Category: Georgia

Day 343 -Urban Sketching

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  Couldn’t resist drawing at the beauty salon today while I waited. Actually fun to draw except I didn’t quite finish before it was my turn. I filled the gap with the sign on the left. 

My favorite part is the toes of the girl in the chair. Drawing the reflections in the mirror was interesting. A lot of complicated shapes what were not in my sight line like the shelves full of towels. 

You probably know feb colors I used by now BUT if u don’t. Blacks burnt umber and inanthradone blue. You could use ultramarine instead. Wall color yellow ochre and cerulean. Shadows mineral Violet and cerulean. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 339 – Sgt. Wyatts Bar B Que

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Sgt Wyatts Barbecue is around the corner from one of my kids.  I keep thinking we need to stop. It’s so funky and charming it’s been on my to draw list for a while. It’s bright yellow and sags a lot. Smoke billows from the chimney. 

 I found this photo of the side fence when I was looking for more information about it.  I forgot to write on two signs and used artistic license after I found this photo on http://foodio54.com/restaurant/Atlanta-GA/20836/Wyatts-Diner. Evidently the food is really good. It’s moved up my list to try next time I am in East Atlanta. Most of the reviews are great. 

The old Chevrolet truck was at Flying Biscuit on Piedmont Ave. I think I need an old Chevy truck. Thought of fit with the funkiness of Sgt Wyatts building so I added it.  

Yellow is Aureolin yellow and yellow Ochre, grey my current fav Inathradone blue and burnt umber. Green roof was painted with a viridian green dulled with a burnt sienna. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 337 – More Ponce Market

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My favorite side of the old Sears building now known as Ponce Market.  Both have problems. 

 
I drew this one first but really had just wanted to feature the tower and the sign. Love that sign.  Vintage but brand new. 
TIP: Since I didn’t use a pencil or a ruler you might be wondering how i get all those lines parallel and fairly straight. I put the pen on the paper with my hand on the side of the paper and run it down the page with my hand sliding down the edge of the paper. It really does work. Try it. 

Colors same as yesterday.  Noodler Creaper Ahab loaded with Carbon Platinum Black Ink.  Stillman and bIrn Alpha.  The color was hard to move on the sky and blotched. That did not make me happy.  Oh well.  They are done right?! 

Thanks for reading! 

Margaret xxx

Day 335 – Thirty Days to

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go till I make a year of daily blogging. On the downhill slide. 

 
A sort of contour drawing of Bear who decided to move in the middle of the drawing. I have drawn him so many times I can get him more or less right even so. 

He’s a big brown brindled pitty that somebody dumped.  Wisely Bear attached himself to my son Ben two years ago and there he stays. He’s really a very laid back relaxed dog who would rather be petted than ever chew on you.  He was fun to journal about with my Noodler Creaper Ahab in Carbon Platinum Black ink. 

Once again he was painted with Quin burnt sienna and ultramarine blue, Inathridone blue and burnt umber was added for the stripes and shadows. 

The background started as a dirty grey cerulean.  I stood the sketch book at a 90 degree angle and let bits of Quin burnt sienna, yellow ochre, Inathridone blue for the drops and splats. 

I thought about painting the background another blue layer to even put the color but decided I liked it as is and left it alone.

  

Here’s the whole double page spread. I thought you would like to see it. 

  

I am going to enter it in a win a free pen and ink contest on Instagram. They like to know what the pen and ink is in writing plus a photo of the pen. The white page looked so plain I quickly wrote one of my favorite dog quotes and painted the leftpage to match the right page.  

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 332  – Those Darn Squirrels

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On our day trip to Columbia SC  Tuesday we stopped by City Art which is carries all the supplies for both Charels Reid and Mary White then we went to Nonnahs and last Mast General on Main Street ended we found this super SQUIRREL PROOF bird feeder. 

  Mast General Store an old fashioned general store on Main St. The original is in Valle Crucis near Boone NC. 

The squirrels are gluttons for bird seed gobbling voraciously. This bird feeder is actually squirrel proof. They are now entertaining us trying to figure out how to get into it. The top locks on and the bar across the front licks the seed up when the weight of the squirrels sets it. LOVE it. They don’t. They are actually hanging out on the porch rails staring at it with occasional attach forays and leave soon after. Very entertaining to watch their consternation over the shut off food supply. And of course they sit there staring making them easy subjects to draw. 

Colors used. Inked with my Noodler creaper Ahab loaded with platinum carbon black my go to ink. Greys cerulean and burnt sienna or Inathridone and Burnt umber for darker greys on squirrels. All done wet on wet. Bird feeder is vermilion and cad red medium. Same greys were used on the roof. Background is cerulean toothbrush  splattered with Inathridone blue. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx 

Day 331 -Tom Cat

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and painting greys.  

 

Tom spent a long time on the sofa grooming today. You have to wonder why cats do that. He’s always immaculate. 

He’s drawn and lettered with my Noodler Creaper Ahab. I painted Tom with a wash of orange and then laid in Quin burnt sienna for the stripes and to warm up the orange. The Quin burnt sienna was added when he was wet and when he was dry.  He’s really almost red in some light. A dark auburn. Darks are done with burnt umber and Inathridone blue. 

