Day 743 – Wild Plum Tea Room

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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 742 Return to Parrot  Mountain!! 

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Happy Bastille Day!! Vive la France!! 

Love that place!! Rescued birds living in the middle of a gorgeous mountain top garden. 

I was experimenting with the tree backgrounds in these. Parrot Mountain is a garden in the woods. 

 

The parrots and cockatoos were just screaming draw me in thier hat villages.

If there’s anything I don’t like to paint in watercolor is trees and lots of greenery. I never know whether to go leafy or washy. So I did both. 

The washy background which was much easier to do. 

 I laid down a ground of light yellow green. Then kept adding darker and darker greens trying to loose some of my edges either with a damp brush or blotting with a wad of Kleenex.  

Doing some negative painting  I added dark blues and greens along the top of the bushes and then I splattered the bushes.  

I also flipped thru my two go to tree references for a quick refresher.  

Don’t know if it helped. 


They both have great color mixing tips. And the green chart in the second book. 


I am trying to practice for the painting of the big mountain strip- deciding on colors and techniques to use. At three feet long it’s a big watercolor. 
I also splattered both of the sketches.  The dirt on the cockatoos and the bushes on the parrot one. 

Anyway another busy day so off I go. Hope you are chilling in this  heat! 104 yesterday!! 😳😎

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 741 And more painting 

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One thing about going out of town is that you eat out a lot. Various members of our family have gone to Gatlinburg most of thier lives. 

Little off beat places like the Whole Earth Cafe make the trip worth while. 
Kitschy and organic and right on the East Parkway it’s a great spot to eat. It’s only open for lunch from 11-3 but the food is awesome and the chef owner Jan is a sweetheart. 

Trying to eat Lo carb I had eaten chicken salad at McAllisters the day before. Loaded with sugar. 


So I went to Whole Earth the next day. Delicious no sugar added chicken salad with real tomatoes not those hot house spongy things. 

I talked to the chef Jan/owner and she said she had never seen a recipe for chicken salad with sugar added. 

The original sketch 

One of my pet peeves is all the sugar the food industry needlessly adds to our food especially when I am trying to do Lo carb. 


I do love these quirky “garden statuary. ”


And in the same parking lot you will find the salt and pepper museum. What more can you need? Awesome food and salt and pepper museum?! 

Oh a yarn and weaving store that has grown huge in just a few years. 


And a junk store. All in the same Winery shopping center. Also a wine store and a fly fishing store. 
Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 740 – painting started 

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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 739!! Sunday

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Mike High Overlook – Balsam point Great Smoky National Park.

 And it’s my grandsons fourth birthday so still busy busy busy. Off to Walmart to buy a pool to hide dinosaur bones in. We are digging for bones this afternoon. And a bouncy house. Who needs presents??! 

Oconaluftee Farm – Great Smoky National Park. If you haven’t been to the park you should. It’s truly a national treasure. So much to do and see and it’s all free. 

All of these sketches were done on Strathmore 500 watercolor paper or in a Strathmore mixed media 500 sketchbook. 

Most were done with a fine nib Carbon Platinum Pen with permanent Carbon Platinum ink. When I get home I will paint them and hopefully bind them into a book. 

Barred Rock chickens at Oconaluftee Farmstead. 

More Barred Rocks. Adding some elk prints to this one. They are everywhere at the farm eating the crops just like the deer. 


Oconaluftee River with a gain sycamore. A few lines was enough. I can always add more when I am done. 

Hopefully it will look like this when I get done. 

Huge hemlocks at Oconaluftee. 

Day 738 – Busy Busy

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Spent a lot of time yesterday drawing around Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and NOT painting so here’s what I have painted. 

I have always liked this wedding chapel on the east parkway in Gatlingburg. 

Not the greatest photo. Sorry. Will try to repost it. 


Ivy Rose Wedding Chapel 

E Parkway  Gatlinburg Tennessee 

A better pic. I have decided it’s NOT a good idea to do a two page vertical spread on the steering wheel of a Prius. Maybe in a Cadillac but NOT in a Prius. 

This Strathmore  Mixed Media 500 Sketchbook is 8×10 which means I was sketching and painting a 20″ spread. 

All those vertical lines and perspective are challenging when they are NOT done in a car but add in no space in a Prius well – What was I thinking??! I also ended up with watercolor on my blouse. Cerulean. Thank goodness it came out. 
Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 737 A parakeet

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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 

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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

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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. 

Drawn in a strathmore mixed media 500 journal with Noodler Konrad and Carbon Platinum plus black ink. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret off to paint something today. Xxx

Day 735 – Yes More France!!!!

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Les Andelys looking up toward Chateau Gaillard – Richard the Lionhearted’s chateau stronghold above the Seine. 

One of the Seine barges steaming toward Le Havre. These boats are just huge. I had no idea they were so long or so fast. I had to draw Quickly!! 

Chateau Gaillard. I drew it twice. This one I messed up and didn’t get the town below in.  I “fixed it” by adding ledger paper and some real French stamps. 

This is what I was trying to draw in the last painting.  I actually like both of  them a lot now.  

The Eglise Saint Sauverers in Les Andelys with Gussie and Bob from Seattle in front of the church.

 Like the church and museum yesterday I first coated it with Quin gold and then a mixed grey of cerulean and burnt sienna. The blacccks are also a mix of burnt umber and ultramarine or Inathrodone blue. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx