Day 423 – A Demo

September 5, 2015September 5, 20158 Comments

We had the pleasure of watching Mr Yow of Northern China an acclaimed artist of the Lu Chin school do a demo and explain what his paintings mean last Wednesday.

I have three videos of him painting the horse but I Can NOT upload them to WordPress. I will be uploading them to my Facebook business page where you can see them at https://m.facebook.com/MargaretMccarthyHunt?ref=bookmarks

It was fascinating to see him paint. This took four minutes for him to paint.

Thru an interpreter he explained that he ponders his subject for a few days and then paints it quickly with a large chinese ink brush and ink on rice paper which he ripped off a large roll.

In China they do not have watercolors or pencils – only ink. So all drawing, painting, and writing are done with ink.

Also different artists specialize in one area. His is the horse. One artist specializes in shrimp painting. Really!!

The calligraphy is actually a poem that tells explains how he feels about the painting.

This is the granddaughter he hopes to have one day. The calligraphy tells that story of his hopes for his granddaughter.

All Chinese children grow up doing calligraphy with a brush in school.
He also said that the chop, the red squares, can be a name, a nickname or something else.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 421 – A Little Urban Sketching

September 3, 20156 Comments

at Fitch and Fifth in Surrey Center in Augusta Ga. A room full of people and I am waiting to eat. What else would I do?!

Scenes like this really call my name to get out my Noodler Ahab or my brush pen and get busy drawing.

I do usually paint these later because I don’t want to impose on whoever I am with too much.

TIP: Oh. Almost forgot. The ledger strip down the side. Whenever you see that I can promise you there is something I really didn’t like about the sketch. In this case it was a waiter running a bill. Usually a figure on the side is nice but this one was not!! What to do?! Glue some ledger paper down and record our dinner.
Ps it was delicious. My trout was perfect. I forgot their five stars. Oops. Will fix that!!! Or maybe not. Really like it just the way it is.

And you thought the body was round?! Enjoy. One more page left!!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 415 – Dr Sketchys Part 2

August 28, 20159 Comments

This is the one I won the Chat Noir t shirt for – the models favorite sketch. Though you can’t see it the cape is colored with a wink of Stella red glitter pen. Those wink of Stellas are always winners.

The next two are the same twenty minute pose. I got done early and started a second. I have NO idea why he is wearing that “hat”!! Background was done with two red tombow pens that I wet down and let run.

See above for this one. Actually drawn during the first part of the twenty minute pose but was annoyed because I didn’t have room for his foot so I started over.

Another stance with the same strange costume. Had fun journaling on this page. Princess Augusta thinks he looks like Fozzy Bear thus the name. The tattoo is my favorite part of this one. I stole Ruth’s inktense to draw it with. I always like drawing on wet paper with inktense for fun off beat effects.

A reclining pose. And that’s it for now. Tomorrow life modeling. Hope it goes better than last week.

Two More pages!!


A little urban sketching I started this morning at breakfast.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret ️xxx

Day 413 – Drawing Target

August 26, 2015Leave a comment

Excited my sketch yesterday was sold. HURRAH!!

Yesterday there were herds of people check out at the Evans Ga Target. I got THE table with a view of both Starbucks and the check out lines. With 15 minutes to kill before time for class at the Y I drew these people.

Done with my Pentel brush pen. Like the way most of them turned out. When drawing these life is going too fast to think about anything but capturing the gestures as quickly as possible so accidents happen like the girl in the gutter.

Here it is in ink.

I also started another strip.

Remember all these figures took about 18 minutes tops.

Here’s a couple more of those pages. More tomorrow!! Enjoy!!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 413 – Drawing Target

August 26, 2015Leave a comment

Excited my sketch yesterday was sold. HURRAH!!

Here it is in ink.

I also started another strip.

Remember all these figures took about 18 minutes tops.

Here’s a couple more of those pages. More tomorrow!! Enjoy!!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 412 People time

August 25, 2015August 26, 20155 Comments

SOLD!!!

I drew this the other day when we had breakfast at the inner bean. A lot of times when I try to draw people like this I end up with a mess. For once I started in the front and drew to the back.

Today sketching at Costco I did the opposite. A bit of a mess.

