Worked quite a bit on Raisins face today. Thank goodness I slimmed her down. I still need to work on refining her face.
Here’s the whole painting.
Last week. Eekkk
My lab wants petting. Got to go.
M xxx
Category: Moleskine accordion
Day 443 Some Audience
These two guys were leaning on a nearby wall chillin and watchin the show. You know i drew them.
I also loved these ladies chatting away against the same wall. The old downtown Woolworths building. Are there any woolworths still?! I don’t think so.
The lady with the balloons actually caught me and asked very sweetly to show me what I had been doing. She loved that I had been drawing them even though it had problems.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Day 441 – More You know What!
Adam Harris Thompson Group
Arts in the Heart is a BIG event in Augusta. Downtown closes down for several blocks. There were at least four stages with acts, tents for almost every nationality selling food and endless arts and crafters selling their wares.
The sketch
One of the band members named Michael I think. Played a great lead guitar.
Adam Harris Thompson Group is a great blues band. We really enjoyed their music.
I actually drew the Adam Harris Thompson Group three times. This was the first time. There was an interesting group watching the act on stage which I had already drawn. I decided to draw them. Who knew it was the next group?!!
I drew a lot of the audience too. And then drew the group again which is the first sketch. There is one more drawing of the group which I will post tomorrow.
Tomorrow more u know what👀!!
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Day 426 Costco
Last week I sat in the corner at Costco’ s cafe area drawing the lunch crowd. There’s one table that has a 180 view and SCORE. I hid behind my purse.
I really like the way the wall of boxes turned out in the background. And the way most of the people turned out. I actually painted out one guy whose drawing went astray. Can you find him!?
It was also hard getting all the bodies with legs as they came and went.
Next time I will draw something easy like my polish sausage and the drink.
This should be a fun place for urban sketching. Or at least getting pics of the roustabouts working. Check their webpage for when they visit near you.
Thanks for reading. Class tomorrow. Busy day!!
Margaret xxx
Day 389 Drawing Duval Street
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 382 Key West Food Tour – A Commission
I drew this in my sketch book after we went on the Key West Food Tour. The tour director Analise had to have one for herself so I spent a couple of days tweaking the small one and painting it.
She was tickled pink with it. I am sure it will be framed shortly and gracing her office walls soon!
Let me know if you need me to do one for your business! Or your town!!
What you do with all those maps and ephemera you pick up on your trip. Draw on them!!
Yesterday was our last full day in Key West. We are packing to leave now. It was also the culmination of the Hemingway Days – the Pamplona bull race key west style and the winner of the Heningway Look alike contest is announced.
The guy on the left , Pat, won the contest lady eat. All the guys with the red ribbon and medal are previous winners. There were 175 entrants this year. Mostly old guys with big white beards. As my friend Siobhan quipped Key West is where Santa goes in the summer!! Lol A rowdy crowd follows the papas around the block.
We also went to the Audubon House. His paintings there are gorgeous as are the gardens.
Out the Audubon house window to the Customs house. We included a tour of it on our SEVEN Mile GUT it out tour. Next year we are doing the hemingway five K. lol. Going into training NOW!!
Incredible philodendrons and pothos we grow as house plants tower fifty feet high in the yard.
My favorite plant in the garden.
A lobster plant. I think.
The ginger plant beautiful and smell heavenly.
Orchids hang off the trees.
and banana plants abound.
Stay tuned for more Key West tomorrow.
Thanks for reading
Margaret xxx
Day 378 – a little Heaven – Blue Heaven
Blue Heaven is a wonderful funky restaurant on the corner of Petrona and Thomas.
Blue Heaven – the colors are so Key West – Sooner or later this will be a painting but If you want to paint it feel free.
It’s been various things over the years including the place Hemingway had cock fights and a bordello. Now it’s an open air restaurant where u done with chickens under feet. The food is wonderful which is why I drew their eggs Benedict with pink Key West shrimp.
A band jammed under an umbrella. 
Eggs Benedict with pink Key West shrimp.
There’s even a chicken graveyard as well as an artist selling some great chicken paintings.
The wait for a table can be long unless you are there by 9am but they have plenty of chairs to wait in. Sometimes there’s a band. Sometimes there isn’t. 
The view from our table. LOTS of shade.
A funny sign on our table. 
Andy’s Cabana across the street on Petrona. The home of the most delicious fish taco I have ever eaten. Also owned by the people at Blur Heaven.
One of the iguanas at our condo. I call him Mango. He poses for me most days. I talk to him and tell him to hold still I just want to take his picture. He poses for me. He’s not always benevolent. A 7-8 yr old boy was chasing him and throwing twigs at him. Mango whipped him with his tail. He’s got a very long tail. He’s at least 4 feet long. OUCH!
