Day 1055 -It’s Saturday!!

June 10, 2017June 10, 2017Leave a comment

It’s Saturday and Miss Emily is our model.

Slathering the paint on like cake icing. Lots of impasto. A little hippy and busty?! I moved that right arm at least three times. Scrapped it off and started over again and again and again.

At the first break. 4o minutes in.

Kathe playing with my caran dache neocolor ii and some charcoal.

Not sure who drew this.

Fred Mr Mondigliani Baker. A Fred funny today. Asked Dr Fred what do you call a liar a sociopath?! He said a Billionaire re our president. Thought that was great.

Jeremy’s. Gorgeousness

Al Beyer’s huge oil

Coaches great charcoal.

And that’s all folks. Still contemplating St comeys halo.

Ttyl Margaret. Xoxoxo

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 247 – A Little Breakfast

March 8, 2015March 8, 2015Leave a comment

I think this should be called brunch because it never gets eaten at breakfast time.

Made up for not not writing on the chicken. I wrote all over this one. I used a B and a F sepia pitt pen. Also used schminke gouache my new way to fix my myriad mistakes. It does so well covering them up. The cup was drawn so far to the right in ink that I had to move it over to get the handle on it. It has such a nice pulled handle. Both the cup and bowl were made by my favorite local potter Dave Stewart of Wild Hare pottery.

I also had to paint the whole background. Boring to me with just the white paper.

Remember when doing stripes on the tablecloth they are darker closer and lighten up as the recede. It also gets a little greyer.

TIP: To get really white gouache highlights load the SIDE of a rigger brush and touch it sideways to the painting.

Thanks for looking!!

Gouache colors used white turquoise, Quin Violet, pyrrole red, Azo yellow, and indigo.

Day 232 Sunday Experiments

February 23, 2015February 23, 20152 Comments

A grey rainy Sunday makes for a good day to draw the birds at the feeder. Two double page spreads and two single pages later I think I am done. One page of Zoe too.

I was trying to get the hang of drawing with the Pentel brush pen making those fine lines Roz Stendahl gets with hers. Not easy. I drew two pages in the Strathmore 500 Mixed Media journal then changed to the Stillman and Birn Zeta hoping it’s smooth paper would make drawing with the pen easier.

I even changed to a Kuretake brush pen by the page labeled p. 3 to see if it made it easier to draw fine lines. Kuretake pens, another Japanese pen, seemed to dry much quicker than my beloved Pentel brush pen which never fails to run when I hit it with water when I paint. The Kuretake did NOT run even if I got water on it right after drawing with it…VERY quick drying.

FYI I bought my Kuretakes at Binders in Atlanta -the only Atlanta art store I have ever seen them in. The Pentel Brish Pen which is supposed to be permant is at all three Atlanta art stores but cheapest at Sam Flaxs in Midtown.

Not being able to leave the drawings alone I colored all the pages in the Stillman and Birn Zeta but not the Strathmore 500 Mixed Media journal. All the pages were colored with Caran D’Ache watersoluble crayons which are such fun. Drawings were done with ink only…no pencil used.

These are the birds done with the Pentel pen on Strathmore 500. It did seem to do a great job on the sketches of Zoe down in the right corner.

First page in the Stillman and Birn Zeta still with Pentel brush pen.

Some of this was done with the Kuretake pen. The chickadee with the smear is the Pentel brush pen …even an hour later it was still NOT dry.

The doves stuck around for quite a while today. Like the gobbling finches and squirrels I am sure they were hungry. I have been going thru the bird seed this week – 10 lb so far.

Drawing Zoe was so much fun with the brush pens that I decided to draw a bigger pic of her. I used both pens on her fur. I think it was easier to make the fine lines with the Kuretake. Whichever you use it really takes a very light touch to get a fine line. I DONT have a light touch whether it’s pen or pencil. MORE practice required!!

Not as full as the other pages. I needed a nap after I did this one. It was beginning to pour and only the bravest animals were at the feeders by then.

