Category: Augusta Georgia

Day 450 – Inktober

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 All I can say is WOW!!!!  450 days of consecutive daily blogging. And I didn’t think I would make thirty. 

 Jan  DAY 1

Noodler Konrad pen w carbon platinum black ink Super Aquabee tablet 

  Decided to really drove myself nuts and participate in Inktober. Aka posting an inksketch daily for the month of October. I tend to do art everyday anyway so it’s not a big stretch just to do ink sketches all month. Takes the pressure off doing watercolors too lol though I bet I end up painting some of them. 

  
Old Man at Panera Day 2 

Carbon platinum pen w carbon platinum black ink Super Aquabee tablet  

Not happy with this sketch. This guy was in his eighties. Lots of wrinkles. Eyes set deeply in his head. He was busy giving someone his power of attorney. The things you learn when you sit and quietly draw while people yammer on about their lives on their phones. 

 If I had taken a photo of him I would have redrawn him. Although the carbon platinum pen has a very fine point I don’t think it gives you the range of lines that the noodlers do. And it was hard to do any fine shading on his small face. 

  The Smoker Day 3 

Noodler Konrad pen w carbon platinum black ink Super Aquabee tablet 

What a character! A lot off wild waving of  her hands with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, bright pink shirt orange overdyed black hair. I had to draw her. 

 Notes about drawing 

All my sketches are drawn from live people not pictures unlike my finished big watercolors which are usually drawn from photos. I think it gives the drawings more life. And people that know art can actually tell they are from real life as we say. 

Drawings are more successful if I lay down one line and don’t fiddle with it. Original line is usually the best. 

Been practicing life drawing almost daily for a year. 

Faces often easier to leave them out because that’s usually where I screw up a sketch like the old man.  The heads need to be fairly large to draw a good face. 

Start drawing from the shoulders and add the head- the attention getters.  Then the rest of the body. 

Favorite pens : 

My star pens are any Noodler pen.  I have several and love their flex nib. These were done with my Konrad because my big ahab is leaking. I am going to redo the rings in the ahab. It’s hard to beat because it holds loads of ink and is cheap at $23 at http://www.gouletpens.com

I am also fond of my Lamy Vista fine point and the Carbon Platinum pen. 

Brush Pens Pentel and Kuretake. The Kuretake is an elegant Japanese pen. And very reasonable at $20ish. 

INK hands down favorite is the ultra waterproof Carbon Platinum Black from Goulet pens.  DO NOT BUY IT FROM AMAZON. The ink there looks like goulets but runs like crazy. I use CPB in my Kuretake too. It’s the reason I bought the Kuretake. The Pentel is a great brush but sometimes the ink just is not waterproof. 
Other inks I like a lot are the super waterproof De artementis DOCUMENT brown and Noodlers Lexington Grey. Also from Goulet. 

I have a Bottle of Noodlers Eelskin which is supposed to be waterproof it isn’t for me. 

Smooth paper is a must for ink sketches. Favorites are superaquabee, Stonehenge or other Bristol and strathmore Mixed media 500 and Stillman and Birn Alpha. All but the S&B Alpha do well with watercolor too. 

Ok my chickadees that’s enough for today. Hope you haven’t caught this virus half the world seems to have in Augusta Ga. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 448 – A Few More Arts in the Hearts 

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  How could I resist sketching this stylish lady who was really enjoying the Adam Harris Thompson groups music?! Such a great hat and her stance was super.  

 I am pretty sure it’s the same hat that Frankie aka Lillie Tomlin wore in the netflixs series Frankie and Grace. If not it’s a twin sister of Frankie’s hat. 
 
This guy has the most interesting face almost skeletal. He was so thin. Also irresistible to my pen. I later found him in photos posted of the eighth street stage.  

    
These are the original sketches. 

 
You can see the red ink that had been on my Noodler Konrad bleeding thru in this sketch. Have all the sketches a weird red cast after they were painted. Oh well. Hey we’re such great sketches. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 445 – a few more arts in the hearts 

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Love these two guys. The first guy was actually a walk off and I drew the rest of him after he did. He was just a cool looking guy in his African  mud cloth vest and his rakish hat. 


I also loved the look of this guy – an audience member. He sat not far from where we were drawing. About broke my neck while drawing him. He was such a dignified guy. Thanks goodness he didn’t catch me craning my next at him. 

Skin tones burnt sienna and Quinn gold with some cerulean and cobalt. 

The backgrounds.  I heard you wondering how they were done. Just lots of layers of thin color. Some of the colors used were cad red light, alizarin, cobalt blue, Daniel smith piemonite(which is lovely combined with cobalt), Quin gold and probably yellow ochre. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

 

Day 444 Hanging a Show

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 A Friend forgot she signed up for a show at our favorite cafe. And she knew someone with lots of art stockpiled so she asked me to do the show. We spent all day today wrapping and hanging and pricing the show. Took ALL day. Thank goodness it is done. 

