Day 451 – A few Paintings

October 4, 2015Leave a comment

Henry – background Quin gold. Sofa Quin sienna and Quin burnt orange – skin Quin coral and French yellow ochre

Got the nasty virus still that half of the people in Augusta seem to have but forced myself to paint some in my coloring book aka my ink sketches.

About Henry sketch. Really like the way the darks make his legs pop and take shape. My favorite of the ones I painted yesterday.

Inktober day 4 – random customer at the inner bean sitting less than three Feet from me. So absorbed in her phone she didn’t notice I was drawing her.

Drawn with Noodler Konrad and carbon platinum black ink.

Hair – burnt sienna Quin burnt orange. Shirt cobalt and inathradone. Skin Quin coral and yellow ochre. Grey is cerulean and burnt sienna.

A reindeer head that was over the cabin fireplace last weekend. Why a reindeer in the western North Carolina mountains?! NO idea! A friend told me he was a moose but we decided he was a reindeer probably from Norway or Sweden. Along way from home.

Quin gold and burnt sienna wall. Same with the splatters. Grey is cerulean and burnt sienna. Piemonite and cobalt used in the shadows.

Out my back door. Glad to report the Savannah is still units riverbanks!!

Thanks for looking!! Back to watching the BIG Flood in nearby Columbia and Charleston and glad Augusta dogged the bullet.

Stay safe and dry my chickadees!

Margaret glued to WIS Columbia. Nope no football here!!

Day 450 – Inktober

October 3, 2015October 2, 20152 Comments

All I can say is WOW!!!! 450 days of consecutive daily blogging. And I didn’t think I would make thirty.

Jan DAY 1

Noodler Konrad pen w carbon platinum black ink Super Aquabee tablet

Decided to really drove myself nuts and participate in Inktober. Aka posting an inksketch daily for the month of October. I tend to do art everyday anyway so it’s not a big stretch just to do ink sketches all month. Takes the pressure off doing watercolors too lol though I bet I end up painting some of them.

Old Man at Panera Day 2

Carbon platinum pen w carbon platinum black ink Super Aquabee tablet

Not happy with this sketch. This guy was in his eighties. Lots of wrinkles. Eyes set deeply in his head. He was busy giving someone his power of attorney. The things you learn when you sit and quietly draw while people yammer on about their lives on their phones.

If I had taken a photo of him I would have redrawn him. Although the carbon platinum pen has a very fine point I don’t think it gives you the range of lines that the noodlers do. And it was hard to do any fine shading on his small face.

The Smoker Day 3

Noodler Konrad pen w carbon platinum black ink Super Aquabee tablet

What a character! A lot off wild waving of her hands with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, bright pink shirt orange overdyed black hair. I had to draw her.

Notes about drawing

All my sketches are drawn from live people not pictures unlike my finished big watercolors which are usually drawn from photos. I think it gives the drawings more life. And people that know art can actually tell they are from real life as we say.

Drawings are more successful if I lay down one line and don’t fiddle with it. Original line is usually the best.

Been practicing life drawing almost daily for a year.

Faces often easier to leave them out because that’s usually where I screw up a sketch like the old man. The heads need to be fairly large to draw a good face.

Start drawing from the shoulders and add the head- the attention getters. Then the rest of the body.

Favorite pens :

My star pens are any Noodler pen. I have several and love their flex nib. These were done with my Konrad because my big ahab is leaking. I am going to redo the rings in the ahab. It’s hard to beat because it holds loads of ink and is cheap at $23 at http://www.gouletpens.com

I am also fond of my Lamy Vista fine point and the Carbon Platinum pen.

Brush Pens Pentel and Kuretake. The Kuretake is an elegant Japanese pen. And very reasonable at $20ish.

INK hands down favorite is the ultra waterproof Carbon Platinum Black from Goulet pens. DO NOT BUY IT FROM AMAZON. The ink there looks like goulets but runs like crazy. I use CPB in my Kuretake too. It’s the reason I bought the Kuretake. The Pentel is a great brush but sometimes the ink just is not waterproof.
Other inks I like a lot are the super waterproof De artementis DOCUMENT brown and Noodlers Lexington Grey. Also from Goulet.

