Day 556 A bit of Mixed Media

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What do you do with all thosepostcards  you pick up on your travels!? Mine usually stay in a cubby hole in the desk til I have a clean up and toss them. 

 
 Sad to say I the only thing I bought for this book was the Eiffel Tower on the front when we were in Les Andelys and of course the postcards. 

 
 I collected a lot of ephemera like the items on the back.  I have two bags full. I needed a map for the accordion part of the book. Did I bring ONE map back. Not a one. 

  
Luckily I found some copyright free maps on the internet and printed it out. I printed several but only used this one. 

  
The accordion was also made from the map.

  
Here’s a shot of the book with the accordion extended. Each postcard is backed with vellum so that you can journal on it about your trip.  Thinking I may glue some more of my ephemera in it. 

  
I have a large bag of stamps left from when I did a lot of mixed media. Could I find it?! After hours of looking I did and NOT ONE French stamp. Finally I did yesterday morning. An hour and a half of going thru the bag  – stamp by stamp – I finally found about a dozen. I actually had separated them back when I got them but put them in with the Italian stamps. 

 
   I had several that were larger than the rest and wanted to use them anyway so I cut them down and mounted them on some paper that I already had.  Since of course I now had a surplus of stamps I had to add a few to these pages. 

 
This is the book that has the directions for the accordion postcard book. Fairly easy to make. And only took about five hours to assemble. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx 

Day 555 Notre Dame

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Ok so it’s not really pink. I just like the way the alizarin looked.  All yellow ochre was oh so boring. Cerulean and some Quin sienna in the shadows. 

Drawn with a sputtering skipping Noodler Ahab. I bought a new one because my beloved old standby was leaking. This one is worse than the first one. Going to get the leaky one out and put in some new seals. Maybe that will fix it. 

Anyway. Got to knit the yahd guy a hat so he won’t freeze in this lovely cold snap. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 554 – La Bouef Sur la Toit 

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A slick restaurant around the corner from our hotel. It means Beed on the Roof. Delicious food. Glad I finally got this one painted. 

I used lots of Quin gold, also Quin sienna and Phthalo blue. Quin coral. Grey hair is burnt sienna and cerulean. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 553 – Montmartre 

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Do you like it better with the red Moulin Rouge or all ink?! 

  
I really have to quit drawing these in my sketchbook. Somebody is already asked to buy it or a print. So now I have to draw it over. WHY    do I do these things?! 

Carbon pen with carbon platinum ink.  Great fine point pen but sometimes it leaks BLOBS On your just drawn paintings. Sigh. BIG blobs.

I have a French Seine riverbank landscape I was working on yesterday.  Yes.  You guessed it. BIG BLACK blob. No warning. 

It also leaks into the cap which can cause problems. Sigh. What’s a girl to do?!  

I know. White out?! 😜

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 552 More Brevard!

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Main and Broad in Brevard. I think it’s the town hall or the court house?! Watercolor, Noodler Konrad w D’artrementis Document Brown in strathmore Mixed Media 500 sketchbook.

I drew this sitting out near O P Taylors on Broad which has a good view of the court house.

The tree and building were still decorated for Christmas. I love that people no longer zip the decorations into storage the day after Christmas.

brevardcourthouse2

A great view of the mountains as Broad Street drops off toward Asheville.
My biggest dislike about the Strathmore Mixed Media 500 journal is that it’s very difficult to make lay down  flat giving a large shadow down the spine. Not very attractive in the middle of a painting!

I guess I need to flatten it on the scanner but so much easier to use the cellphone for a quick pic.

Colors used. Cerulean sky w a touch of cobalt. Red w yellow ochre for brick colors. Burnt umber and Inathrodone for shadows, roofs, truck and street. Hookers green w Inathrodone for the for tree.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx who is off to the Columbia Art Museum for the Georgia  O’Keefe exhibit.

