Day 263 – the last breakfast at least til Sunday

March 26, 2015Leave a comment

Looking at my sketchbook a friend pointed out to me today that I must really be into my breakfasts. Of course I should have retorted that she was the one who got me into going out for breakfast. She’s been doing it for years before I met her. Now that we have both left the teaching profession we meet once or twice a week for breakfast and then I run errands in town. If I stay home I get busy and put the errands off. Not good when it’s a Target bill that I pay off every month or time to pay for the cell phone.

My favorite breakfast is the breakfast bowl at the inner bean a local cafe run by two moms Donna and Ann. Keeps them skinny!! 😃 Back to the bowl. I think it’s pretty healthy. Be healthier if I left out the bacon but is 60% of the wheat is drenched in roundup before we eat it might as well enjoy our bacon. Much tastier than wheat.

Last nite was Dr Sketchys. Our favorite art event of the month. Last night was stellar. I won a contest twice. Here’s one of the sketches.

This is Cosmo a burlesque performer in a five minute pose. Cosmo could hold a pose like the Rock of Gibraltar. Pentel brush pen in my strathmore mixed media journal. And yes he has three hats on his head!!

Something else I did yesterday that was terrific fun while waiting for my friend Ruth at Earthfare. I drew the customers as they went in and out of the store. Just gesture sketches but SuPeR fun.

Stay tuned for a post on these. There are a lot of them.

Thanks for looking!!

Day 262- and Some Art Before Lunch

March 25, 2015March 25, 20152 Comments

Art before lunch. Very fast sketch from a distance. Think I was more into drawing the fountain than the couple who were having the best conversation outside at the inner bean while smoking and enjoying the weather.

This was drawn with my Pentel brush pen. Lettering was done with my Lamy Vista fine nib. The painting was done mostly with watercolor and with some gouache.

I had a lot of trouble painting the flesh tones. The best thing I finally discovered while painting this was how to make flesh using gouache. I tried the way I mix it with watercolor. Light yellow and a clear red. Not good when combined with white.

Then I tried white with a tiny bit of English red and bingo. Great flesh color!! Who knew?! I painted the skin before I went to book club and while I was there I studied the other ladies’ skin tones. Studying always helps. Then I came home and repainted them. Thank goodness.

Random success!👏I have to say I think the girl is a little skinny and the arm too short but oh well. It’s done and I am turning the page!!

Thanks for looking!!

Day 262 – Some Art Before Breakfast

March 24, 2015Leave a comment

Sorry not to post this sooner but I have been drawing too much. And have too many pages to post. I did draw my breakfast this morning too but yet to paint it. Tomorrow or after I go for a walk tonite. I seem to like to paint at nite.

This was inspired by Danny Gregory’s blog post recently of his breakfast. I am not likey to make a habit of drawing before breakfast. I don’t like cold eggs. Grits however and tea take a while to cool down!

This was done with my Pentel brush pen. Then I journaled on it a bit. And finally I painted it with Schminke gouache. The background color is watered down gouache. The grey on the cup was made with indigo and white. The mushrooms were painted with a brown made from yellow, red and indigo lightened with white.

Thanks for looking. At least one more breakfast coming!!

Day 261 – Tom Cat

March 23, 2015March 23, 2015Leave a comment

If you would like me to paint your. Animal on commission let me know at mc m hu nt@me. Com

Tom copyright Margaret McCarthy Hunt 81/2 x 11″ $195. Gouache or acrylic

My son found Tom as a tiny stray in the wheel well of a neighbors boat trailer. When he brought him home you could hold him on your palm of one hand. Now he’s a sleek kitty with fur that glows like fire when he sits in the sun light.

He also yowls at me to go in or out. In this painting he wanted out. He was getting irritated because I made him wait while I drew him.

I drew him with one of my Noodler flex nibs loaded with Drartremis brown document ink. Painted him with gouache in my stillman and Birn zeta with mostly white, Indian yellow, and English red with bits of indigo in the shadows.

Detail Tom copyright Margaret McCarthy Hunt 81/2 x 11″ $195. Gouache or acrylic

Because he such a red cat I watered down some Quin Sienna watercolor and brushes it over his fur to make it redder. I also added some watery burnt umber and burnt sienna Wc for shade.

Background is watery titmouse with some Azo yellow to make the green spots.

Day 260 – My Mothers Garden

March 22, 2015March 22, 2015Leave a comment

My Mothers Garden

11×15

$250 framed and matted

$200 unframed

original watercolor on kilimanjaro

My mother is an avid gardener whose every finger is green. This is based on her spring garden in Asheville NC.

Yuchikiokee Festival

Quick sketch adding onto the crowd as they walked by yesterday and stood for a few minutes before the big show at Yuchikiokee Festival in Evans Ga. Sadly day two got rained out. I filled in the people in the foreground first. The lady in the middle was a walk off before I drew her legs. Oops. That happens. Then I filled in the background.

