Category: Noodler Creaper Ahab

Day 266 A Few Seagulls or Thoughts on Fifty More Shades of Grey

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Sometimes it’s just fun to go sit in the middle of a parking lot and draw the seagulls. No idea why they congregate in the parking lots but they do. If you decide you want to draw seagulls take some crackers or old bread with you. They will follow you like you are the pied piper. 



I actually drew a lot of seagulls last week but didn’t get around to painting them till a few days ago. I like this one best. Drawn with Noodler Konrad flex nib and Noodler lexington grey ink in my Stillman and Birn Zeta it’s painted with watery gouache. Much faster than using it opaque. Or at least that’s my story so far.  

I have a bunch of premixed greys made from indigo and schminke English red. Sometimes I add more white. Sometimes more indigo. Thee indigo can make a great grey mixed only with the white. Try it.  U will love it.  

Lettering is done with indigo and a brush. The background is turquoise with bits of green made by mixing Indian yellow in with the turq. That makes a muddy green. 

Anyway. Gotta run. My paints are waiting and drying out. 

Thanks for looking. 

Day 255 – Dinosaur time

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It’s a lot of fun to draw dinosaurs. I bought this one recently at Target but I hear I need to start checking goodwill and you consignments for them. I now have four of them as well as a few other animals. 

My grandson loves dinosaurs and trucks. This is a postcard on watercolor paper for him. Next time I think I will let him paint it after I give him some paints. In the meantime I painted it with my caran d’ache since I didn’t feel like getting out the watercolors. 

Added bonus I found two contests to enter it in on Instagram. Who knew they have dino drawing contests on IG?!





Here it is just done with my Noodler Creaper Ahab with carbon Platinum black ink.   It’s about 6×8 on #140 kilimanjaro from cheap joes. 

Thanks for looking. 

Day 251 – The Brown Thrasher

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i had three other things I meant to be working on today instead I drew more birds?! I have had a touch of bronchitis and was sitting on the den sofa feeling bad. I glanced out the window to see a huge brown bird on the back deck. He was at least five times as big as any bird out there. Thrashers are ground dwellers and I had only seen one once before on the deck though I see them in the yard a lot. 

And my sketchbook was in my purse so I grabbed a nearby piece of paper so as not to scare the bird off. 



I drew a few quick sketches before he flew off. 



Using my noodoee flex oen and De Artremis brown document ink I redrew him in my S&B Zeta and added another from memory. Then I painted them with gouache. I used English red, indigo, white and yellow Schminke. The best discovery I had today was that a filbert makes a great comma stroke. I used it to make all the brown marks on his chest. 

Thanks for looking!!

Day 249 -More birds

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This is a leftover bit of Sketchbookskool homework I just finished up. One of Cathy Johnson’s assignments was bird drawing. I seem to have gotten stuck there. This is done with caran d’ache watercolor crayons in my Stillman and Birn zeta.

The Stillman and Birn Zeta rivals Strathmore 500 Mixed Media art journals for great paper to work on. It’s much whiter and about the same price. Only problem. I have to get them in Atlanta. Sigh. Nowhere to be bought in Augusta Ga. I can get the Strathmore at Michaels and Hobby Lobby. 

Cardinals frequent my feeder and are a big favorite of mine and most other backyard birders. The males that visit my feeder are more salmon colored than red.

Background cerulean, pen is a Noodler flex pen loaded with de Atremis brown document. I love that color!  Double lines done with my sepia brown Pitt pen. And for once no mistake to cover up with the ledger paper. I just thought it would be a nice addition. I did want to add Washi take but couldn’t find any the right size or color so NO Washi tape. 

Thanks for looking!!

Thanks for looking. 

Day 244 – Those Squirrels

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At times I get bored drawing the birds on the back porch and I draw the squirrels.  Actually they are easier to draw than the birds because the hold still sometimes for quite a while. The squirrels are drawn with Noodler Lexington Gray ink and are painted with watercolor. A combo of Quin Sienna and cerulean. I don’t understand why the Lexington Graybis waterproof while the supposedly Bulletproof black and the eelskin so not. So strange. 

Like a stupid head I drew one squirrel right in the center! A disaster!! I decided to paint over it with some of the Schminke gouache and yes it covered the squirrel completely!! Hurrah. 

Next came the trial of trying to write the words on it. Finally I got the Kuratake brush to write on the gouache zip zip it was done.

Thanks for looking!! 

Day 243 – The Chicken or All Roz’s Fault!!

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This was the first chicken that posed for me when we went to Key West. I bought a box of Schminke gouache from Wet Paint last week and Roz said use them for two weeks. Painted on Strathmore 500 Mixed Media Paper. 

Till I did the chicken all I had done was paint backgrounds to cover up boo boos like yesterday. I meant to paint my house or a church downtown that I have always loved as the last assignment for the last teacher in the last week of Sketchbookskool. 

I ran across this chicken pic. He cocked his head at me and said paint me. I succumbed. What can I say?! Maybe that’s why I have been doing all the bird drawings. Practicing for this rooster. 