Day 551 – Sapphire Valley NC

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SweetwaterThompsonRiver
Out the Back door. Watercolor, Noodler Konrad w D’artrementis Document Brown in strathmore Mixed Media 500 sketchbook. .

Spent the last week in Sapphire Valley at my sons trout farm that he bought last fall. A truly lovely spot. I sketched this as I sat on the back deck on one of the few sunny days we had.

The Thompson River, a trout river, runs through the property with at least two waterfalls. When you fall asleep at night you can here the river rushing by.  It’s surrounded by stands of hard woods and pine trees.

This was painted with my whisky painters watercolor box and waterbrushes.

Colors used. Cerulean sky. Grey is Inathrodone and burnt umber with touches of hooker green for the moss on the trees. River. Hookers, cerulean and yellow ocher.

Rhododendrons hookers and cad yellow.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

 

 

Day 450 – O.P.Taylor’s Toy Store

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O.P.Taylors Toy Store – Watercolor, Noodler Konrad w D’artrementis Document Brown in strathmore Mixed Media 500 sketchbook. 

In Brevard NC a charming small mountain town near Sapphire Valley. We all love to visit O.P.Taylors Toy Store http://www.optaylors.com in downtown Brevard on the corner of Main and Broad Street. 

O.P.Taylors Toy Store is truly a fantastic store that kids dream about. Toys packed to the ceiling in this old two story store. Even the staircase ballisters are popping with stuffed animals. There are several other locations including one in Biltmore Village and a website. If you find one nearby check it out. It’s truly ToYLaND!! 

I drew the store as I sat outside waiting for my kids to come out of it. It’s a dangerous place for a grandma to go with her sweet grandchildren. They didn’t need another thing after the largesse of Christmas so I sat outside to avoid temptation. 

This is not the front of the store but the side that faces Broad. 

Colors used. Everything in my whiskey  painters travel box. And a white gel pen on the Christmas lights. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

 

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Day 549- Cheese cheese cheese 

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Journal page done during our tasting of local Normandy cheeses and Calvados. My kids all got Comte cheese for Christmas from Zingermans because of this cheese tasting. Pricey but they pronounced it delicious. Comte is the most widely eaten cheese in the EU. 

Colors used. Cobalt background.  French ochre burnt umber, and burnt sienna. Inathrodone blue and burnt . 

Strathmore 500 mixed media journal, Konrad Noodler, deartementis document brown ink. 
Thanks for reading.  
Margaret xxx

Day 548 – a goodie or two

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  They like to keep you well fed on Viking cruises. After our trip to Auvers we were met with this amazing hot chocolate with Baileys Irish Cream. Deliciousness. And I discovered the endless supply of meringues at the snack station. Yummy crispy bits of sugary fluff Aka diabetic coma makers. Lol. 

I meant to tape the dried flower in my book. Turns out it’s illegal like my sycamore leaf. Now down the garbage disposal into the septic tank so no diseases could be spread. I like to collect leaves and feathers for my journals.

 Note to self. NOT WHEN ABROAD!!! 

Colors used. Winsor yellow background. Inathrodone blue and burnt umber. Flower alizarin, inathrodone, and hookers green. 
Strathmore 500 mixed media journal, Konrad Noodler, carbon platinum black ink. 

Thanks for reading.  

Margaret xxx

Day 547 – Viking Pride

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 Aka up the Seine  
In the Viking Pride lounge moored at the Quai Greinelle near the Eiffel Tower after lunch when I should have been resting for more fun all  I could do was draw draw draw. This is our new friends Jane and her husband Dennis though we didn’t know them when I drew them. 

Really like all the runny wet on wet color in this sketch. 

Colors used.  French ochre w Quin coral for skin cobalt shadows.  Hair French ochre and burnt sienna. Grey hair cerulean, burnt sienna. Black inathrodone blue and burnt umber. Chair alizarin and French ochre. 

Strathmore 500 mixed media journal, Konrad Noodler, carbon platinum black ink. 
Thanks for reading.  
Margaret xxx