Category: Stillman and birn

Day 274 – The Tale of the $43 Chicken Salad

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 A little Journaling about my very expensive chicken salad at Whole Foods. They ended up giving it to me because it rang up for $43.50!!! I have decided to try journaling a little on the sketches I have been doing in my new Stillman and Birn Zeta. What do you think?! 

 

This sketch was really bad for a while because of lack of good colors of Tombows. All I have with me are oddball colors to fill in the ones I already have. Then I remembered I had my box of Neocolor ii caran d’ache. I also hauled out the tube of flesh colored gouache that I bought. Caran d’ache can maximize coloring fun. 

 The mess – I had tried coloring their faces and the ink smeared. Why it does it sometimes and not others I will never know. I think a mess can be good because you no longer care if you mess up. Fun effects can happen then. 

How I cured it. Painted a couple of layers of gouache letting each layer dry. Then I played with the caran d’ache.  Last I Reinked their faces. 

Thanks for looking. 

Day 270 – A New Journal

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Inspired by a Pam Garrison post on Instagram I made my own book plate in my new Stillman and Birn Zera.  My goal was to start in it April 1 and I did.  Already have four pages done  in it. 

I drew a curvy ribbon first.  Then I filled in with the black eyes Susans and added the Rose stems then the roses. After that I added all the leaves.  Next came the curly que leaves and last all the dots. 

I actually painted the ribbon with de artrementis brown document ink with my #2 Isabey sable brush. Lettering and the rest of the ink was done with my Noodler flex  pen with the same ink. 

After the ink dried I painted the daisies with DS Hansa yellow, the roses with DS Quin Magenta  and the leaves with a mix of the Hansa yellow and maganese blue and dabbed in a little mauve. Try it. Nice official way to start a new journal. 

  

The reverse of the first page. A good quote to remember when journaling. 

Day 269 – Sometimes It’s Easy 

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and then sometimes you look and wonder HOW did you make that mistake. This painting has a BIG mistake. Can you find it?!  

 

Another hat and mannequin from Cosbys Apparel during my mad sketching downtown last week. 

In my Stillman and Birn Zeta with Noodler Flex loaded with De Artrementis brown document ink. 

 

 The background was easy to do. I actually wrote the lyrics to In Your Easter Bonnet by Irving Berlin with a soft 4B pencil in the background.  Then I smudged it.  After that I painted it out with a mix of white gouache, a bit of all the other colors on the pallette to make a buff-yellow blue and English red. Paint it only enough to blur the writings but not completely obscure it. 

The face and neck was washed with DS Quin Coral and Hansa Yellow and allowed to dry. Shadows were done with burnt sienna and cerulean which was allowed to mix on the page. I only painted one color at a time. The wet on wet let them mix. I also softened the edges. More DS Quin Coral was used on the cheeks and the lips. 

The hat. Oh my. It was painted with yellow ochre. Then the lace was painted with the  DS Quin Coral. I tried not to define it too much.  

 

 The hat decorations were painted with  DS Quin Coral and yellow ochre.  Shadows are Piemonite and cerulean. I really need to practice painting flowers. I need to remember to do more wet on wet. 

 The sequins and diamond paste was done by dipping the end of my brush in white gouache.  You can easily make circles that way. 

Glove shadows cerulean and yellow ochre or burnt sienna. Same thing on the pearl shadows. 

  

Lettering done with sepia doc Martin ink and a paint brush, my number 2 Isabey. Love that brush. 

So have you figured out what’s wrong with this painting yet?!  Her hand is backwards.  I took a photo of my hand to draw it and of course I took it from the wrong side.  DUH.  

Day 268 Almost a DisaSter!

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 Lady in Black. Mixed Media 

I am thrilled with the way she turned out but the original sketch in Pentel brush was awful so I decided to whip out the Daniel Smith watercolor ground and paint over her and redraw. I redrew her with the Pentel brush pen.  Oh what a mistake that was. It wasn’t waterproof and kept leaking on my sketch. Oops. 

I patiently blotted the leaking ink over and over as it ran with a clean folded paper towel. I love brawny the paper towel that keeps on giving.  I thought the painting might be cursed but no all of a sudden she was looking great. The smudgy ink lent an air of mystery or at least interst to the watercolor I think. 

I actually traced the head on notebook paper and used it as a pattern to cut out the background accounting book paper to glue over the de artrementis document brown ink I decided I didn’t like with the black.  I painted over it with a buff gouache. I threw the pattern in the trash but will get it out and take a photo so you can see what I did. 

