Author: Margie Langtip

First time for everything!.
First time making frames for me. Mine are a simple pine wooden frame.

I mitred the edge out so the painting sits in nicely. Had to instil the help of my husband for correct measurements and a helping hand. He showed me how to use the router which was easy enough. I found a framing hand saw on gumtree for $30 and it works fine, cutting a nice 45degree angle. It took a couple of hours to get the frames right. Now i know why frames are so expensive!!. They are time consuming, measuring, cutting, routing, sanding, glueing, stapling, then comes undercoat paint, top coat and sealer!

Mmmm, wonder if its going to be worth it? Im going to do 3, a white, black and gold one as standard frames to choose from. I will get better at it no doubt. At the moment im only at the sanded stage but everything measured up eventually!! Whew!

I have a fear of failing, like most of us do! However, I persevere and keep going! Onwards and upwards I say!

I now have to learn how to join the frames with staples and I’m presuming a bit of glue? Then comes the painting! Ugh! I hope for no runs in the paint! Lol

For pics and video’s go to https://margielangtip.com and follow the link in the menu bar.

Hello everyone! Hope everyone is fit and well! Before I go on, if you didn’t already know, go onto my website and enter your email for a chance to win a quarterly draw of a free painting! Yes free! Go to https://margielangtip.com

Dee During of Victoria was last months winner so congratulations 🥳 again Dee. I hope you get much enjoyment from it.

I have been utilising all my 3mm MDF boards and making lots of seascapes. The sea is hard to paint. You have to get the right colours and the foam has to look like foam. I wonder if there is a knack to it? Anyway I will press on. You can view them at my shop on my website. I am going to continue painting seascapes and I’m going to do quite a few of them and put them up for auction on ebay. This would be a great opportunity for you to put in a bid and you could get a piece at a very low price! I’ll let you know in my next blog whether I have them up and running. Presently I have paintings up for a Buy it Now or Put in an Offer. This is another way you can get discounts! Another way is to buy one painting and then get a voucher for the next painting you buy with a big 25% off!! Great value here guys!

I am not a portrait artist but at the moment I have two portrait paintings on the go. One is a little female toddler and the other an older gentleman. I have to try and get the chubbiness of the cheeks of the little girl. I’m learning that I should render smooth complexion for the girl and a more harsher complexion for the older gentleman. I will see how it goes. If it works out, I’m going to enter the male portrait into the Yarram Courthouse Archie’s portrait comp. It’s a miniature show taking off the Archibald Prize that is in Melbourne. Wonderful work is shown there that’s for sure!

Have I mentioned to hop onto my website and sign up for your chance to win a painting? Hahaha. It’s one click into my website and right on the front page you enter your email then hit send. That’s it! Easy peasy. You will get updates, prizes and a small monthly newsletter to keep you informed. Plus don’t forget the quarterly draw! A great way to get some art for FREE!!

I’m going to sign off for now, so I’ll see you in the next blog with more updates.

Cheers for now, Margie 💗

Boy! I’m trying my hand at seascapes and they sure are hard! To get the wave to show movement and to be able to show the sea is moving is very hard to do! For me anyway. 😣 To get that foam and froth just right and to get the correct wave colour is another headache, let alone adding rocks, people and seagulls into the mix.

You also have reflections to worry about, surf curling over and shadows in the large waves as it crashes down. Darks and lights too! And this is not in consideration of whether you will put sun reflections in or not. I have a lot to learn, that’s why I’m plugging along. To get practice. Practice! Practice! Practice! (Now should I use practice or practise?). I am also doing an paid online course to see if I can glean any information, hints and tips.

I will go back to a limited palette and see if that helps! I’ve been using a host of gorgeous colours that I have (my favourite being turquoise and aqua). I am painting on MDF board so I’m wondering how much that is affecting my ability as well, as I usually paint on canvas (where the paint sinks into the material), whereas wooden panels, the paint just sits on the top. I’m also having to wait a couple of days in between layers so it’s not so hard to paint wet into wet. With oil paints it takes ages to dry. This is my preferred medium but I might try a seascape of Lorne that I received from my art course (which has a great headland in it too,) and paint that in acrylic to see if I like that better on boards or not.

Anyway, stay tuned for the next round……….

Cheers for now,

Margie Langtip

La Jolla Beach, California, 9×12″ oil on board

Bay of Fires, Tasmania, oil on board, 12×9″

I can’t believe it’s already February! Yikes!
I have been flying by the seat of my pants and winging it a bit by setting up my website all by myself and with the wonderful support I get from WordPress! It has been a tiresome and confusing experience. Only those with competent computer skills should try it. I consider myself competent and I still found it difficult but now I’m getting my head around it. I have also been trying to figure out Mailpoet and Mailchimp for my newsletter and both these sites have confounded me. They don’t have instant chat like WordPress do, so when I have a problem I have to email them and it takes days for them to reply! Sooooo, I haven’t chosen who I will go with yet. Hopefully I will have worked it out by next blog.

I have also been painting a series of seascapes in my studio and still going. Checkout my latest (February) newsletter for updates on these. (You can find it on my website soon, fingers crossed.) I’m going to keep on with seascape studies for awhile. It’s great to study and experiment with different strokes, brushes and palette knife work. Last year I gessoed and cut 140 boards, (9×12″) precisely for these studies. That will keep me busy for most of the year.

I have sold four paintings already this year so that makes me pleased and I am so very grateful to the buyers for supporting me, a small and local business.

Don’t forget to sign up for my monthly newsletter which you can do at my website, https://margielangtip.com where you can keep updated with my latest happenings and news and of course a chance in a draw prize of a small painting for those who sign up. This occurs each quarter.

Anyway, that’s it from me for now. Until next time….

Cheers, Margie

Well here we finally are, in 2023. Boy, didn’t last year just fly by! However, I’m ready for this coming year – well sort of. I’m doing a business course on running a website and art business. The art business one is relatively easy as I have a background in finance but setting up a new website is a doosey!! I’m flying by the seat of my pants. I’m up late into the night (early mornings) trying to figure out how to do it, hence this blog. This is a test run you see. Lol

This year I plan to move from a hobby artist to a part time artist but life (and setting up a website) gets in the way! I will have to try and divide my time up better. It is an exciting journey for me and I look forward to seeing my progress. Currently I am working on a large abstract based on neurographic art. I also hope to get a lot of email sign ups when I get that sorted.

Well, this blog is short and sweet. I don’t want to rattle on too much so I’ll say hoo roo for now.

Until next time………..