Oy Vey what a Day

May 7, 2023May 7, 2023Leave a comment

Hope i spelled that right.

Day 21. Looks easy right??! Mar @marcastenada_model #jyportraitchallenge Cute Audrey Hepburn look. Love Audrey.

The sketch. Just didnt look quite right. I should have fixed it then but NOPE. Fluid 140#cp

Cobalt was much better but three coats on the background. 1 teal 2 cobalt. 😵‍💫 Nothing easy today. Her face does not look right.

Better. I had a laundry list of tweaks. Her hairline lifted, her mouth got another quarter inch, i moved her right eye down , added some kore shadow under her left eye and softened some of the lines on her chest. I think thats it. Hmm. Anyway whether or not she’s right i quit.

Supper time Margaret xoxoxox

Tahred. Busy busy day

April 29, 2023April 29, 2023Leave a comment

And tomorrow is the same. 12 Days done. Woke up and checked my phone to see Judiths post at 1:45am. And there he was. Day 12 #jyportaitchallenge. And still going strong.

Jesse! Thanks @judithyaws and Jesse @rejextion_arts Love the hat, the scarf and the tude. A fun look. So hard to draw. He looks like i got carried away with the beard on the left! And I think he’s slightly crosseyed the way i painted him. Oh well.

Working on getting looser which isn’t easy and loosing edges. Stillman and Birn alpha which usually loves watercolor but think my hands were greasy so it repelled it somewhat. Note to self NO hand lotion when you use watercolor. Mgraham watercolor which always rewets was not happy with the bits of grease. Or was it hand lotion?!😵🧐

The sketch. Was a pain. Took ant half an hour. The angle on his head was difficult to do. Then i painted for abt an hour and a half more.

Something to remember from my dear friend Ruth Pearl on fb and britpeach on Instagram.

Todays #jyportraitchallenge The longer you spend the more details and alterations you need to make but at some point you have to call it a day. Thank you Jesse @rejextion_arts – and yes, his neck really is that long!

What??! Two. Probably would have picked this one darn it.

Mary Whyte palette colors Stillman and Birn Alpha.

Margaret xoxoxo

31?! Key West Cycles

March 30, 2023March 30, 20232 Comments

Pouring after watching a Linda Baker segment on Watercolor live 2023 which has been worth every penny. You really should consider this. Finally finishing it up. We got a 60 day extension which cost $200 more. Cheaper to sign up now than wait. Price increases. So glad Mike talked me into it. U can hit the pause button and do it at your leisure. If u do tell them i sent you. I don’t get a thing i just want them to know i am doing it. Truly a bargain at $297 right now.

I think i love pouring. May make a bigger one of these tomorrow. This is a quarter sheet of fabriano cp artistico. 300#.

The photo i took in Key West. Sucker for bike pics. I have abt 255 of them.

First pour. Cobalt Yellow ochre raw sienna

Pouring indigo. I may have gotten carried away. You add masking before each pour.

I also added a grinder of salt all over it. The small bottle is soap to wash out the masking in the brush. It survived.

Oops getting a little too dark aka too much indigo

The masking off was not a pretty site. I guess i should have take A pic anyway. Adding paint w a brush to get rid of the hard edges left by the masking.

Quitting for now. This is the color it is now. No idea why my iPad pro takes accurate color like this and my iPad phone 13 does not. The phone is so much newer than the ipad. Maybe two years newer?!

Now to do a bigger one. But first the grocery store

Also made a jar Martha Stewarts sweet red onion pickles today. They are pretty even if they don’t taste good aren’t they? will have to try them shortly.

Margaret worn out exhausted w an unmade bed. Sigh. Xoxoxo

#30 Bluebonnet time

March 28, 2023March 30, 2023Leave a comment

Somewhere in the Texas hill country the bluebonnets are blooming. 11×15 fluid cp

The image. Swiped from @ericrhoads who held the worldwide pleinair last Thursday. That was so much fun they are doing it again. 4300 people showed up for it. There was even a group in England staying up late to join in. Somehow i dont think he will mind. Hmm somehow i lost the glow in the foreground. Oh well. I nailed it on the big trees.

First wash. This is a graded wash. You wet the area to be washed aka the sky in this one. Start at the top with thalo blue and cerulean and don’t add more color til the bottom when i added a shot of quin rose. Gives a really nice sky that lightens toward the bottom.

Here it is loosing its sheen. I forgot to take one of it dry sorry.

When i ran out of steam last night. as usual the colors are OFF. Does not matter where or how i take it they are off. Hmm maybe i should try my big camera. Its much darker and has lost alot of transparency.

Kind of handy you can see how i painted the trees to start. I used quin gold and quin rose for them. adding in transparent blues -cobalt ultramarine and thalo for shadows. The greens were made using chrome green and same w the same blues and cad yw med. Bluebonnets only bloom in spring aka right now so greens have to be springy greens.

