How many can you draw? Evidently I can draw a lot of them!!
Here’s a couple more. Did I say I have a lot of Ibis?!
The first three were quite involved sketches. Then I ran out of background ideas!! Oops. More morrow.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Three times is the charm they say! Wordpress keeps eating my post today. These were all drawn on site at the Key West Wildlife center. I counted at least 8-10 pages of ibis sketches.
Stay tuned tomorrow for painting details. Want to be sure WordPress behaves before I write one more long post.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
my sons English fox hound mix rescue is spending some time with his grandma.
All the drawings are app. 6×12. If you are interested in having me draw your dog email me at m c m h u nt @ me. Com
Wesley Noodler Creaper Ahab Platinum carbon Black ink.
All the drawings are app. 6×12. If you are interested in having me draw your dog email me at m c m h u nt @ me. Com
Every Monday I try to win the Goulet Pen giveaway. Every Tuesday I DONT!! Reminds me of when I buy a lottery ticket. Lol.
I suppose I did actually win because I like these sketches a lot. And I like to draw dogs a lot. Wesley was a very cooperative subject as he snoozed on the sofa chaise on top of a quilt.
One relaxed dog. Noodler Konrad with Lexington Grey Ink.
I usually start by drawing the spine and the top of the head a modified contour drawing. I also bear down on the pen like I did on his legs to make a variety of lines.
You have to love a Noodler Flex Nib pens ability to do that. All the lines on the first three pics were done with a Noodler Flex Nib. It works simalarly to a dip pen and usually not quite the mess.
The first two drawings were colored with the Noodler pens. I smudged the ink with my finger as I went.
Did I say he likes to sleep!? Noodler Konrad with Lexington Grey Ink. This one is just cross hatched. I left light areas to give an effect of the shine on his black fur.
Dogs can sleep for hours and just rearrange giving you new drawing opportunities. This one was the first one I drew. Done with a Pentel brush pen. His jaw was a little too wide so I started over again this time with a Noodler pen which allows me more control. Sometimes it takes a few sketches of a new dog to get him down pat just like it does when you draw a new model.
The sketches are posted in the reverse order that I drew them. Wesley’s head is the last one I drew of him.
Back to key West sketches tomorrow. I think I drew enough while I was there to post for the rest of the month. Lol. Hmm maybe I should save some of them for while I am in Paris?!
Thanks for reading.
Margaret ️xxx
As we sadly left the Keys we made a return trip to Buzzards Roost on Key Largo. I drew this as we waited for our order to arrive. As usual the service was not super though our waitress was an overworked sweetheart (too many tables) this time but the view was still gorgeous!!!
The view
Drawn with my Noodler Creaper loaded with Platinum Carbon Black ink.
The food was amazing this trip. We ate Mahi Mahi wraps. Oh my gosh it was sooo good. We both kept the second half of our sandwich for dinner. Sadly we ended up throwing it out since we never ate dinner that nite. Nobody wants tomaine poisoning on a four hundred mike drive.
I also sketched the marine at Garden cove. This was our view from our table minus the bank of flowers across the edge. 
Here it painted. The yellow in the palms and on the boats is Quin gold. I like the glow it gives to the shadows on the boats.
If a storm had not been blowing in I could sit here for hours drawing and enjoying the view. Garden Cove is just a gorgeous place. A piece of Heaven!!
A year and 25 days now of consecutive blogging.
Buzzards Roost on Key Largo. The restaurant has an amazing view of Garden Cove out to the Atlantic or is it the Florida Straits?! Eating out on the covered deck is hard to beat surrounded by beautiful, water boats and amazing flowers.
We actually ate there twice. The first time was coconut shrimp. Fried a little too long to suit my taste. I like my shrimp fried in three and a half minutes period. The second meal was much better. 
Otherwise they start to get tough. It was still good not great. The staggering view more than made up for the lack of superior food and so so wait staff.
Stay tuned tomorrow for more Buzzards Roost sketching and food
About the watercolor : all the water was painted wet on wet. Palm Trees were painted light yellow and allowed to dry. Touches of Quin gold were added. They were then painted w a variety of greens and Inathradone blue for the darks.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret ️xxx
Duval Street – $150 app 8×40″ Heavy Stonehenge paper
I actually drew this one after I drew the chickens. I was so hot I sat in the Starbucks on Duval drawing passersby.
I tried to give them a tropical feel. Crowds on Duval do not look like an Atlanta crowd or the denizens of my favorite cafe Inner Bean or customers running into Earthfare.
Tank tops tshirts short shorts sunglasses and flip flops are the order of the day. Chickens use the crosswalks and palms line the road.
