Category: Usk

Day 410 – More of those chickens!! 

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Courthouse Chickens Key West 

Where else but in Key West would you find chickens at the courthouse?! 

  

I drew these toward the end of our stay in Key West when I went on a sketchathon starting at the Key West Wildlife Center and ending at Higgs Beach sketching the people as they walked by in front of the car. 

   
Fast sketching requires a good flowing pen – chickens birds and people don’t hold still for long!! I use my Noodler Craper Ahab or one of my two brush pens – the Kuretake or the Pentel.  The first two are always loaded with Carbon Platinum Black ink which dries so rapidly. I frequently paint them later especially if the weather is extreme like in the tropical heat of key west. 

 
 I thought you might like to see the chickens before I painted them. 

  
  While in Key west I saw a lot of Chinese style brush work paintings of animals in one gallery on Duval. And decided to try it out on the long chicken strip. I liked it so much I did it on these pages too. 

There are really only a few pure colors used on the chickens. Quin gold, Quin Sienna, Quin burnt orange, Inathradone, Quin red and alizarin period. All the colors were allowed to combine on the page. Painting was done with my large cheap joes legend #12 sable even the large splatters. 
  

Tip: To make the splatters. Choose a color or two and make a soupy mix. Fillup a large brush and gently tap over the painting. Yes I have a toothbrush but I always get little splatters not big juicy ones with it.

  

  
Probably due to heat stroke I was imagining what the chickens might be thinking as I drew.  What would I think if I were a courthouse chicken?! Look there goes another felon?! Wonder what they did?! Hope I win my case?! 

  

Before I started drawing chickens  I thought roosters were mean ready to attack you at any second like the ones we had as kids. When get are with the chicks and be a they are very different beasts. They are not aggressive. Feed them and they defer to the babies and hens to eat. They also stand vigil while the hen takes care of the babies. Who knew??! 



Thanks for reading. 

Margaret xxx 

Day 407 – Playtime

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Loved the way the dads play with their kids now. And help out with them. Today we welcomed a new McCarthy Olivia June into the world. My nephew her dad Vince McCarthy is one of those great dads. This sketch is another great dad playing with his daughter on the beach at Garden City. Olivia will be playing here with her dad in a few years. The circle of a life. 

As one of my first graders once told me that’s all I got for today. Large sinus headaches here. Back to sofa lounging. I even packed my gym bag and almost got there today Til the headache struck about two.  

More tomorrow.  But you knew that. 

Thanks for reading!! 

Margaret ️xxx

Day 406 – the Pier

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The Pier at Garden City

This was sketched on the pier at Garden City. A very long pier. The late evening sun glinting off the boards was turning the dock to gold.  

 A bit of the pier

People were everywhere. Some sitting some walking enjoying the breezes others waiting to get weaves done in their hair. Who knew weaves were in demand on the piers of the Grand Strand?! 

   

 Put these together to see the whole pier. 

And of course you guessed that gold is Quin gold.  The people’s shadows were made with a soupy Inathradone and burnt umber mix that I let drip from the feet by propping the sketch book up. I added burnt sienna to some of the figures to give them a tan. Tans are big at the beach. 

I seem to be into drips and splatters lately. I find the splatters are easier if I load a large brush like my #12 Legend sable brush with a soup of darker colors like blues and the Browns. Sometimes together sometimes separate. 

Tip of the day!! Just remember splattering can make a BIG mess!! BeWaRe!!! It will go everywhere. 

Thanks for reading.  

Margaret xxx

Day 404 – Practice 

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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 403 – Work in progress

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  Mermaid House thank you card Finished 

Thought u might like to see one in progress. I frequently take pics of my work as I go to check on values. 

 

 I also sometimes change the photo to black and white to check the values. I, like most people, usually need more darks to make the lights pop. 

  
The first time I checked values and general do I like the way it’s going?! 
  
Adding more darks to the palms. Love the palm on the right.  

 The sun was coming from the right in this early morning photo. 

  
I lifted some color from the palms to make more lights.  

 
This is what I used to lift some of the color. It’s an architect erasure shield and an old hog bristle paint brush of my dads. I did get a little carried away scrubbing the darks. Then I blotted them with Kleenex. 

  
I decided the lifted spots looked to uniform and too stripey. 

  
So I added a little green on some of the stripes as well as some cobalt blue for even more darks. 

U can see that I taped down the paper.

  This is some Stonehenge that I ripped the wrong size for a sketchbook. Stonehenge does well with watercolor. All my people strips are made from Stonehenge or Strathmore Mixed Media 500 paper. 

   
 Finished card 

I added another wash of cerulean to darken the sky and make the very light house pop. Adding more darks under the porch roof and too all the rails and steps also made it pop more. Then I splattered it with Inathradone blue and burnt umber. 

Contrast makes it pop. Not enough darks and it will be bland!!

  Oh and I had to make an envelope. It’s a thank you note for the beach house owner for inviting my sis and I last weekend. I buy boxes of cards on sale for the envelopes especially after Christmas. 

Thanks for reading. 

Margaret ️xxx