Been a while since I drew the dogs. Zoe was in the perfect spot looking out their favorite front window.
Colors used Cerulean burnt sienna and that’s it.
On the road again to Atlanta for the first of the birthday weekends.
Margaret xoxoxox
#zoe #jrt #jackrussell #jackrussellterrier #ink #stillmanandbirn #atlanta #aikensc #georgia #carolina #gouletpens #augusta #watercolor #aquarelle
Along with Suhita I will be posting some of the beautiful places in our country that we will loose with the rising seas like Key West!! The only way we can protest the president leaving the Paris Accords! Join us!
The highest point is 18 feet above sea level. Rising tides will put it UNDER water.
No more Jacarandas aka Norfolk pines. They will be flooded. 
No more Hogfish Grill UNDERwater!’
No more Buzzards Roost on Key Largo UNDER water!’
NO more Blue Heaven UNDER water!! 
and all those lovely chickens I love to feed and draw Under Water! 
And what about all those poor animals – the chickens!? UNDER Water!!!
Iguanas they can swim but for how long and how far?!
More chickens at the post office. UNDER Water!!!
Ditto UNDER Water!!!
UNDER Water!!!
UNDER Water!!!
UNDER Water!!!
And Louie’s Backwater with food that’s so amazing a view of the Caribbean UNDER Water!!!
Off to Atlanta which won’t be underwater just a desert!! #UNDER Water!!! #TakeaHikeMrPresident
Ttyl Margaret xoxoxo
Ever since I read Julia Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking as a child I have been in love with the notion of all things French and especially the quintessiantal French food – the omelette.
But I never could figure out how they made that neat rolled omelette.
Watching Jacques Pepins American Master show on PBS I thought YOUTUBE!!
Sure enough. There he was teaching how to cook an omelette.
Omelette Number 1 of course I had to draw it to commemorate the occasion.
First mistake I had been making was not using the right pan so I got it a big 10-12″ round edged skillet that was coated w the green coating that releases easily.
And I hadn’t been using the spatula to scrape around the edges as I cooked. Who knew?
And I stuffed mine. Trying to eat those greens and I had to have some Cheddar cheese.
The most delicious thing I have ever eaten. I swear. Not so pretty but amazing.
Omelette 2 Today.
Prettier shape but too brown.
Anyway colors used to paint it. Cad yellow light, cerulean, yellow ochre, green apatite and sap green for the plate, Ultramarine Blue and burnt umber for the shadow.
TIP: Splattered with palette mess left from painting. Has to be really soupy to splatter. Use more water than you think. And I just use a large paint brush in this case my 10 Da Vinci. I also painted this with the same paint brush.
Margaret xoxoxo
Or part two of that dries out palette. So did I quit?! NOPE! I had found a dried out tube of Daniel Smith Ultramarine Blue and thought it was EXPENSIVE and I seem to EAT Ultramarine Blue.
RECONSTITUTE IT?! Was it possible. It was rock hard.
I chopped it open with my carton cutter. It looked like plastic. A dried up rock.
I put it in the Ultramarine well NA hosed it with the sprayer.
I chopped it with the palette knife bending the tip of my palette knife again. Still a rock.
I let it soak. Then I chopped it with my scissors. Stirred it a bit. Off and on all afternoon I poked at it.
Yeah it was melting. Chopped it a bit more with the scissors. Shrinking shrinking.
Now it looks like nice thick pea soup. Harley is going to require aLOT of untramarine blue!!
Ttyl Margaret xoxoxo
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.
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!!
🌼🌻🥀🌷🌷🌸🌺🌼🌻🥀🌹🌷🌸🌺
I don’t know about you but I can’t take enough classes with Charles and Judy Reid. I highly recommend them.
Did I say I own all of his books but one and several videos?!!
Brenda and Christine Again! – Charles Reid class
And evidently I can’t draw Brenda the Blonde- enough either.
The third time in Charles class.
Brenda and Rebecca – Peggy Habets class
. I have drawn her at least FIVE times because she stands and watches the teacher paint and she’s handy to draw. Some turnout better than others.
Oops way too dark.
I usually draw her pretty well but sometimes thempainting goes astray like in this one. Too dark.
But the sketch was great.
One more Brenda in Ted Nuttalls class May 2016.
Christine in Ted Nuttalls class May 2016.
Margaret whose going to paint raisin and Harley if I can quit watching the Keepers today on Netflix’s. Riveting show. Highly recommend.
Xoxoxo
Which somehow seems an odd thing to say when you are remembering the deaths of millions of young men in battles.
American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandie.
The 73rd anniversary of the D Day Invasions is coming up June 6 so Memorial Day seems like a good time to revisit the invasion sites in Normandy and remember the many brave young men who died there so long ago.
Bytw Rick Stevens visits all the places we want to in Normandie including Rouen the Norse capital and of course d Day sites.