The black is a mix of DS alizarin red and indigo. Makes a great blue black. Skin is DS Quin coral and yellow ochre.  Shadows are burnt sienna Quin sienna and cerulean. 

Thanks for looking. 

Day 262- and Some Art Before Lunch 

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Art before lunch. Very fast sketch from a distance. Think I was more into drawing the fountain than the couple who were having the best conversation outside at the inner bean while smoking and enjoying the weather.

  

This was drawn with my Pentel brush pen. Lettering was done with my Lamy Vista fine nib. The painting was done mostly with watercolor and with some gouache. 

I had a lot of trouble painting the flesh tones. The best thing I finally discovered while painting this was how to make flesh  using gouache. I tried the way I mix it with watercolor. Light yellow and a clear red. Not good when combined with white.

Then I tried white with a tiny bit of English red and bingo. Great flesh color!! Who knew?! I painted the skin before I went to book club and while I was there I studied the other ladies’ skin tones. Studying always helps. Then I came home and repainted them. Thank goodness. 

Random success!👏I have to say I think the girl is a little skinny and the arm too short but oh well. It’s done and I am turning the page!! 

Thanks for looking!!

Day 262 – Some Art Before Breakfast

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  Sorry not to post this sooner but I have been drawing too much. And have too many pages to post. I did draw my breakfast this morning too but yet to paint it. Tomorrow or after I go for a walk tonite.  I seem to like to paint at nite. 

This was inspired by Danny Gregory’s blog post recently of his breakfast. I am not likey to make a habit of drawing before breakfast. I don’t like cold eggs. Grits however and tea take a while to cool down!  

This was done with my Pentel brush pen. Then I journaled on it a bit. And finally I painted it with Schminke gouache. The background color is watered down gouache. The grey on the cup was made with indigo and white. The mushrooms were painted with a brown made from yellow, red and indigo lightened with white. 

Thanks for looking. At least one more breakfast coming!! 

Day 261 – Tom Cat

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If you would like me to paint your. Animal on commission let me know at mc m hu nt@me. Com  

 

Tom copyright Margaret McCarthy Hunt 81/2 x 11″ $195. Gouache or acrylic 

My son found Tom as a tiny stray in the wheel well of a neighbors boat trailer. When he brought him home you could hold him on your palm of one hand. Now he’s a sleek kitty with fur that glows like fire when he sits in the sun light. 

He also yowls at me to go in or out. In this painting he wanted out. He was getting irritated because I made him wait while I drew him.  

I drew him with one of my Noodler flex nibs loaded with Drartremis brown document ink. Painted him with gouache in my stillman and Birn zeta with  mostly white, Indian yellow, and English red with bits of indigo in the shadows.  

 

Detail Tom copyright Margaret McCarthy Hunt 81/2 x 11″ $195. Gouache or acrylic 

 Because he such a red cat I watered down some Quin Sienna watercolor and brushes it over his fur to make it redder.  I also added some watery burnt umber and burnt sienna Wc for shade. 

Background is watery titmouse with some Azo yellow to make the green spots. 

Day 260 – My Mothers Garden 

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My Mothers Garden 

11×15

$250 framed and matted 

$200 unframed 

original watercolor on kilimanjaro

My mother is an avid gardener whose every finger is green. This is based on her spring garden in Asheville NC. 

 

Yuchikiokee Festival

 Quick sketch adding onto the crowd as they walked by yesterday and stood for a few minutes before the big show at Yuchikiokee Festival in Evans Ga. Sadly day two got rained out. I filled in the people in the foreground first. The lady in the middle was a walk off before I drew her legs. Oops. That happens. Then I filled in the background. 

Will be posting more later today. 

Thanks for looking. 

267 – Dog of the Day 

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The Dog of the Day – my nieces lab Reagan with his birthday hat on. Happy Birthday Reagan!! Did I say a yellow lab is much harder to paint than a black one. Especially with a limited gouache palette.

 All you need for a black lab is a dark indigo blue for the  black with a touch of the English red and a lighter blue and a bit of red for the collar and you gue.



 The yellow lab? 😳 So many shades of cream, buff, peach, Browns, purples, greys and white. Red for the tongue and a bit of dark purple. 

And ps Azo yellow is NOT a good color for a yellow lab. It’s too lemony and turns him green when mixed with white and painted over the colors I was using. Any blue remotely near it turned it green. 😜 Not so with the Indian yellow which is very strange. 

I did use a lot of light purples for the greys. 

Background is watered down turquoise.  

Thanks for looking!  

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.