Tuesday

February 5, 20202 Comments

Did I say exhausting?

Nothing like a sixty mile drive to paint and hanging out with friends to make you Tahred. 🤣But I managed to nap after the tenth correction after I got home anyway.

I thought the pose would kill me drawing it. Arms and legs going every which way. And that hand and foreshortened arm on the right. Eeekk.

I drew that arm and hand over and over again til I finally figured out you can’t see her forearm duh.

But maybe this is how she looked when I left?! Her face was squinchy but like the body.

And what about that neck. Groan.

The things you don’t notice in an hour or so of painting.

So here she is now. As Mike pointed out her eyes were NOT right. Too close together. So I fixed that. I also lightened her chin and widened her weird neck that I had given her.

Added a few shadows and called it quits. Well till I decide more Ilaina torture after I stare at it for a while.

Drew Murphy painted his gesture drawings. Kind of fun in all the bright colors.

Marilyn Hartley charcoal. Did I say LOVE!!

Also Marilyn Hartley charcoal Love that left hand. And the feet. Yummy lines Marilyn Rocks.

Margaret going back to her nap. Xoxoxox

In Aiken paintin’

January 22, 2020January 23, 20204 Comments

Don today. Hope you click on him and see him bigger. The background may change tomorrow. We shall see.

The sketch.

15×22 cold press Fluid. Hmm I have a whole roll of gesture drawings too. Was not thrilled doing another reclining pose. To top that off he went to sleep and his head started tipping toward me. And I mean tipped ALOT!! Not just a little.

Next break. I don’t know how I managed to get the holiday in his nose. It’s straight. Hmm.

Really like his hand.

Next break. Or was this when I was done. Not sure. Painted for three 25 min sessions. Since I wasn’t thrilled with the pose I had fun playing and really like all the colors. Lots of alizarin mineral violet Cheap Joes Andrews turquoise. Some cad red and yellow and burnt sienna plus ultramarine.

Always fun hanging with my Aiken peeps.

Drew Murphy’s. His first nude male.

Eves. She and I had fun moaning about Don going to sleep. Really messed with our drawings. Thank goodness I took a pic before he went to sleep.

Loved Joya Jimenez- Stefanos pastel – that leg coming forward is so dynamic.

And Bills oil- lovely soft pastely colors that don’t show well in the light I took this in.

Wish I had gotten a photo of Amy Lockhard Nesss oh so interesting scribble drawings she made with a weird Mephisto pencil she got in Bulgaria. It only smeared when she used a tortillon. Hmmm.

Well that’s a wrap people. Come join us for some Aiken fun. T or Saturday. Oh and Plein air on Fridays.

Margaret tucked in for the evening. Freezing cold. A high of 39. Whaaaaatttt??

Don

January 14, 20201 Comment

Was our model today. We did ALOT OF gesture poses first which really do help with drawing the final figure quickly. Limbers you up.

1 minute gestures.

More 1 min and one 3 minute

3 min

five minute

Five minute. Like the last two the best of course.

First break 25 min. Drew him quickly and had ten min left til break to start painting. As I said gestures paid off.

Fifty min.

When I left. The right shoulder had drifted no longer following the pencil line. Oopsey.

So when I got home I redrew the pencil line and did some negative painted it aka painted behind him with Indanthrone blue and splattered a bit which is always fun.

He’s on the kitchen floor drying now.

Drew Murphy. He was to my immediate left.

Eves. Might be my favorite of all of them. There were close to 20 people in class today. Always a lot of fun. Come join us!

Margaret xoxoxo putting her feet up now.

It’s Saturday

January 4, 2020Leave a comment

Emily 15×22″ cold press Fluid paper

Sketch

At forty minutes in

Second break

And when I quit today.

Used my Charles Reid palette colors.

Dr Bill who was too my right.

Dr Fred who was sitting in front of Dr Bill

Coach Larry who was behind me.

Drew who was to my left

Al Beyer who does a great back!

That’s a wrap. Off to another movie

Xoxoxox Margaret

Happy New Years

January 1, 20202 Comments

Naomi 15×22″ 140 lb cold press fluid paper.

Busy painting – the GWS deadline is looming.

And going to movies. Little Women yesterday. Richard Jewell today. Enjoyed little Women but I always love them. One of my fav books as a kid.

Naomi earlier today. I wanted to brighten her hands. And get rid of drips which I did yesterday with a mr Clean eraser.

