I counted at least eight sketches of ibis that I drew at the Key West Wildlife Center.
The ibis were painted with cerulean and piemonite. Makes a lovely purply color. The beaks are cad red and Winsor yellow. The legs the same with more Quin red added to it.
The leaves are viridian Inathradone blue and Quin cold. And the ground. Any color I could use to give it texture.
Go find an ibis. Great fun to draw.
Back to my cold. Thanks for reading
Margaret xxx
Sketched during our dinner – Could be called “Waiting for the Bill!”
Jean Cocteau’s self portrait
We actually sat below some original Jean Cocteau sketches in a restaurant we ate at called Bouef Sur la Toit. I have been meaning to share his sketches with you but the wifi on the boat made it impossible. So today seems like a good day to do it.
Beef on the Roof which was a Paris jazz hot spot of the glitterati called Les Enfants Terribles back in the 20-40s. Coco Channel was a member of this circle as were Charlie Chaplin, Arturo Rubenstein, Josephine Baker, Maurice Ravel and Maurice Chevalier, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Albert Camus, Igor Stravinsky to name a few..Bouef launched the careers of singer Juliet Greco and singer/song writer Charles Trennet.
The restaurant on Rue des Ecoles…call for reservations…great food and music too!
Whimsical – Three Men in a Tub?? Notice even the great Cocteau made mistakes!!!
Mistinguett was one of the most successful French performers of her time
Coco Channel I think
Another Chanel?
Probably Chanel????
Very rudementary but I like the lines…and the goat!!! Wonder if hes up on the roof too???
More about Le Bouef Sur La Toit ripped from the menu!!! 
🇫🇷Feel free to use this image. Posting France sketches on my website and will continue til they are done. 🇫🇷
Gussie and Bob in front of pregothic Saint Sauveur Eglise in Les Andelys.
First a Bob joke. We discussed whether or not to do the climb to Chateau Gaillard. Bob told me it was the third worst climb on the trip and many were known not to ever return from it. Lol.
Started in 1220 and finished 100 years later Saint Saveur Eglise was one of the first churches with Gothic elements. A rooster or chanticleer tops the spire as they do most churches in France. They represent the denial of Peter and from the blog myfrenchheaven.com “Thereafter, the kings of France will adopt the cock out of bravado. When meeting their rivals who treated them as roosters, they would say that the cock is a brave and early rising fighter.
The cock is also the bird of light and faith, the enemy of evil and darkness, etc….”
🇫🇷As most of you know we are just back from the best trip ever is Viking from Paris to Normandy and well not quite back because of the bombings. We stayed in Conflans near Paris and disembarked from there instead of a few blocks from the awesome Eiffel Tower. 😒🇫🇷
Leonard Porkchop Zimmermans Happy sticker I stuck on a street post near the Eiffel Tower. He’s blanketing the world with these free stickers. Check him out on Facebook.
🇫🇷A chilly nite in St Germain en Laye section of Paris. 🇫🇷
The day after the bombing Parisians were out doing what they do best enjoying the city.
Richard the Lionhearted’s Chateau Gaillard in Les Andelys. The chateau and the town were built in the lye twelfth century. Of course they had to build the chateau before he permitted them to build the town. Hmm
Les Andelys from the boat. So charming. Did I say that already!!?
Map of Les Andelys borrowed from the Viking bulletin board. It changes with each port of call.
Garden in Conflans
The rooftops of Conflan From the Chateau Mountjoie. All the chateaus sat above the river to command the river.
The Cpunt of Montjoies tomb in the Conflan church. Too cool. i have read about crusaders tombs but never seen one.
The tomb below the church window. 
The Viking chefs favorite fromagerie in Conflans and Tetons de Venus. Yes it means nipples of Venus. Wonder if hers were encrusted with mold? Guess they are by now. Lol
More mold encrusted cheeses.
That’s a lot of mold to make that delicious cheese!! 😳 Of course my son Ben said that’s how they make cheese. I guess like everything else in the US ours is sanitized before we see it.
The Viking chefs favorite chocolate shop in Conflans. Lots of deliciousness there.