  

Sorry the photos are so bad but it’s a rainy day and the lighting in the Bean is not the best. I also drank TWO cups of expresso to keep caffeinated and climbing up that ladder to hang paintings. 

If I climbed it once I know I climbed it 30 times!!! 

  
There’s a wide range of art- all shapes and sizes and all prices. The strips are also for sale ranging in price from $150 -$295 for the longest one. It’s almost 100 inches long. That’s only $2.95 an inch lol!! 

  
So why is it hung like wash on a line?! WHY NOT?!  We thought it would be fun. And what could be more arty than hanging art with binders clips of every shape and size. 

  
Some come on out and buy some art for Christmas presents or just because!! 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 443 Some Audience

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These two guys were leaning on a nearby wall chillin and watchin the show. You know i drew them. 

I also loved these ladies chatting away against the same wall. The old downtown Woolworths building. Are there any woolworths still?! I don’t think so.  
The lady with the balloons actually caught me and asked very sweetly to show me what I had been doing. She loved that I had been drawing them even though it had problems.  

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 442   Adam Harris Thompson Group Part 2

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This is actually the first sketch of the group. I didn’t post because it was in the sketchbook which was in my car yesterday. And I was too tired to walk down stairs to the garage and get it. 

I was really pleased with the two sketches of the group performing. They were drawn as they played and sang. And No they do not hold still. 

At some point I changed to my noodles Konrad that had been loaded with a beautiful red ink. I had decided to change it to black but neglected to clean out the pen. The no waterproof red kept leaky as I painted these. Did NOT make me happy because I really liked these sketches. And did not like the red leaky ink. 
I have since rinsed it out with water and reloaded it with fresh clean Carbon platinum black ink.  AND tested it to see if it would run. Glad to over the runs are over. 

I did find that adding yellow ochre to th Mix somewhat mitigated the red on the larger sketches but on the smaller ones in my Aquabee well sadly the red really bled. 

Thanks for reading.  

Margaret xxx

Day 442   Adam Harris Thompson Group Part 2

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  This is actually the first sketch of the group. I didn’t post because it was in the sketchbook which was in my car yesterday. And I was too tired to walk down stairs to the garage and get it. 

  I was really pleased with the two sketches of the group performing. They were drawn as they played and sang. And No they do not hold still. 

  At some point I changed to my beloved red noodler Konrad that had been loaded with a beautiful red ink. I had decided to change it to black but neglected to clean out the pen. The no waterproof red kept leaky as I painted these. Did NOT make me happy because I really liked these sketches. And did not like the red leaky ink. 

  
I have since rinsed it out with water and reloaded it with fresh clean Carbon platinum black ink.  AND tested it to see if it would run. Glad to over the runs are over. 

 I did find that adding yellow ochre to th Mix somewhat mitigated the red on the larger sketches but on the smaller ones in my Aquabee well sadly the red really bled. Thanks for reading.  

Margaret xxx

Day 440 – More Arts in the Hearts. 

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  Zaneigayha Chelon group 

Which you will be seeing for a while this week. I sketched ALOT at Arts in The Hearts a big annual juried arts and crafts festival in downtown Augusta. 

  
These were drawn at the Eighth Street Stage. She was a great little singer with her family for backup. 

  
Got to run to class. May amend the post later today. 

Thanks for reading!!

Margaret xxx

Day 439 Some arts in the hearts

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My friend Ruth and I went sketching at the eighth street stage during arts in the hearts. These ladies were sitting in a nearby row like peas in a pod and I could not resist sketching them. Less than five feet from me. 

   They were too cute. Since I was doing undercover drawing the features are off. Their noses were no were near that big!  I was really trying not to get caught. 

This was painted with my large Isabey squirrel Mop #8 on a vertical easel. 

  Will Post some of the bands tomorrow. Yes I did draw two Of the bands as they sang and played their hearts out.  They were really quite good. 

Hanging a show at the inner bean Thursday. Come by and check it out. 
Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx 

Day 437 – Sacred Heart 2

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The altar of Sacred Heart.  As a little girl I used to go with my best friend. Her family attended services here. The mystery and beauty of the old church always mesmerized me. 

The stained glass in this Romanesque church is amazing. The nave soars high above the pews lined with banks of beautiful old stained glass clerestory windows. 

The marble and gilt altar is unlike any church that I have been in. Ornate and loaded with statues of Jesus saints and angels. Topped off with soaring stained glass and a ribbed dome. So much to look at it makes you dizzy!! 
I recently attended a meeting there and drew in a strathmore 500 mixed media sketchbook with a Carbon Platinum pen while I listened to the speakers. 

More Sacred Heart tomorrow. Of course there are more sketches!! 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx