Day 1054 St Comey? WIP?

June 9, 2017June 9, 2017Leave a comment

Should have stuck to the hot press fabriano I started to draw this on. HOWEVER a I have more Bristol Board than Hotpress so opted for Bristol. NOT next time. And I may redraw.

I could not loose an edge to save my life on this paper. And it took forever dry. Maybe I should have put it on Stonehenge. I do have some of that. Next time. Or maybe hat Fabriano. Fabriano hot press is the loveliest paper and I know Cheap Joes has more and so does Dick Blick.

Inked with my Lamy Safari and Lamy Fine point.

WIP because I may do it over and also may add a bit of mixed media like what about a gold paint pen halo edge!? Could be fun.

These ideas pop into my head and I keep a list of them on my cell phone. Check back by or check my Instagram feed MaggieinSc for an update because Rachel Maddow is on soon and it’s time for a shower so I am ready.

Wonder what she will unloose tonite. an ongoing spy novel.

Ttyl Margaret xoxoxo

Day 1053 – Politics

June 8, 2017Leave a comment

Hard to avoid it today. It’s all over the tv the radio Facebook twitter. I don’t know about you but the last few days have been riveting. THIS IS WATERGATE!! 14×20 Mixed Media

Enough to get Rachel Maddow back from her sick bed where she had been for almost two weeks.

I got the brilliant idea to do this one on arches #140 cold press. BIG a mistake. Hard to write on with any ink pen or marker I had.

I finally picked up a Japanese brush pen I thought had permanent ink. I tested it on a scrap of paper. It didn’t run.

Fast forward to all the heavy lines in this sketch are done with that brush pen especially on Dan Coats.

When I started painting him he turned into a gray runny mess. This was supposed to be a watercolor. EEEKKKK.

I dug into my mixed media art supply grove. Caran d’ache Neocolor ii to the rescue. I started coloring. I lightened him up. The only person that didn’t have some runs was Comey. 😳

A lot of the letters ran. The names!! Eeeekkk. On this rough paper there was no clean edge. Tried a grease pencil which works great in my sketchbooks. NOPE TOO rough.

Got out a white gel pen on the letters. Better!! Got out a paint pen. Even better. More outlining with the Lamy Safari.

Done. Whew. Not what I had in mind BUT finally pleased with it.

Margaret planning another but it will be on hot press paper. Xoxoxo the news is calling.

Day 1052 – Take a Hike Mr President Key West #3

June 7, 2017June 7, 2017Leave a comment

Found a few more that I hadn’t posted. The Shark cruise. Guess they won’t be around. No clean water. It’s already pretty bad in the Gulf.

All this would be underwater.

And this fun whacky restaurant on the waterfront.

And my favorite wacky restaurant Blue Heaven. Such delicious food and awesome chickens. never tire of the crazy chickens in Key West.

And my other favorite spot Louie’s backyard eatting on the water enjoying delicious Caribbean breezes. All gone with global warming.

Sad that it would disappear.

My sis in law who doesn’t believe in global warming would be very said at Key Wests submergence beneath the waters. Here favorite spot in the world.

One of my favorites too.

Busy day. Off I go. Setting up for a flower painting. If only they stay alive long enough.

Margaret xoxoxo

Day 1051 Take a Hike Mr President #3

June 6, 2017Leave a comment

And what about where I live? Will the houses along the Savannah be in the Savannah?!

Will downtown Augusta be underwater?! And the island across from me already underwater sometimes. Will it be gone?!

Will the Savannah be 600 yards wide here instead of 300?!

I keep asking.

Nobody can answer me.

And you know 45 doesn’t care about our little spot of gorgeous earth.

Will

All

Be gone or

Bigger ?!

Or what?!

Ttyl Rachel Maddow is back tonite. I knew she wouldn’t be able to miss the recent NSA leak. Off to shower so I will be ready

Xoxoxox

Day 246 Life Drawing

March 7, 2015March 7, 2015Leave a comment

Today we drew the lovely Amy. I was using Caran d’arch on 140# Kilimanjaro. Today was her fortieth birthday So HAPPY Birthday Amy.

I started by drawing her first in with a yellow ochre caran d’ache crayon. I had actually brought my watercolor pencils to give them a go starting the picture but instead I grabbed the crayon and off I went.

After I blocked in her head and measured her shoulders I just started adding colors. Most of her face was in heavy shadow.I probably should lighten the shadow under her nose and chin…looks like a goatee lol…BUT OH well..its a sketch and its DONE! I should have followed Charles Reid Iconic Rule NEVER use anything darker than burnt sienna on a younger face…I used Burnt Umber…DUH!!

