Day 924 Gesture sketches

January 29, 2017Leave a comment

A gesture sketch is done looking at a person usually but I got annoyed with the way mine are going and decided to draw the dogs with gestures.

I think I drew these Tuesday and they were great practice for Dr Sketchys. Here are the rest of them. I really want to draw dancers this way.

Esmeralda is the top left. Quasimodo, Frollo, and Esmeralda bottom right and left.

These were all drawn while I was watching Notre Dame de Paris on YouTube. A lot of dramatic gestures good for drawing.

So how do you draw a gesture sketch!? I used a brush pen on these. No drag! It lets you draw quickly. Gesture sketches are quick – a few lines to capture the gesture.

Why practice gesture sketches so you can mail sketches at Dr Sketchys or when you are out and about drawing people on the go. It really does help.
Here’s a pile of them.

The first one I did. Eekkk.

Dancers well NO. But they were suppose to be.

More dancers. Not the greatest but better.

And a few more dancers. I like these better today than when I drew them. The feet kept disappearing when I froze tyhe video to draw the dancers or they zipped off into artistic shadows. Visually great to look at but makes drawing HARD!!

Go try it. A lot of fun.

Margaret already in her flannel jammies for this cold winter weather. Well cold by Georgia standards. 52!! 😱

Day 758 Black Dawg

July 31, 2016August 2, 201618 Comments

Happy Sunday. Busy watching Oprahs Super Soul Sunday so my post will be short.

I have a new big rug in the den and Honey evidently loves it. The lab hair I have vacuumed off of it!

So Honey is losing more hair for me now. A quick sketch in a small Aqua superbee tablet with a Noodler Konrad loaded with Carbon Platinum black ink. The red is a Tombow pen. Tombow are highly fugitive but fun to play with especially when you don’t feel like getting out the watercolors.

Ditto the first one. She looks like a fat black seal. She’s really a flabrador but it’s hard to tell her no. And then there’s a slight case of counter surfing. Bad dog.

The neighbors think her name is Biscuit because I get her to come by calling Biscuit! The dog has a serious love affair with Cracker Barrel Biscuits even when they are days old.

Knitting socks for my 93 year old dad. Malabrigo sock yarn. He’s a blue lover so these should be a hit.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

#lab #labrador #ink #sketching #art #drawing #Honey #rescuedog #puppylove #augusta #atlanta #ink #maggieinsc #dog #artist #dailydrawing #love #entertainment #portrait #life #knitting #socks #malabrigo

Day 720 Happy Fathers Day

June 19, 2016Leave a comment

My dad, a young 93, loves dogs. He’s a sucker for them. And they love him. Feeds them endless snacks. Feeds them of his dinner plate.

I should be painting something new to post. Goodness knows my sketch books are full of ink sketches begging to be painted BUT there’s a new dog in town. I am babysitting my sons rescue the sweet Wesley aka Cowdog because he’s black and white like the Chic Fil A cows.

I took a photo of this and noticed his head was too small so I added about an 1/8 of an inch along his jaw line.

Here’s the one when his head is too small.

Drawn with a Noodler Konrad with carbon platinum black ink.
Thanks for checking by! Hope you all enjoy your Fathers Day!

Margaret xxx

Day 718 A JRT or two

June 17, 2016Leave a comment

Really have to find something else to draw besides the dogs. Well at least something to practice fast sketching on.

This one is a little off but chalking it up to Zoe moving when she was giving me the Jack Russell stare while eating which means she really wants it cause she might be fainting from starvation any second if I don’t give it to her.

I did start this sketch for a really big full sheet watercolor that I have been wanting to start since I got back from Knoxville. She still has some kinks to work out before I start it.

So that’s what I have been up to today.

Thanks for checking by!

Margaret xxx

Day 617 Done and a dog or two

June 17, 2016Leave a comment

All the squiggly lines are glued down now. I like it but will live with it a while before I sign my name. My biggest problem is always deciding when something is done. But for now it is done.

Back to drawing dogs. Noodler Konrad loaded with Deartrementis document brown ink.

Begging ever hopeful Honey. She did get to lick my breakfast plate. This is drawn with a Pentel Hybrid Techna pen that I like to write with a lot. It did a good job drawing too. It’s so fine it requires a lot more cross hatching than the Konrad. The pen isn’t waterproof so a little water and smudging took care of that problem.