I lifted the hands with the Mr Clean too and masking tape to keep the other nearby colors crisp. I also did some negative painting with darks on her pants to brighten her hands. Added bits of yellow ochre or raw sienna.

I also worked on her hair. Adding dabs of darks Andrews turquoise and mineral violet to make her hair fuzzy.

Using Fealin Lins palette colors.

Margaret who needs to paint but can’t resist a bit of fun on New Years.

Christmas in the WNC

December 28, 2019Leave a comment

Not a sketch of the cabin but a random house on the road into Brevard from Sapphire. Scene Looks pretty in the morning sun so I pulled into a loggers driveway across the road and drew it.

Drawn on some random loose paper in the car with a black ultra fine uniball pen.

Almost a week with no wifi no cable. We twitch our noses at it will start up fro a second or two two bars of u are lucky. Then without even moving the signal is gone. 😵🤔 So didn’t even bother with blog posts.

Time to get back in the swing of things. Hmm why didn’t I draw my croissant. Sooo good at Bracken Mountain Bakery in Brevard.

Headed into Brevard to meet a freeing from USC Aiken to do an art gallery walk in Brevard. Hard to do when you have young grandkids along. We tend to hit the toy store and the ice cream shop which are also a lot of fun.

The wild flower field in front of the cabin. Now brown but it’s so gorgeous when it’s full of purple Dutch iris and lupine. Later Joe Pye weed fills the field.

And the mighty Thompson Rover from the front porch of the cabin. Best wild fly fishing river publicly accessible in the WNC aka western North Carolina. My son is lucky enough to own that stretch. The rest is in the Nantahala National Forest.

A good sketch

December 21, 20192 Comments

To start was helpful. The painting is about 16×20 coldpress fluid 140# paper.

The sketch at the first break with just a little color added. My biggest problem was as Charles Reid said “NEVER draw a head smaller than four inches.” It makes it too hard to paint the features. Oh well being annoyed with our painting short comings keeps us coming back to try again.

Bill Daniels small oil

Al Beyer sorry about the bad light

Drew Murphy – old Holland acrylic. Looks a lot like an oil.

And Dr Freds large acrylic. His are always just fun and whimsical. Everyone else fled before I thought to take photos. Oops.

Margaret who really needs to get her presents wrapped but first a long nap. Three hours sleep is NOT enough. 😴😴😴😴

It’s Saturday

December 14, 2019Leave a comment

15×22″ coldpress fluid paper

Was having a terrible time drawing Ilaina this am so I turned the paper over and painted her without a drawing. This painting took about an hour.

Here she is after about 40 minutes sooo wet. The paper just rippled. Thank goodness I found a hair dryer under the bathroom sink so I could dry her.

She may get some tweaking or maybe not. Right now thinking her ear needs to be cleaned up with a Mr Clean. It should be similar in color to the rest of her face. and those silly little pieces of hair. I had to play with my Cheap Joes Scroogys loose goose just once.

Colors used alizarin cad orange cad red for skin tones. Alizarin shadows with cobalt mineral violet and Cheap Joes Andrew turquoise. Hair burnt sienna and ultramarine.

Fred’s mondigliani. Told him he should finish it.

Drews acrylic. I made her look younger. I think he made her look older. He’s using a new brand of acrylic paint. Old Williamsburg. Their oil is suppose to be THE best oil.

Only two more people came. Did get photos of theirs.

Capturing friends

December 13, 20192 Comments

Rich Klein listening to Joe Kameen talk at USC Aiken. I am sure one day I will look back thru my sketchbooks and say I remember him. He’s the guy who started buying Lamy pens!! Aka he fell down the rabbit hole with the rest of us. Prof Rich can frequently be seen leaning on his chin while he listens intently or hmm maybe he day dreams. You can follow him at richkleinvisions on instagram. Inside his head might be quite interesting if his art work is any indication.

Lamy EF Noodlers Eelskin Ink handprint journal.

And yes he will get painted if I ever quit knitting. Christmas stocking half done. Did I post this?! For youngest grandson. Down to the heel now so on the downhill run.

Margaret whose glad the icy cold rain has stopped. Xoxoxox

A Fine Fall Day

December 5, 2019Leave a comment

In Graniteville SC. On a beautiful fall day after lifemodeling I discovered a miniature English gothic village when I turned down a street I had never been down curious to see what was there. The road parallels the main drag to Aiken thru Graniteville and you can’t see this church or all the charming cottages that surround it.

I liked it better as a drawing in Noodlers Brown ink. Oh well. I seem to be doing that a lot lately. Liking the pen sketches better.