Day 404 – Practice

August 17, 20154 Comments

Off to Paris and the Seine Rover Viking cruise in a few months.

Like the diligent students we were my sister and I are preparing in our own ways. We have been watching a lot of YouTube videos and Rick Steves videos of Paris and Normandy.

Usually I get a little bored with TV if I just sit and watchdog it was time to practice some urbansketching and work on my brush pen skills.

The brush pen requires diligence to use it well. Lately it has been frustrating me so time to practice.
I drew Sacre Couer – the highest point in Paris (I think) – from a YouTube video.

Also want to practice fast drawing and fast painting. While my sister is patient waiting while I sketch I don’t want to impose too much.

Colors used: Quin gold burnt sienna cerulean cobalt and a dash of purple.

Google earth is also a good place to try some urban sketching or the Linrary of Congress photos.

Anyway like the way these turned out. Get that brush pen out and get sketching.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 392 – Wesley

August 4, 2015August 4, 2015Leave a comment

my sons English fox hound mix rescue is spending some time with his grandma.

All the drawings are app. 6×12. If you are interested in having me draw your dog email me at m c m h u nt @ me. Com

Wesley Noodler Creaper Ahab Platinum carbon Black ink.

All the drawings are app. 6×12. If you are interested in having me draw your dog email me at m c m h u nt @ me. Com

Every Monday I try to win the Goulet Pen giveaway. Every Tuesday I DONT!! Reminds me of when I buy a lottery ticket. Lol.

I suppose I did actually win because I like these sketches a lot. And I like to draw dogs a lot. Wesley was a very cooperative subject as he snoozed on the sofa chaise on top of a quilt.

One relaxed dog. Noodler Konrad with Lexington Grey Ink.

I usually start by drawing the spine and the top of the head a modified contour drawing. I also bear down on the pen like I did on his legs to make a variety of lines.

You have to love a Noodler Flex Nib pens ability to do that. All the lines on the first three pics were done with a Noodler Flex Nib. It works simalarly to a dip pen and usually not quite the mess.

The first two drawings were colored with the Noodler pens. I smudged the ink with my finger as I went.

Did I say he likes to sleep!? Noodler Konrad with Lexington Grey Ink. This one is just cross hatched. I left light areas to give an effect of the shine on his black fur.

Dogs can sleep for hours and just rearrange giving you new drawing opportunities. This one was the first one I drew. Done with a Pentel brush pen. His jaw was a little too wide so I started over again this time with a Noodler pen which allows me more control. Sometimes it takes a few sketches of a new dog to get him down pat just like it does when you draw a new model.

The sketches are posted in the reverse order that I drew them. Wesley’s head is the last one I drew of him.

Back to key West sketches tomorrow. I think I drew enough while I was there to post for the rest of the month. Lol. Hmm maybe I should save some of them for while I am in Paris?!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret ️xxx

Day 391 – Buzzards Roost part 2

August 3, 20152 Comments

As we sadly left the Keys we made a return trip to Buzzards Roost on Key Largo. I drew this as we waited for our order to arrive. As usual the service was not super though our waitress was an overworked sweetheart (too many tables) this time but the view was still gorgeous!!!

The view

Drawn with my Noodler Creaper loaded with Platinum Carbon Black ink.

The food was amazing this trip. We ate Mahi Mahi wraps. Oh my gosh it was sooo good. We both kept the second half of our sandwich for dinner. Sadly we ended up throwing it out since we never ate dinner that nite. Nobody wants tomaine poisoning on a four hundred mike drive.

I also sketched the marine at Garden cove. This was our view from our table minus the bank of flowers across the edge.
Here it painted. The yellow in the palms and on the boats is Quin gold. I like the glow it gives to the shadows on the boats.

If a storm had not been blowing in I could sit here for hours drawing and enjoying the view. Garden Cove is just a gorgeous place. A piece of Heaven!!

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 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.

Sunrise in the Keys. Going to miss these too. Enough for today. Can’t wait to get home and get my paintbrush busy!

Thanks for reading!

Margaret xxx

Day 382 Key West Food Tour – A Commission

July 26, 2015Leave a comment

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 382 – Higgs Beach

July 25, 2015July 26, 20152 Comments

Higgs Beach original watercolor

$150 plus shipping

app 8x 40 inches long. Stonehenge paper

I like to sketch people as they walk by and draw fast impressions ok long accordion folded paper. I found the perfect place to do it yesterday-Higgs Beach. You can sit in your car in the cool as people stroll by or stand around at the beach.

I generally start with the shoulders and head. I try to vary the people. As in not all guys. There were alot of men on this beach so when an occasional child strolled by I drew them or short people. Or add bikers and dogs. Chickens too wild work. But it was too hot for chickens or dogs.

A lot of the people are painted with straight burnt sienna or Quin gold. Others are heavy on the red with yellow ochre for a sun burnt look.

Finally decent palms. Started with a yellow green and dabs of red. The leaves were painted mostly yellow green with streaks of red. Then dabs of green apatite. After they dried I added Inathradone blue in slashes.

Generally I keep the background to a minimum but I thought I would try to give it a beachy Key West feel by adding the palms the blue blue water and the volleyball net.

The water is cheap Joes Andrews blue aka turquoise and marine blue.

Pen is my Noodler Creaper loaded with Carbon Black. Generally I like to use a brush pen on these but when I was drawing chickens earlier the Pentel brush pen and I weren’t getting along so I switched to my Noodler.

The paper is Stonehenge ripped into long strips with my bone folder and then accordion folded.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 381 – sketching like a madwoman

July 24, 2015Leave a comment

today. Only one more day before we head home. It may be hot here but it’s even hotter at home. And not nearly as beautiful. However we are going into training for our Paris trip in three months. Even more walking and NO carbs. I hope. Lol.

Hotel Pegasus on Duval and Southard.