Day 1067 Its Saturday

June 24, 2017June 24, 2017Leave a comment

Andrea was our model today. This is largish 18×24 largely painted alla prima which means first strike. I came prepared to draw and paint in a smaller sketchbook a 10×18 Superaquabee.

I liked the pose so much decided to go bigger. So first break I ran around getting larger paper together. George Dawnay gave me a piece of 90# Bristol paper to start over on. Thank goodness.

All I had were my waterbrushes which would NOT begin to cover that big piece of paper. Robert kindly loaned me his wonderful winsor Newton Series 7 brushes. They are now on my I need list!!

It was like painting on a thinner piece of hot press paper.

Al actually said it looked like a watercolor should. Be still my heart.

This was after the second break. I only painted on this about an hour. It needs more work on the background or not. We shall see.

The pencil sketch went much faster the second time around.

I washed her with cad yellow and cad red mixed. Then I used mostly Quin magenta and inathrodone blue on her for the shadows. A bit of Quin coral for cheeks. Hair Quin sienna Quin burnt sienna and inathrodone blue.

This was the smaller version I did in my 10×18 Superaquabee which loves watercolor. I never quite finished this one.

George Delaunays exquisite pastel. LOVE the feet. He’s a very energetic sketcher. Stepping back and forth to and from the easel as he works.

Drew Murphys large acrylic. He’s also energetic but in his use of brush sticks. Always like his work.

Al Beyer. A huge painting. Love the fabric drape. Always lovely paintings.

Iliana’s lovely oil. Rather Gauginish I think.

Tom Needham’s elegant watercolor done in washes.

Fred still emulating Mondigliani!!

Day 1064 Comissions

June 21, 2017Leave a comment

A problem when you are suppose to paint the same thing twice. Eeekkk this is the second one. Thinking it could use a few more greys in the center!?

This is the first one. I drew my friend Monica who giving her talk at the DuPont Planetarium at Ruth Patrick Science Center, USC Aiken. She really does a terrific job.

Kids come from all South Carolina to visit the Science Center and see the Planetarium.

It took me a while just to figure out how to transfer this identically to a piece of 300# lb watercolor.

I traced the original.

Transferred it with Saral.

Traced over it with a pencil.

Traced over it with my Lamy Safari.

And the. I tried to remember how I painted it. The whirlpool vortex was not easy to ain’t the first time let alone another time. Eeekk.

Finally it was time to splatter the night sky with white gouache stars. Be sure to use a stiff toothbrush. I got a soft one first. Oops. Worked much better with a nice stiff toothbrush.

Touched up the Whirlpool Vortex again. And calling it done. I hope!

Painted with lamp black, burnt umber , Ultramarine Blue, alizarin, aureolin yellow, and some Joe’s turquoise.

Margaret who has another commission to get done. 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 1003 The Morris – Urbansketching?

April 20, 2017April 22, 20172 Comments

Spent a great afternoon yesterday at the Morris Art Museum in downtown Augusta on Riverwalk with some of my favorite painter friends – the members of Al Byers Advanced Painting Class. Interesting listening to their comments and to Als who as a professor and a New Yorker always has an opinion which he will readily share!🤗

I thought I would take you on a virtual field trip to the Morris with us. It was one of the first museums to deal only in Southern art.

When you enter via the stairs the first thing you see are the water colors of Aiden Lassell Ripley (1896-1969.). Ripley caught the South in the early 1900s in a series of watercolors and prints that line the hall at the top of the stairs.

His bio says “He was attracted by the interplay between the solidity of buildings and the patterns of light and shadow they created, interspersed with people, the snap of a clean sheet drying on a clothesline, and the shape of trees and bushes.” An early urbansketcher!

These are large full sheet watercolors 22×30″. They have great light and shadows. The Picnic above is perhaps my favorite.

Remember he was painting these fifty – 100 years ago. There’s a certain timelessness to them. They could still be found throughout the south if we only bother to look. Oddly I am sure we could as Urban Sketchers find some of these places and paint them still. Probably a lot more battered but still standing.