Greys. Watercolor makes lovely greys. Combine any blue with any brown or yellow ochre and you can get a wide variety of interesting greys. 

  Here are a few I made that way. 

Sometimes you end up with too much brown in the grey. Better to end up with too much blue!! You can darken the grey by using less water. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 330 – urban sketching?

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is sketching a friend at breakfast at a local restaurant considered urban sketching?! 

 

  Lowered the left eyebrow. It was too high. Still a bit too high but better. 

Doesn’t look a bit like Marsha. She kept moving. So I am blaming her for the poor likeness.  

I did have a good time dripping and splattering the painting and that’s what counts right?! 

   

Really like the hair.  It was washed with burnt sienna and the darkened with tiny bits of cobalt, burnt umber, mineral Violet and Inathridone blue after the initial wash dried. Fun stuff. 

 Colors used: Quin coral and ochre for skin, vermilion, mineral purple and cobalt,  Inathridone blue for blouse,  mineral purple and burnt sienna for shadows. Hair is burnt sienna, cobalt, burnt umber and Inathridone blue. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx

Day 328 – Quick Dog Sketches

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The Watch Dogs aka Pits on guard

Happy June!!  Can hardly believe it’s amer again! 

After one false start this one went very well. The two dogs were guarding the house while strangers were getting giveaways on Craigslist  off the porch. 

They will sit still barking their heads off for what seems like hours.  This sketch took at most ten minutes and perhaps ten to color it.  Quick and dirty.  It was done with my Noodler creaper Ahab loaded with carbon platinum plus. The ink should not have run. Maybe I will make this mixed media when I get home by adding a piece of ledger paper over the lettering on the right. 

Tips aka How I did it. Colored with Caran d’ache watercolor crayons wet with a waterbrush.  The brindle pitty was a problem as usual with his tiger striped coat. I started with the same colors as the fawn pit bull Livia. Then I added black to Bear. I wet it down hitting it here and there with the waterbrush. If I had brushed the water on it it would have blurred the colors. 

The blinds were done by coloring with  a burnt umber crayon and washing the blinds with it. Then letting the wash dry and drawing new lines on the blinds with the  burnt umber crayon. 

I had thought about getting my fine mister out and spraying it allowing the colors to run.  Glad I didn’t. I really do like this sketch. The mister spray effect is totally unpredictable. 

  

This is the first attempt at drawing them. A contour sketch that didn’t have room for all of Bear the pit on the left or all of Livias tail or the chair. Sometimes it’s just easier to start over. 

Thanks for reading!!

Margaret xxx

Day 326 Flying High

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Went out to lunch yesterday with my sister in law Jan at the Peachtree DeKalb Airport where they were preparing for their Spring Open House. We watched the planes come

And go during lunch. Then I decided to draw a few.  All their antique WW2 planes lined up asking to be drawn. 

These were drawn on site with a Noodler Creaper Ahab in my Stillman and Birt Alpha painted with watercolor and touches of white get pen. 


The Grumann Avenger Torpedo Bomber was the first one I drew. A nice Navy blue. How could u resist it shining in the sun, saying draw me?! 

Sometimes crosshatching the background fixes mistakes but NOT this one. I think A bad line would have been better. Planes are hard to draw because there are so many angles going every which way. Typical perspective rules apply but don’t seem too. Easy to get off track. 

I tried to stay on track by looking at the angles of the real wings compared with the angles I drew on the page starting with the fusillade then adding wings and tails. As it is I forgot to add the tail gun. So many small details it’s easy to miss a few. 

When I got home I looked up the plants to try to figure out which ones they were. The Grumann Avenger was the plane Pres George Bush flew in WW2. 

The navy blue is a mix of ultramarine and black a color I rarely use. It was hard to get a deep deep blue without the black. 

 
Next was the infamous WW 2 Mitsubishi Zero famed for dogfights in and kamikaze missions in the Pacofoc campaign. We thought surely it was not a zero but it had that big red circle on it. We knew what that meant. I looked it up and yes it was. This was fairly easy to draw. Profile views are easter even in a plane. Even the military green was easy. A bright green mixed with yellow ochre. Piece of cake.   Success at last. I added a touch of Quin burnt sienna to the cad red of the circle. 

  
Not sure what kind of plane this is. A WW2 Army Spotter plane I was told. Of course now the tail says USAF. Hmm I noticed that as I was drawing. 

I used the same greens on this plane as the zero. The gold is Quin gold. Yellow ochre was just being when I tried it. Grey is ultramarine and Quin burnt sienna. 

More planes tomorrow and a comparison of paint. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret XXX

Day 325 – Dog Days

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dog sitting my sons pit bulls. 

  
Bear is always a challenge to paint with his brindle fur. First he was painted with a mix of Quin gold and Quin burnt sienna. Then I daubed in burnt umber and ultramarine for the blackish brindle in his fur. I also added the shadow under him when the fur was still wet. And that’s all I did. It was all wet on wet except the dab of muddy Quin red in his ears. 

  
Livia is always interesting to draw with her curves. And fairly easy to paint. A wash of Quin gold, burnt umber shadows and burnt umber and ultramarine to make a black for her muzzle. 

Thanks for reading.  

Margaret XXX