Will be posting more later today.

Thanks for looking.

Day 259 – Life Model time

March 21, 2015March 22, 20152 Comments

WIP caran d’ache on kilimanjaro half sheet

This Is the first standing pose I have ever drawn so I was thrilled to get her in proportion. I have to give ilanya kudos for holding a rock steady pose for two hours. Not easy to do.

Today I started drawing her with a light grey crayon. Next came flesh color. That went well.

Then I went for burnt sienna instead of yellow ochre and it was just too dark. When I added cobalt well. That was trouble. I almost destroyed her with burnt sienna and cobalt blue. Made an icky green. But when you think it’s ruined it can be a good thing. You don’t care what you do with it and experiment.

I got out an ultramarine blue crayon burnt umber and the black. I never use the black. And I try not to use the dark colors on a young life model. Today I didn’t care. Anything was better than the ick blue and burnt sienna.

I like the fake blues and Browns I used in her. Anyway thanks for looking!!!

Day 258 – A Change of Pace

March 21, 2015March 21, 2015Leave a comment

I actually bought two pieces of art in the last two days so I am going to share the one I just bought today. It’s a giclee of 2 mourning doves by Mary Ann Brock.

Mourning Doves by Mary Ann Brock

I have coveted several of her pieces since I first met Mary Ann a couple of years ago at her show at the Aiken Center for the Arts. Her work is just lovely. I would list her website but she doesn’t have one. You can see more of her work on the Aiken Artist Guild (http://aikenartistguild.us) website.

Anyway I guess you know I love birds and hers are wonderful!! Hmm maybe I need her Japanese Magnolia and those Pomengranates too!! 😃

Marsha’s Azaleas

$250

17×21″ framed

This is an original watercolor painting of mine for sale framed for $250 plus shipping. It’s a quarter sheet on 140# 100% cotton watercolor paper. Leave a comment or email me at m c m h u n t @ me. Com if you are interested.

It’s springtime in Augusta. The azaleas will be in full bloom soon. Time to paint more azaleas.

Thanks for looking.

267 – Dog of the Day

March 19, 2015March 19, 2015Leave a comment

The Dog of the Day – my nieces lab Reagan with his birthday hat on. Happy Birthday Reagan!! Did I say a yellow lab is much harder to paint than a black one. Especially with a limited gouache palette.

All you need for a black lab is a dark indigo blue for the black with a touch of the English red and a lighter blue and a bit of red for the collar and you gue.

The yellow lab? 😳 So many shades of cream, buff, peach, Browns, purples, greys and white. Red for the tongue and a bit of dark purple.

And ps Azo yellow is NOT a good color for a yellow lab. It’s too lemony and turns him green when mixed with white and painted over the colors I was using. Any blue remotely near it turned it green. 😜 Not so with the Indian yellow which is very strange.

I did use a lot of light purples for the greys.

Background is watered down turquoise.

Thanks for looking!

Day 266 A Few Seagulls or Thoughts on Fifty More Shades of Grey

March 19, 2015Leave a comment

Sometimes it’s just fun to go sit in the middle of a parking lot and draw the seagulls. No idea why they congregate in the parking lots but they do. If you decide you want to draw seagulls take some crackers or old bread with you. They will follow you like you are the pied piper.

I actually drew a lot of seagulls last week but didn’t get around to painting them till a few days ago. I like this one best. Drawn with Noodler Konrad flex nib and Noodler lexington grey ink in my Stillman and Birn Zeta it’s painted with watery gouache. Much faster than using it opaque. Or at least that’s my story so far.

I have a bunch of premixed greys made from indigo and schminke English red. Sometimes I add more white. Sometimes more indigo. Thee indigo can make a great grey mixed only with the white. Try it. U will love it.

Lettering is done with indigo and a brush. The background is turquoise with bits of green made by mixing Indian yellow in with the turq. That makes a muddy green.

Anyway. Gotta run. My paints are waiting and drying out.

Thanks for looking.

Day 256 – Another Dog

March 17, 2015March 17, 20152 Comments

Dogs are big in my family. All of us have at least one and some of us have several. I have two. A Jack Russell who I posted a couple of days ago and a huge lab. Honey is a chow hound. Loves biscuits and I mean the southern kind not cookies but she will eat those too. She is always thinking about food.

When I got her from the Aiken pound she weighed about 75 lb. We have fixed that. She now weighs about 110 pounds. The dog seriously loves food. She also steaks food off the kitchen counter especially any bread product.

Anyway this is drawn with a black Pentel brush pen. The highlights are gouache as is the background. The lettering is done with the Kuratake brush pen.