Last night at dr Sketchys was a lot of fun. A lot of the sketches were done in five minutes and are approximately 11×14″ in a superaquabee. We had the cast of Evil Dead the Musical to sing for us. Amazing voices.

Alot of zombies.

And silliness.

Much splattering of gore which I did with a cheap Joes mop loaded with soupy alizarin and pyrrole red.

Drippy letters were made by painting with the same soup and holding the sketchbook my Superaquabee up vertically to drip and occasionally slamming it down on the table.

Sketched my Pennell brush pen.

Margaret off to Atlanta. Xoxoxox

Dr Sketchys fun Evil Dead the Musical cast at Chat Noir last night #drsketchys #augusta #pentelpen #watercolor #ink #inkdrawing #art #sketching #dailydrawing #walkingdead #zombies #evildead

A sketch of Zoe that I did in my small Moleskine watercolor book woh my new Twisbi EF pen that is loaded with Deartrementis Document Brown ink.

Document Brown is permanent aka waterproof which makes it great for sketching. Hard to find but mine came from Goulet pens. I also have it in Fog color another document color.

Be careful if you buy some that you get Dartementis DOCUMENT ink or you will end up with some that are not waterproof. Gorgeous colors but NOT waterproof. Confusing because in the same bottles.

Easier to get document inks in these inexpensive sample bottles. Hmm also food for traveling.

Off to Dr Sketchys. Hugs Margaret xoxoxo where it’s raining yet again. Go away Alberto

Rain rain go away. Now we are getting tropical storm Albert. I swear the birds are trying to avoid being totally soaked puffing themselves up and holding their wings at odd angles. The doves wings are pointing up in the back and the tails down for optimum rain run off.

I think the one on the right is more acccurately drawn. I went with a pink background thinking it would make the green birds pop more instead it dominated. So then I had to knock it back. Colored over it with a buff wc pencil. Then started adding scratchy lines in indigo and red.

I actually like them better separately than as a spread.

Betting no kayakers on the river today!

My ever patient Zoe a jack Russell hanging over the back of the sofa watching and wondering if she can get a hand out while moms in the kitchen.

What’s up for you today?! More bird drawing sock knitting binge watching art on YouTube and acorn. Maybe a movie with a friend. And some barbecue.

Margaret xoxoxo

#outmybackdoor #nature #stillmanandbirn #watercolorpencils #animals #birds #squirrel #drawing #sketchbookskool #cardinals #naturalworld #savannah #savannahriver #augusta #mixedmedia #art #artist #moleskine

More storms coming. We are on a flood watch in our county. Welcome to southern summer.

Almost a train wreck 19×24

At first break I called this Train Wreck. A tough pose for Ilaina and a tough pose to draw. Legs and arms in every direction.

Drawn on 19×24 ” strathmore bristol-Very slick and unforgiving- with various 4b and 6b leads.

My biggest critiscisms too many hard edges and streaky washes. Oh well I can blame it on the paper.

At first break. Forty minutes. I kept drawing and erasing and redrawing. Over and over. Eeekkkk. The green happened accidentally. I picked it up on my palette when I started loading the flesh tones. Eeek. Oh well. Kinda like it now. I added more.

Colors used. Flesh is quin coral and yellow Ochre. Cobalt violet imperial purple a dab of ultramarine blue. Hair quin burnt sienna burnt umber and ultramarine blue.

Background is quin burnt sienna and yellow ochre.

Might darken the background. Might turn it into compost. Lol.

Drew Murphy. My fav yesterday. Another reason it was a tough pose. She couldn’t hold it and kept sagging. Ilaina can hold any pose but this one twisted her back and extended her arms too far.

George Dawany first break. He fled before I got a chance for another pic. JUST LOVE this. Conte crayon I think and sand paper on strathmore bristol.

Jeremy Sutherland. My other favorite. Gorgeous portrait.

Coach Larry on the floor again looking up. Nice charocoal

Bill Daniels. Scores another good one. Oil on metal

Amy’s nice oil. Really like it’s sketchiness and the soft colors

Marilyn Hartley conte crayon large sketch

Al Beyer large oil 3×4′

Dawn large pencil sketch. Love the colors.

Tom Needham nice soft watercolor

Beth’s daughters large pencil sketch. She’s improving a lot.

Fred’s zany painting love the wild colors.

Hugs Margaret off to plant a few fleurs. Xoxoxo

Ilania 19×24” 90 min sketch strathmore Bristol #uscaiken #lifemodel #nude #lead #pencil #sketching #watercolor #allaprima #aquarelle #canson #board #danielsmith #holbein #mgraham #albeyer #aiken #augusta

I need to eat more of these and quit making cookies before my size 8s grow to size tens. 😱🤪

I decided to go back over the background and make it darker. This is done with watercolor pencils. What else don’t I like?! The scribble right bottom. Not even neat. Hmmmm what was I thinking. Of course it’s ink and there’s no fixing it.