HOWEVER when I used it to mark grid lines to enlarge a photo I am going to paint the ink on the photo killed it.

Now I am wondering if Cheap Joes will replace it. They have a one year warranty on all their products. I got it during my class with Ted Nuttall last month and just finally used it. I used their warranty when my paintbrush had a loose ferrell and they replaced it without a problem. Cheap Joes is such a great place.

Thanks for checking by
Margaret

Day 606 – Sunday Fun!!

February 28, 2016February 28, 20162 Comments

Been drawing with platinum carbon black ink and a bamboo stick. Really a lot of fun.

I started going thru the pics to find something to draw. I mean why would I want to go outside on such a lovely day?!

Watching Downton Reruns ff thru the begathon. I already send them $$
Anyway I found a cute one of my granddaughter and drew it. I had a few too many black lines in her tiny face like the eyebrow. So I painted her w gouache.

First gouache portrait ever. Not easy but at least she’s not black from her nose to her chin.

The only way I could get a soft edge on the face shadow was to feather white over her dry cheeks. Totally different experience from watercolor or acrylic.

Gouache brands used Winsor Newton and Horadam. Colors red yellow white blue and burnt sienna.

My lab Honey drawn with the Noodler Creaper and smudged with a wet finger. She’s a very long nosed lab. Not a block headed English lab like Isis on Downton. Touches of burnt sienna gouache for her eyes.

This one was drawn with the stick too. Fun fun. I think her eyes are a little high but oh well.

Get a stick and try it. You might like it.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day482 Paris

November 5, 2015November 3, 2015Leave a comment

We should be touching down any minute in Paris. Can’t wait to get sketching in France. To stand in the haunts of some of my favorite painters Monet Degas Matisse Van Gogh and Cezanne will be amazing. To visit the Rouen cathedral that Monet painted how many times?! Got to paint it at least once.

In the meantime going to post some of my Inktober sketches that I painted with the palettes I am taking with me.

This one lit up my Instagram feed. And yes I did strip my kitchen floor. Evidently it also striped my fingernails even though I wore gloves but hey my floor looks brand new!!

A quick brush pen sketch of one of the audience members at Best of Augusta. I just loved her look and couldn’t resist sketching her. Sometimes I find the audience members much more entertaining to draw than the bands that are playing. Her skin is burnt sienna with ultramarine blue for shadows. The hair is ultramarine blue and burnt umber.

My dog Honey was painted with the Whiskey Painter palette only two colors. Ultramarine blue and burnt umber. Period.

Thanks for reading. Pass me a croissant please!!

Margaret xxx

Day 479 Two days to Paris 😳

November 2, 2015November 3, 2015Leave a comment

Well at least we leave then. Lol. Be in Paris by 2 pm Thursday.

Been raining cats and dogs do I am posting all of the family dogs but one today.

A quick sketch of my lab Honey. She walked off before I finished it but decided to paint it this am. Painted with ultramarine blue and burnt umber.
Grant – my sons newest put bull. Drawn with a Lamy Vista using Carbon Paltinum Black ink.

Drawing a new dog is always a challenge. To top it off he’s black and white. I smeared the ink with my finger to try to make his black more solid. I actually drew him three times before I was happy with him.

I wish I could give u some dog drawing tips but the only one I can give u is that a dog like a person or a horse is just geometric shapes. Check out Richard Schmidts wonderful Alla Prima book which is what he says about drawing anything. They are all just shapes.

Livia my sons other pitty. Small sketch with a Kuretake brush pen loaded w Platinum Carbon Black ink.

Lucy dog my youngest sons Briard Colie mix. Such a good puppy.

My other dog Zoe watching me pack. Maybe I should stick her in the suitcase?! I have enough room.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 476 – Dr Sketchys part 2

October 30, 20154 Comments

One more day in Inktober. The end is nigh!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Love this mermaid pose. Mermaid Lorelei who is on Instagram was great. Held poses like a pro not the librarian she is in real life.

This one needs her pretty quotient raised. Murray body. Face not so much.
All the poses and sketches are fast fast. Some poses are a minute. Some are five minutes. Longest pose is usually twenty minutes. The models though fascinating are not professionals. Sometimes they never hold still so you better draw fast. Draw the head draw the shoulders and work on down. Don’t go back. After three hours and ten large sketches I was exhausted. I intend to go back and finish these but between going to school packing for Paris, babysitting grandkids and dogs I haven’t. I will I promise.