Day 339 – Sgt. Wyatts Bar B Que

June 12, 2015June 12, 2015Leave a comment

Sgt Wyatts Barbecue is around the corner from one of my kids. I keep thinking we need to stop. It’s so funky and charming it’s been on my to draw list for a while. It’s bright yellow and sags a lot. Smoke billows from the chimney.

I found this photo of the side fence when I was looking for more information about it. I forgot to write on two signs and used artistic license after I found this photo on http://foodio54.com/restaurant/Atlanta-GA/20836/Wyatts-Diner. Evidently the food is really good. It’s moved up my list to try next time I am in East Atlanta. Most of the reviews are great.

The old Chevrolet truck was at Flying Biscuit on Piedmont Ave. I think I need an old Chevy truck. Thought of fit with the funkiness of Sgt Wyatts building so I added it.

Yellow is Aureolin yellow and yellow Ochre, grey my current fav Inathradone blue and burnt umber. Green roof was painted with a viridian green dulled with a burnt sienna.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 337 – More Ponce Market

June 10, 20152 Comments

My favorite side of the old Sears building now known as Ponce Market. Both have problems.

I drew this one first but really had just wanted to feature the tower and the sign. Love that sign. Vintage but brand new.
TIP: Since I didn’t use a pencil or a ruler you might be wondering how i get all those lines parallel and fairly straight. I put the pen on the paper with my hand on the side of the paper and run it down the page with my hand sliding down the edge of the paper. It really does work. Try it.

Colors same as yesterday. Noodler Creaper Ahab loaded with Carbon Platinum Black Ink. Stillman and bIrn Alpha. The color was hard to move on the sky and blotched. That did not make me happy. Oh well. They are done right?!

Thanks for reading!

Margaret xxx

Day 336 – Ponce City Market

June 9, 2015June 9, 20155 Comments

This is the back side of the Ponce City Market from the Binders store parking lot.

It was sketched with my Noodler Creaper Ahab no pencil first. Silly me. Wish I had painted the building farther down. Oops!!!

Sky is cobalt blue brick cad red and vermilion with yellow ochre and a bit of Inathridone to grey it slightly. Black is Inathridone and burnt umber. Letters are cad red and vermilion.

Stay tuned for more drawings of this building on Ponce de Leon in Atlanta. It’s the old Sears building that’s being rehabbed as condos and a market similar to the Pike Market in Seattle. There’s something about the tower on that old building with its flag flying against the blue sky that I never tire of. Add in the signage and its a winner. Best part of it to me is the new Binders store minutes from my kids houses!! Love that store.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 334 – Inner Bean

June 7, 2015June 6, 20152 Comments

Inner Bean is almost all shades of grey so a lot of fun to sketch it and paint it with all those shades of grey and black by mixing blues and Browns to get different greys.

There were a lot of patrons coming and going getting take outs and their awesome coffee to go. The wierd guy in the blue plaid shirt was really into his coffee while he waited for his fellow members of the Mens Club that meets every Thursday afternoon til closing at the Bean.

Most of the other colors were straight out of my paint box. Off course I used my Noodler Creaper Ahab and Carbon Platinum Black ink both of which can be bought at Goulet Pens on the Internet.

Thanks for reading!!

Margaret xxx

Day 330 – urban sketching?

June 3, 20158 Comments

is sketching a friend at breakfast at a local restaurant considered urban sketching?!

Lowered the left eyebrow. It was too high. Still a bit too high but better.

Doesn’t look a bit like Marsha. She kept moving. So I am blaming her for the poor likeness.

I did have a good time dripping and splattering the painting and that’s what counts right?!

Really like the hair. It was washed with burnt sienna and the darkened with tiny bits of cobalt, burnt umber, mineral Violet and Inathridone blue after the initial wash dried. Fun stuff.

Colors used: Quin coral and ochre for skin, vermilion, mineral purple and cobalt, Inathridone blue for blouse, mineral purple and burnt sienna for shadows. Hair is burnt sienna, cobalt, burnt umber and Inathridone blue.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 329 – Urban Sketching

June 2, 2015Leave a comment

in Columbia at Nonnahs on Gervais.

The view of the restaurant from our table. Delicious awesome from scratch biscuits made with the famous SC flour Adluh and great chicken salad on a bed of mixed greens with artichoke hearts and lots of iced tea. Deliciousness.

