Larry D. Marshall's Blog, page 52
June 22, 2016
Sketching At Jardin botanique Roger-Van den Hende
When I want to draw some plants I head to Jardin botanique Roger-Van den Hende. It’s a very large garden that is something of a large library of plants rather than a coordinated esthetic garden. So many textures, so many shapes.
Our sketching group met there on Thursday and the weather couldn’t be better. Lots of sun, little wind, and it was warm enough that even I was searching for some shade. I was planning on drawing flowers but didn’t draw a single petal. Funny how fickle the sketching eye is and I went down a different path. We’ve scheduled a sketchcrawl in the garden for July so many I’ll get to the flowers then.
June 20, 2016
The Vikings Showed Up In Quebec
Some 500 years before Columbus, the Vikings were wandering around what is now the east coast of Canada. They came by ship of course and some of their descendents decided to make the trip again. Thirty-six days crossing the Atlantic resulted in them showing up in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
They decided to visit Quebec City and they showed up last Friday. I thought it might be fun to draw the ship so I headed down to the harbor area. Unfortunately, a lot of other people decided they should go to the harbor area too, armed with cameras, bicycles, strollers, and there was a guy with a wagon. There were enough people to make it difficult to stick your cell phone in the air to get a shot of the ship without a dozen heads in the picture. Sitting down to draw the ship caused one to get a great view of a lot of…well, let’s just say the view of the people was lower than those heads. The best I could do was to stand, actually having to move around to get a glimpse of the nose of the boat as I did this quick sketch of the dragon figurehead.
Field Notes, Platinum 3776
June 19, 2016
Sketching Around Bassin Louise
A popular place in Quebec City is Bassin Louise, the sheltered harbor area where people keep their sailboats and mini-yachts. There’s also a large market complex that is popular with tourists and locals alike. And that’s where our sketching group was on Tuesday morning. We’re finally getting decent sketching weather so we’re taking advantage of it.
This is a view I’ve wanted to sketch for a while. It’s nothing special but the trees frame up a group of building shapes that has always attracted my eye.
Stillman & Birn Delta (8×10), Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black
Sometimes I’m attracted by a shape, sometimes a texture. Unlike a lot of artists, I’m not driven to find “great scenes” but rather I like things that look like they’d be fun to draw. I think this sketch illustrates this point. I was walking along the harbor and found the sacks that cover furled sails create an interesting draped fabric shape and I thought they’d be fun to draw one… and so I did. Ain’t sketching fun?
Stillman & Birn Alpha (5×8), Platinum 3776
June 17, 2016
While Out For A Walk
Lots of people get their exercise and their dose of mental health by wandering through forests. I’m more likely to do my walking through our old city, an almost fantasy world from the 18th Century. Soon it will get really crowded as the tourists start to show up but right now it’s a restful place to walk.
This was a blustery day, putting a chill in my bones as I walked along so I was reluctant to stop to sketch. I was looking for something I could sketch quickly, before the wind took its toll. There are a series of large stone sculptures that form a fence near the seminary. I hid from the wind behind a large statue and did this sketch as quickly as I could. Hope you like it.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (8×5), Platinum 3776
June 16, 2016
A Visit To The Pre-Winnebago Days
An outdoor theatre group was in town for a week and one of their props was this old trailer. I remember these when I was a kid, long before people started driving Winnebagos the size of a barn down our highways.
It’s not the most beautiful trailer, and I didn’t create a particularly beautiful sketch of it, but memories are contained within and I hope the sketch conjours a few of your own.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (8×5), Platinum 3776
June 14, 2016
June Sketchcrawl at Galerie Louise-Carrier in Levis
Our next monthly sketchcrawl (June 19) should be fantastic. We’re holding it in conjunction with an event that’s held every other year at Galerie Louise-Carrier in Levis. In addition to the gallery’s exhibition of nature artworks, the artists of those works will be on site and other activities will take place in a park area next to the gallery.
I went two years ago and they had art demonstrations, acrobats, activities for kids, and a woman doing trick horse riding. It was a real circus atmosphere and very much a target-rich environment for sketchers. if you’re interested in drawing architecture, the entire neighborhood can be your playground as the gallery is in the older part of Levis and the architecture is stunning.
You can get more information on the event from the Croquistes de Quebec website or the Louise-Carrier gallery website. Whatever you do, don’t miss this one. Bring a lunch, your pointy devices and some paper and be prepared for a great day.
June 13, 2016
Ferns In Captivity
I live on a part of the Earth where you can go into forests and find wild ferns hanging out as part of the forest understory. So much so, in fact, that fern leaves, before they’ve unrolled, are collected and sold as Fiddlehead greens in our grocery stores during late spring. This is novel to a guy who grew up in Arizona.
Of course you can also find them kept in captivity, kept by those with greener thumbs than mine. There were a bunch of them in the same place as the Chinese statues I talked about in my last blog post and I drew one of them as they live in really nice clay pots. I should have posted the sketch with the statue sketch but I forgot all about it. I post it here to make up for that omission.
Stillman & Birn Delta (8×10), Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black
June 12, 2016
Chinese Statues In Ste-Foy, Quebec
When they were building it, some of the cynics referred to the grandiose building that was to be Ste-Foy City Hall as the “Taj Mahal.” It really was on an over-the-top building just to house the mayor and his court. And the irony is that it wasn’t too many years later that all the smaller municipalities were merged with Quebec City and city governance moved, principally into the Quebec City Hall.
I’m not sure what the function of the building is these days but one thing it does is to keep the rain off a couple of beautiful Chinese statues. It’s just as unclear why these statues exist in Quebec City but our group took advantage of them to do some sketching during yet another rainy day. It was a fun days and I hope you like my result.
Stillman & Birn Delta (8×10), Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black
June 10, 2016
Rainy Tuesday Sketching
We can’t catch a break with the weather it seems but Yvan and I sat under an awning in open-air atrium at the museum and sketched very large potted plants. This area becomes a restaurant when weather permits and these huge pots will be moved around to decorate the area. I was struck by the fact that while these huge planters were very similar to one another, none of them were exactly alike.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (8×5), Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black
June 8, 2016
Back On The Plains Of Abraham
Well, the last time I was on the Plains of Abraham (in Jardin Jeanne d’Arc) I froze because I dressed for summer and Mother Nature was still thinking early spring. So, I returned on Friday, in long pants and wearing a jacket. And I’m glad I did because it was very pleasant to sit in a grassy area and draw this scene.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (5×8), Platinum 3776
The structure is an interesting one. It is a military observation/gun emplacement built by the British to defend against a potential attack from the United States. What’s interesting about it is that you’re looking at the “thin” side of the building. The walls on this side are typical stone while on the side facing south the walls are very thick to withstand cannon fire, and maybe even a Trump speech (grin).