It would be easy enough to fix. Just wet it down and wipe it off with a piece of bounty paper towel and recolor it with burnt sienna. MAYBE tomorrow or MAYBE NOT!! Thinking NOT!!

She has beautiful red hair. A darkish auburn. I didnt have anything remotely resembling her hair color so I added some dark pink to the burnt sienna…even if it wasnt the right color it was fun!! A girl needs her pink!

This is Amy after the first half an hour of drawing. Notice NO burnt umber under her lip.

SO I guilted myself into getting up and lightening up the shadow on her face. I do have to say that its MUCH easier to lift color off the Fabriano coldpress than off the Kilimanjaro. I scurbbed it a little with my hogbristle brush and then added some flesh color to lighten it up. The caran d’ache are really like a cross between pastels and watercolor.They tend to be a little more opaque than the watercolors I usually use which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you are doing. I also added more highlights to her face. Now I really am calling her done.

I finished Amy about half way thru the second half hour session so I turned the board over and started playing with color on the other side. I sprayed it alot with water and had fun letting her drip. Added pinks to the ultramarine blues I was using.

This is my favorite part of this sketch…arent the colors just gorgeous?? This is her tummy and her belly button in case you didnt know!!

The model Amy actually bought this one from me…THANKS AMY!!!

ANYWAY, Caran d’ache are ALOT of fun…go get a small box and have fun drawing. They keep you from getting too tight. Add in a spray bottle and it will produce some of the most delicious drips you have ever seen.

Thanks for looking!

Day 241 – Mary Ann’s Cup

March 4, 2015March 4, 2015Leave a comment

One of the assignments for sketchbookskool is to paint a teacup. I have my great great grandmother’s coffee cup. I had already painted her husband’s coffee cup earlier and had meant to paint Mary Ann’s but not quite gotten around to it. So it was a great opportunity to do it.

Mary Ann and her sister Sarah Purcell Robinson

I really don’t know alot about Mary Ann other than she raised my grandmother and when my great grandmother decided to ride a horse astride in a horse race she would NOT have it. She told my great grandmother she would NOT be riding on a horse like a man. She also had a great collection of family photos of her and her Purcell family. And thats about all I know about her. She died a year after her husband of many years. Strange that I would have her coffee cup and not know more about her.

Back to that coffee cup. I drew it with my Noodler Flex pen with De Artremis Brown Document ink. I meant to do the whole spread with that pen but OPPS picked up the other Noodler that had Lexington Grey ink in it. I am glad at least it was not black. Of course I did not realize it till I was well along with the grey writing and drawing the map of Oklahoma.

I can’t say I really enjoyed painting this cup. I wanted to draw more birds and squirrels but since I signed up for SBS I wanted to see it thru.

I think the cup is slightly out of round but so would you be if you were a hundred years old!! LOL..

I drew it first with a yellow ochre watercolor pencil…probably should have used a grey one. Colors used Cad yellow light, cerulean, yellow ochre, quinacridone sienna, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, quin rose and cobalt.

AP’s Coffee Cup

This is her husband, A P Johnson’s cup. If you see paper glued on a journal page you can be SURE that I messed up the lettering and fixed it with another piece of paper!!

Mary Ann and AP Johnson with Dad, 1923

BYTW I thought perhaps her cup was not old. It just doesn’t look as old as AP’s except the pattern on them is very similar-same feathery odd looking leaves and pink flowers. I never would have noticed that had I not painted them both.

Thanks for looking!

Day 229 – A Few Bits and Bobs

February 19, 2015February 19, 2015Leave a comment

Terribly cold here today and I cant stay home. Ten degrees with the wind chill this morning and it will be that bad tonite. Somebody send some warm air back.

Because I am busy today will post some more that I haven’t posted yet

I drew this at the Starbucks at the local Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago. I really need to go again. You really begin to know alot about the people you sketch if you sit there and collect drawings like I did on this one. The young girl was on her cell phone though I thought she looked a little suicidal with her hair in her face all dressed in black. I was relieved when I noticed she was on her cell phone.

The old guy was talking animatedly about taxes. Groan…dont want to hear about taxes!!

A very fast sketch that I drew while Jan checked out at the Hampton Inn in Valdosta. I really like its chunkiness…almost an abstract. Always a favorite of mine it was NOT well received on Instagram but I still like it anyway! This was sketched as I sat in the middle of a room of people eating breakfast busily walking by me checking out and getting coffee. No one seemed to notice what I was up too…there are two more pages!!

This should have been in my Key West sketchbook. It started as a double page spread but I never finished the other page so it never got finished. I dont know if you have ever driven from Atlanta to Key West but its a VERY long LONG trip!! I guess I will finish the other page when we go back this summer!!!

