I finally broke down and cleaned my beloved old noodlers. Thats all I used to draw with. No Lamys ever. I like the Noodlers because the nib acts alot like a dip pen. They make much mode interesting lines than my Lamys do. HOWEVER they can be annoying. They quit right in the moddle of a hot sketching session. They Drip ink. They cover your hands with ink. But today i soldiered on.
Heres the link to clean your pen. Try it u will be so glad you did!! Now to clean my hmm 7 or 8 Lamys. My pilot my kwecko my two fudes. I never realized the paper lint could stop the pens up.
Heres my very fav red Noodler pen loaded w Carbon Platinum Black. This pen was my Valentines present to myself abt ten years ago. A shot out my windows of the trees i was drawing. Good to sit down after another day of endless cleaning. I even used glass cleaner on my table wiped paint splatters off the studio tv the iPad the brush holders. Heres where i was sitting drawing. see all my pouring cups?! Got to get back on that but company is coming. Found all kinds of things. Bet u don’t know what this is. I had to think abt it for a few minutes it had beens so long since i have seen it. Paint tube wringer for oils and acrylics. And lots of view finders and value gauges. Best of all half the 68” island is now empty. all organized in my storage in the studio. Hurrah! Beautiful evening on the river. Margaret putting her feet up for a well deserved rest. Xoxoxoxox
Our volunteer Sunflower continues to shoot skyward. I swear it grows 3 inches a day. Jack and the Beanstalk don’t have anything on it. Hopefully a sunflower on the opposite page. An old Strathmore Mixed Media sketchbook I never filled up. Lovely paper but I abandoned it because it won’t lay flat which annoys me. Drawn w my original very first beloved coral Lamy Safari with carbon platinum black ink. Cleaning continues. Found these two old sketches of dear Erica from 2014. Goes to show you can improve if you draw enough. Legs far too short. 😵💫While she is long and very slim those tiny hands?! And once again foreshortened legs OFF. So keep those pencils sharpened and practice practice practice. Daily practice does work just like in tennis. Or should i say like golf since its Masters week here in Augusta Ga Ya gotta put the hours in. The cleaned and sorted cupboard. Way too many brand new sketchbooks. Who knew i had all of those?Sooty playing guard cat. No bird need eat. Clueless what he’s doing. And that’s the sunflower in front of him.
MIA working on this half sheet. kilimanjaro 300# Top right still needs work but was too tired last nite to finish it. Worked til abt 11:15 pm. 😵😵😵 Ready to rock and roll. Am enamored w pouring. BUT i forgot that Baker said NOT to use colors that were not marked transparent. 5 am i woke up thinking abt that. Slapped myself for Forgetting that. She said she always checks the tubes to see if it says its a transparent watercolor or not but i forgot.First pour. Cobalt Indigo and Raw Sienna The colors I used cad yellow and cad red. Never transparent. What was i thinking. Yellow ochre and raw sienna same thing. Duh. Only my blues were-indigo and cobalt. Not sure abt Antwerp.Then i added the cad red. 😵 Duh. Thank goodness my paint was tea consistency aka very thin.Pour 2 dry. This took along time and i got some blooms along the edges. The paper had so much water on it it was limp. POUR 3. Remember i have to add more masking every pour. Hard to decide where to put it. Used all my paint cups now. My cups of watery paint. A tip from Irena Roman. Wrote the names on the cups!! Muffin pans work great to keep it stable. Messy business pouring. Cant imagine spilling these esp on the dining room table where i paint. 😵💫😵💫😵💫Pour 3 dry. Removing masking. What an onerous task that is. Peeled masking everywhere on the table. Now I have to paint. Really like that cheap joes golden taklon brush. Makes great straight lines. Paint and mist the edges to soften. And this is where i left her. Pic i took of a red bellied sap sucker today. such pretty birds!!
