Day 697 Raisin working

May 26, 2016May 26, 2016Leave a comment

My roomy Raisin sat next to me in class painting away. Totally into her painting and not paying attention to the fact that I was sketching her. And yes she has red hair.

This was painted with the Ted Nuttall palette paint that I posted a couple of weeks ago.

Bytw was reading the Daniel Smith watercolor chart checking color lightfastness. Their alizarin is highly fugitive which means it can disappear even out if UV light. I think it got a 3. How did I miss that all the times I have looked at that chart?!

Will be ditching that color for the permanent one. Just in case u are using it.

A lightfastness of three means it may not even last two years in the dark. 🤔

And a little progress on the new abstract. More will have to wait til next week.

Thanks for checking by!

Margaret madly packing for another trip. Xxxx

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

Thanks for checking by.

More Knoxville fun to come.

Margaret xxx

Day 695 – Another Journal page

May 24, 20162 Comments

I drew this the first day of class during lunch. It’s the Old Knoxville Business District around the corner from our classroom door on an alley that runs parallel to S Gay Street, Knoxville’s main Street.

It called my name the Minute we rounded the corner from S Gay to Jackson Avenue to unload for class.

Here’s a detail. Maybe 2″x 1″. My favorite bit of the painting. If I could just do this all over it consistently. At least I got this bit right.

An interesting tidbit. According to a friend of mine who lived in Knoxville thirty years ago the city riff raff used to hang out in this area.

Lots of hides holes under the bridge down from S Gay Street to Jackson now barricaded and inaccessible because they are covered with bars. 👀 I had wondered if it was some kind of odd jail til my friend told me this today.

Our Alley

Colors used – well mostly I under coated all the buildings with a grey made with cerulean and burnt sienna. Then adding various mixes of Quin gold and alizarin over the dried greys. The windows are Inathrodone blue and burnt sienna and finally lamp black. Blue is cerulean in the buildings and sky. Dabs of hookers and Thalo green.

The start of another abstract. I have to transfer this 8.5″x 11″ drawing to a full sheet of Arches via a grid. What can I be thinking????🙄

Thanks for checking by!

Margaret who thinks she loves urban sketching or is it a travel journal?! Xxx

Day 694 – A Few Journal Pages

May 23, 2016Leave a comment

In between doing the laundry and unpacking I have been playing painting my class notes travel journal.
This one has a lot more sketches of fellow students and even sketches of local spots in Knoxville. A GREAT town to visit. Very walkable. Great restaurants and shops.

This is Mary. She sat behind us and we really enjoyed getting to know her.

Barbara Jernigan the president of Tennessee Watercolor Society that made all our fun possible. Kept us organized and eating OUT at the delicious local restaurants.
Thanks for checking in.
Margaret home between the fun.

Day 693 The Remainders

May 22, 2016Leave a comment

Judys Sorry these pictures aren’t better. I had not figured out I could take a better picture of them behind me where Linda was recording them for John. I had to take them across a large room til I turned around.

I am not sure who even did some of these. Sorry. If anyone looking at these knows please let me know.

Barbara’s

?? The grey haired lady whose name I never knew. She would spend hours leaning against the wall looking at it from a distance.

Claudia’s???

Raisin my sweet adorable fun roommates doing her own thing.

Mikes the yellow made this one.

Susans luminous painting

Ann’s???

????

Really hate the pics aren’t better and that I can’t identify the artist.

????

I think that most of them are pretty spectacular. I just hope we can go home and make another when we don’t have input from John.

????

He was a super teacher and some of these paintings like Mikes were saved from the shredder or being used in the garden to keep weeds down like my friend Ruth does with her rejects.
It was quite a personal battle bringing one of these to completion and definitely outside a lot of our comfort zones but John made success possible. I bet he lay awake at nite thinking how to cure some of our paintings.

Just for lads Raisin Jeanete and I trying on shades.

Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx

Day 692

May 21, 2016May 21, 2016Leave a comment

A few of my classmates work. The level of artistry in this class was truly amazing. Almost all of the art was outstanding.

Jeanette de Jesus’s painting and one of my favorites.

Lenore’s painting

Pat

Pats painting

Donna

Donnas painting

Mary

Mary’s painting

Brenda

Brendas painting

Susan

Susans painting

Kate and her service dog Piper

Kate’s painting

Aren’t they all wonderful?! John Salimen was a super teacher. Never a dull moment. And though the process was stressful at first the results were incredible. I love mine. Just hope I can make another one without Johns guidance!!
Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 691 – four days of

May 20, 2016May 21, 2016Leave a comment

Work and stress. I think it might be done.

I added the four big sections of acrylic and some pen line work.

John Salimen in critique said it was exciting and energetic and InTrIgUinG!!! A painting that you would look at again and again.

Here it is before I added the actinic and pen lines.
Here’s the teachers after he added the black acrylic and the line work.

Here his is before he did it. Big difference isn’t it??!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 690 – Progress I think

May 19, 2016Leave a comment

How it looks now with collage bits glued down at the end of the day. 22×30″ Arches 300# cold press

This morning.

After a consult with John the teacher. How it looked after I sprayed it with the atomizer and removed the masking tape. Still to much white.

Auditioning collage bits by taking pics of their placements.
Audition number two

At the end of class today. So much work. So busy. Calling it Waiting in Line.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret who is exhausted from all the fun. And work😳

Day ? – John Salimen

May 18, 2016May 18, 2016Leave a comment

Oh my what did we sign up for?! Abstract Watercolor.

Mine so far. OH my oh my. Unlike anything I have ever done.
The start. Sorry for the bad photo.

We had to draw four random items on four pieces of tracing paper. Stack them up and trace all of them on one piece of tracing paper.

Then we gridded the traced objects and transferred them via a grid to a full sheet 22×30″ watercolor sheet.

First we had to trace of an interesting shape for white space and cut out the tracing paper. Then we painted a yellow line around the tracing paper so we wouldn’t loose our whites.
My abstract was ready to paint.

First layer was use a variety of yellows reds and oranges plus a sprinkle of salt.
Oh my will all these dark 2b pencil lines to away?! Scary stuff.

The whole thing is scary but learning something new usually is.

Here it is now ready to torture me some more tomorrow. But you know I really like the way it is going. The whites are taped to preserve them while we do some more torture tomorrow.