Day 379 – Ice Cream!!

July 22, 20155 Comments

Ita summer time and it is warm outside!! Time to eat ice cream. With the help of yelp we discovered this tasty ice cream shop called Two Spoons.

They have all kinds of designer ice cream like toasted coconut and cinnamon bun vanilla ice cream. The strawberry has huge chunks in it. The waffle cone was incredible. So thin and crispy and light. Delectable.

Right on the main drag Roosevelt next to Five Guys. Also has a parking lot full of chickens that will pose for photos.

We also voted him most gorgeous Key West chicken. I took these today when I stopped by to feed him as I promised for earlier photos of him. He obliged. Have fun drawing him if you want!!

Most of the Key West roosters are russet and black. This is the only buff one we have seen. I did see one today with a few black and white feathers. I sketched a lot of chickens today.

All the chickens on Key West are federally protected. So they breed and multiply everywhere. These are in the USPS grounds living under a few big trees loaded with seed pods. After I drew them I put some fresh pods down on the ground for them to eat.
Back to the sketch. It’s about 48″ long done on Stonehenge paper. Lovely heavy stuff. With my Pentel brush pen that started to run out of ink. I know I need to add a few more chicks. The real question dear reader is should I paint them or leave them black and white?! What do you think?!

After sitting on a law offices steps to sketch these cuties and an almost three mile walk I went to a nearby starbucks on Duval for water and to chill out drawing people that walked by. Hard to get a site line on passer us. A lot of the people are combos.

Paint or not?!

So many pictures. About 9 am I did start the day urban sketching this awesome Art Deco aka South Beach style hotel the Pegasus on Duval and Southard. I meant to have it painted to share today but wandered the city and was worn out from all the walking in the heat.

Here’s a photo of The Pegasus if you want to have a go at it. Don’t you love the colors?!

Would love to see what u do with some of the photos.

Thanks for reading. Sofa time!!

Margaret xxx

Day 378 – a little Heaven – Blue Heaven

July 21, 20153 Comments

Blue Heaven is a wonderful funky restaurant on the corner of Petrona and Thomas.

Blue Heaven – the colors are so Key West – Sooner or later this will be a painting but If you want to paint it feel free.

It’s been various things over the years including the place Hemingway had cock fights and a bordello. Now it’s an open air restaurant where u done with chickens under feet. The food is wonderful which is why I drew their eggs Benedict with pink Key West shrimp.

A band jammed under an umbrella.
Eggs Benedict with pink Key West shrimp.

There’s even a chicken graveyard as well as an artist selling some great chicken paintings.

The wait for a table can be long unless you are there by 9am but they have plenty of chairs to wait in. Sometimes there’s a band. Sometimes there isn’t.
The view from our table. LOTS of shade.

A funny sign on our table.
Andy’s Cabana across the street on Petrona. The home of the most delicious fish taco I have ever eaten. Also owned by the people at Blur Heaven.

One of the iguanas at our condo. I call him Mango. He poses for me most days. I talk to him and tell him to hold still I just want to take his picture. He poses for me. He’s not always benevolent. A 7-8 yr old boy was chasing him and throwing twigs at him. Mango whipped him with his tail. He’s got a very long tail. He’s at least 4 feet long. OUCH!

A key West Iguana tale. They are cold blooded animals. Occasionally it does get pretty cold in Key West. Iguana live in the trees. During one cold snap they started falling out of the trees. One of the locals decided to clean up the island and started throwing them in the back seat of his car. The car was warm. The iguanas woke up and tried to desperately claw their way out of his car. They also pooped in his car. The man was so shocked with his car load of wild wide awake iguanas that he wrecked his car. Poor guy got a ticket for wreck less driving!!

Moral of theses stories don’t mess with iguanas. Lol.

But if you want to paint Andys or Mango feel free.

One more chicken. This is a handsome one from Blue Heaven which is why I posted him. Happy chicken drawing!!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 377 – and chickens

July 21, 2015July 21, 20154 Comments

I love drawing chickens. I NEVER used to understand WHY anyone would like painting drawing buying chicken paintings. Now I know. They are just fun to draw as are all birds. These are drawn with my Noodler creaper Ahab in my almost finished moleskine. Thank goodness.

