With Hahnemuhle rough paper. Half sheet 140#. I think it’s called Cezanne. Paint along with Vladislav Yesileyev. I repainted the Havana arches today.

This was on Fabriano 300#rough. Not nearly so bright. Soaked the color up like a sponge. But the Hahnemuhle. Just wish I had bought it earlier. Whatever color you put on it stays close to the same color not fading away like on the Fabriano.

Something else it does which Fabriano doesn’t is you can splatter it with water abs get these drops. Useful for cobblestones and rough walls.

The sketch. A fairly easy draw.

First washes.

Well I got a little too dark on the arches oh well but see all the spots from flinging water at it before it was quite dry?! Nice!!

Adding darks to the foreground.

And done for now.

A wonderful painting of Christopher Plummer who died last week as Prospero. Stolen from my friend Gordon Shriver on Facebook. “Here’s a combination of two of my favorite things in the world–art and theater. Everett Raymond Kinstler (who died in 2019) was one of America’s foremost portrait painters, whose subjects included Presidents as well as show people. I heard him talk at a Portrait Society of America convention. Christopher Plummer has shuffled off this mortal coil, and this excellent 2011 painting by KInstler is of Plummer as Prospero in THE TEMPEST. Plummer did the show at the Stratford Festival in Canada. “Our revels now have ended…”

Margaret who is tahred. Seems to be a theme here lately. Xoxoxo

Second time drawing this. Not that it’s hard to draw but I got some new Hahnamuhle 140 rough paper from Cheap Joe’s after I drew the first one on Kilimanjaro 140 cold press. Vlad swears by it.

Today I made myself redraw it but then I needed a nap. Zzzz. Zoe watched over me. Actually she loves a good nap herself. Lol

A great painting by my watercolor hero Charles Reid who left us too soon two years ago. You can read all about him on Wikipedia or visit his website Charelsreidart.com to see some of his fabulous watercolors and a few of his oils that are for sale.

Margaret watching the Biden town hall. Xoxoxo

Doing a paint along with Vlad Yesileyev. Went to Havana for the day. This was it wet.

And this is what it dried too. How many layers do I have to put on this nasty Fabriano rough to get it dark enough? Already did another layer. Can not wait til my Kilimanjaro gets here. I also bought some Holbein sizing for watercolor paper in hopes of fixing this nasty Fabriano. I only have at least 15 pieces of it. Groan.

This is the picture. See how dark it should be?!

Or at least like the value sketch. Sigh.

The sketch

First layer yellow ochre alizarin and cobalt

The sky added. Cerulean neutral tint and all the colors listed above.

Adding darks.

Trying to go darker. But it’s always drying lighter. Grrr.

The way it looks now but will add more darks. Maybe it will behave and darken up. Who knows. Let you know tomorrow.

Margaret disgusted with this expensive paper. It’s $20 ish a sheet. 🥱🤪😩😩😩😩xoxoxo

I took the pic I drew three years ago. Probably for an older friend whos nuts for a tractor.

I really LOVR this ponying. I did it all by myself. Hurrah.

The photo if you’d like to try.

the grey scale drawing. I realized in the art world this is called a grissaile layer. That’s French for grey layers. Commonly found in portrait painting.

Fluid hot press paper quarter sheet. Cad red quin gold ultramarine blue.

Dead tired from pointing for seven hours today. Note note xoxoxo

Does it matter?? Think someone broke the rear axle of this truck. Not me though right? The 1939 Ford Harvester truck photo. You can find copyright free photos on google. If you do a Google Image Search, under “Tools” there is a “Usage Rights” dropdown where you can choose “Creative Commons licences” to find royalty free images

First you draw it w a light grey tombow. Quarter sheet on hot press 140 # fluid paper. You can get it on Amazon. It loves ink.