I had hoped some more victims I mean patrons would come in but all there were walked by on the sidewalk after I drew the buildings. OPPS!

Noodler Konrad with Lexington Grey ink and Caran d’ache.

The zigzags of color are applied after the base color dries. I think it gives a little Zing to the sketch.

Thanks for reading.

Margaret xxx

Day 328 – Quick Dog Sketches

June 1, 2015Leave a comment

The Watch Dogs aka Pits on guard

Happy June!! Can hardly believe it’s amer again!

After one false start this one went very well. The two dogs were guarding the house while strangers were getting giveaways on Craigslist off the porch.

They will sit still barking their heads off for what seems like hours. This sketch took at most ten minutes and perhaps ten to color it. Quick and dirty. It was done with my Noodler creaper Ahab loaded with carbon platinum plus. The ink should not have run. Maybe I will make this mixed media when I get home by adding a piece of ledger paper over the lettering on the right.

Tips aka How I did it. Colored with Caran d’ache watercolor crayons wet with a waterbrush. The brindle pitty was a problem as usual with his tiger striped coat. I started with the same colors as the fawn pit bull Livia. Then I added black to Bear. I wet it down hitting it here and there with the waterbrush. If I had brushed the water on it it would have blurred the colors.

The blinds were done by coloring with a burnt umber crayon and washing the blinds with it. Then letting the wash dry and drawing new lines on the blinds with the burnt umber crayon.

I had thought about getting my fine mister out and spraying it allowing the colors to run. Glad I didn’t. I really do like this sketch. The mister spray effect is totally unpredictable.

This is the first attempt at drawing them. A contour sketch that didn’t have room for all of Bear the pit on the left or all of Livias tail or the chair. Sometimes it’s just easier to start over.

Thanks for reading!!

Margaret xxx

Day 323 Dr Sketchys Part 1

May 28, 2015Leave a comment

Great nite! Mickey Lay was a great model! Always our favorite sketching activity. It’s worldwide so see if there’s one near you.

2 Minute pose Head is a little small Done w brush pen in a strathmore mixed media sketchbook. I have one just for Dr Sketchys. Thank goodness the drawing went better than the ones I did at Good Books. Perhaps those earlier drawings loosened me up?!

We started with several two minutes poses.

The poses were very interesting. He did a lot of muscle poses. Seemed to have trouble getting the whole body on the paper.

Another two minute muscle pose

The first five minute pose. Hard to hold the spear up in the air for 5 minutes but Mickey did well. Hard pose to hold.

Two five minute costume poses. Finally managed to get his legs on the page. Hallelujah. These were embellished with Pentel brush markers and Tombow markers. The Tombows cover a lot of area quickly and are fun to wet down with a water brush giving a watercolor effect.

Thanks for reading. More dr Sketchys tomorrow!!

Margaret xxx

Day 322 – Good Books

May 27, 20155 Comments

shopping for Franklin and Froggy books at our Gucci Goodwill. Found a stack. Sat down to draw the customers in the Good Eats Cafe there.

Some days you can’t draw at all. Viewing it as a warm up for Dr Sketchys tonite. Hope I do better then.

These are the best of the trash that I drew. Could not get in the rhythm today.

I brought in a sketchbook with only two pages left DUH! So I drew over some screwed up pages of Rhineharts Oyster Bar.

Browsers and worker bees at Good Books.

Rhineharts roof. Guess I could have drawn on the napkins!?

Sorry about the quality of the photos. Weird shadows from the lights in Good Books.

Maybe color would improve these?! Or a brush pen!?

Thanks for reading.

Margaret XXX

Day 318 just a quick post

May 24, 20152 Comments

because I am busy painting. More about that tomorrow.

Cropping can be a good thing. This was a practice sketch. A warm up for painting this sketch. I did not like the way the drawing went.

I liked this sketch much better than the one in the first picture.

This is the whole spread uncut. The sketch of Livia on the left is pretty bad. A warm up for the next sketch. But the good thing about a bad sketch or painting is that it liberates you to slap paint around and have fun. Loved making the drips and applying the sheer colors. Think it helped with this painting. I did the drippy baby painting first. Do you see a connection? Sometimes the most interesting painting gets done on a painting that you no longer care about the way it turns out. The fun stuff in this bad sketch are the dots of the hair and bow on her head the washes and drips from the dress and the luminous center of the spread. Really like that luminous glow and. I used all of that in the lady in the white dress.