Since these are generally drawn in ink you don’t get a do over when the figures over lap shelves. If you start in the front not such a problem. I started with the left bottom corner.

Contrast was a problem too. All the figures were blending into each other on the left.

I converted it to black and white. With the color gone it was easy to see where the figures wee blending in. Bottom left was especially bad.

I uped the contrast aka value which I think improved life at the bean.

Just remember my chickies it’s all about value.

An old page of dads on how to draw people I thought u might find interesting.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 410 – More of those chickens!!

August 23, 2015August 23, 20159 Comments

Courthouse Chickens Key West

Where else but in Key West would you find chickens at the courthouse?!

I drew these toward the end of our stay in Key West when I went on a sketchathon starting at the Key West Wildlife Center and ending at Higgs Beach sketching the people as they walked by in front of the car.

Fast sketching requires a good flowing pen – chickens birds and people don’t hold still for long!! I use my Noodler Craper Ahab or one of my two brush pens – the Kuretake or the Pentel. The first two are always loaded with Carbon Platinum Black ink which dries so rapidly. I frequently paint them later especially if the weather is extreme like in the tropical heat of key west.

I thought you might like to see the chickens before I painted them.

While in Key west I saw a lot of Chinese style brush work paintings of animals in one gallery on Duval. And decided to try it out on the long chicken strip. I liked it so much I did it on these pages too.

There are really only a few pure colors used on the chickens. Quin gold, Quin Sienna, Quin burnt orange, Inathradone, Quin red and alizarin period. All the colors were allowed to combine on the page. Painting was done with my large cheap joes legend #12 sable even the large splatters.

Tip: To make the splatters. Choose a color or two and make a soupy mix. Fillup a large brush and gently tap over the painting. Yes I have a toothbrush but I always get little splatters not big juicy ones with it.

Probably due to heat stroke I was imagining what the chickens might be thinking as I drew. What would I think if I were a courthouse chicken?! Look there goes another felon?! Wonder what they did?! Hope I win my case?!

Before I started drawing chickens I thought roosters were mean ready to attack you at any second like the ones we had as kids. When get are with the chicks and be a they are very different beasts. They are not aggressive. Feed them and they defer to the babies and hens to eat. They also stand vigil while the hen takes care of the babies. Who knew??!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 406 – the Pier

August 19, 2015August 19, 2015Leave a comment

The Pier at Garden City

This was sketched on the pier at Garden City. A very long pier. The late evening sun glinting off the boards was turning the dock to gold.

A bit of the pier

People were everywhere. Some sitting some walking enjoying the breezes others waiting to get weaves done in their hair. Who knew weaves were in demand on the piers of the Grand Strand?!

Put these together to see the whole pier.

And of course you guessed that gold is Quin gold. The people’s shadows were made with a soupy Inathradone and burnt umber mix that I let drip from the feet by propping the sketch book up. I added burnt sienna to some of the figures to give them a tan. Tans are big at the beach.

I seem to be into drips and splatters lately. I find the splatters are easier if I load a large brush like my #12 Legend sable brush with a soup of darker colors like blues and the Browns. Sometimes together sometimes separate.

Tip of the day!! Just remember splattering can make a BIG mess!! BeWaRe!!! It will go everywhere.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 396- Sweet Bear

August 9, 2015August 10, 2015Leave a comment

Bear was my sons sweet huge 85 lb. pit bull rescue who wandered into our lives about two years ago.

One spring day he followed Ben home and refused to leave. It didn’t take him long to move from the front porch to the bed and the sofa.

He was hard to say no too. Bear would really rather be a lap dog than a porch dog.

I started to draw him whenever I visited. His brindle due was always a challenge.

I drew him in ink.

I drew him in ink and watercolor.

I tried to draw him in an artsy manner with just his red hound dog eye showing.

I drew him in smuged ink.

And another watercolor.

I sent him to the corner when he begged while I was cooking where he was mournful.

I journaled about him. Bear was a wonderful dog and model who contracted a terrible cancer which led to his passing away a week ago. We will all miss Mr Bear. We are glad he came into our loves and we hope he is out chasing a ball in Heaven where he is waiting for his daddy. He is missed!!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret Bears grandma whose glad she Sketcher him a lot!! ️Xxx

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