He was getting out and painting the south long before Urbansketching was a thought in Gabes head.

St. James Church Tallahassee Florida

Love the glowing white in this one. He does glowing whites so well.

Southern Shack

I know these still litter the southern landscape.

Springtime – Southern Church

There’s is one of these not a mile from where I sit on Hopewell Church Road in McCormick County SC however there’s no great tree with Spanish moss and I never see people there. Is it abandoned. No idea.

Cabin in Georgia

Obviously many of these were done along the southern coast because the Spanish moss does not grow farther north in the south just along the coast.

Planters in the Field

Perhaps my least favorite. The figures are stiff and it’s too dark. Great handling of the trees, woods, and that evening sky.

Unexpected Point, Florence SC

I love the light in this painting. It just glows with fall light raking across the horses and riders, glinting off the broom straw and buildings.

You can still see these broom sedge fields with tall pines and rickety old buildings slowly crumbling to the ground. And yes they still hunt for quail and dove in the south.

Ttyl Margaret xoxoxo off for another busy day.

Day 966 coloring in my coloring book

March 13, 2017March 15, 2017Leave a comment

I drew these two guys last Thursday as part of my #oneweek100people2017 as they pushed and shoved the heavy scaffold into place that would allow them to hang the new Augusta State Univeristy sign four stories up in the air.
I have two say these guys were working very hard and were as good as having dancers to draw with their interesting poses. This is the first page I drew.

Here is page two. Drawn with my Lamy Safari with Lexington grey ink in my Stillman and Birn Alpha.

You can see the scaffold better in this painting. Drawing three of the big event. They almost had shoved it into place when I drew this.

UPDATE: And a week later they are still working on top of the building. It’s very cold today. Hope the finish before it goes down to 24 tomorrow. Who turned off Spring?

Here’s the original sketch. I painted these after I got home. Colors used Quin coral, gold,burnt orange. Cerulean and hematite geeen on windows with ultramarine and burnt umber shadows. The building is Quin coral and burnt umber. Their jackets are Lemon yellow and hematite green. The sign is ultramarine and mineral purple.

I have a giclee quality printer that I am finally getting set up for print making. It’s been in the garage for quite a few years because it’s about two feet long and takes up the whole desk but no more.

It’s hooked up and it works. I was told it might not. New cartridges cleaned the print heads and it looks like we are in business.

Hurrah!!

Will let you know when I start making prints. Soon. I promise.

Ttyl

Margaret xoxox

Day 958 A relaxing Sunday

March 5, 20172 Comments

Well kind of sort of. Been busy posting about our show and getting it a write up in the local paper. In the meantime here’s a watercolor for you. I have to do it on paper for my friend Monica who is in it.

Monica works at the DuPont Planetarium at USC Aiken also known as the Ruth Patrick Science Center. She leads tours of school kids and gives them talks about the stars.

Follow the Drinking Gourd is the black history month lecture about how slaves used the Drinking Gourd the Big Dipper to find their way north to freedom.

I paint across the parking lot from her at USCAiken Etheridge Center. She invited me over to hear her Drinking Gourd talk. Monica did a dynamite job and I had to draw her. It was almost pitch black by the time I finished.

The sketch sat around while I decided how to draw the star field and the whirlpool galaxy. Never done that before.

I realized I could paint the night sky black and then splatter it with white gouache which worked out great.

I also wanted to make the galaxy bright in the center and fade at the edges. As I painted the sky with a mix of indigo alizarin crimson and hookers green I bled the edges around the galaxy with clear water. I coated it with very watered down Quin gold just to give a glow. Let it dry.

Coated the sky with the indigo mix again and bled the edges again. Then I added dabs of watery alizarin crimson and marine blue in a circular swirl. Let it dry. Added more of those colors and grey and purples to define the galaxy spin. Trying for that glow.

Finally I splattered the galaxy with white gouache and a very small brush. I should have used a tooth brush. Next time I will.

Highly recommend the Ruth Patrick tour!!

