Day 1742 Inktober

October 4, 2018Leave a comment

I have been doing inktober aka 31 ink sketches. Question is do you make it to the finish line of one ink drawing a day?!!!

I threw one of those strips in my purse before I went to Costco. Sat down at the restaurant area and put my satchel purse up on the table to hide behind. Parking yourself somewhere with a good site line to streams of people is always a good idea when doing these.

Started drawing with my Namiki Fude pen-love it’s thick thin lines. I tried to finish it at Lowe’s today BUT huge trucks thought they needed to be close to the door and blocked my view. 🤨

Pretty soon I had a whole strip done. I ended up at the Walmart grocery store because they always have a good flow of people going in and out.

Be brave and go to Costco or sams and draw the herds of people that walk by. Lotsa fun.

Margaret xoxoxox hanging out with a friend who is heading back to Charleston tomorrow.

Day 1296 Magic Time Finally

July 19, 2018July 18, 20182 Comments

This post was stuck in my scheduled posts box. I don’t know if I posted but it’s such a great post can’t hurt posting again.

Watching Charles Reid paint a person is like watching someone make magic. He twitches his brush here and here. Stating at the nose suddenly there’s a fabulous painting of a person.

John was our model today. He did a wonderful job.

Charles painting.

The Master Charles Reid the most talented watercolorist in America today.

My sketch.

Painting

More painting.

Charles said time to quit so I did and I started another of John. Let ok’ing at him he needs more shadow on his cheek to define his cheek bone. Maybe a highlight lifted also on the cheek and more shadow in his brow.

John and his Jack Russell Jedi.

We all adored Jedi

Especially me. Missing my Zoe. One more of Jedi and his dad John.

My second drawing. I had about forty five minutes left to paint him.

Progress.

Times up. Hmm think he needs more hair but I like this one best of the two paintings.

Up to the rooftop the rain had ended.

A tugboat heading up river.

Night on the river

A paddle boat passing by while I waited for my car.Look who decided to jump in bed with me tonite. My friend Karen’s collie Carly. What a sweetheart.

Tomorrows model Carver whose mom looks like Madonna.

Nite nite. Margaret xoxoxo

Day 1297 Carver

June 15, 2018June 16, 20185 Comments

So hard to draw but so interesting to look at.

A sweetheart. Both the models are so nice. And did such a great job.

I tried drawing him like the second photo but was not going well at all. So I finally flipped he paper over and drew just his head and shoulders. Still a pain. Long nose huge eyes short forehead. And foreshortening of Head. Eeekkkk.

I finally got going trying to loose my edges. It was sloppy wet. Makes more problems. So I would try to let it dry. Waiting is not something I am good at. I don’t want to at least with paint.

More progress. Loved the feathers. Scratched them in with my paint brush handle.

More done than now. He needs some shadows around his eyes from his eyebrow to under it. Also want to paint his jacket black.

Colors used. Very few. Skin Yellow ochre cad red light and cerulean plus a small bit of burnt sienna

Hair yellow ochre cerulean and burnt sienna. Maybe a cab of burnt umber.

Jacket manganese blue and burnt sienna.

Tracy kept the models til five so we had an extra hour. I moved and started another painting. Poor Carver had been modeling ALL day from 9-5 by the time he finished. I know he’s sore tonight.

My 45 minute one. I wasn’t striving for a likeness just lost edges and letting paint mix on the paper.

Can’t wait to paint these photos of John. Love the pose.

a huge boat passing by.

Storm heading into Savannah.

Night night.

Margaret last day of class😔xoxoxox 💤💤💤💤💤

#charlesreid #watercolor #art #painting #artist #painter #aquarelle #fabriano #flowers #allaprima #transparent #flower #savannah #georgia #lostedges #artist #artinthemountains

Day 1291 Denise at the Atlanta Artist Center

June 9, 2018Leave a comment

A hard pose to draw. Why you ask?? The foreshortened legs and the tipped up three quarters facing head. Both make life difficult for the artist. Since the model poses for three hours at the Atlanta Artist Center I tried to take my time drawing her. I got the head too small. So I redrew it. And redrew it. Pa drawn with a 6B lead pencil.

Unfortunately I think the head was still too big when I decided it was time to paint. I actually erased the head in the first drawing and started over again on it. I did lower the eye but didn’t take a picture of it before I started painting. Monique by Charles Reid

I decided to try to paint her line Charles Reid would. Put the color on once and leave it alone. And I stuck to that for her face and hair. When I look at how effortlessly he does these in a couple of hours including drawing and painting I think maybe I should just quit. But then I hear the call of the brush and the pencil to try again.

Flesh color laid on. Quin coral and French ochre whichbare both transparent. Also shadows of cerulean and quin burnt sienna. Hair ultramarine and quin burnt sienna.

Head looking way too big in this one. Oh well it’s too late. I finished her anyway. Dress is burnt umber quin burnt sienna and ultramarine blue.

I used dabs of cobalt violet and ultramarine violet on her skin and darkened the shadows.

The background is cobalt teal and cerulean.

Time to finish he packing up and head out to Savannah tomorrow for Charles Reid’s class. Exciting and sad since this will be the last with him.

Hugs Margaret xoxoxo

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 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!