Did the pen make a difference?? THe Kuretake was definitely faster drying and much more waterproof than the Pentel. I hate to tell you how many times I have had the Pentel bleed HOURS after I drew with it. Try the Kuretake pen, a disposable pen, if your Pentel brushes are giving you trouble. Maybe the bristles are a little stiffer?! As one of my first graders Dresean once told me That’s all I got Miz Hunt!!

Did the papers make a difference?? I really couldn’t tell that it was easier to draw with the brush markers on the S&B or the Strathmore 500. Maybe I need that Japanese journal Roz raves about on Roz all wound up?! HMMMM.

Thanks for looking!

Day 2o7 – Shoe Time

January 29, 2015January 30, 2015Leave a comment

When I was a kid going to UGA we had to draw 150 drawings per art class each quarter. At times I took 3 art classes, a full load. That was 450 drawings besides 6 hours of class daily and lots of homework. We would run out of ideas for drawing.

One of my friends Carolyn Cates drew her shoes. I decided to draw my favorite Pappagallos. I loved these shoes. Expensive for a student but not meant for walking the campus in all weather. They were notorious for falling apart in a sudden rain shower.

Anyway, you are not here to hear me reminisce but to talk paint. That painting and the shoes have long disappeared so I decided it was time to recreate them.

I googled Pappagallos to see if there were any photos online. I didn’t find mine but I found a few similar pairs for sale on etsy.

Cute aren’t they?!

These are for sale on Etsy!!

Love these. Too bad they are the wrong size I would say SOLD!!

These pics revived forgotten details like the blue striped interior, the turquoise sole, the small stacked heels.

So I drew my old long gone favorite Pappagallos with my Noodler Creaper Ahab.

I was cleaning up the lettering. I thought it was dry. OOPs, it wasn’t!!! A smear!!!

What to do??!

TIP– You can always glue some of that paper we all save over your mistakes. Glue some of my vintage ledger paper over it.

Oops, that didn’t work. Look at all the feathering around the pen line!

Finally I found a piece of scrapbook ledger paper. Tested it with my pen. NO feathering. Hallelujah!! Modge podge it down!!

TIP- Modge podge is great for gluing down great for SECURELY gluing paper down in your art journal. Learned that from Mary Ann Moss!! Thanks Mary Ann!!

Here it is finished?! Wait – no it needs something in that wide border. What?

FINISHED Finally!!!

Colors? Dark blue cobalt outer border and a double black line done with my Noodler helped. And the ultramarine blue line around the title with another double black line helped to make it pop. I am
Not a faded out kinda girl. Vivid and bright is me!!

Once again contrasting colors helped with that. For the background I used yellow ochre with a little grey mixed from burnt sienna and cerulean. The cobalt blue border made it pop. The cobalt also brings out the blue bows on the shoes.

The green is manganese blue and yellow. The almost black dark on the bows and x’s is ultramarine blue and burnt umber.

And that’s it. Go forth and paint your shoes. The brighter the better. Maybe some of the snazzy sneakers in wild colors! And use contrasting colors. You will be glad you did.

Thanks for looking!!!

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!

Day 199 – Two more skycapes

January 21, 2015February 5, 20152 Comments

Don’t forget to leave a comment and alike to qualify for the drawing of one of three Watercolors I have painted. They are ok my Monday post.

I have now painted this skyscape four times. This one is on Strathmore 400 series watercolor paper. The purply greys are made with Daniel Smith Piemonite, a delicious granulating color , combined with cobalt or ultramarine blue. A lot of negative painting of the background trees, sponging of the river for fog.

All the tree tops were painted into wet so they would fuzz slightly.

The trees were painted with my #2 Isabey I bought with my Christmas money. Lovely brush with a very narrow tip from Dick Blick. I also smudged the trees a little to make the branches look fuller.

Tonites sunset. Very pink with yellow. Hard to photograph. Pink is Quin red yellow aureolin, sky cobalt and cerulean. The camera picked it up as red. I should scan it but no time.

I laid down the pink stripes first. Then went back in while they are still damp with the blue. Yellow here and there and along the horizon. Cobalt violets and ultramarine blue with some burnt umber for the trees and foreground bushes.