I still really don’t like that paper!! The paint just seems to stick to the paper. You can not wash out the color. It just sticks. NO FUN!!

From now on I am sticking to Strathmore 500 mixed media paper or Stillman and Birn Zeta sketchbooks. NO MORE moleskine watercolor books ever again. At least I only have one more page in that moleskine!! HURRAH!!
Here’s a picture for you to draw that I took at the Wildlife Center yesterday!!

I still have to go back and draw the egret pelicans hawk and various sea birds at the Wildlife Center.
I rounded the corner there and on the sidewalk was a HUGE white egret.

I guess we were both scared.

He flew off.

If you want to draw either the egret or the chickens feel free!!
Thanks for reading!

Margaret ️xxx

Day 375 – Food Tour part 2

July 18, 20152 Comments

The whole enchilada. Wanted to post before I pass out from a fun four mile bike ride with Lloyds Bike tour. Color me worn out. Lettering done with my pentelbrush pen and my noodler creaper Ahab.

Annlises logo. Can’t go wrong with her tour. Viking would be proud to say she did their tour!! Terrific local food and local color!! And Annelise worked hard to keep us hydrated. We each got our own fresh coconut to drink. Amazing!!

All the food was delicious but I fell I love with the fish taco at Andys cabana. I have eaten a lot of fish tacos lately and this one was perfection. I also drank coffee something I NEVER EVER do. Cuban coffee from El Siboneys could be my new energy drink.

We also learned about the history, architecture, the real estate market, and the flora and fauna. She does a super tour. A native of Key West she shares her huge amount of knowledge with her clients and if she doesn’t know she doesn’t mind telling you. Chances are good she does know!!

We also got a list of other restaurants tha specialize in local fresh caught seafood and fresh local veggies. So far we have eaten at two. Louies Backyard and Camilles. Fabulous food. Just fabulous. Great atmosphere. Can’t recommend either of them enough or the Food tour.

Annlise. She’s actually prettier than this wc.
The pages

Up close for your enjoyment.
More after I recover from fun with Lloyd!! He’s so funny and so knowledgeable.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 349- Key West Finale

June 23, 2015Leave a comment

The scourge of Key West. Iguanas ravenously devour the landscape on Key West. I do love this watercolor though.

B.O.’s Fish Wagon a shady place on the corner of a parking lot made from an amazing collection of found junk. Awesome food!!

Delicioso what else can I say about B.O.’s Fish Wagon?!

Love the look of Bo’s.

Blue Heaven Garden

Was my favorite sketch before I colored it with my watercolor pencils. I know it’s getting a redo when we go.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 299 – Silver Wyandottes

May 3, 2015May 3, 20156 Comments

aka chickens. More of the reason I drove across the mountains. Sketching chickens is THE most fun and I highly recommend giving it a go.

Silver Wyandottes are interesting looking chickens. With white diamond and a swirl of light feathers streaked with black around their heads.

Stillman and Birn Zeta with a Noodler Conrad Flex loaded with Lexington Grey ink. I am actually not sure if all these chickens were Silver Wyandottes but they are colored like they are.

The bottom left chicken was colored with a tombow pen. It’s fun to wet them and see them run. You can lift the colors. I thought it might be a good way to color these oddly colored birds. Actually I think the Tombow was a little strong for these chickens. Next I tried a black and an indigo inktense pencil. Things were going better. The blue softened the black. I drew a diamond pattern all over the hens bodies. Then I added white gouache after the inktense dried. The benefit of inktense is that once it dries its permanent and you can paint over it. White gouache was also used around the beaks and heads to eliminate dark grey lines I didn’t want especially on the big chicken on the right. That defined the face and beak better. The waddles and red bits on the head where colored with watercolor pencils- red yellow and orange! The background is 2 light blue watercolor pencils and a purple one for shadows. White gouache was brushed over the neck feathers to make them look fluffier.

My gift to you this Sunday is these chicken picture so you can join in the chicken sketching fun. At least these aren’t running anywhere. Have fun and I would love to see what you do with them.

Don’t forget to draw the silver Wyandotte earlier on this post.