Day 935 Urban sketching at the Augusta Museum and a cartoon.

February 9, 2017Leave a comment

Sunday was a free day at the local museum. I had not been since it moved to its new building and it’s just remarkable. The Augusta room is so well done. The train that all my kids loved is still there to walk thru but now inside out of the weather.

This is drawn from a display of the Stallings Island Archaic period.

As a girl my friends and I volunteered at the museum and worked on the original arrowhead exhibit for the archaic period. We always had fun working after school at the old museum

I did mean to draw something else on this page but forgot so I filled it in with the notes on the Stallings Islnd culture. OOPPS. The yellow is. YOU guessed it. Quin gold. With cerulean

There’s an Augusta Trolley car too. AC and I had to check them both out. Very fun. Love be the bright yellow trolley. Going to have to go back when I can stay longer.

The 70s exhibit

An old water pumper. I drew it but still have to paint it. Maybe today?!

My sketchbookskool homework a Day in the Life. Should have done a two page spread because I ran out of room. Oh well it’s done.

If you want to try this make a list of your days activities OR just make blocks and fill them in.

Pitt pens pyrrole red Quin gold cerulean hematite green. Stillman and Birn mixed media Zeta.

Ttyl yoga time soon.

Margaret xoxoxo

Day 933 Urban Sketching

February 7, 2017February 7, 2017Leave a comment

Went sketching downtown with my sweet friend AC Daniel. We ended up at the Soy Noodle house eating. Gotta keep your strength up. So far this is my fav sketch done that day. It looks terrible after I painted it but turned it into a journal page with the lettering.

Stillman and Birn Zeta Pentel Brush Pen and Lamy EF. My whisky painter travel palette and waterbrushes.

Wish I had taken a photo of it before the lettering. The brown was just dullllll.

Pleased to announce Augusta is having its first Urban Sketchers meeting. Hopefully Sunday February 12 at Earthfare Meeting Room at 1 pm. Click on the link to join our facebook page, to keep up to date, and to see our art!!! Lots of sketching will be going on.
Ttyl

Margaret xoxoxo who had to work on her sketchbookskool homework.

Day 928 Getting Squirrely

February 2, 2017Leave a comment

The back porch squirrels and their antics are always fun to sketch. A ready model. Cheap. Will work for bird seed anywhere anytime anyplace. And of course I like to imagine what they are thinking as they gobble. Really need to name them Oreck and Dyson or Hoover. Miele?!

Drawn with a Lamy Safari in a Stillman and Birn Zeta mixed media.

Colors. Background Quinn gold squirrels cerulean Piemonte ultramarine. Splattered with Quin sienna or burnt orange.

Have a go at the squirrels. The back porch birds are fun to draw too. Use some gestures. It doesn’t have to look just like a particular squirrel it just had to look like a squirrel – the way they hold their food and hunch up over thier paws or spread their tails. Fun stuff.

Ttyl

Margaret off to look downtown and see what there is to sketch in this 72 degree day of sunshine. Xoxoxo

Day 922 You Knew It

January 27, 2017Leave a comment

Part 2 Dr Sketchys. I did more than a dozen sketches Wednesday nite. And met friends for a delicious dinner at Bees Knees before. Avocado chop chop. Who knew a baked avocado could be So delicious. Loaded with crab. I really must draw one. And the rainbow trout perfection. All the while we sat in a store display window eating all this deliciousness.

Going to have to go back and snap some pics when the bar is full. Love this shot it just needs people.

More jujitau sketches. This one was five minutes I think.

Hmm his head is too small I think. Hard to tell now with no reference pic.

We were suppose to add a monkey to this contest sketch but darn I forgot. Too busy drawing and painting.

Not bad but head is off. Ilaina really is a gorgeous woman inside and out. Doesn’t do her justice.

The best of three attempts. Body is good but face too cute.

Chin too long. Legs too short. As I told Rachel I peaked too early. Lol.

And oh my – legs ridiculously short. Actually head doesn’t look bad. The vagaries of fast sketching.

Another contest sketch. I will actually be selling this one at Wet Paint an auction for Greater Augusta Arts Council Feb 18. Funny while sketching it I realized that I had no idea what an ak 47 or a kolishnikof looks like. I don’t even know how to spell the later. lol.

Busy day. Ttyl

Margaret who needs to shed Her cat and dog blanket and get dressed. Xoxoxo

Day 611 – Stick fun!

March 4, 20164 Comments

I have been playing with my stick bamboo stick all week. Done a sketch everyday. The Carbon Black ink from Gouletpens works best with my stick. Not the India ink. It seems to load on the stick better.

Anyway after I tried to shade the ibis in the back grey since he’s in the shadow I decided to do negative painting in the background letting the ink puddles bleed into the brush water to make various shades of grey.

It seems impossible to get control of that ink flow. It leaves a lot of hard edges which are great for Key West underbrush but not on a bird.

After the grey puddles dried a little I went back in and drew ink lines in for sticks on the ground.

If I could change this I would get rid of the grey on the farthest back ibis.

This is yesterday’s ibis. I actually like them except for all the black. These are young ibis and have a lot of mottled grey on their necks.

Maybe I will redraw them and add some background? I think they are funny. The Ibis at the Key West Wildlife Center are beggars and wait for snacks aka dog food that was fed to them.

My favorite still are the chickens. I don’t know why but I LOVE chickens.

Did I say writing with a stick does not produce the most graceful writing?

