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 435 – lost post

September 18, 2015September 18, 20156 Comments

and maybe that was a good idea. Just realized it was lost. Posted it to be scheduled to go out today at 10:30 am. Nothing. Wonder where it went?! Then it disappeared again. So I will post this paragraph and then add to it. I HOPE!!

Originally I posted this picture but today I realized it wasn’t terrible it just needed a good crop. I wanted to make it about the live oak tree and the resurrection ferns on the sinuous boughs but it was really about the statute and the guys sitting in Wesley Square. I especially liked the guy on the right with the dreadlocks but all the guys turned out so well in the sketch.

And the two old guys on the left were just enjoying the fabulous fall weather last Sunday and having a great talk.

Live oaks by Al Beyer 4’x 8′ oil on panel
This is what a live oak should look like. I came out of the art studio the other day at USC Aiken, and this awesome painting was leaning against the hall wall. I told Al I had just been sitting under that tree in Savannah the day before. Just a wonderful painting. I wonder if I can out it on layaway?!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret bed late today!! 😳 xxx

Day 427 At It Again

September 9, 2015Leave a comment

Like the way he’s going so far. This is a LARGE watercolor. A few problems on the two point perspective that need to be straightened out tomorrow or Friday. Will share how it’s done when I do it.

Really like the way the reflections on the window are coming along. I tried to keep some white and light reflection areas. But first those letters need to be in perspective.

But today I am cleaning up my paintbrushes till the am!!

Thanks for reading

Margaret ️xxx

Day 423 – A Demo

September 5, 2015September 5, 20158 Comments

We had the pleasure of watching Mr Yow of Northern China an acclaimed artist of the Lu Chin school do a demo and explain what his paintings mean last Wednesday.

I have three videos of him painting the horse but I Can NOT upload them to WordPress. I will be uploading them to my Facebook business page where you can see them at https://m.facebook.com/MargaretMccarthyHunt?ref=bookmarks

It was fascinating to see him paint. This took four minutes for him to paint.

Thru an interpreter he explained that he ponders his subject for a few days and then paints it quickly with a large chinese ink brush and ink on rice paper which he ripped off a large roll.

In China they do not have watercolors or pencils – only ink. So all drawing, painting, and writing are done with ink.

Also different artists specialize in one area. His is the horse. One artist specializes in shrimp painting. Really!!

The calligraphy is actually a poem that tells explains how he feels about the painting.

This is the granddaughter he hopes to have one day. The calligraphy tells that story of his hopes for his granddaughter.

All Chinese children grow up doing calligraphy with a brush in school.
He also said that the chop, the red squares, can be a name, a nickname or something else.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 418 – Inner Bean

August 31, 2015August 30, 20151 Comment

I really want to write on the background wall of this but haven’t yet because I like it as is. However journaling on it seems like a good idea. What do you think?!

This was sketched at the Inner Beab in Augusta Friday. Remember I told you you can get in trouble if you don’t plan those lines. Can you find my faux pas?! Hmm I could turn it into to a backpack on the girl couldn’t I?!

Colors used. Almost every color I have !!

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 408 – A Commission

August 21, 2015Leave a comment

The Wedding – 15×22

I was recently honored to do this commission for a friends birthday- his long awaited wedding to his love.

They adored it. Said all their friends would be jealous.

The sketch with the first background wash added. Very light mix of colors.

I thought it was done at this long til a friend said darken the background so John on the right shows up better. Remember it’s all about the contrast!! Shadows have a lot of purples added for contrast as well as burnt sienna.

Colors used! Skin is yellow ochre and Quin coral. The Daniel Smith Quin coral akes a lovely glowy skin. The grey hair is stipples cerulean blue. Works great for stubbly hair.

That’s all I got for today. Have a lovely weekend. Life modeling tomorrow if all goes well!!

Thanks for reading.

Margaretxxx

Day 405 – Hmm

August 18, 2015August 18, 2015Leave a comment

Pavilion Cafe at the Hammock Shoppes Pawleys Island.

I meant to practice some more Paris and France sketching but ended up getting a couple of traveling sketchbooks done to mail out tomorrow. Hurrah.

We had been wandering through all tech cute shops theat comprise the Hammock Shoppes on Highway 17 at Pawleys Island. I had no idea it had been here since the 1930s. I found my favorite clothing store ever Affordable Apparel (also on line at Affordable Apparel.com) and got some great coordinated clothes to pack for Paris.

This was actually drawn as we waited for our food. Several years ago I had the most awesome crab cake ever at the Hammock Shoppes. This one was delicious of lump crab meat of the earlier one. A great spot to eat in a large open pavilion with lots of interesting things to draw. Thank goodness the two couples showed up after we sat down so my drawing had lots of people in it.

Give it a go. A lot of fun drawing in restaurants and cafes. What would Toulouse Lautrec have had to draw of it were not for the people on the night clubs of Paris. Be brave and give it a whirl.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx still looking for anothe

Day 394 an Ibis or two and an

August 7, 2015Leave a comment

iguana. Currently standing on the beach in Garden City south of Myrtle Beach. Let’s see if this posts.

Mango the iguana. Needs more work.

Ran out of background ideas when I got

To these last three but I rather like them as they are.
But If you have a bright idea or two for backgrounds let me know.
The view from where I stand. Did I say we got wet?!

South of me.

Thanks for reading. Hope it posts!

Margaret beaching it again.

Day 386 – a few more loose ends. Part 2

July 29, 2015July 29, 2015Leave a comment

Mr Chapman riding his conch cruiser aka bike on Duval because he can. As a boy he was never allowed out of the black area of town Duval was a No No if you were black. Now he rides with rock music blasting.
Here’s Mr Chapman in real life. Sad story about Mr Chapman. He’s loosing his house. Key West is loosing him and his joy cruising the streets. You can’t help but smile at him as he drives by!!

Evidently Mr Chapman was tricked out of his house for the price of back taxes so he’s moving to the mainland. If you want to donate this is the address.

More sketches from the wildlife center. The pelican is a sad case. He lost part of his bill and can never live on the wild again.

A couple enjoying the back deck at Louies Backyard. A great place to relax and enjoy the sea breezes. I did sit out on the deck at Louies and drew this. It was hard to leave.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret ️xxx

Day 370 – Island Time

July 13, 2015Leave a comment

Finally in Key West. Sunset 4×6 Strathmore 140# Winsor Newton Paint in a whiskey painters pallette.

The sunset off the backporch. Rough life right?! Colors Yellow Ochre alizarin Ultramarine Blue and burnt sienna. Pleased with this. May have a go at a larger one.

Orientation at the condo. Intimidating drawing in the middle of a crowd on recliners with no place to hide. Done in pencil in my Moleskine watercolor book that I started when we came to Key West inDecember. Only twenty pages to go.