Then you paint it-cad red, ultramarine, pthalo blue, burnt sienna, and yellow ochre. Next you shade it with more tombows and a permanent fine liner or two. A .3

Took an hour online class with Ian Fennelly today. Lots and f fun. He is a really great teacher. He’s teaching a longer one on a couple of weeks Feb. 18. The next workshop will be In a weeks time: https://www.urbansketchcourse.com/workshops/live-sketching-workshop-1940-harvester/

The last step is to detail the painting some more with the fine liners. Been thinking about the back tire. Think that can be fixed easily by changing the angle of the tire.

Margaret who got her second COVID shot. Hurrah. Sign up for yours here. Making me sleepy so back to my nap. Definitely better than having covid. Xoxoxo

Drawn with a tombow pen which is not waterproof. I really want to paint it but betting it will mess the birds up. What to do what to do.

Oh the bird channel was on YouTube called Birder King. Great big shots of birds so you can see them well. They hold still for a while to tease the cats! Lol.

Drawing with the tombow is fun though because you can smear the pen by adding a little water. I have ten diff shades of grey from a pale grey to an almost black.

Fun stuff. Really need to quit watching bird tv with the kitties.

Margaret whose having a really wild Friday with YouTube. Xoxox

Had to draw these camels. Probably will paint them but for now drawn with pentel pen .1 in my stillman and birn alpha. Three more pages left in it. Hurrah.

On YouTube will take you all over the world. A lot of them have historical notes on points of interest so it’s real walking tour of whatever town or city you have picked.

So far I have toured London Paris Rome Venice and a lot of Italy. I can scratch some places off my I want to go list like one of the Italian coast towns that I lost count of the stair flights climbed. Amalfi, I think. Gorgeous hut straight up and down.

I figured out I could take pics by pausing and then hitting the back arrow to get rid of the pause screen. Probably copyright issues but it’s fun to draw something besides the inside of my house.

One more week for dose two of the vaccine. Hurrah!!

Margaret xoxoxo

Which was mostly squirrels though an occasional bird. Who knew there was such a thing?! Fun to draw though. And my black cat Sooty was actually watching them while I drew him and them.

Stillman and birn uniball micro quin gold burnt sienna ultramarine blue

Margaret xoxoxox

Venice Nocturne Arches rough paper

Online class with Keiko Tanabe since Vlad isn’t doing his paintalongs lately.

The sketch

Painting the background. First laid down a layer of lemon yellow and quin gold. Then painted night colors over it. Thalo burnt umber alizarin dioxzine purple

Decided I did not like making darks with Thalo blue. They seem to go green instead of black.

And done. Seems a lame post but here it is. The class only lasted about an hour and a half. Was supposed to be at least two hours. I do wish she had told us to use our escoda perlas. I used my sables which are not as stiff and noticed right at the end she was using the perlas.

Basically I don’t think I learned a thing except I don’t need to pay to learn from Keiko. I think I could have done this on my own.

Doubt I will take another class from her. She’s sweet but Vlad is the far superior teacher. He Stays as long as it takes to get the job done and answer every question.

Margaret xoxoxo

Done added more details today with a variety of tombows, Pitt pens and a uniball micron pen.

Can you tell what I did to it?!

Spent the morning watching Ian Fennelly on YouTube. There are several worth at watch that are actually paint alongs. Some are free.

Here are a few of them: Color and Shapes:Breaking them down
Drawing Piccadilly Circus

Arty Class sketching the Charles Bridge Prague

Sunflower Sketching

Arty Class Sketch Your High Street

Sketching Venice with Brush Pens

The Urban Sketch website with a free class in Feb drawing a 1938 Ford Truck

Ian also offers a wide range of online classes for reasonable prices. Really tempted by a couple of them. The Drawing Cornwall is calling my name. I love Doc Martin which takes place in Port St Isaac in Cornwall. He even drew one of the sketches from Doc Martin’s house. 😳

Starting another one. Will post if I get far enough to bother.

Hugs

Margaret xoxoxox