Here’s another chicken sketch done earlier. I can’t imagine dong this on location. I would have an inky mess everywhere. Not good when it’s permanent and very black!!

I also had a paper problem. I used my beloved 93 # Aquabee first but the ink is so thick from the stick that I got out my #98 Canson mixed media sketchbook and used it. No more ink soaking they the paper. At least not yet.
And here’s Livia again. One of the first sketches withy the stick from last Sunday. I don’t know why I didn’t notice one of her legs is smaller than the other. But that’s an easy fix. Sketching frequently had a lot of surprises like a too skinny leg.
Enjoy your day. Happy stick sketching.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 508 – A Few Ibis

December 1, 2015December 1, 2015Leave a comment

I counted at least eight sketches of ibis that I drew at the Key West Wildlife Center.

The ibis were painted with cerulean and piemonite. Makes a lovely purply color. The beaks are cad red and Winsor yellow. The legs the same with more Quin red added to it.

The leaves are viridian Inathradone blue and Quin cold. And the ground. Any color I could use to give it texture.

Go find an ibis. Great fun to draw.

Back to my cold. Thanks for reading

Margaret xxx

Day 479 Two days to Paris 😳

November 2, 2015November 3, 2015Leave a comment

Well at least we leave then. Lol. Be in Paris by 2 pm Thursday.

Been raining cats and dogs do I am posting all of the family dogs but one today.

A quick sketch of my lab Honey. She walked off before I finished it but decided to paint it this am. Painted with ultramarine blue and burnt umber.
Grant – my sons newest put bull. Drawn with a Lamy Vista using Carbon Paltinum Black ink.

Drawing a new dog is always a challenge. To top it off he’s black and white. I smeared the ink with my finger to try to make his black more solid. I actually drew him three times before I was happy with him.

I wish I could give u some dog drawing tips but the only one I can give u is that a dog like a person or a horse is just geometric shapes. Check out Richard Schmidts wonderful Alla Prima book which is what he says about drawing anything. They are all just shapes.

Livia my sons other pitty. Small sketch with a Kuretake brush pen loaded w Platinum Carbon Black ink.

Lucy dog my youngest sons Briard Colie mix. Such a good puppy.

My other dog Zoe watching me pack. Maybe I should stick her in the suitcase?! I have enough room.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 478 – finishing up

November 1, 2015November 3, 2015Leave a comment

WIP??? Mermaid Lorelei and Mermaid McKenzie 11×14 super Aquabee tablet

Not sure these are done but at least they have some color now. Getting into travel mode so I used my travel Palette with Winsor Newton colors and my cotman palette with quinacridones.

The background in this painting is cerulean and yellow ochre. I may darken with ultramarine or inathradone to make the mermaids pop.

Remember this is what it looked like?

WIP – Mistress Princess Augusta – 11×14 drawn when I was done with one of the long mermaid poses. Her right arm still has problems. She was not posed so she was moving a lot and I drew her right arm too long. I shortened it with negative painting but now I think it is a smidge too narrow.
TIP: Really love her skirt. Both of these paintings were done wet on wet after watching a how to impressionistic watercolor video on Marcon Chews website http://www.marvinchew.com/ (You will have to scroll down for the video. Could not copy the exact irk for u! 😐) about wet on wet painting.The skirt turned out especially well I think. Done with ultramarine and burnt umber added to a wash of water that I painted on the skirt first. The background was done the same way.

I added the bowler hat to the original sketch.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 477 – last of Dr Sketchys

October 31, 2015November 3, 2015Leave a comment

Happy Halloween!!

The first three are all drawn with my Noodler Konrad and Lexinton Grey ink. The colors are all Winsor Newton watercolor markers a few tombows and Wink of Stella Glitter pens.

Mermaid Lorelei and Mermaid McKenzie. What librarians do when they are not working!! Wear mermaid costumes and makeup like a character from Avatar.

My two favorite mermaid sketches. Thier costumes were awesome which is why I saved them for Halloween. This was a twenty minute pose that had ten minutes added to it.

I was done in twenty minutes so i started sketching Princess Augusta our hostess.

Mermaid Lorelei and Mermaid McKenzie

Twenty minute sketch. If I ever sit down to watercolor these this one will be great. I barely had time to start painting.

This was a ten minute sketch. I spent most of the time on the tail. Much more fun coloring than the human part. I really like the tail part but the human part not so much.

Mermaid Lorelei

Looking at that part of would be an easy fix. Shave a tad off the right side of her face and draw in her right upper arm. Oops the things u miss when unate drawing fast. The last one with the Kuretake brush pen. Sometimes I just draw better with one than the other. I changed to my Noodler Konrad.

Day 476 – Dr Sketchys part 2

October 30, 20154 Comments

One more day in Inktober. The end is nigh!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Love this mermaid pose. Mermaid Lorelei who is on Instagram was great. Held poses like a pro not the librarian she is in real life.

This one needs her pretty quotient raised. Murray body. Face not so much.
All the poses and sketches are fast fast. Some poses are a minute. Some are five minutes. Longest pose is usually twenty minutes. The models though fascinating are not professionals. Sometimes they never hold still so you better draw fast. Draw the head draw the shoulders and work on down. Don’t go back. After three hours and ten large sketches I was exhausted. I intend to go back and finish these but between going to school packing for Paris, babysitting grandkids and dogs I haven’t. I will I promise.