Day 723 -WIP – Three hours of work so far

June 23, 2016Leave a comment

This is HUGE 28×48 Acrylic. I have only worked on it about three hours this includes drawing the photo to paint it.

I have a few glaring problems which I need to fix before going on. I have made her face and body much too wide. The shadows are nonexistent on her body on the left.

She’s a friend and I intend to fix that. I would fix it even if she weren’t because I would rather make people thinner than they are.

I had intended to paint this but all my friends said paint the next photo because the light is better which is true. I really love her boots. If you know her she wears boots most of the time since she rides horses.

Only problem is that I had already drawn this to do a full sheet watercolor too. It took hours and hours to draw it and LOTS of erasing.

Even in this one the face appears a little wide. Possibly due to the lack of shadows?! 3/4 views are always a pain.

So I guess I will do two since this one took most of the day to draw.

I do think it’s interesting that it was so much easier to draw the second time out. Practice makes perfect right?!!

One last thing. A lot of times I will change the photo to black and white to paint from so if I want to I can give her a red shirt and a purple jacket. I do like the blues better but getting comments it’s TOO pretty.

Sigh! You just can’t make everyone happy can you?! 😋

Colors used so far Golden Quin Nickel Azo Gold, Thalo Blue and Ultramarine Blue ( great for denim), Liquitex Burnt Umber and Titanium white plus a tube of Winsor Purple.

Day 722 – the Miller

June 22, 2016June 22, 2016Leave a comment

Named after its owner Frank Miller the theater is an Arte Moderne theater built in 1938 in downtown Augusta.

This side of Broad Street rarely gets any direct sunlight and of course it’s the side where all the old stores are.

Business office buildings are largely on the other side of Broad the sunny side probably because who wants to shop in the hot summer sun??

The onset of the malls in the late 70s destroyed downtown Augusta business and forced the closure of the Miller in 1980s.

Currently under new ownership of Peter Knox it is slated to reopen fully restored in 2017 as the new home of the Augusta Symphony.

As kids we went to see Disney movies, Beatle movies, and the umpteenth screening of Gone with the Wind here. I distinctly remember watching Swiss Family Robinson and 101 Dalmatians here.

Colors used. Ted Nuttalls colors and sodalite. Really like the way the sodalite granulated on the front of the grey stucco building. I also used a white and a light yellow caran d’ache watercolor crayon and a white gel pen for the lights.

Anyway. Thanks for checking by.

Margaret xxx

Day 721 – Alexis

June 21, 2016Leave a comment

One of my Aiken painting friends blocking out her new painting.
Alexis always comes to paint dressed to the nines frequently with a scarf flung over her shoulder wearing ballet flats. She says she’s trying to wear out her old work clothes now that she’s retired.
I quipped at her it wouldnt take me long to do in my good clothes with acrylic paint smears.
This painting doesn’t do her justice because she’s also very tiny. I fattened her up a bit. 😁 Sorey Alexis. She works hard on staying slim. Always eating somethings healthy.
Speaking of which I think I will go eat a salad. Big wedding coming aka Mother of the Groom dress. Eeekkk.

Colors used – Ted Nuttalls transparent colors. And sodalite. Makes a great granulating grey.

Day 716 – While digging

June 15, 2016June 15, 20164 Comments

For collage papers I also found my citrasolve altered papers. I have a two inch stack of them.

Multimedia collage with citrasolv papers, ginkgo leaves, tissue paper and tuna fish pak cardboard from Krogers.
It’s a great way to make altered “antique” photos for framing or for collage or any thing else you can dream up. Art on a Budget.

So I am posting some of my favorites I made 3-4 years ago.

They are made from old National Geographics the only magazine that can be used for this.

Use the straight UNDILUTED citrasolv CONCENTRATE. Also rubber gloves and a sunny NOT WINDY day is required. More detailed directions are here.

Mine is from Jerrysartarama. I have quart. Let me know if u need some if u live in the Augusta area.

Put some citrasolv in a shaker container like a pill bottle with holes punched in the lid.

Flipping thru the National Geographic sprinkle some citrasolv on all the pages but the ads. It doesn’t work well on them. The papers different.

Close the book and let the citrasolv sit til the ink starts moving.

Maybe ten – twenty minutes. Yes you can peek.

When the ink is moving open the book.

Start ripping the pages out one at a time and lay them out flat and separately. No stacking no overlapping. The spine will come apart easily.

Lay them on the grass to dry in the sun. You will have a lot of pages. Don’t let them blow away.

They take a while to loose the citrasolv smell.

This is a copy of one I liked a lot.

You can make copies so that you can keep your favorites.

Then you can use them over and over.

