Larry D. Marshall's Blog, page 58
February 11, 2016
Sketching Quebec City From Levis
Recently I wrote about Yvan and I crossing the St. Lawrence so we could sketch the Quebec City skyline. I mentioned that we were disappointed by the lack of sun that made it difficult to see the buildings clearly in the low-contrast light.
Of course we do quick sketches as we cross on the ferry. Here’s one example – A Girl On a Boat (alias A Girl On a Phone).
Undaunted by that experience, we watched weather forecasts and, on a day that was supposed to be sunny, we boarded the ferry and headed to the south shore of the St. Lawrence. That sounds too much like we took a trip. The ferry ride is no more than 10 minutes and half of that is waiting as they dock the ship. We scurried off the board and into the terminal, which is a nice, warm place from which to look at Quebec City.
Apparently, Mother Nature doesn’t read weather forecasts because there was no sun but we sketched anyway. As we were leaving it started to snow.
Fabriano Artistico CP, Platinum Carbon Black, Platinum 3776
February 10, 2016
Thursday Sketchers At The Museum
18th Century armor – Canson XL watercolor, Pilot Metropolitan, DeAtramentis Document Black
Our small group of “Thursday sketchers,” met at the Musee de La Civilisation. I put the name in quotes because there’s nothing formal about us except that we meet at the museum on Thursdays. Not surprisingly, we were there on Thursday (grin).
We scattered around the Quebec exhibition, which is part of the permanent collection, they’re planning on shutting it down for reorganision ‘real soon.’ Nothing motivates sketchers more than being told they weren’t going to lose access to something and so it went that day.
I’d made a short list of things I wanted to sketch before this happened so I set to work, not wanting to spend too much time on any one subject. It was a great day and we had a lot of fun together.
This goofy-looking, sheetmetal rooster came from a Church Steeple. Pilot Metropolitan, DeAtramentis Document Black
Half of a cannonball mold. Pilot Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black
February 9, 2016
Cheap, Small Sketchbooks – Another Solution
I go through a lot of small sketchbooks because I’m constantly scribbling in them. I have one where I watch TV, one in my office, one in my coat pocket and at least one in each of my sketching bags.
I’ve tried using Field Notes notebooks. I use the ‘mustache’ notebooks I wrote about at one point. These are wonderful because of their toned 4×6 paper that take fountain pen ink well. But for my sketching bags I like to have something that’s just a wee bit bigger, with a spiral binding so I can fold everything back and have just the sheet I’m working on in front of me. It still has to be cheap, fountain pen friendly, and of a practical size. For that I’ve been cutting 9×12 spiral-bound, 60# sketchbooks that I cut in half, creating 80-page 6×9 books that cost me less than $4. All of these solutions suffer when I try to add even light washes of watercolor.
What is a problem is that while I like the cheap Fabriano paper in those 6×9 books, they’re just large for the purpose, being too large and too heavy because I’m also carrying my regular S&B sketchbooks.
So, when I saw Canson’s XL Multi-Media book in a 7×10 size, I knew I’ve found my answer. Cut in half (I just run it through my bandsaw), it provides two 60-sheet 5×7 sketchbooks and the best part was that the paper is 98lb paper that takes watercolor washes quite well. No, I’m wrong. The best part is that these books only cost $3.50. I put one of my sketches on the front just to spiff it up a bit.
February 8, 2016
February Croquistes De Quebec Sketchcrawl
It’s hard to find places to hold winter sketchcrawls in Quebec City. We don’t have an array of museums to choose from so we’ve got to get inventive. So far, those inventions have been quite successful, mostly because of the participants are so fun to be around. I think the February event will be even better.
We’re going to meet at Maison Dorion-Coulombe, which is the home of the Riviere St. Charles Society, a group that helps to maintain the 32km long Parc Lineare that runs along the river. They do great work, including the maintenance of Dorion-Coulombe and the small museum contained within its walls.
We’re fortunate to be invited to hold a sketchcrawl there on Valentine’s Day, Sunday, February 14th. We’ll meet at 9:30 and get to draw the stuffed animals, plants, and the views of the river and bridge beyond. We’ll be in the company of a large turtle who smiles a lot as he swims in a large aquarium. While you can buy coffee and water on site, you need to bring a lunch as there are no restaurants nearby.
One thing we’re going to do a bit different, to add a bit of spice to the event, is to bring along an item or three that people can sketch if they choose to do so. This is a lot of fun and we encourage you to drop an item into your own bag to bring along.
The last time we did a sketchcrawl at Maison Dorion-Coulombe it was raining and yet it was a fantastic as a sketchcrawl site. The cold of winter should make drawing in a nice warm environment even more fun.
February 7, 2016
Look Outside Sketching
Looking Out My Backdoor was one of the craziest songs CCR ever created. It won gold and platinum records, made you happy when you heard it, and the lyrics made no sense whatever.
Sometimes my sketching is like that and no more so than when I went sketching with Yvan at the museum chapel where we’ve been sketching lately. Due to circumstance, mostly beyond my control, I arrived at the chapel really late. Yvan was well into his sketching and so I looked around for something to draw quickly in the remaining time.
Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black
There are windows that look out on a large courtyard, with beautiful seminary buildings encircling it. I’ve drawn their roofs and steeples in the past. But today everything was covered with featureless snow, so there wasn’t much to draw. I decided to sketch the entrance on the other side of the courtyard. Then, I drew the only other thing sticking up from the white landscape – a bicycle and trash can. See what I mean? Just like the CCR song, the sketches make little sense but they made me very happy. Hope they make you smile too.
Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black
February 5, 2016
Sketching Winter People
At piano recital – Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black
As an urban sketcher, I guess I’m an odd one as my least favorite subject is the human. I don’t know what it is but I don’t find them that interesting. Maybe that will change some day but for now, my people sketching is done more out of desperation for something to draw when it’s too cold to sit on the streets and draw architecture.
Guy waiting for light to change – Zebra 701 ballpoint.
And so it is these days so I’ve been doing some people sketching. I thought I’d share a few of those sketches, done in small notebooks. They’re done quickly and, I’m afraid, not very well but that’s what happens when you don’t practice. Maybe I’ll be better before spring shows up.
Standing on street corner, Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black
Drawing people in ads on TV – Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black
People waiting to order at McDonalds – Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black
February 3, 2016
A Sketching Challenge: Chapel Altar
I love drawing the ornaments and carvings in churches but confess that I find most churches to be pretentious. Still, there I was, in the chapel associated with the Musée d’Amérique francophone when I got the bright idea to sketch the huge, monolithic, altar. Because of the complicated nature of it, doing a proper, accurate drawing would have required many hours. I only had two.
So I “steeled” myself (i.e. tried to channel Liz Steel) and set to work. My eyes crossed several times as I tried to draw all the bits and details of this 30-foot high structure. It was both fun and tiring, and it humbled me a bit, which I guess is the goal of such structures.
Fabriano Artistico CP (7.5×11), Pilot Metropolitan, DeAtramentis Document Black
February 1, 2016
Urban Sketcher Goes Rogue
I’m an urban sketcher, or at least almost everything I draw is done ‘on location’ – drawing what I see. I’ve not be too interested in ‘expressive’ or abstract drawing. I’m not into adult coloring books. I just draw stuff and wandering my city looking for things to draw is part of my equation.
But it’s winter here in Quebec and while it’s amazingly warm for us at the beginning of February our high temps are still in the -10 range so sketching on the street, my usual location, isn’t really practical. I know that Nina Johansson uses vodka so her paints don’t freeze but I’m an old Arizona boy and I’d have to consume a lot of vodka to keep myself from freezing.
And so, this is the time of year when I start drawing people in coffee shops, restaurants and at the library. This is a time when I draw in our museums. This is the time of year when I’ll draw the occasional cast drawing in an attempt to improve my ability to see halftones and to render objects.
One thing I’ve never done in art was to make stuff up. I’ve done it as a writer but I haven’t felt that I had sufficient handle on form, light and shade, and the rest to conjour drawings from my memory. Yvan keeps telling me that I should develop that ability as it helps so much when drawing on location but, well, I haven’t done so.
Until yesterday. I was playing with creating some watercolor backgrounds for doing ink sketches on to of them and when my brain looked at the bright Quin Gold blob I’d put in the middle, I saw a ‘tall mountain island fortress’ and so I started drawing. It was a feeble effort, but an effort nonetheless, to draw something from my imagination. I had fun and will probably do this some more.
January 30, 2016
Sketching Doesn’t Have To Be Good To Have a Good Day Sketching
Sometimes my sketches don’t work out. Yvan and I headed to the south shore of the St. Lawrence to sit in the new ferry terminal and sketch the Quebec City skyline on the north shore of the river.
The view is great but the buildings are small from that distance. On a clear day the morning sun provides sufficient contrast to allow one to make out the building relationships but on this morning, Mr. Sun was sleeping in and the buildings sort of blended into one another. We tried to sketch and while Yvan was successful (he always is), I struggled with a couple false starts and I never did get a decent sketch done. This was the best I could muster.
Platinum 3776, DeAtramentis Document Black
The results may suggest that this wasn’t a great sketching day, but exactly the opposite was the case. Yvan and I went downstairs and got coffee at the newly opened Tim Hortons. I did a small sketch out the window but the real fun was that we got out some watercolor paper and started discussing color, mixing and matching. I’m sure this is how kids feel when they finger paint but, of course, we were very adult about it and we had a lot of fun.
small 4×6 sketch – Platinum 3776, DeAtramentis Document Black
As we played with my paints, we talked about drawing, my favorite subject. Yvan is a veritable fountain of drawing knowledge and I’m finally experienced enough to understand what he’s telling me most of the time. His mentorship is priceless. It was a spectacular sketching day. Tomorrow we’re headed back to the museum. I love it that I have to maintain a calendar of my sketching sessions.
January 28, 2016
Collectif Rendevous At The Museum Of Civilisation
The Collectif group in Quebec City held its annual rendevous at Quebec’s Musée de la civilisation last Saturday. Unfortunately, a bunch of the regulars were playing snowbirds in one for or another and so turnout was down from previous years. Nevertheless, we had a great time.
I started sketching in the Egypt exhibit, where I drew this pharoah mask. I used Faber-Castell Albrecht-Durer watercolor pencils for color. It’s hard to deal with color in that exhibit because it’s so dark so it’s hard to know what you’ve got until you’re done and eating lunch (grin).
Fabriano Artistico CP, DeAtramentis Document Black, Pilot Falcon
I took a short break by wandering around a bit and when I saw this large Australian aboriginal totem I had to translate it to paper. Pretty simple drawing. Lots of fun. It’s good to be back out sketching.
Fabriano Artistico CP, DeAtramentis Document Black, Pilot Metropolitan
