Day 397 – Louies Back Yard

August 10, 2015Leave a comment

Louies Back Yard Key West

Whenever I go on a trip there always seems to be some leftover sketches that don’t quite get painted. I call these making my own coloring book because sooner or later I go back and paint them.

Right now I have six from Key West and 8 or ten from Garden City to paint. Hopefully I will knuckle down on the next few days and get some knocked out. Several of them I really like including more of the court house chickens. Of course you said she has more chickens to paint lol.

This is one I got around to painting. Louies should have about ten stars on its sketch.

Mahi Mahi with Mango sauce.

The food is superb the servers outstanding and the views are amazing. Hands down our favorite for divine food. Go at lunch to save a little on the bill!!

A not to be beaten combo of great food and gorgeous view.

After we ate inside we sat on the back deck enjoying the breeze and the view of the Florida straits.

The view from out table.

My divine sautéed yellowfin tuna a la Julia Childs flounder in Julie and Julia. I have the recipe. I guess I need to turn it into a recipe sketch. Easy and oh so delicious. We used to make it with striped and hybrid. To think I almost didn’t get it because I am tired of tuna a la Charlie in a can. Not the same at all!!

My sisters Beef. Also fab.

My creme brûlée with a brownie buried in it. Melt in your mouth deliciousness.

A coconut orange cream pie like nothing you have ever eaten. The creme brûlée wins the desert contest BUT if you go twice like we did you can try both!!

Day 397 – Travel Day

August 10, 2015Leave a comment

Louies Back Yard Key West

Whenever I go on a trip there always seems to be some leftover sketches that don’t quite get painted. I call these making my own coloring book because sooner or later I go back and paint them.

This is one I got around to painting. Louies should have about ten stars on its sketch.

Mahi Mahi with Mango sauce.

The food is superb the servers outstanding and the views are amazing. Hands down our favorite for divine food. Go at lunch to save a little on the bill!!

A not to be beaten combo of great food and gorgeous view.

After we ate inside we sat on the back deck enjoying the breeze and the view of the Florida straits.

The view from out table.

My sisters Beef. Also fab.

My creme brûlée with a brownie buried in it. Melt in your mouth deliciousness.

A coconut orange cream pie like nothing you have ever eaten. The creme brûlée wins the desert contest BUT if you go twice like we did you can try both!!

Day 395 – Beach Time

August 8, 2015Leave a comment

but I really could use a cup of Cuban Coffee for some energy right now. Where is it when I need it?! Back in Key West!!!

Anybody in my family would be shocked to find out that I finally broke down and bought a cup of espresso. I obviously don’t even know how to spell it. 😳 I am known for drinking gallons of tea – iced or hot. But when in key West do as the natives do – drink Cuban coffee!!! It was dare I say it delicious. YUM. And the Cuban Coffee Queen makes great coffee and Cuban sandwiches.

Their sandwiches are huge and delicious. We actually made two meals out of ours. Each one is made from scratch when u order it. The bread was not out Of any bag of rolls I have ever eaten. Just Delicious. The setting is great too in Key Lime Square just off Duval and Southard hidden behind the art gallery on the north corner across from the Pegasus Hotel.

We also really liked their breakfast sandwhiches. Reasonably priced with a cup of Cafe con Leche. $4.50 I think. Hard to beat and so much better than McDonalds. We highly recommend it.

Just a really charming spot tucked away in the heart of downtown Key West. Don’t miss it!!

Ps they have a bathroom too. Hard to find on Duval Street!!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret ️xxx

Day 393 Endless Ibis

August 7, 2015Leave a comment

How many can you draw? Evidently I can draw a lot of them!!

Here’s a couple more. Did I say I have a lot of Ibis?!

The first three were quite involved sketches. Then I ran out of background ideas!! Oops. More morrow.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 390 – the days Pile UP!!

August 2, 2015August 3, 2015Leave a comment

A year and 25 days now of consecutive blogging.

Buzzards Roost on Key Largo. The restaurant has an amazing view of Garden Cove out to the Atlantic or is it the Florida Straits?! Eating out on the covered deck is hard to beat surrounded by beautiful, water boats and amazing flowers.

We actually ate there twice. The first time was coconut shrimp. Fried a little too long to suit my taste. I like my shrimp fried in three and a half minutes period. The second meal was much better. Otherwise they start to get tough. It was still good not great. The staggering view more than made up for the lack of superior food and so so wait staff.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more Buzzards Roost sketching and food

About the watercolor : all the water was painted wet on wet. Palm Trees were painted light yellow and allowed to dry. Touches of Quin gold were added. They were then painted w a variety of greens and Inathradone blue for the darks.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret ️xxx

Day 389 Drawing Duval Street

August 1, 20152 Comments

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

Day 388 and then there were more chickens!!!

July 31, 20152 Comments

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

Day 387 – too many chickens

July 31, 20152 Comments

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.

Day 387 – too many chickens

July 31, 20152 Comments

I may be growing tired of painting chickens. I painted quite a few today.

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.

Day 385 – A few loose ends

July 28, 2015Leave a comment

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.