First I drew him quickly on a scrap of paper laying on the table. 



That did it. He hooked me. I got the sketchbook out. 





And the lovely new box of Schminke gouache.



 It came in this great wooden box. Almost too pretty to be touched!  But I managed. 

I used all the colors and tubes of  M.Graham Azo yellow and pyrole red that I already had. It was much like painting with acrylics without the shiny plastic look they have.  The colors covered well. Easy to mix. I did have to get out my acrylic brushes. The long watercolor brights were not stuff enough. 

Tip: I used my monarch Winsor & Newton filberts and an escoda Prado filbert. After I switched to these the paint behaved so well. Went on easily and smoothly. Yesterday I discovered the stiffer hog bristle brushes leave ridges in the paint. Not a good look. 

Thanks for looking. 

Day 24o – The End of Downton Season 5

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I meant to draw more of the players but somehow it did not record. So I drew Lady Violet Crawley Dowager Countess of Grantham. What a name?! I hope I got it right. Nobody is better than Maggie Smith in her part. 



My favorite character Lady Violet always has some smart answer. 

I drew her with my Noodler Creaper Ahab loaded with Carbon Black Ink. I love that pen. Makes such great lines because of its flex nib and so cheap. 

I drew the face and hat. Added a lot of crosshatching shading with the Creaper. A bit at a time.  Hard to go back once these too much.  

I originally had her name and the quote below Lady Violet who was in an oval.  Originally I intended to paint the “mat” area. 

 I ran out of room for the quote so I got the bright idea of making an oval mat out of old ledger paper. I use it because the pen does well on it. Some paper the pen feathers on. Not a good look. 

How did I get that oval? I might add it was perfect on the first attempt. I cut a piece of paper the same size as the sketchbook page. The I clipped it over the page, held it up to a sunny window and drew the oval. I then carefully cut it out from the inside out. I really was amazed that it fit exactly. 

She was colored with caran d’ache and  some Watercolor markers I got at Michaels. A lot of fun. No idea if they are lightfast but there are 24 of them. Cheaper than the nonlightfast Tombows. 



Here’s the whole double page spread with more Lady Violet quotes. She’s so funny to me. All lettering down with the Noodler Creaper Ahab on Strathmore 500 Mixed Media paper. 

Thanks for looking!! 

Day 239 – Four Reclining nudes in Twenty Minutes

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One of the guys gave me his chair dead center of the model yesterday so I could have a better view of the model but I only had twenty minutes left to draw. And no big paper – just my art journal. So these are what I did in 29 minutes. 

Number 1 – a contour drawing  with my Noodler Ahab on Strathmore 500 Mixed Media paper starting with the shoulders. I start there to get the shoulder angle right comparing it with the models shoulders to see if my line is parallel to her shoulder line. The I drew across the top Of her hips and legs continuing across the bottom back to her shoulders. The crosshatching was added after the contour drawing as was her face. I hate her face so decided to turn the page and start again. 



 This is number two. I think she went better and her face looks better. 



Number there is the big one in the bottom with the Pentel brush pen. I think her thigh is too big and her head a tad small. 



So onward to number four. Only about five minutes left. That’s my favorite. The PBP makes great drapery fast!! 

They were quick fun sketches and I think a bit Henry Moore or Picassoish. 

Which one is your favorite?! 

Thanks for looking!! 

Day 237-Dr Skeychys – Part 2

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S

  • It was hard to see the models legs because they were behind the hulka hoo





I won two tickets to the next theatrical at Chay Noir.  It reminds me of a strongman posing at a sideshow. Started with my Noodler Ahab and filled I with my Pentel brush pen and my red Tombow.



I am not really fond of any of these. Started with my Noodler Ahab and filled I with my Pentel brush pen and my red Tombow. Accents with my wink of Stella’s.  I have a red, a black, and a gold one. 





The last pose of the night?! I guess she was tired.  I know we were after more than ten sketches in a couple of hours. 

Started with my Noodler Ahab and filled I with my Pentel brush pen and my red Tombow.

Day 236 – Dr Sketchys

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Our favorite art event of the month- the last Wednesday of the month at Chat Noir. 

Between crosshatching those buttons for hours and the rain I was NOT in the groove last nite. 

We did a bunch of one minute gesture sketches which are usually great but the model moved making them harder than usual.  



1 minute gesture sketches. Was NOT in the groove. Pentel brush pen with a prepainted background in my Strathmore 500 mixed media journal. 



Not sure how long these were. Two minutes perhaps. Same poise reversed. Pentel brush pen with a prepainted background in my Strathmore 500 mixed media journal. 

5 minutes but she moved the whole time.  At least I am going with that excuse. I didn’t draw because I was getting frustrated with the model moving all the time. 

Finally she held still.  I drew her with my Noodler Creaper Ahab which I love loaded with Carbon Platinum black ink. Things improved somewhat. But I only had red Tombow markers, a gold Pitt pen, and the Pentel brush pen. Poor planning. All the pink and red is done with the tombow. 

Thanks for looking.