Day 472 – A Toasty Day

October 25, 2015Leave a comment

Aquabee sketchbook with a fine point sepia Pitt Pen.

And more Inktober. Danny Gregory http://www.dannygregory.com the guru of Sketchbookskool and Everyday Matters is posting a Friday Challenge. The first one was draw your toast in INK. You should try it. Takes a while to get all those books and crannies.

Thought u might like to see it I stages. I also did a flipagram of it that I will post at the end.

Lots of seeds on this Costco multigrain organic bread.

And lots of holes for non artisanal bread.

The seeds as something to the sketch but the bread made with cane syrup is too sweet for my taste.

Everything seems to have sugar added to it lately whether or not it needs it – like chicken salad and pimento cheese and Krogers pie crust. Sigh.

Almost done.

All done. It took about an hour. The sketch is about 5×5 inches.

Now get those pens out and sketch your toast!!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 471 -What a day

October 24, 2015October 24, 2015Leave a comment

WIP – Ilenia – 30″x 18″

Acrylic on board

I have had…or should I say 24 hours?? ALL my iphoto pics disappeared around 11 pm last nite and my iphone died today…supicious I have a virus…guess I will download some antivirus…but in the meantime its day 471 and I have to post a blog dont I??? As you know its Saturday…which means life modeling at USC Aiken….I had originally intended to go urban sketching downtown but did not feel up to it with the bronchitis I have had…hmmm do you think my computer caught it???

Tom offered to drive me and I said yes…I think I may have turned the corner finally!! HALLELUJAH!! BUT back to life modeling..you arent here to hear me natter on about all my viruses lol…

HARD BOARD – what is it? My friend Drew cut up a sheet of hard board for me. It is sold near the peg board at big box stores at $14 a 4×8′ sheet. Hardboard is what we used to call masonite…slap some gesso or house paint on it and you are good to go for acrylic and two layers of gesso for oil. ALOT of board for the price…try matching canvas with that cost! NOT happening. Like plastic bags it will be here long after we are all gone. If you drop it on the corners it tends to chip but otherwise great stuff…I have some that I painted on in collage that still is in great shape years later.

Brushes were 1/2 hog bristle and a 1/3″ filbert and a cheap house painting brush for the background. THe house paint brush is the kind that sheds hair…you get about 8 of them for a few dollars at michaels or lowes…great fun to paint with.

SO how did I paint Ilenia?? Colors used cerulean, Golden Nickel Azo gold, titanium white and pyrrole red with a dab of ultramarine blue…thats it..nothing else. I made the flesh by mixing the white with pyrrole red and Nickle Azo Gold. Cerulean was used to make the greys and lavenders as was ultramarine blue. The black and dark browns are ultramarine blue and pyrrole red.

I drew her first with the Nickel Azo Gold with the smaller filbert. Measured her and she stands 7 heads tall…her legs and feet could use more work…maybe tomorrow or maybe never lol..

I drew her head first..then marked the seven heads noting where each head length ended. I also dropped imaginary plumb lines off of her chin to see where her body lined up…also horizontal lines to check on her arms..I had one elbow much too low for a while….I also checked the negative spaces between the arms and how the one leg hit the chair, where the chair seat lined up with the right leg.

So what more is there to do…her feet could use some work. The background needs to be darkened…probably ultramarine to make her pop. Today I was into having fun with the paint…trying to be accurate but if I wasnt I didnt care…

11 days till we leave for Paris!!

THanks for reading!!!

Margaret xxx

Day 470 – More Art Show

October 23, 2015Leave a comment

From the state fair

Miss Sarah – Anne Hightower Patterson – Professional Purchase Award

Mark Conraddy

Spirit Filled – Lois Hall

Drews Starbucks painting

Old Buddies – Ann Annrich

Hydrangea in Silver – Carol Sue Roberts

Window Shopping – Jane Popiel
Old Post Office Restaurant, Edisto – ToddBaxter

Young charmer – Ann Annrich

The Kings Cafe – Sally Donovan

Missed the artists name. Sorry!

These next two are amateur division.

Missed the artists name. Sorry! You know I am going to love a Jack Russell. And two is even better than one!!!

Josephine Camel – Jayne Holland Love this camel. What a great face!!
Ceramic or mixed Media. Not sure which!!!

Rose the Dragonfly Slayer – Diane Gilbert

Things she carried – Wayne Thornley

Another of the great sandcastles. I wonder how they keep the sand stuck together??!

Thanks for reading!!

Margaret xxx

Day 469 – I meant to

October 23, 2015Leave a comment

Draw at the state fair but when I sat down to do it my sketchbook was gone. Thank goodness it was a new one and empty of everything but my name and address.

So you will have to make do with some of my favorite paintings from the Fine art exhibit.

The Canty Building. You can see it keeps on going and going and going.

All of these paintings are professional class. I tried to list the names of the paintings. You should be able to see the artists names of u click on the photo.

Inscrutable with his ribbon. Hope u r not tired of him. You know I am not. Lol.

Al Beyer’s Dog Oil Certificate of Merit What a great dog!!
The back porch One of the first places. Watercolor I think but it’s hard to tell the categories. They aren’t separated by category.

Ganges Morning watercolor I think. Quarter sheet.

One of my very favorites. Nostalgia. 20×30 or so. Full of detail. Love it.

Got chicken by Todd Baxter oil or acrylic. 3’x3’ish

Monday Monday by Diana?! No idea the media. Probably watercolor

Sunrise over the Coosaw River -Tommie Towner. No idea the media but loved the colors.

Judge not the Cowboy-Trahern Cook-Too much fun!!! .