I have a Bottle of Noodlers Eelskin which is supposed to be waterproof it isn’t for me.

Smooth paper is a must for ink sketches. Favorites are superaquabee, Stonehenge or other Bristol and strathmore Mixed media 500 and Stillman and Birn Alpha. All but the S&B Alpha do well with watercolor too.

Ok my chickadees that’s enough for today. Hope you haven’t caught this virus half the world seems to have in Augusta Ga.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 447 Kerchoo

September 30, 2015September 30, 2015Leave a comment

Undoubtably the best time to sketch my grandson is when he’s watching Disney. He becomes almost immobile occasionally moving his body but mostly staring at the screen.

These were drawn in my Aquabee sketchbook with my Lamy fine point loaded with Carbon Platinum Black ink. I have been meaning to paint them as soon as my cold clears up. Hiking in the rain in the WNC Blue Ridge is not conducive to good health. Kerchoo!!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 447 Kerchoo

September 30, 2015Leave a comment

Undoubtably the best time to sketch by grandson is when he’s watching Disney. He becomes almost immobile occasionally moving his body but mostly staring at the screen.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 445 – a few more arts in the hearts

September 28, 2015Leave a comment

Love these two guys. The first guy was actually a walk off and I drew the rest of him after he did. He was just a cool looking guy in his African mud cloth vest and his rakish hat.

I also loved the look of this guy – an audience member. He sat not far from where we were drawing. About broke my neck while drawing him. He was such a dignified guy. Thanks goodness he didn’t catch me craning my next at him.

Skin tones burnt sienna and Quinn gold with some cerulean and cobalt.

The backgrounds. I heard you wondering how they were done. Just lots of layers of thin color. Some of the colors used were cad red light, alizarin, cobalt blue, Daniel smith piemonite(which is lovely combined with cobalt), Quin gold and probably yellow ochre.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 443 Some Audience

September 26, 20152 Comments

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 442 Adam Harris Thompson Group Part 2

September 25, 2015Leave a comment

This is actually the first sketch of the group. I didn’t post because it was in the sketchbook which was in my car yesterday. And I was too tired to walk down stairs to the garage and get it.

I was really pleased with the two sketches of the group performing. They were drawn as they played and sang. And No they do not hold still.

At some point I changed to my noodles Konrad that had been loaded with a beautiful red ink. I had decided to change it to black but neglected to clean out the pen. The no waterproof red kept leaky as I painted these. Did NOT make me happy because I really liked these sketches. And did not like the red leaky ink.
I have since rinsed it out with water and reloaded it with fresh clean Carbon platinum black ink. AND tested it to see if it would run. Glad to over the runs are over.

I did find that adding yellow ochre to th Mix somewhat mitigated the red on the larger sketches but on the smaller ones in my Aquabee well sadly the red really bled.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 442 Adam Harris Thompson Group Part 2

September 25, 2015September 24, 20152 Comments

This is actually the first sketch of the group. I didn’t post because it was in the sketchbook which was in my car yesterday. And I was too tired to walk down stairs to the garage and get it.

I was really pleased with the two sketches of the group performing. They were drawn as they played and sang. And No they do not hold still.

At some point I changed to my beloved red noodler Konrad that had been loaded with a beautiful red ink. I had decided to change it to black but neglected to clean out the pen. The no waterproof red kept leaky as I painted these. Did NOT make me happy because I really liked these sketches. And did not like the red leaky ink.

I have since rinsed it out with water and reloaded it with fresh clean Carbon platinum black ink. AND tested it to see if it would run. Glad to over the runs are over.

I did find that adding yellow ochre to th Mix somewhat mitigated the red on the larger sketches but on the smaller ones in my Aquabee well sadly the red really bled. Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 441 – More You know What!

September 24, 20152 Comments

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 440 – More Arts in the Hearts.

September 23, 2015Leave a comment

Zaneigayha Chelon group

Which you will be seeing for a while this week. I sketched ALOT at Arts in The Hearts a big annual juried arts and crafts festival in downtown Augusta.

These were drawn at the Eighth Street Stage. She was a great little singer with her family for backup.