A key West Iguana tale. They are cold blooded animals. Occasionally it does get pretty cold in Key West. Iguana live in the trees. During one cold snap they started falling out of the trees. One of the locals decided to clean up the island and started throwing them in the back seat of his car. The car was warm. The iguanas woke up and tried to desperately claw their way out of his car. They also pooped in his car. The man was so shocked with his car load of wild wide awake iguanas that he wrecked his car. Poor guy got a ticket for wreck less driving!!
Moral of theses stories don’t mess with iguanas. Lol.
But if you want to paint Andys or Mango feel free.
One more chicken. This is a handsome one from Blue Heaven which is why I posted him. Happy chicken drawing!!
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Day 375 – Food Tour part 2
The whole enchilada. Wanted to post before I pass out from a fun four mile bike ride with Lloyds Bike tour. Color me worn out. Lettering done with my pentelbrush pen and my noodler creaper Ahab. 
Annlises logo. Can’t go wrong with her tour. Viking would be proud to say she did their tour!! Terrific local food and local color!! And Annelise worked hard to keep us hydrated. We each got our own fresh coconut to drink. Amazing!!
All the food was delicious but I fell I love with the fish taco at Andys cabana. I have eaten a lot of fish tacos lately and this one was perfection. I also drank coffee something I NEVER EVER do. Cuban coffee from El Siboneys could be my new energy drink.
We also learned about the history, architecture, the real estate market, and the flora and fauna. She does a super tour. A native of Key West she shares her huge amount of knowledge with her clients and if she doesn’t know she doesn’t mind telling you. Chances are good she does know!!
We also got a list of other restaurants tha specialize in local fresh caught seafood and fresh local veggies. So far we have eaten at two. Louies Backyard and Camilles. Fabulous food. Just fabulous. Great atmosphere. Can’t recommend either of them enough or the Food tour.
Annlise. She’s actually prettier than this wc. 
The pages
Up close for your enjoyment.
More after I recover from fun with Lloyd!! He’s so funny and so knowledgeable.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Day 374 Key West Food Tour
led by our fearless knowledgeable Annlise.
A very quick Pentel brush sketch done while we were enjoying our conch fritters with lime aioli sauce at Camilles. The fritters had just he right amount of hot. And a tall glass of ice water to keep us hydrated on our journey. Annlise is a font of info about all things Key West from the local food scene to the history and stories and even real estate pricing. You can not go wrong with her southernmost food tour.
Colors : cad red light, yellow ochre flesh, mineral Violet, cerulean, cobalt, Inathradone blue, alizarin, Burnt sienna, Andrews turquoise. Hair is Inathradone blue and burnt umber. Drawing done with Pentel brush pen.
More about the food tour tomorrow.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret ️xxx
Day 371
a year and 6 days of consecutive daily blogging. Not easy when u r on vacation!!
My sis in law while we waited for the concierge so we could book some tours. Right now we are going on the ghost your Tonite and the food tour Thursday.
Lettering done with my Noodler Creaper Ahab and Carbon Black Ink in my moleskine Wc sketchbook.
Colors either Holbein or Daniel Smith. Ultramarine blue and burnt umber in the chair with yellow for the couchins. Cerulean and burnt sienna for the magazine, shorts, light, the table and the background all done wet on wet. The light is burnt umber, Quin gold, burnt sienna and ultramarine blue.
The blouse is cerulean and Winsor yellow which is a transparent yellow.
Skin Quin coral and yellow ochre. This usually makes a really pretty skin tone but NOT on this darned paper.
Ok next up. Rant about that moleskine I am trying to finish. So skip it if you don’t want to hear me froth.
Wishing I had brought another sketchbook. Really LOATHING the moleskine Wc sketchbook. It acts like Hotpress paper. Very annoying. Colors act oddly on it. Thinking of ordering an S&b zeta or a strathmore ASAP from amazon.
There is a Ben Franklins here BUT no hard bound sketchbooks. Great clerk there. We chatted for a while about art quilts and sketching.
Don’t ask me how many new clean sketchbooks I have at home. At least four! Groan. Oh well. They keep.
I don’t know what it is about this paper but I DO NOT LIKE IT. NO more moleskines for me. At least til they start making them here again and improve the paper. I used to love them. Makes me sad when a product changes so radically. Greed will get you!!
Last nites sunset. First one is in the moleskine. The colors just don’t look so bright and clear as in the next one which
Is on a lovely piece of Strathmore 500 watercolor paper. GREAT stuff. Love it!!! All the usual colors with the addition of cheap joes Andrews blue, Holbein mineral Violet, and DS Orange which is transparent. Oh and any red I thought would work. Can u see how this one flies compared to the one done in the moleskine?!
Thanks for reading!!
Margaret xxx who needs a nap before the ghost tour.
Margaret McCarthy Hunt Art 