Day 458 – Zoe

October 11, 20152 Comments

Zoe Pentel brush pen in Superaquabee tablet

It’s not easy to draw an all white FLUFFY Jack Russel with black ink. Her fur is very wispy with a Mohawk down her back and bushy eyebrows. Impossible to draw those bushy white eyebrows with black ink. Zoe is a broken coat which means she has long hair AND short hair. An extra challenge.

Then there is her muzzle with black nose and lips and white hair with dots and a greyish cast. 😜 another inky challenge!!
So I started shading which was done by smearing ink with my fingers before it dried completely. The ink is permanent so if you wait to long it won’t move on most paper.

A redraw with my other non waterproof Pentel brush pens could be fun but we are off to the Magnolia cemetery ghost walk one of the most haunted spots in Augusta GA and the Hispanic festival. Hoping for lots of opportunities for sketching and photos for paintings!! And NO rain.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 456 -Inktober continues

October 9, 2015October 10, 2015Leave a comment

Sometimes you need a do over. I actually drew this street cafe in Aiken twice. This is number two. I started drawing the horse first with my Lamy vista fine point but it would not draw. Which is why it looks so scratchy. The ink would not flow. I threw in the towel and used the Noodler Konrad loaded with Platinum Carbon black ink.

It was going well till I smeared the eyes of the lady on the right. Oops. I used a white gel pen to try to fix them. I also could have used gouache and painted the scene but have not had time. It might help if I stayed home.

Actually the first drawing. So why else did I redraw?! Terrible eyes. And things in the wrong places. I ran out of room for the horse. Ooops!!

Here is the photo the sketch is based on. That’s it for today from the river where the water is still muddy but behaving staying in its banks. Something to be thankful for in the state or South Carolina- a river that does not flood.

Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx

Day 452 More Coloring Book Painting

October 5, 2015Leave a comment

Still watching the river!! Hoping everyone is staying high and dry during this monsoon.

Inktober 5 – Ladies at the Bean loved this group as they sat and chatted away a rainy morning. Hmm well I think the lady on the left is great but the lady on the right is not bad either. Lol

The left lady had the greatest expressions and was birdlike in the tilt of her head.

Drawn with my Noodler Konrad and Platinum Carbon Black ink.

Jan – love the wet and wet colors in the quilt which is cobalt cerulean Winsor yellow and Quin gold. Skin muddied Quin coral and yellow ochre. Hair burnt sienna and inathradone.

The Yakker or is it The Smoker?! Can u find her cigarette??? How she managed to keep that cigarette in her mouth while she talked like crazy I have NO idea. She was so entertaining to watch. She was larger than life in every way from her huge purse to her ample proportions.

Skin is burnt sienna or Quin sienna. Not sure which. Quin red shirt. Hair is inathradone and burnt umber. Cigarette is white gouache.

Day 451 – A few Paintings

October 4, 2015Leave a comment

Henry – background Quin gold. Sofa Quin sienna and Quin burnt orange – skin Quin coral and French yellow ochre

Got the nasty virus still that half of the people in Augusta seem to have but forced myself to paint some in my coloring book aka my ink sketches.

About Henry sketch. Really like the way the darks make his legs pop and take shape. My favorite of the ones I painted yesterday.

Inktober day 4 – Forgot to take a pic of the black and white sketch. Oops.

Random customer at the inner bean sitting less than three Feet from me. So absorbed in her phone she didn’t notice I was drawing her.

Drawn with Noodler Konrad and carbon platinum black ink.

Hair – burnt sienna Quin burnt orange. Shirt cobalt and inathradone. Skin Quin coral and yellow ochre. Grey is cerulean and burnt sienna.

A reindeer head that was over the cabin fireplace last weekend. Why a reindeer in the western North Carolina mountains?! NO idea! A friend told me he was a moose but we decided he was a reindeer probably from Norway or Sweden. Along way from home.

Quin gold and burnt sienna wall. Same with the splatters. Grey is cerulean and burnt sienna. Piemonite and cobalt used in the shadows.

Out my back door. Glad to report the Savannah is still units riverbanks!!

Thanks for looking!! Back to watching the BIG Flood in nearby Columbia and Charleston and glad Augusta dogged the bullet.

Stay safe and dry my chickadees!

Margaret glued to WIS Columbia. Nope no football here!!

Day 451 – A few Paintings

October 4, 2015Leave a comment

Henry – background Quin gold. Sofa Quin sienna and Quin burnt orange – skin Quin coral and French yellow ochre

Got the nasty virus still that half of the people in Augusta seem to have but forced myself to paint some in my coloring book aka my ink sketches.

About Henry sketch. Really like the way the darks make his legs pop and take shape. My favorite of the ones I painted yesterday.

Inktober day 4 – random customer at the inner bean sitting less than three Feet from me. So absorbed in her phone she didn’t notice I was drawing her.

Drawn with Noodler Konrad and carbon platinum black ink.

Hair – burnt sienna Quin burnt orange. Shirt cobalt and inathradone. Skin Quin coral and yellow ochre. Grey is cerulean and burnt sienna.

Quin gold and burnt sienna wall. Same with the splatters. Grey is cerulean and burnt sienna. Piemonite and cobalt used in the shadows.

Out my back door. Glad to report the Savannah is still units riverbanks!!

Thanks for looking!! Back to watching the BIG Flood in nearby Columbia and Charleston and glad Augusta dogged the bullet.

Stay safe and dry my chickadees!

Margaret glued to WIS Columbia. Nope no football here!!

Day 449 – it’s a ViRuS

October 2, 2015October 2, 2015Leave a comment

Henry

Carbon platinum pen, superaquabee sketchbook

That half of Augusta seems to have including myself and my sister Jan who lives at my house. Sneezed and dripped our brains out. I hope you all my sweet chickadees do not have it but it’s also not a terrible virus to have. You just don’t feel up to par.

Reindeer head at the house we stayed in last weekend. I didn’t know the lives in Western North Carolina!!😳

And it’s still raining. Was hoping to go downtown tomorrow for more band sketching BUT I think hurricane Joaquin will make that a wash. Hoping it doesn’t.

Anyway that’s it for today. Tomorrow find out about the pens and ink I love and the paper too.

Thanks for reading! Stay healthy and dry!!!

Margaretxxx

Day 448 – A Few More Arts in the Hearts

October 1, 2015Leave a comment

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 447 Kerchoo

September 30, 2015September 30, 2015Leave a comment

Undoubtably the best time to sketch my grandson is when he’s watching Disney. He becomes almost immobile occasionally moving his body but mostly staring at the screen.

These were drawn in my Aquabee sketchbook with my Lamy fine point loaded with Carbon Platinum Black ink. I have been meaning to paint them as soon as my cold clears up. Hiking in the rain in the WNC Blue Ridge is not conducive to good health. Kerchoo!!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 447 Kerchoo

September 30, 2015Leave a comment

Undoubtably the best time to sketch by grandson is when he’s watching Disney. He becomes almost immobile occasionally moving his body but mostly staring at the screen.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 446 – Fauvism

September 29, 2015Leave a comment

A recent challenge to paint an acrylic self portrait in Fauvism style using a snake of complimentary colors with impasto brush strokes. Impasto is thick paint which can show the method of application. In this case a hog bristle brush.

This has been a lot of fun. Try it you might like it.

Fauvism means wild beast. Matisse was the best known painter in this school although Seurat’s pointilism is also a part of this school. Bright jarring colors were used by these artists.

Some hallmarks of Fauvism are

Strong colors but no black
Colored lines but not everywhere
The artist is painting color even if it’s not what expected
Melting lines
Thick paint
White off Canvas shows thru
Not a lot of detail
Faces done roughly

We started with a wash of background color on gessoed hardboard aka Masonite and then drew the portrait with a paint brush using a complimentary color(red) to the green background.

This is a color snake using two complimentary colors red and green plus white for tints. These were the only colors we could use. All the above colors were made from those three colors.

After the painting was underway it was ok to add a related color. Such as orange.

Here is the portrait after two hours painting. I left a lot of the original red lines showing thru.