This well dressed older man was sketched at the Atlanta Starbucks in Edgewood Barnes and Noble.He had such long fingers. I also have his hadn drawn somewhere else…Hands can give you fits and do require PRACTICE!!

Thanks for looking!!

Day 213 – WOW I don’t like that number!!

February 3, 2015Leave a comment

I started my post with some trepidation over the number 13. I am Irish enough I see a cloud over that number. I was right. I had my post all done and accidently closed it…vanished gone…nowhere to be found. SIGH!! That would never happen with blogger. It saves as you type…oh well we live and we learn right?!!

Time to post some more sketchbookskool homework. The assignment was to draw some plastic animals in preparation for drawing live animals. I did it backwards but at least I did it right?? I have lots of animals at my house…but no plastic ones.

I went to Krogers and bought some from their $1 bin. They stunk. I bought them anyway. More about the stinky animals from Krogers but suffice to say you can buy them at some Michaels and also at Dollar stores. They dont stink and the Michaels ones have great detail.

I had several pages already painted in my Strathmore 500 Mixed Media sketchbook that were for Dr. Sketchys 2 and 5 minute gesture sketches. We didnt have any gesture sketches last Wednesday so I decided to draw the animals on those pages.

Tyrannosaurus Rex

This is my Michaels T-Rex. I MISSPELLED his name. Seriously. SO I decided to write all over the page. Not happy with the first large drawing I drew him again….also from the front.I looked up T Rex in wikipedia and wrote down facts about him making this a scientific page.

Then I drew the Raffe…hes my favorite…hard not to love them. My toy giraffe is about 8 inches tall!! I drew him from various views like I was going to do with our Dr. Sketchys model. Rather like the effect. Then I wrote Giraffe all over the place. I can’t seem to stop writing on my sketches lately.

Pens used! Pentel Brush Pen, Lamy Vista Fine and a Stadler. Also my Noodler Creaper Ahab. I did add some color to the giraffe. Burnt sienna and touches of Burnt Umber in the spots. Shadows were done with Cobalt and Piemonite.

Thanks for looking…lets pray this one posts!!

Day 21o – Life Drawing at USC Aiken

February 1, 2015February 1, 2015Leave a comment

It’s Saturday. That means the faithful are trekking to Aiken to sketch. Most Saturday’s find Ruth, Tom and I meeting at Earthfare to make the forty mile drive to USC Aiken.

Our model today was Elena.

This is as far as I have gotten. The purple in it is piemonite mixed with cobalt. I am going to check my plumb lines. I think the left eye is too high still. And her hair…please models wear your hair DOWN…that upswept hair may look quaint and cute but oh my what a pain it is to paint with watercolors!!

At least she does have a nice glow to her. I have to say LOVING that Fabriano Artistico cold press 140#. Dampen the offending paint and it just about wipes off this paper. THANK goodness!!

She’s gone thru quite a few revisions. Still not happy with her.

My favorite part…that might tell you how much I like this painting!!

Here she is after working on her at USC AIken this morning. Not liking her much at all!!

Splattered most of the background on with a combo of Piemonite and Cobalt…soupy. I should have turned that top paper towel DOWN!! Had to clean up alot of splatters from her face and her right shoulder OOPS!! But the background is my favorite part of this.

Thanks for looking!! Sorry to be so whiny!!

Day 202 – Time Flies!!

January 24, 2015January 24, 2015Leave a comment

Especially when you have something interesting to do…I seem to draw and or paint something or someone just about everyday now. I am taking TWO Danny Gregory Sketchbookskool online classes at the same time…Beginnings and Seeing.

Lots of fun! Some great teachers. I highly recommend it. Each one is six weeks long with a different teacher every week…and theres that dreaded word HOMEWORK!! aka Assignments….OH MY!! But since I am drawing and painting sometimes all day long it’s not a problem!! All those skies started out as homework…we only had to do one…I did EIGHT!! OPPS!!! And have one more in mind to do…

Today its rained all day. Skies were an uninspiring grey grey grey so I drew this perky violet that seems to resist my best attempts to kill it. A friend gave me a small piece last winter saying it would root easily in water. Hers was huge!! More than a foot across. I thought uh huh…this wont last long. Lo and behold it rooted…I planted it in an old McCoy pot of my grandmother’s it continued thrive. It sits on the kitchen counter where it gets little sun except thru the backporch skylight. So today I drew it…growing against impossible odds…thriving!! I also journaled about my mother and grandmother -both famous for their green thumbs.

Now to get my homework drawn-draw a piece of bread. In my case a biscuit. Near enough!!!

Thanks for looking!