Arrowmanches les Bains, Normandy, France in the heart of the invasion zone.
Last night I watched a Pbs show about a group of D Day survivors who returned to Allemanche and the landing beaches on the 75th Anniversary in 2014. They had not wanted to go do fear the French would reject them.
The D-Day Landing map
It was so touching to see how much the French of all ages opened their arms to the returning soldiers now extremely old men giving them many hugs and kisses and thanking them for giving them their freedom that they still enjoy 70 years later. In Normandy they still celebrate the arrival of the Allies every June 6 so that it will never be forgotten.
The Pegasus Bridge Commander, General Hill, and the US Divisions who were at Normandy.
The one of the old men said they were not the Beatles but to the French of Normandy they were something better. Men who had fought and died to free the French. Such a touching show.
This is the Canadian WW2 Cemetery at Bien Sur Mer. A touching spot it’s a beautiful parklike place where 70 years later everything is in pristine condition bushes trimmed gravestones scrubbed and flowers planted everywhere.
The Canadian Museum at Juno Beach. Gleaming in the afternoon sunshine if viewed from the air it looks like a large maple leaf. The exhibits are all up to date state of the art interactive exhibits. It sits on the bluff above the beaches and La Manche -the Arm- what the French call the English Channel.
Pegasus Bridge. The spot where the Brits lead by Gen Hill parachuted into Caen, Normandy the DAY BEFORE the D Day Invasions. And of course many died there. Some never touched the ground. One hung from the church tower acting like he was dead and lived to tell the story. Brave Man!!
This fascinating museum is shaped like one of the gliders they parachuted out of.
Pock marked with bullet holes, Eglise de Ranville, the site of another allied cemetery, where even on a cold grey November day there were bright flowers marking the graves. This Ranville, Basse-Normandy, France claims to be the first village freed by the Allies in June 6 1944.
Another Map of the D Day Invasion.
The full spread from my sketchbook.
And a journal page of a few other places we visited on our trip to Normandy to the D Day sites.
Happy Memorial Day!
Margaret xoxoxo whose going to listen to old WW 2 movies on TCM while she paints. #usk #urbansketcher #traveljournal #watercolor #aquarelle #ink #strathmore #viking #strathmore500 #arrowmanches #normandy #normandie #normandietourisme #vikingcruises #PegasusBridge #bayeux #Ranville #beny-sur-mer #Rouen #omahabeach #junobeach #dday #alliedinvasion
The last day of class Charles summed up. 
Student problems.
Charming organized Judy.
Ttyl Margaret whose going to paint raisin and Harley today. Xoxoxo
Mike and I had lunch at the Canyons in Blowing Rock because as she said the view of the mountains was spectacular from dining room. The food was delicious too and the service was great.
Spring green was the key color out the window covering the trees and the mountains.
Painted with Charles Reid palette leftovers. He only uses 12 colors. All Holbein. The greens are hookers and Oxide of chromium. He also likes cobalt violet. Uses all of those a lot on flowers.
I guess I need to do a sample of them so you can see the colors. Just normal old colors. No Quins though I added my favs Quin gold and burnt orange which I sub for ochre and burnt sienna at times.
I kept trying to get a pic of this interesting guy when he was sitting at the bar inside but he was back lit which does not work in a photo. Don’t u love all the trash can background?!
Funnny story. I went to the trash cans when we got in the car to throw some junk out that I pick up like a pack rat and guess who was there!? The guy. And a waitress who had been watching me draw she told him to pose for me because I was a really good artist. Lights not great but it might work. I have more of him not smiling. Do t like painting teeth showing.
Should have told him to take off his hat but that would have ruined his charm. I did get him to turn around but still no light.
The Mountains from the porch.
In the restaurant from our table. What a view. Love this place.
Ttyl Margaret xoxoxo
Judy Reid
Hard to believe it’s already been two weeks since I was with Charles and Judy Reid in Boone. Of course that means the time til the next class with them is shorter. Lol.
Judy told us Charles’ bio and of course I had to illustrate it. I thought you might like to read it. Also additions by Charles who made small comments and corrections through out the her story.
Why Chuck and Judy. HEs never called Chuck. He’s always Charles. But they acquired the nickname over the years because of their close symbiotic relationship of running a class over their 60 plus years of marriage.
She runs the practical side with the efficiency of the retired kindergarten teacher she once was. He runs the creative side and ongoing discussions between them settle all the details.
The quote is Judy’s about his new Mast General baseball hat. He always wears one to shade his eyes from overhead lights or the sun.
This is Christine and Brenda. I think I have sketched them more than anyone except Rebecca. They usually stand nearby the teacher so they can see. This is my fourth class with them I think.
Margaret whose going to paint some in her coloring book sketchbook before she gets busy on the big horse painting. Xoxoxo
Margaret McCarthy Hunt Art 