Path to Enlightenment Rob Shaw – loved the feeling of distance in this one.
One of the enormous sandcastle near the dinosaur exhibit. All the dinosaurs moved. Kids loved it.
More tomorrow. I really did want to draw. Boohoo.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 468 – I WON I WON I WON!!!

October 21, 201514 Comments

I won an award in the professional class at the South Carolina State Fair Fine Arts show and a CHECK!!! Very exciting.

The SC state fair is a big deal and the top prize in the Fine Arts is $2000 with thousands of dollars of prizes. There are thousands of art entries. So many they fill up an enormous football field sized shed.

NO idea what I won or which one won but I am thrilled!! I did try googling to see if a list was on the net but NO.
TEA TIME

This is entry #1. She’s for sale Bytw. If she’s not bought at the state fair.

Inscrutable also for sale!

Stand by I will let you know which one was the winner. Hope to go to Columbia tomorrow to find out if my cold keeps improving.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 467 How to be a Stripper!!

October 21, 2015Leave a comment

Got to admit Inktober was wearing thin (and only 11 more days to go) especially after I spent most of the afternoon stripping my huge 19x 20 foot kitchen floor. Worst thing is that I paid a cleaning lady to put all that build up on it.

The white “grout” lines were no longer white. See those dark brown lines. The whole floor was like that. The bottom part of the photo has been stripped. The top is still clinging to its mop and glo.

All those white lines used to be brown and the tile part was muddy looking. Ickkkkkk

Then yakking w my friend Mike I realized that I could do a recipe on how I did it. And have a fun zingy title too. Aka attention getter lol.

I had to do it twice because the first one refused not to smear when I erased the pencil. I always pencil recipes in so I can rearrange them. The Noodler Lexongton grey ink looked dry but was not. It never quit smearing and it was smearing a lot. Never used Noodler ink in my Aquabee so I switched to my staedler liner pens.

Now it’s done.

Hurrah off to shower and sleep well lol
Thanks for reading.

Margaret.

Day 466- The Girl

October 19, 2015Leave a comment

Gets blocked in. This is how she looked after about four hours of work.

Blocking in is the start of a painting. Why he direction it will go gets started. It’s a thin layer of acrylic paint and it’s done for either a finished acrylic or oil painting. I thought you might like to see the process.

First four hash marks are placed along the edge of the canvas dividing it into quarters. The same thing is done to the photograph. This helps in more accurate placement on the canvas.

Next thin layers of color are painted in. I was having a hard time with of all things CONTRAST. duh. I was using Phtalo Blue and Alzarin Crimson and not much else. A little flesh on the face.

Still more Phthalo blue and Alizarin Crimson. A lot of it was applied with foam brushes. They were a lot of fun and I may use them more. They also do a great arrow straight line.

It’s not really as dark as this but it will be. I added alot of Goldens Nickel Azo one of my favorite acrylic colors. It’s a sheer transparent color. All I had to do was add some water to it and brush it over the color already on the canvas. It was like magic making the painting pop. Somewhere I had forgotten about using contrasting colors. Duhhh. Probably this cold that came back with a vengeance when I was in the mountains or more likely the fact that I did not review my painting notes- use a work of complimentary colors. In this case it could have been gold on one end and violet blue on the other.

It takes practice. The more you do the more you remember and do it right the next time.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 465 – keeping up w Inktober

October 18, 2015October 18, 2015Leave a comment

Day 17 Lake Jocassee from White Water Falls This one really needs paint. Hard to find Lake Jocassee in all the mountains. Despite this being Inktober some things scream for color!

Now you can see the lake!!

I thought about drawing White Water Falls the longest falls in North Carolina but waterfalls never turn out well for me. Perhaps it’s all that black rock?!

Mayberrys in Brevard. Cute little restaurant there. Great food great staff.

I really liked this sketch til I was trying to fix it last nite and my Noodler Konrad bled all over it. What the heck. I have only had it a few months. Back to the drawing board. 😜

The last hydrangea. Freeze warnings out. This is includes the view out the window. I need to draw them both!!

But the question is which way?! Photo one of photo two and while u r at it would someone run downstairs to the car and get my bag of pens from the car please?

I cover my sketch books stickers collected on my trips. Often free but who could resist this one for $1?!

Ps did I say my cold is back?! Only two weeks and two days til I leave for Paris. No time for a cold!!

Thanks for Reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 464 the last Best of Augusta #4

October 18, 2015Leave a comment

Another favorite of Bill Karp. Bytw he’s playing at the Cotton Patch in downtown Augusta this Saturday nite.

I really like Bill’s stance in these. Especially the first one.

Hand is a little rough but otherwise I like it. My excuse??

It was 9 pm and I was tired and on a sugar high from all the sweets at Best of Augusta.
Oh what was my favorite food?? T’s out on Mike Padgett Hwy. They kept the hot hush puppies and fried catfish and tartar sauce flowing. And it was perfectly cooked. Everyone else had chicken chicken and more chicken.

The last sketch I did of Bill. Not a perfect hand but I like it.

We left loaded up with cake, cookies and Krispy Kreme donuts. All those sweet treats still sitting on the kitchen counter.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 463 more Best of Augusta #3

October 17, 2015October 15, 2015Leave a comment

Once i switched to the Pentel brush pen life improved. Or maybe it was Bill Karp singing Frank Sinatra?! His 100th birthday. Frank’s not Bills!!!
This is my favorite sketch of Bill. A good stance. Shoes look good and a good hand. Score!!

I kept trying to draw Bills hand. He waved them around a lot. I. Perpetual motion.