Larry D. Marshall's Blog, page 88

St. Charles River Walk

Last weekend I went for a leisurely walk along my river.  There are those, of course, who would point out that I don’t own the river, but I always call it ‘my river.’  Actually it’s the Riviere St. Charles, which is the backbone of a very long, unevenly developed park that runs through Quebec City.  I’m just lucky enough to live within a five minute walk of ‘my river’ and I spend a lot of time walking along it.

When I got to my river on Sunday I found a lot of other people using it.  Seems I was in the midst of the St. Charles River Walk as there were lots and lots of people, each sporting a number pinned to their stomachs, who were participating in the event.

As I walked I realized that the end point for the walk was in a park that’s just south of the bridge near my house so I headed there, figuing there might be something fun to sketch.  I grabbed a bench and did the sketch you see here.

I tried something new, for me.  I made a few organizational marks with pencil and then started adding blotches of color.  Ink lines came later.  I felt like a fish out of water as my watercolor abilities are very limited, but it was still fun.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6), TWSBI Mini, Platinum Carbon Black

A Quick Monument Sketch

Our sketching group arranged a tour of the architecture school.  Sadly, they don’t teach drawing with pointy devices anymore.  Everything is 3D graphical presentations, a shift that James Richards (an architect) says, in his great Freehand Drawing and Discovery, generates a lot of work for him as he’s often hired during planning/pitch sessions because he can do freehand sketches of proposed ideas.

But we live in a “latest must be greatest” world.  Like the trains and warehouses we dismantled when gas was cheap when we ‘knew’ that continuous streams of trucks on the road were ‘best’, I suspect architects will start learning to draw by hand again after there is a generation of ill-equipped architects who can’t.

The tour was fantastic as the architecture department is in one of the old “seminaire” buildings, with vaulted ceilings, Hogwarts-like staircases, and small doorways with, in some cases, the old steel doors you only see in medieval movies.

I got downtown about 15 minutes before we were supposed to meet so I sat down and drew this sketch.  There’s a large statue in the square and it’s surrounded by a granite fence on three sides and at each corner one of these smaller monuments.

cheap brown sketchbook, TWSBI Mini, Platinum Carbon Black

Once Upon A Time We Had A Zoo

There was a time when Quebec City had a zoo.  It was a good zoo.  It was a place where you could go to not only commune with animals but also to walk the large, wooded grounds and have a picnic.  Then a really dumb, and completely unavoidable political decision, was made and we no longer have a zoo.

What do you do with a huge tract of land that had a bunch of moats, fences, and buildings scattered all around it.  What Quebec did was fence off most of it and turn the front section into a small park to serve the population in the northern portion of the city.  It’s a beautiful park, with waterfalls scattered along the small river that runs through it.  It’s also just a short bus trip from my home.

My daughter and I went there.  She took her Kindle.  I took my sketchbook.  We had a grand day, enjoying one of the first days where we could be outside without coats.  I chose this scene.  The small building used to be one of the administration buildings of the museum.

cheap toned paper sketchbook, Pilot Prera, Noodler’s Lexington Gray

Trial By Pencil: A Sketcher’s Tale

I’ve mentioned that I’m trying to figure out how to use a pencil and I’ve posted a couple drawings that I’ve attempted with them at our Musée de la Civilisation.  I’m using rainy days to continue that practice.

I decided to attempt to draw one of the gorgon heads that were found in Pergamen.  Guestimated to have been made prior to 129AD, they’re one of the few things older than I am so I thought it fitting that I should draw one.  Gorgons, if you’re unfamiliar with them, are minions from the underworld.  They have large eyes and are said to have snakes for hair.  The one I drew also has a large chip out of its chin.

This was a lot of fun but also took me a long time.  Mark me down as the slowest pencil driver on the planet.  Done on bristol paper I enjoyed the smooth surface.  It reminds me of my beloved Stillman & Birn Zeta paper.  I used a mechanical pencil and some Faber-Castell 9000 pencils.