Bytw you can buy National Geographics for .50 at our Salvation Army of you don’t have a friend that will give you stacks of their old ones.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 715 – the Abstract

June 14, 2016Leave a comment

Been working on this today adding the collage bits. I used paper that I painted a few years back. If I had used scrap book paper it wouldn’t be eligible for a lot of watercolor shows.

Here it is before I added the collage bits. Can you find them?!

Black and gold with golden silver or possible golden stainless

These papers are oh so easy to make and I have a large stack of them.

You paint a blobby line of acrylic paint across the top of a piece of printer paper and scrape it down with an old credit card. Let it dry.

Nickel Azo gold with dioxzine purple

Then you repeat with another color. Scrape it down with a credit card.

Spray it with water BEFORE IT DRIES. LET IT DRY and scrape it again. It will peel off paint leaving the splatters from the spray.

Golden stainless nickel Azo gold then golden silver

Thalo? Green and copper

Not sure but the base coat is nickel Azo gold with a golden silver top coat. Not sure what the second layer is. You can do three layers.

Nickel Azo gold with golden silver

Nickel Azo gold with golden silver and a third color

Turquoise with golden silver

Quin magenta I think with dioxzine purple
Opalescent light green with copper I think.

I also added pieces of old painted deli wrap paper.

Like you get Hardee’s biscuits in without printing on it.

You paint scrape and stamp them yourself.

Or stencil them.

Most of them are painted with golden pearlescent and opalescent paints with liquitex solids.
A painted and stamped Ruby Tuesdays napkin

And there’s always those paper towels you wipe your paint brushes with.

Since they are all glued down with gel medium it doesn’t matter that they are not archival. They become plasticized with the medium.

Thanks for checking by.

Margaret xxx

Day 714 – It was

June 13, 2016Leave a comment

A trick. Found some more that I have not posted. At least I don’t think I did.

Our sweet new friend Lenore

And Piper the service dog. One of my favorite dog sketches ever. I might have posted this one but its so great i can post it again. He’s actually a black standard poodle which is difficult to paint so black shadows are sufficing-artistic license and all that!!!

Here’s the whole page together. No idea why I didn’t paint the while background the same color. Ah well. No do overs with watercolor like one can do with watercolor.

Painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent palette.

And the class synopsis with all John Salimens key points.

Warning. There still may be one more set of pages. Not sure.

Thanks for stopping by.

Margaret off to French classes xxx

Day 713 – might be done?!

June 12, 2016June 12, 2016Leave a comment

Oops still one more page to post after this.

I drew this sketch of Mike when he was sitting on the floor drying his painting. One of my favorite Knoxville sketches.

This is the entire page with a few notes and a doodle to remind me of an idea for a future abstract perhaps using motifs are puns the city to rift off of.
Linda

Linda and another ponderer, I never knew her name. LInda was the class teachers assistant all week and volunteered to work diligently to assist John doing whatever he needed to be done. She sold giclees. She tutored people in the use of the atomizer and supervised it’s use. She took photos of all of us with our abstract.

The second lady could frequently be seen across the room leaning against the wall staring at her painting 20 feet away. I am not much of a ponderer.

I am either painting or it’s sitting around where I can see it as I go about my day or watch tv sometimes noticing improvements or changes to be made, sometimes ignoring it completely.

Once again painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent colors.

Thanks for checking by.

Margaret xxx

Day 712 – so it continues.

June 10, 2016June 10, 2016Leave a comment

Not done yet.

I drew Donna and Ann as they discussed Donnas abstracr. The conversation went on for quite a while giving me plenty of time to draw them.

Another sketch of Dinna done during lectures. The shadow under her eye got a little dark.

Painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent palette.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 711 and then

June 9, 2016June 8, 2016Leave a comment

There were more.

Sweet Mary our backdoor neighbor and our new bff.

Donna. She’s much prettier than this sketch of her.

Once again these were painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent colors. The notes were colored with Winsor Newton watercolor markers, a caran d’ache watercolor pencil and a Daniel Smith watercolor crayon

Thanks for checking by.
Margaret xxx

Day 696 – Memories

May 25, 2016Leave a comment

Best thing about a travel journal is the memories when you look back through it.

Raisin and I shared some awesome deserts and a free shot of Jameson’s is always welcome!!

This was a pretty great strawberry shortcake at Calhouns on the Tennessee River. The view was fabulous. Will post it when I get done painting it! Riverside is a wonderful place to eat especially when it’s a different river than the one i live on.

The lines on this page are made with a Wonsor Newton watercolor markers and a Daniel Smith watercolor crayon that I got at Jerrys Artarama during the demo.

I color with them – draw lines -and then release them with water which let’s them bleed where they want to go. A really fun effect.
And I started this last nite. Forgot to eat dinner. Must be fun right?! Hmm 🤔 full sheet arches 300# 22 x 30″ eeekkkkk