My sis at the Eiffel Tower on a rainy gloomy day.
Sacre Couer.
Well enough photos for the day. Go forth and book a Viking cruise. They are awesome. There were people on our cruise who had been on six or seven. Some had done the Seine cruise more than once.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret in Atlanta recovering jet lag!
What better place to start than this gorgeous avenue of world class shopping.
Despite two hours of sleep on the place we managed to walk five more miles including a rainy after dinner walk to the Arc de Triomphe which is gloriously lit at night. Well worth the walk!!
We ate dinner at L’Artois around the corner from our Hotel on Rue d’Artois. A sweet little place with the nicest owners. A nice way to dip our toes into Paris dining. This will get watercolor soon but not tonight after another six mile jaunt thru the drizzly beautiful Parisian streets.
We did a waking tour of the Marais today. Originally the Jewish district before World War II we know what happened. The Nazis actually rounded up the children at their schools to transport them to the death camps. There are plaques dedicated to them all over the Marais.
Charming Patisseries. This is the Marveilleux de Fred. We hope to go tomorrow. Fabulous cakes. Yum!
One of the oldest buildings in the Marais. A half timber building much more typical of Rouen than Paris which was rebuilt after the third revolution of Les Mis fame with its sweeping boulevards.
Built in the 1400s the buildings were not allowed to be all wood for fear of fire.
It also used to have several royal residences. Place des Vosges is all that remains of the home of Henry 4 and Catherine de Medici. She burned the palace when her husband died from jousting wounds and established this park.
We finished the day at the Eiffel Tour. Our tickets were pre purchased they parisinfo.com. No waiting in the block long line. We went straight in at our appointed time 2 pm.
It is amazing.
The building incredible.
And just enormous. More than 1000 meters tall. 700 HUNDRED TONS of steel!!😳
The view from the Eiffel Tower. Still raining sadly. I would like some photos taken in the sun. Please Thank you!!
Thanks for reading.
Margaret hoping in the shower. Xxx
Lift off. My suitcase is packed and I have plenty of room for art supplies. When I went to key west I actually needed more sketchbooks. Not this time!!
So why am I taking to sketch with?!! I know u r dying to know!!!
My two small palettes. Been painting with them and they really have all the colors you need. The whiskey painters palette has all the basic Winsor Newton colors plus Daniel Smith Quin coral which I love for skin tones and two ceruleans because I use it A lot!!
The cotman is full of quinacridones and a couple of paints that should be in the Whiskey painters palette the yellow and Thalo blue.
Paint brushes. Taking the good ones since I have room and just in case. Most of them are Isabey sables including the mops but the big sable is my cheap Joes legend which I love. Curious to see how much the Isabeys cost in France the land of their birth. They are made in Brittany and are Charles Reid’s favorite brush. I wouldn’t mind another one or two.
Back up colors in case I run they the ones in the palettes.
Pens loaded mostly with Platinum Carbon Black. Top to bottom Kuretake Brush Pen, Black pitt pen Fine, pentrl brush pen, sepia pitt pen Fine, two Noodler Konrads (one has Deartementis document brown ink in it) Platinum Carbon pen, and two of my favorite pens the Noodler Creaper ahab.
I am taking these with me in case I want to paint as I sketch. I usually paint when I get home because I hate to make my sister Jan wait while I paint. Bad enough that she waits while I sketch.
Lots of ink and cartridges.
Lots of paper. The two hand made sketchbooks have Cheap Joes Kilimanjaro, 3 strathmore mixed media sketchbooks(my current fav) a tablet of Fabriano squarely 149# cold press, some Canson post cards and some Strathmore 500 watercolor cards oh and a stack of accordion folded Stonehenge paper to draw strings of people and maybe a chicken or two on?!
Thanks for reading.
Margaret who is taking clothes I her suitcase and backpack too!!
WIP??? Mermaid Lorelei and Mermaid McKenzie 11×14 super Aquabee tablet
Not sure these are done but at least they have some color now. Getting into travel mode so I used my travel Palette with Winsor Newton colors and my cotman palette with quinacridones.