Here it is before I colored it. I do like sitting on the sofa watching the birds and coloring in my own handmade coloring book.

That said I have drawn a larger one on 300lb cold press Fabriano. I did have words but erased them. I hope I get off the sofa and use my watercolors to do this. We shall see. Might be more sitting on the sofa drawing the wild life and coloring.

Have several pages of them to color too. Always something to do right.

Bytw this little bugger was using his tail as an umbrella while it rained today. Funny little guy.

Margaret whose at life drawing. Xoxoxoxo

#outmybackdoor #nature #stillmanandbirn #watercolorpencils #animals #birds #squirrel #drawing #sketchbookskool #cardinals #naturalworld #savannah #savannahriver #augusta #mixedmedia #art #artist #strawberries

As soon as the storm and the pressure change it gives me an annoying headache. That said time to post.

Always something that bugs me about a drawing or painting. Why didn’t I put the male cardinal on the same line as the female AND OOPS I meant to put the word Cardinal on the end of the right page. Best laid plans do go astray.

Step 1

A quick photo tutorial to show you how the handwriting works.

Step 2 – smeared with my trusty ever reliable index finger. It’s also good for smearing ink.

Step 3 – Colored with a watercolor pencil. Or u could use wc.

Step 4 – wet w a brush.

Step 5. I wrote on it again with a stabilo pen which usually runs when wet. Not this one. Oh well time to punt.

Moleskine watercolor pencils.

Margaret xoxoxox

#outmybackdoor #nature #stillmanandbirn #watercolorpencils #animals #birds #squirrel #drawing #sketchbookskool #cardinals #naturalworld #savannah #savannahriver #augusta #mixedmedia #art #artist #moleskine

a few sketches favorite sketches. This one is from the Seine Viking cruise. Richard the Lionhearts chateau at les Andelys Chateau gaillard. He made the townspeople build this before the town aka their houses. Wonder where they lived.

It gets cold in France. Poor peasants. And when they finished he promptly died. Hmmm. a Lovely 80plus year old couple that do the cruise every year

The British cemetary near BayeuxFrance in Normandy. The quote says something like the Anglo Saxons finally saved the conquerors aka the Normans. Hmmm. the view from the restaurant Buzzards Roost Key Largo ditto

Savannah down on river walk. How could I not daw that is it a sphinx? The lion thing. more key largo Lady Violet cause she was my favorite dowton abbey cause character. Scootch my Honey dogs BFF part chow part lab looking for his mom when I babysat him.

My beloved dragon at a Ponce City market.

Back to my headache. Ttyl xoxox hoping it’s gone in the am but yes it’s better thanks very much for asking. Hugs.

So what’s the big experiment?! There are a few.

Writing is one.

I wrote little across the background on this one to see if it would give it more interest. It’s done with a soft lead pencil which I smear with my finger after I am done writing.

I used copyright free Wikipedia as a source for my writing. I like the texture it gives the background.

Another one was to use an inktense pencil to draw them. Inktense are permanent after you wet them. I used a sepia one on the wrens and I think I still like the deep indigo one better which is what I used on the squirrels.

However I DO wish I had not stuck that small wren in at the last minute It was sitting on the back porch busily pecking away. I couldn’t resist. I should have. I also wanted to try to leave it sketchy aka you can see the marks of the watercolor pencil. I think it worked better on the squirrels than the wrens.

Actually like it better with writing. Do you?! Maybe I need to add some stamps. 🤣

I used a really dry #7 or so sable brush which I blotted most of the water from on my pants. Don’t tell my mom.

Then I just laid it down on the squirrels here and there blotting the colors with the brush as I went. You also have to clean the brush a little because it picks up color.

Last experiment is using an old tiny watercolor moleskin that I have had lying around for a while to see how the paper would behave. I know newer moleskins are now made in China and have iffy paper aka no quality control. I bet this one is much older. At least seven years old judging by notes in the back of the book. Sad because they were great books.

Margaret nursing a headache but still drawing. Xoxoxo

The little buggers aka squirrels wrens Gone to the squirrels. #outmybackdoor #nature #watercolorpencils #animals #birds #squirrel #drawing #sketchbookskool #cardinals #naturalworld #savannah #savannahriver #augusta #mixedmedia #art #artist #moleskine

Love the wrens and thought the black bird which I had never seen interesting.

Book club soon so will make this short. I was just amazed that the cardinals ran off this large black bird. He was much bigger than a cardinal but both the male and female ran him off. No chance for even a seed. He showed up hopefully again and again only to get the same treatment.

Poor bird.

Watercolor pencils again in the stillman and birn alpha.

Ttyl Margaret xoxoxo

Gone to the squirrels. #outmybackdoor #nature #stillmanandbirn #watercolorpencils #animals #birds #squirrel #drawing #sketchbookskool #cardinals #naturalworld #savannah #savannahriver #augusta