Day 878 Dr Sketchys Part Two

December 2, 2016Leave a comment

Saving the best for last.

10 Minute santa sketch. Thinking of turning this into a Christmas card. My pen was smoking by the time I drew this one.

Watercolor and pentel brush pen on 10×14 superaquabee tablet.

10 Minute sketch -Won a pack of 24 Prisma color pencils with this one. Also a possible Christmas card.

Man about town. 20 minute sketch

This one went home with Paul aka DJ Codec. I measured his length. Actually got it right. Not bad in a twenty minute sketch. The real grapes were discretely placed for modesty. Lol.

A terrific session at Dr SKETCHYS.

THANKS Paul!

Ttyl

Margaret still on the run. Xoxoxo

Day 856 – Happy Veterans Day

November 12, 2016November 12, 2016Leave a comment

Once again I posted this yesterday on that OTHER website…sigh…

Somehow saying Happy Veterans Day seems like a conundrum to me because is not happy and people remembering it are sad.

That said I am sharing sketches of War Memorials I did in France last fall in Normandy at the sites of the Allied D Day Invasions 71 years ago.

The Canadian Cemetery at Beny sur Mer. It was odd to me that people to young to know the men buried there were crying over dead relatives.

That said I found myself doing the same thing as I shared a link to my dads historic battle of Foxhill at the Choisin Reservoir in 1950. PBS recently aired a riveting documentary about the week long battle. I had heard bits of the story but to actually see the 32 below conditions they fought in, the rugged almost arctic landscapes, the mass burials of the Marine dead,the frozen Chinese who were shot because the Marines had no other choice in this desperate time was a totally different experience.

The beautiful Canadian Juno Beach Museum shaped like a maple leaf on the beaches of La Manche, the Sleeve as the French call the English Channel. A stunning building wrapped in glowing aluminum with state of the art exhibits.

The Ranville Eglise next to another Canadian Cemetery in Caen Normandy France. The day was getting dark and somber threatening rain that afternoon.

The Pegasus Bridge Museum. Using gliders brave British paratroopers jumped behind Nazi lines BEFORE the Allied invasion forces landed on the Normandy beaches. I am sure many of them are now buried at the nearby Ranville Cemetery. They are immortalized in the movie The Longest Day.
Thanks for stopping by.

Margaret xoxox

Day 840 Almost a nightmare.

October 25, 2016October 25, 2016Leave a comment

The pen I used on this page was not one of my normal ones. THE INK LEAKED WHEN I TRIED TO PAINT THE PAGE with a light blue tombow pen. EEEKKK.

So I painted almost all the letters grey with water thinking I would stop there. I painted All but the numbers which is why the letters are a darker red. I blotted alot of the excess ink with kleenex and take out napkins.

When the numbers did behaved ok I decided to go back over the grey letters with the same red marker. And a dark red resulted…not the lite blue I had in mind BUT when catastrophe strikes you have to make lemonade right?

Then I colored the background with what I thought was a yellow marker…it was really orange…oh well …I wet it and lifted alot of it too with the kleenex heap which was growing.

Not bad but I will not be using that pen again unless I want the ink to run. Here’s a picture of the offending pen. Its a Japanese pen with a brush on one end and a really fine point on the other end.

I tried to go with the bleedy color. It occasionally got me into trouble as I colored and painted. So I blotted some more with the growing heap of kleenex!
I used tombow markers and a couple of caran d’ache neocolor ii crayons on this. Strathmore 500 mixed media journal a lovely crispy paper. Highly recommend this one or stillman and birns series. Great sketchbooks for watermedia.

Ttyl

Margaret off to the y for yoga!!😳xoxox

Day 746 More GNSP

July 19, 20162 Comments

Mt Le Conte 8×10″ watercolor Strathmore 500 watercolor paper

Drawing Mt Le Conte from the Gatlinburg Bypass overlook.

Mt Le Conte in the Spring last year. 5×10″Aquabee supertablet Pentel brush pen.

From the same overlook but the other end of the car park. Odd how much of Gatlinburg you can see depending on where you park.

Once again Ted Nuttals transparent colors. The foreground grass was done by scratching wet paint with an old palette knife.

Back to madly knitting my freestyle socks.

Finished last nite.

Started this morning.

Day 745 GNSP

July 18, 2016Leave a comment

Old Evans Family Cemetery tucked away in the woods near the Great Smoky National Park Headquarters. The first sketch I did when I was leaving.

I drew so much it took me four hours to drive thirty miles. But the park is gorgeous anytime of the year and something gorgeous is around every turn whether it’s a mountain view, a quiet stream dashing over rocks or wildflower. Just a drive thru the tunnel of trees is enjoyable.

Painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent colors. A lot of splattering some negative painting.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 743 – Wild Plum Tea Room

July 15, 2016July 16, 2016Leave a comment

One of my favorite places to eat in Gatlinburg. delicious food. An amazing flourless chocolate torte. I do wish I had gone back and tried the alcoholic root beer float with their homemade vanilla ice cream especially now that I am back on Lo carb! 😏

We usually eat outside but since it was raining the deck with its umbrella covered tables was closed off.

It’s in a charming old cabin on the Artist Loop almost all the way to BuckHorn Inn the other best food in Gatlinburg. Both are pricey.

The Plum Tea Room is only open from 11-3 but I hear they do awesome take ours.

Paint is Ted Nuttalls transparent colors.

Since my phone is dying that’s it for today.

Thanks for checking by. Have a great weekend and stay out of the heat.

Margaret xxx

Day 740 – painting started

July 12, 2016Leave a comment

And a redo

Bear Country in Pigeon Forge.

I was sitting at the gas station and looked up to see this. Such great colors and people. You know I had to draw it.
Ivy Rose Wedding Chapel on the E Parkway Gatlinburg TN

A bit of a redo. Darkened it a lot. Gave more contrast to the white chapel. I really need to practice painting greenery. I do think it looks better than it did.

Here it is before.

But no more double page spreads in the Prius. What was I thinking.

Finally found the three foot plus strip that I drew near the Newfound Gap Overlook but this is looking toward Tennessee. The Gap is at the NC/TN state line.

Looking toward NC.

Here’s a closeup of the strip. I am going to practice painting more trees and mountains before I paint this.

Painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent pallette.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 737 A parakeet

July 8, 20162 Comments

And a parrot
Rosy ring necked parakeet

Parrot that needs more work I think.

Hmm well you shouldn’t paint at midnite. What else can I say!? He should be more of an emerald green but that’s easy to fix.just another coat of darker green.

One coat of a nice green and he’s better. Not so pale and washed out.

The background is cerulean and Quin sienna. Not a big fan but the sienna works well with the cerulean. Splattered with the same colors.

Check by for a parrot update. Off to find something to draw I hope.

Margaret xxx

Day 73? – About that Parrot

July 7, 2016Leave a comment

Hot off the paint brush. Red macaw at parrot mountain. Best sketching fun I have had in a while. And it looks so much better painted.

Pyrrole red alizarin Crimson maganese blue and the usual culprits cerulean burnt sienna Inathrodone blue all done wet on wet. Oh burnt umber for the blacks.

I often wonder why I can draw animals and scenery in public as people drift by but if I am drawing people I like to hide my sketchbook.

A peach cockatoo. He was too far away and people kept walking in front of the bird. Painted with a red orange soup that was on my Pallette.

Entrance to Parrot Mountain and yes those are very steep steps. Pant pant. But the flowers are lovely. Parrot Mountain takes in rescued birds of all types but most exotic birds like parrots and macaws and large parakeets. Owners don’t realize that some of these birds can out live them.

We went in this way which is I guess the handicapped access- a concrete ramp which should be labeled ramp to heaven. Very steep!

A few macaws under their hats near the parking lot. Someone asked why they don’t fly away. They can’t. The wing feathers are cropped so the best they can do is flutter a short distance. Sad for the birds but at least they are well taken care of in a lovely jungly spot.

Off for some lunch at the Plum Tea Room on the artists loop and away from the mobs of Gatlinburg or should I say herds? So many people!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 735 – Parrot Mountain

July 6, 2016July 6, 2016Leave a comment

I am off to draw and paint plus a little sock yarn buying therapy as soon as I post.

Parrot Mountain is wonderful. Lovely gardens filled with birds all owner surrendered or rescued. Parrots macaws parakeets and a lot of other exotic birds.

The place is just lovely with many quiet spots to sit and enjoy the birds but I was HOT to draw them and did. However the rain was NOT conducive to painting them.

The Parrots and cockatoos have perches with little straw hats on top. I wish I had one yesterday when it started raining. Finally pouring but the lovely trees in the Parrot Mountain Gardens saved me from a soaking.

What are you doing my dear? Drawing. Some of the birds were so curious.

One of the caretakers. He loves the birds and they love him.

How’s this for a family portrait you will never forget?!

Misty A highly endangered Blue Hyacinth macaw in the petting area. This is the bird the movie Rio is based on.

Misty standing on her head half the time while I tried to draw her.
There were probably 100 different birds of all types in this area.

One of the cockatoos showing off for my son. Just the best $20 I have spent in a long time. Thoroughly enjoyed the place. I wish we could have stayed longer but we had a dinner reservation at the Buckhorn Inn and had to leave. We didn’t even have time to change for dinner we stayed so long.