The background in this painting is cerulean and yellow ochre. I may darken with ultramarine or inathradone to make the mermaids pop.
Remember this is what it looked like?
WIP – Mistress Princess Augusta – 11×14 drawn when I was done with one of the long mermaid poses. Her right arm still has problems. She was not posed so she was moving a lot and I drew her right arm too long. I shortened it with negative painting but now I think it is a smidge too narrow.
TIP: Really love her skirt. Both of these paintings were done wet on wet after watching a how to impressionistic watercolor video on Marcon Chews website http://www.marvinchew.com/ (You will have to scroll down for the video. Could not copy the exact irk for u! 😐) about wet on wet painting.The skirt turned out especially well I think. Done with ultramarine and burnt umber added to a wash of water that I painted on the skirt first. The background was done the same way.
I added the bowler hat to the original sketch.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Happy Halloween!!
The first three are all drawn with my Noodler Konrad and Lexinton Grey ink. The colors are all Winsor Newton watercolor markers a few tombows and Wink of Stella Glitter pens.
Mermaid Lorelei and Mermaid McKenzie. What librarians do when they are not working!! Wear mermaid costumes and makeup like a character from Avatar.
My two favorite mermaid sketches. Thier costumes were awesome which is why I saved them for Halloween. This was a twenty minute pose that had ten minutes added to it.
I was done in twenty minutes so i started sketching Princess Augusta our hostess.
Mermaid Lorelei and Mermaid McKenzie
Twenty minute sketch. If I ever sit down to watercolor these this one will be great. I barely had time to start painting.
This was a ten minute sketch. I spent most of the time on the tail. Much more fun coloring than the human part. I really like the tail part but the human part not so much.
Mermaid Lorelei
Looking at that part of would be an easy fix. Shave a tad off the right side of her face and draw in her right upper arm. Oops the things u miss when unate drawing fast. The last one with the Kuretake brush pen. Sometimes I just draw better with one than the other. I changed to my Noodler Konrad.
Another favorite of Bill Karp. Bytw he’s playing at the Cotton Patch in downtown Augusta this Saturday nite.
I really like Bill’s stance in these. Especially the first one.
Hand is a little rough but otherwise I like it. My excuse??
It was 9 pm and I was tired and on a sugar high from all the sweets at Best of Augusta.
Oh what was my favorite food?? T’s out on Mike Padgett Hwy. They kept the hot hush puppies and fried catfish and tartar sauce flowing. And it was perfectly cooked. Everyone else had chicken chicken and more chicken.
The last sketch I did of Bill. Not a perfect hand but I like it.
We left loaded up with cake, cookies and Krispy Kreme donuts. All those sweet treats still sitting on the kitchen counter.
Thanks for reading.
Margaret xxx
Today is my Dad’s 93rd birthday!! I drew this quick sketch of him but he wiggled a lot. He also didn’t fee well.
Anyway. HaPPy BiRtHdAy Dad!! Here’s to many more.
Thanks for reading!
Margaret xxx
Still watching the river!! Hoping everyone is staying high and dry during this monsoon.
Inktober 5 – Ladies at the Bean loved this group as they sat and chatted away a rainy morning. Hmm well I think the lady on the left is great but the lady on the right is not bad either. Lol
The left lady had the greatest expressions and was birdlike in the tilt of her head.
Drawn with my Noodler Konrad and Platinum Carbon Black ink.
Jan – love the wet and wet colors in the quilt which is cobalt cerulean Winsor yellow and Quin gold. Skin muddied Quin coral and yellow ochre. Hair burnt sienna and inathradone.
The Yakker or is it The Smoker?! Can u find her cigarette??? How she managed to keep that cigarette in her mouth while she talked like crazy I have NO idea. She was so entertaining to watch. She was larger than life in every way from her huge purse to her ample proportions.
Skin is burnt sienna or Quin sienna. Not sure which. Quin red shirt. Hair is inathradone and burnt umber. Cigarette is white gouache.
Margaret McCarthy Hunt Art 