Done for now though i have noticed a few things i might change.

I finally added some burnt sienna and some mixed orange to the trees as well as purples in the tree tops.

Bluebonnets done w the same colors. I tried splattering them w variety of brushes. I tried the chinese brush. None of them made me happy not the effect i was looking for.

I am so intrigued by the sago palms that have had their frozen dead leaves pruned off. I think CBS Sunday Morning show can use this for one if their suns don’t you?!!

Margaret ready for a nap xoxoxox

#29 The Blue Bird of Happiness

March 26, 2023March 26, 2023Leave a comment

Leans a little to the left but calling her done. I didn’t draw the line under her straight. Opps. The wind was blowing her feathers but not that hard lol. You will notice she looks straight in the next one. Just one little crooked line did that.

Evidently females are more grey than males. Thanks Mike. Took a while getting the right blue and fixing the whites. Yes i hauled out the gouache. Added thalo to the cobalt which perked her up.

First round. She was too dull even for a female

Round two fixing the beak and the eyes which required alot of fiddling.

And done. Thalo and cobalt burnt sienna quin rose and cad yellow white gouache paynes grey.

Margaret back to her other painting. Involves blue bonnets and indian paintbrush Xoxoxoxo

Remember this one?

March 25, 2023March 26, 2023Leave a comment

Hong Kong! Decided i liked it. My husband thinks its so much more interesting than the plein air tree. As he said what can you say its a tree?!

The beginning. To say i hit the pause button alot with this one would be an understatement. starting off soaking the paper w water which caused problems as in running and bleeding. 😵‍💫 Oddest looking first wash i have ever done. Mostly using flats and a fan brush. Mike dont behave like Jansen Chows did. Hmmm .

Adding some darks well i think we did. 🤔

Lots more color added. What are those things anyway??

When i stopped for the night. Well i couldn’t. Messed some more.

And now my husband likes it. Go figure. I did use alot of gouache in every color i had. The whole large light blue block on the middle is gouache.

Texas Hill Country

March 24, 2023March 30, 20232 Comments

Updated the photo using my ipad pro. Now snows better than it did. Course now i see other things to fix. ***Enough.***

Think it needs more work but like most of it. Eric Rhoads back yard near Austin. He held the first Global Online Paint Out. You can watch the replay here. It really was alot of fun. More than 2000 artists attended. Leave it to Eric to make it a really BIG event.

Should add. Parts of this painting i really like alot. Love the big cottonwood. Love most of the long grass but not the big thing on the bottom left. And i really dont like the small tree on the left. Just looks weird and way toooo black. Competes w the big tree. More work required. Right?

Sky wash cobalt and yellow ochre lots of water.

Eric painting and of course talking. Lol

Mine. Think i may lift some things tomorrow. And the colors off. Why is that. Silly iphone. used the Mary Whyte palette plus indian lake and charles Reids chrome green.

Tonights sunset margaret who is now tired. Been a day Xoxoxo

Hong Kong

March 23, 20232 Comments

Trying to decide if I like this or not. More about it later when i decide. Watercolor and gouache on Fabriano Rough 300#

Springtime in Paris

March 22, 2023Leave a comment

Just realized i have painted TWENTY FIVE paintings in the last two months. I think i needs a nap. And an art show. Lol.

First wash. Soaked the oage the. Added a cobalt sky, ultramarine and burnt sienna grey with a touch of alizarin for spring warmth according to Alex Hillkurtz leading the paint along. Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna on the buildings

Thalo blue awning and windows. Funny how that bright blue disappears as the painting develops.

Adding darker greys same combo Building details that grey adding orange for reflections.

Lots of details added. Loved doing the balcony. And i always love drawing the lines on the buildings. really like these people. And could not resist the urge to add flowers on pots. Always in for a bit of splattering. Something liberating abt splattering.

Have to say that Alex Hillkurtz is a thoughtful teacher who loves Paris so much he moved there eight years ago. Have to agree its a magical spot. if u want to take a class from him he teaches on Domestika. Reasonable prices $10-15. Also does. Painting tours in other spots. He does great explanations leaving out nothing.

Have to say he tickled me. Didn’t know the names for the architectural details like cornices. Said he was not an architect. Most of the guys who teach classes like this are. However he is an urbandsketcher and loves drawing buildings, urbans spaces, and the people who inhabit them.

Margaret who is tired. No wonder 25 paintings should do it. xoxoxox

Mexican Cactus Flower

March 21, 2023Leave a comment

Knocking my socks off still. This is huge. 15×20” it went so well maybe i should try it on a full sheet-20×30” or wait for it on an elephant sheet – 30”x40”😳😵‍💫😍

Would i change anything?? Yes that thalo green in the center. Too green. Havent used thalo green in years for that readon. Why did i use it this time?? Thalo blue and aureolin yellow makes Thalo green. Duh.