While I’m at it I’ll post this little sketch of a hanging towel.  I do a lot of these little doodles while I watch my Blue Jays lose.  Pencils are fun.  Pens are more my style.

 

 

Rocks In My World

One thing I want to do this summer is draw rocks and trees.  I struggled with both subjects last year so they became part of my ‘figure it out’ list.  There aren’t a lot of rock piles in the middle of our city but there are some, scattered around in our parks as points of interest.

As I was walking home I sat down in a park and drew these.  Note little bits of green on the foliage.  We’re just starting to see leaf buds bursting and even our grass is starting to green up.  It’s a welcome sight.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6), TWSBI Mini, Platinum Carbon Black

 

Sketching Parliament

Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6), TWSBI Mini, Platinum Carbon Black

The Quebec provincial parliament building is huge.  The front of the building is actually the narrow side of the building and yet it’s a couple blocks long.  When it gets a bit warmer I hope to find a view where I can capture the entire face of the building.

On Tuesday, though, the temperature was border line so I decided just to draw the main tower over the entrance.  Even so, by the time I’d finished the ink sketch I’d cooled down enough that I felt the need to move so I quickly dashed on some color when I got home.  It was good to see the sun while sketching.  It’s been a long time coming.

 

Are You Sure It’s May?

I was walking back from the museum and found this guy, sitting in the park, looking out at the river.  I could almost see what he was thinking.  All of us who live in Quebec City are thinking it.  Note his heavy coat.  Note the lack of vegetation of any kind.  This is nearly mid-May and while Quebec City is known for its cold, this is getting ridiculous (grin).

Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6), TWSBI Mini, Noodler’s Lexington Gray

May The Gods Be With You

If you’re at our Museé de la Civilisation they most certainly are with you, or at least their stone faces are everywhere.  Weather predictions suggest we’re in for a week of rain.  The proverbial “April showers bring May flowers” are running late, like everything this spring.  I hope we get those flowers before it starts snowing again (grin).

I’m spending my mornings drawing up a storm, trying to figure out how to use pencils.  Great learning experience with lots of fun and some frustration.  This drawing is, I guess, a generic ‘god’ as he bears no name.  I’d sure like to know more about how sculpters worked.  There are stylistic similarities and differences that suggest many artists but all working to a common set of guidelines and goals.  The exhibition is a spectacular place to work on one’s ability to see half-tones, mentally follow complex hair and beard patterns, and generally to be able to sort out the proportional demands of these subjects.  I’m not quite up to these tasks but it’s fun to try.  This drawing was done on Strathmore ‘vellum’ bristol paper.  I tried Faber-Castell 9000 series pencils on this one but I’m far to ignorant of pencils to actually see a difference between these and my Staedtler pencils.

Sketching The Bar Laitier

One of the things I’ve always wondered about are the small ice cream places that exist in Quebec City.  We have a fairly short summer and most of them simply close up in the fall and sit idle all winter.  Things must be moving slowly for them this spring as we haven’t had much ice cream weather thus far.  But the stores persist, in spite of the short selling season.  I wonder how.

This is one of the cutest.  It’s on chemin St. Louis in the old city and is very inviting, or it will be when it warms up a bit more.  Done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6) with a Hero 9296 pen and Lex Gray ink.  New pen for me but so far I like it.  I always like new pens.

 

Outdoor Table Tennis, Anyone?

Seems there have been a few additions to my city since I roamed it last fall.  I came across this one and had to sketch it.  Nothing says ‘urban sketching’ like a concrete ping-pong table.  The net is made of a thick, hard plastic and the playing surface is black concrete.   Nothing to break, nothing to set up.  You just show up and play.

Drawing in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6) sketchbook with a TWSBI Mini and Platinum Carbon Black ink.  Still a bit cool for watercolors on the street so these were done at home.