manche, the Sleeve, as the French call the English Channel. Below are the beaches where the brave British, Canadian and Australian forces staged their D Day invasion.

Eventfully more than 4500 of them died during the invasion of Normandie.

Colors used. First a wash of Winsor yellow on the buildings. Next a wash of Cerulean and Quin burnt orange and Quin sienna. Shadows cobalt and dioxzine purple and more sienna and Quin burnt orange. Windows and sky cerulean. Grass yellow green and olive green with Quin burnt orange.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

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