Happy Sunday.

Still in my Jammies relaxing on a chilly Sunday

Margaret xoxoxo

Day 957 It’s Saturday

March 5, 2017Leave a comment

One of my best so far I think. Al and Ruth said it is. So did Drew.

I decided to use my liquitex flesh as the darks with a little orange added to it. The lights are primary yellow flesh and white. The red is Quin red. I also used golden Indian yellow. The darkest darks are burnt umber and thalo blue.

Not quite done. Still need to paint out the hash marks on the left. Or at least not end the brown like that.

At the second break. The lighter dark is working well. Still a lot to do

And only half an hour left. Eek. After break will tackle the face and then the hands and whatever else I have time for.

First break. Forty minutes Of painting.

I started by carefully measuring how many heads wide and tall Emily was. For Example how many heads down was her right hand. I also used plumb lines to line up things like her right shoulder with the right side of her face. Her left wrist w the left side of her face.

I also decided that though the shadows on her face were very heavy purple was too dark and looked a little grey. So decided to make the darks peach w white and red orange made from Indian yellow and Quin or pyrrole red. I started w pyrrole red and ended with the Quin red.

Al Beyer’s lovely huge oil -3×4′ in an hour and a half! 😳

DrewMurphys large nude. Love the face. And the drape. Actually love the whole thing.

Iliana Van Pelt oil. She’s growing an artist by leaps and bounds.

AC Daniels lovely transparent oil.

Marilyn Hartley’s lovely sketch w a little color.

Kathe Dennis great swirly conte crayon.

This one is hers too. Always love her lines all over the place.

Rachel Millers beautiful small watercolor. This girl is so talented.

Fred’s tough lady.

Tom Needham’s lovely watercolor.

A very young mans pencil sketch. Great job!!

Thanks for stopping by. Still worn out from the show which was a great success.

Margaret xoxoxo

Friday Time for the really BIG Show!

March 3, 20172 Comments

The show is hung and it looks awesome.Can’t wait for you all to see it. Join us tonite at the 600 Building on Broad Street in Augusta 6-8 pm. The reception is today but the show will be up all month and the gallery will be open from 10-4.

Where else will you see TWO stories of art in Augusta?!

The building was designed by IM Pei and is very retro late 70s.

The old Chamber of Commerce building is now the Greater Augusta Arts Council Gallery.

See ya tomorrow nite. Oh did I say we have wine too!! 🤗👍🏻

Time to Get ready! Xoxoxo

Day 947 Is it done?!!Ponce City

February 23, 2017February 23, 2017Leave a comment

Glad to update this with YES ITS DONE! Signed sealed ya wanna buy it?

After over a month of painting on this large canvas Looking Down-Ponce City Market. I can only hope!! It’s acrylic 3’x4′ BIG!!

And here’s the progress on it.

Not much else to say but IS IT DONE?!

Ttyl

Margaret at the vets with Zoe whose saying is it done is it done too. Xoxoxo

Day 941 A few more als and that urban sketch

February 15, 2017Leave a comment

Sketched at the Aiken Brewing Company on Laurens St downtown Aiken

Colors used Quin gold Quin red orange cerulean, burnt umber, ultramarine, hookers and a gel pen or two.

Draw with a Lamy Safari and Lexington Grey ink in a Stillman and Birn Zeta.

Als painting of a student circus 1990. Even then he was trying to paint like Vermeer.

Als friend from the gym who loved to tell stories. He was a rower in the 52 and 56 Olympics for Hungary.

Al after his heart attack. He used his computer camera to take this photo.

The models make Al look like a great painter so he says but we know he’s a great painter.

Ilaina gorgeous as ever. A Saturday painting. 3×4′

Als office. Always neat. Painted with acrylic. Much wilder than his oil paintings. LOVE This one. Think it got a certificate of merit at the State Fair.

Als an awesome painter and teacher the reason. I drove 60 miles three times a week to Aiken to become a better painter I HOPE!!

Xoxoxo

Margaret