I tried to use bright tropical colors to give a tropical feel to this long strip.
It was not the best vantage point to see people to sketch quickly. They went by TOO quickly. Mere seconds.
TIP: This was drawn with a Pentel brush pen. I actually have two brush pens because drawing these strips use up the ink. Hate to run out while drawing a strip.
I generally start with the shoulders and next the head.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret ️xxx
Key West Post office chickens. $150 app 8x 40″
Sorry about the cropping. My iPhone refused to let me crop it closer.
These were drawn at the post office while I sat on the steps of a lawyers office. The chicks got really friendly. But the two roosters were vigilant as usual!
I tried to paint them loosely with a large paint brush a #12 Cheap Joes Legend.
I also tried to let the colors blend on the page unless I did some negative painting. When I do negative painting I usually paint the light color and let it dry. Then I add the darker colors.
Colors used burnt sienna and Quin gold. Cad red and vermilion for the comb. Inathradone blue and viridian green for the tails. Burnt umber added to make a black.
The chicks were painted with Winsor yellow Quin gold burnt sienna and burnt umber.
A dab of white gel pen on the eyes for sparkle.
I splattered its with Inathradone and burnt umber.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret ️xxx
I may be growing tired of painting Key West chickens. I painted quite a few today. All of them were painted wet on wet.
Thought we all needed a joke on Thursday. This is actually one of the court house chickens I drew while walking around one afternoon. There are more courthouse and post office chickens and wild life center chickens. Too many chickens lol.
Here’s another court house chicken who was near a homeless guy who was laying in the sidewalk on Whitehead enjoyingy the shade of a palm tree.
The Palm was first painted Winsor yellow then green apatite and finally cobalt with dabs of cad red.
The chickens are painted with Quin red orange Quin gold Quin red Inathridone blue and viridian green.
Thanks for reading.
Better paintings tomorrow nite.
Thanks for reading.
I may be growing tired of painting chickens. I painted quite a few today.
Thought we all needed a joke on Thursday. This is actually one of the court house chickens I drew while walking around one afternoon. There are more courthouse and post office chickens and wild life center chickens. Too many chickens lol.
Here’s another court house chicken who was near a homeless guy who was laying in the sidewalk on Whitehead enjoyingy the shade of a palm tree.
The Palm was first painted Winsor yellow then green apatite and finally cobalt with dabs of cad red.
The chickens are painted with Quin red orange Quin gold Quin red Inathridone blue and viridian green.
Thanks for reading.
Better paintings tomorrow nite.
Thanks for reading.
Some of my favorite things about key west is the wildlife.
The double page in my Moleskine watercolor book. I decided they were the last double spread because they are so iconic in Key West. Literally they are everywhere behind and under almost any bush, in the parking lots, under the tables in your favorite restaurant. You can not help but fall I love with them.
A few chicken stories!
Chickens actually use the crosswalks to cross the busy streets. I saw them do it with my own two eyes. Truly they do. And I love following them around to draw them.
Roosters. Indispensable to their families. If you feed the chickens the roosters let the hens and chicks eat first while they are on the look out for enemies. Keeps the species going. I never thought a rooster could be so thoughtful and protective of his brood though I have seen a male Cardinal take care of his babies. 
Ibis at the Wildlife Center. What a hoot. They follow you around i hopes of a snack. And seem to pose like this one.
One of my favorite Watercolors I did at Key west. The wildlife center ibis.
A few of the eight or so ibis sketches I did at the wildlife center last Saturday. Or was it Friday?! In Key West the days run into each other.
I spent a lot of time taking pics of iguanas. They are so fascinating. Living dinosaurs.
My favorite finished iguana sketch. 
This guy a big grey one was begging with the ibis til he got scared and leapt into a tree. They are SO fast. And he was big. More than four feet long. He blended right into the palm tree.
We fondly nicknamed this one Mango. A big fellow at the condos. I stalked him talking to him nicely. He would begrudgingly pose. Later we saw him repeatedly whip a kid who was throwing stuff at him. OUCH!! I don’t blame Mango one bit. Someone should have been watching the kid. Evidently iguanas also have razor sharp teeth. They hang out in the trees in Key West and would rather run climb or swim away than get in a fight.
A large green one. I think this is my favorite color but they are all so gorgeous like a watercolor and blend right into their surroundings.
Sunrise in the Keys. Going to miss these too. Enough for today. Can’t wait to get home and get my paintbrush busy!
Thanks for reading!
Margaret xxx
Margaret McCarthy Hunt Art 