Margaret abt ready to go back to hed and its only 6:30. Madly doing spring cleaning too. as if i am jot doing enough!😵💫. Xoxoxox
MIA working on this half sheet. kilimanjaro 300# Top right still needs work but was too tired last nite to finish it. Worked til abt 11:15 pm. 😵😵😵 Ready to rock and roll. Am enamored w pouring. BUT i forgot that Baker said NOT to use colors that were not marked transparent. 5 am i woke up thinking abt that. Slapped myself for Forgetting that. She said she always checks the tubes to see if it says its a transparent watercolor or not but i forgot.First pour. Cobalt Indigo and Raw Sienna The colors I used cad yellow and cad red. Never transparent. What was i thinking. Yellow ochre and raw sienna same thing. Duh. Only my blues were-indigo and cobalt. Not sure abt Antwerp.Then i added the cad red. 😵 Duh. Thank goodness my paint was tea consistency aka very thin.Pour 2 dry. This took along time and i got some blooms along the edges. The paper had so much water on it it was limp. POUR 3. Remember i have to add more masking every pour. Hard to decide where to put it. Used all my paint cups now. My cups of watery paint. A tip from Irena Roman. Wrote the names on the cups!! Muffin pans work great to keep it stable. Messy business pouring. Cant imagine spilling these esp on the dining room table where i paint. 😵💫😵💫😵💫Pour 3 dry. Removing masking. What an onerous task that is. Peeled masking everywhere on the table. Now I have to paint. Really like that cheap joes golden taklon brush. Makes great straight lines. Paint and mist the edges to soften. And this is where i left her. Pic i took of a red bellied sap sucker today. such pretty birds!!
Margaret abt ready to go back to hed and its only 6:30. Madly doing spring cleaning too. as if i am jot doing enough!😵💫. Xoxoxox
Not what i meant to post today. have another painting to pour half way done but got sidetracked spring cleaning. Exhausted i noticed a sunflower volunteering from the bird seed out the den window and drew it. My silly tortie kept begging for kitty snacks instead of letting me take a nap when i was slowing down. She was below me on the floor so this is a wonky drawing. Tried out two new pens today that some people recommend for sketching. All are supposedly waterproof. I just felt odd drawing and writing w the bic and the zebra. I dont think the lines are thinner so will stick w my fav uniball micro pens.
Interesting recommendations for your ig feed to improve it from a woman who has a zillion followers. Thinking abt taking her class at the end of the april. Obviously she knows something i don’t know.
From Dina Brodsky! Her Ig is @ dinabrodsky and she has 772000 plus followers! So she must know what she’s talking about!!
Today, a few thoughts on your bio.
Why your bio is important and how to optimize it
Instagram is the platform of choice for the art world, and most galleries, collectors and critics will look at your instagram account before they look at your website or CV. Most people’s first impressions are formed instantly, so the first thing to do is to make sure your account is the best possible impression of you as an artist.
Your name/handle: make sure this is what you want to be known by in the art world. I would suggest sticking to your actual name, or, if that’s already taken, Yourname_artist, yourname_paintings, etc. Since this is your professional account, keep it professional, rather than charming/whimsical/clever.
Your Profile Photo
Since most people are looking at instagram on their phone, your profile photo might be too small for them to make out. That being said, make sure its a photo of your art, you, or you and your art.
Your Bio
This is a place to say a few words about yourself as a person and as an artist. Also, a place to direct people to what’s happening in the link in your bio, which is the most important part of your profile
Link in bio/website
Why it’s important:
This is the only place on Instagram you can place a live link. This should be the place you direct people to the most important thing happening in your career at the moment – your next exhibition, a write-up in a major publication, or something actionable like a workshop you’re trying to fill or a studio sale.
Why it’s really important:
Did you know that the Instagram algorithm puts a disproportionate weight on whether people click on your link in bio? This means that if you direct people to the link in your post/reel, and they click on it, that post will get prioritized by the algorithm and become visible to more people.
DON’T put lots of links in your bio with tools like Linktree. Less than 1% of your audience will click your link–send them to the ONE place that’s most important to you.
Pro tip: if you do want your link in bio to direct people to several places, don’t do it via Linktree, Lnk.bio or other third party apps. Instead make a Links page on your website, like this: https://www.dinabrodsky.com/links
That way you are driving people to your website instead of a third party app.
Margaret McCarthy Hunt Art 