No it’s a thrasher. The Georgia state bird. Evidently kills smaller birds. Bad bird. Have a big one 11″ or very leggy at the back porch feeders. Never bothers anyone. Maybe mine is a lady thrasher. Lol
Remember my grandson said I could sell these for $3 rofl.
Watercolor pencil Kilimanjaro cp.
Margaret whose putting her feet up. Xoxoxox
After several disastrous sketches I knew I could handle our beautiful Asian model when I did this watercolor in ten minutes or so.
All sketches are 11×14 in a Super Aquabee tablet. Love that paper. Painted with my whisky painter box loaded with WN and Daniel Smith Quin coral and an old Cotman palette loaded with every quinacridone I own plus thalo blue and green black and white gouache. Painted with a pentel waterbrush.
These are all two minute sketches.
Some of these will probably be altered. 
And most are pretty awful. 
As in EEEKKK I Don’t feel good and I can’t draw a thing tonite. This one was the worst.
Better. I decided to give up my go to Dr Sketchys pen the Pentel Brush pen and use a Noodler Konrad. Life improved. I always think it’s interesting how a change of pen can improve your drawing skills when they aren’t going well.
Next We had a challenge to turn her into a fox. Evidently her stage name is Foxy. As some of you know I like to draw chickens. Follow them around at Key West to draw them or sit and watch them and sketch them. Never thought chickens could be so much fun but they are.
Really like the sketchiness of her body and legs in this one.
Ttyl another busy day. Haircut picking up paintings and back to aiken for a reception for a friends show.
Margaret xoxoxo
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
Courthouse Chickens Key West
Where else but in Key West would you find chickens at the courthouse?!
I drew these toward the end of our stay in Key West when I went on a sketchathon starting at the Key West Wildlife Center and ending at Higgs Beach sketching the people as they walked by in front of the car.
Fast sketching requires a good flowing pen – chickens birds and people don’t hold still for long!! I use my Noodler Craper Ahab or one of my two brush pens – the Kuretake or the Pentel. The first two are always loaded with Carbon Platinum Black ink which dries so rapidly. I frequently paint them later especially if the weather is extreme like in the tropical heat of key west.
I thought you might like to see the chickens before I painted them.
While in Key west I saw a lot of Chinese style brush work paintings of animals in one gallery on Duval. And decided to try it out on the long chicken strip. I liked it so much I did it on these pages too. 
There are really only a few pure colors used on the chickens. Quin gold, Quin Sienna, Quin burnt orange, Inathradone, Quin red and alizarin period. All the colors were allowed to combine on the page. Painting was done with my large cheap joes legend #12 sable even the large splatters.
Tip: To make the splatters. Choose a color or two and make a soupy mix. Fillup a large brush and gently tap over the painting. Yes I have a toothbrush but I always get little splatters not big juicy ones with it.
Probably due to heat stroke I was imagining what the chickens might be thinking as I drew. What would I think if I were a courthouse chicken?! Look there goes another felon?! Wonder what they did?! Hope I win my case?!
Before I started drawing chickens I thought roosters were mean ready to attack you at any second like the ones we had as kids. When get are with the chicks and be a they are very different beasts. They are not aggressive. Feed them and they defer to the babies and hens to eat. They also stand vigil while the hen takes care of the babies. Who knew??!
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
working on a commission. Got up so early to get a start I actually was worn out and took a nap in the bed. I always nap on the sofa IF I take a nap.
I was out at 6:45 taking photos of the dawn.
Then I actually cooked breakfast.
After that we were off to the Hemingway look alike contest at 9 at the Cypress House.
Very odd being surrounded by a bunch of white bearded guys.
They usually have about 75 entries.
You can look like a young Hemingway but most of the guys were older look alikes with white beards.
Lots of pics for painting bearded guys in hats now. Been wanting some since Fealin Lins class.
Last years winner. A funny guy. Not sure of his name. He got a medal which is the red ribbon hanging backwards around his neck.
Then I came home to get to working on the commission. Could not find my full sketchbook of Key West anywhere. I needed it to make a bigger painting of one of the sketches. Thank goodness I had good photos and got busy.
Took a break and went to eat at the Hogfosh grill. We were gonng to a shrimp place on stock island but atrip advisor review from two days ago said dogs were all over and eating at the table. We decided to got to HogFish were we knew what to expect.
Before we left we searched the trunk in the daylight and there was my sketchbook. Thanks goodness.
Here’s what I am working on.
Lots of details left to do. Hope Analise likes it. Thanks for reading.
Back to painting.
Ps if you want to paint the Hemingway look alikes feel free. They love posing!!
Margaret ️xxx
Margaret McCarthy Hunt Art 