Larry D. Marshall's Blog, page 89

With A Spring In My Step

It’s amazing!  As I headed for the museum I couldn’t believe it.  Spring had really sprung.  The sun was out.  It wasn’t windy.  And it was warm.  Well, maybe not warm by normal standards.  It was 47F, but compared to what we’ve been experienced it was warm.

I’d told Yvan that I’d meet him at the museum but I couldn’t resist stopping in the park in front of the train station to draw a cool kiosk that resides there.  I was about 20 minutes late to the museum but it was worth it.  It felt sooooooo good to be sketching outdoors.

Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook (9×6), Pilot Prera, Lexington Gray

I spent about an hour sketching at the museum and decided that I “needed” to get back outside to enjoy the sunshine.  I was almost giddy as I walked the town, looking for things to sketch.  But I didn’t want to stop to draw.  I was having too much fun wandering, taking inventory of my city, making a mental list of things I want to sketch.  In the end, I only did a couple really quick sketches but I walked nearly nine kilometers.  It was sooooo fun, but I was beat by the end of the day.  It’s gonna be a fun summer.

Sketching On My Way To The Museum

Quebec is at the threshold of spring.  It’s starting to act like early April, with fluctuating temps and rainy days.  This is a good sign even if it is May.  I was on my way to a sketching session at the Museé de la Civilisation and noticed a new park bench that had been set out on 3rd Avenue.  It was cool (mid-40s) but sunny and the bench was out of the wind.  Opportunity thought I, and I sat down.  Sometimes you choose your subject, sometimes you choose a place to put your butt.  I looked around for something to sketch and decided on this small corner store.

I worked quickly but admit to being a bit chilled by the time I finished and I was happy to get back to walking.  I met Yvan at the museum and here’s what I drew there.  It was a fun day and it looks like outdoor sketching is gonna happen ‘real soon.’  Fountain pens are still more fun than pencils.

Sketching With Yvan

Every Monday morning I meet Yvan at “Les Collections” at the Unversité Laval.  This is a magical place that houses the university entomological collection, stores all of the animal specimens that used to be part of the natural history museum, and a large collection of plaster casts that used to be of interest to the fine arts department but they were somewhat shoved out of the way when it was determined that you didn’t need to draw to get a fine arts degree.

Their loss – our gain.  It’s not outdoor sketching but drawing single-lit plaster casts is certainly a way to improve your drawing ability and goodness knows mine needs improvement.  Truthfully, I’m not sure it improves your drawing ability or your seeing ability the most as it’s wonderful training for the eye.  In any case, it helps and it’s lots of fun.

I drew this on Monday.  Drew it on smooth Bristol board as I enjoy my new experiences with a pencil.  Beyond knowing which end makes the lines, these devices remain a mystery to me.  The drawing isn’t quite as fuzzy as this scan suggests – thank goodness

Museum Sketching With A Pencil

It’s a balmy 41F here this morning, with the promise of rain.  Mr. Weatherman is promising something called “sun” about mid-week so maybe, just maybe, I’ll get to sketch outdoors this week.  Hope so.

Since I am limited to indoor sketching, though, I thought I might use the time to do something I’m really not good at – use a pencil.  When I started sketching it just seemed natural to use my fountain pens so I skipped the traditional ‘use pencil first’ approach to drawing.  I think there were virtues to this approach as I had to concentrate on seeing relationships before I put anything on paper.  The drawback, I think, is that sketching with pens emphasizes contour more than masses.  It’s also rather silly, and sometimes embarrassing, for a sketcher not to know how to use a pencil.

So, when I went to the museum yesterday I was determined to use a graphite pointy device to make a drawing.   I decided to draw Athena, with her leather helmet pushed back on her head.  She’s a reminder that strong women were very much a part of the Greek religion.   The daughter of Zeus, Athena was the goddess of reason, intelligent activity, arts and literature.

I did this drawing on Stillman & Birn Alpha series paper.  While I love the paper for my pen and ink drawings, I have no idea whether it’s good or bad for pencil.  It seemed to work.  I used Staedtler pencils.  I always have fun drawing on location but admit that a pencil felt clumsy in my hand.  I think I learned a lot but I’m not sure what at this point (grin).

Sketching An Interesting Table Leg?

Predictions of rain suggest I’ll be sketching at the museum for the next few days.  Will spring every come?  Thank goodness for the Masters of Olympus exhibit.

Today I was drawn (yeah…bad pun) to a rather bizarre human-creature with the head/body of a child/bird, a single leg from a three-toed something or other, and a large block sticking up from its shoulders.

I view sketching of such things as practice with seeing relationships and proportions and this one was a definite challenge to my limited abilities.  As it turns out, the big block sticking up from its back is actually a compromise to its function as this 2-foot high statue (carved from stone) was a table leg.  Maybe there are three more just like it wandering around Greece.

Pilot Prera, Lexington Gray ink, Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook

Sketching Masters Of Olympus

It’s the end of April and our high temps are still in the mid to low 40s (F).  Couple that with spring rains and I haven’t had much opportunity to sketch outdoors.  So, when the new Masters of Olympus exhibition opened at the Musee de la Civilisation I saw it as an opportunity to sketch something new.  Museum sketching is a winter thing, even if winter is at the end of April.

This exhibition is a presentation of Greek and Roman gods, mostly in the form of statues, busts, and painted pottery.  The exhibition must have been laid out by a sketcher as there are lots of little nooks and crannies in which you can stick a stool to sketch and most of the statues are viewable from multiple points of view.  In fact, following the opening ceremony the news promo for the exhibit made a point of saying that people were there sketching.  I love my sketcher-friendly museum.

I decided to start this new exhibit by putting a toe in the water.  In fact, I drew the whole foot.  This foot came from what must have been a huge statue as this broken portion of the foot is at least three feet long.

Pilot Prera, Lex Gray ink – Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook

Channeling Anita Davies

I bought a sheet of Arches hot-press watercolor paper and wanted to see how it responded to my pens and watercolors.  I cut a small section from the sheet (4×6) and got out a Pilot Prera.

Thinking I would let Google give me inspiration I searched for, and found, a bunch of small houses.  One of them reminded me of the many houses Anita Davies has drawn (https://www.flickr.com/photos/anitada...) and I love her clean, simple, approach to her architectural sketches.  I decided I’d try to do one in her style.  Apologies to Anita as I didn’t come close to her standards and probably missed her style.  But it was fun and I found working on the hot-press paper to be lots of fun.

Crazy Artist Road Trip

Remember when we were kids and would do crazy stuff, like hop in a car and drive forever so we could spend a couple hours somewhere, only to jump back in the car for the long drive home?  I do.  I’m old now, though, and that’s just crazy… isn’t it?

Well apparently not.  I was in Ottawa a few weeks ago and got to attend the John Ruskin exhibition.  For me that was thrilling as it was the first time I’d ever seen large, formal pen and ink drawings up close and personal and Ruskin is one of my favorites.  But my sketching buddies weren’t with me and they decided that they needed to see the exhibition before it ended (this weekend the last weekend it will be in Ottawa).  I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see it again so I tagged along.

So we, four adults of otherwise sound minds, climbed in a car at 6:30AM and headed west, for a little five hour drive.  When we got to Ottawa it was raining but we were counting on the museum roof holding up and so no spirits were dampened by the rain.  Parking was surprisingly cheap (less than half what it costs in Quebec City) and it was only a couple minute walk to the museum.

Once inside we checked our coats, bought our admission tickets and spent a glorious day staring at art done by people who are better at it than we are.  Well, the guy whose idea of art is to place a huge boulder on a broken airplane as an indication of gravity might not be.  The guy who drove a go-kart down a bumpy road while holding a piece of charcoal on paper might not be either.  But Ruskin, Monet, and Krieghoff most certainly are and they entertained us for about five hours, including a lunch break.  Then it was back in the car for another five hour drive.  Ten hours of road time and five hours of great art.  A two-to-one ratio ain’t bad.  I remember trips with a less favorable ratio.  Do you ever do this sort of thing?  Should you?  Should anyone?  Yeah…of course we should.

 

Revisiting Noodler’s Black Ink

When I started sketching I bought a bottle of Noodler’s Black ink.  It was “bulletproof”.  It was “water-resistant.”  Or so sayeth Noodlers.  It was only later that I discovered that fountain pen people have different definitions of waterproof than I have.  In fairness, the definition is based upon performance on papers with little sizing and fountain pen users are more concerned with signatures not disappearing in the rain than they are about a bit of the ink muddying a watercolor wash.

But I generally work on paper that is sized to accept watercolors and the result is that a light-color wash and Noodler’s Black don’t go together.  Quickly, I came to understand why so many sketchers use Noodler’s Lexington Gray, which is a very dark gray ink that seems more “bulletproof” than Noodler’s Black.  Lex Gray has been my ink of choice for a couple years.

But I decided to revisit Noodler’s Black so I filled a Pilot Prera with it and took it sketching.  It was far too cold today to be out sketching, mostly because of a brisk wind that accompanied the 44F temperature.  My first attempt with the ink was made in my cheap sketchbook (best case scenario for Noodler’s Black).  Unfortunately, I’d also forgotten that Noodlers Black takes longer to dry than Lex Gray, particularly when it’s cold.  As you can see, the sketch is smudged badly.  Oh well, it was fun trying to capture this small crab apple tree.

After I did this sketch I walked a bit, trying to warm up before plunking myself down in front of a building to give the ink another try.

While no fault of Noodler’s Black, I had to do this sketch more quickly than I would normally do it as it was just too cold to sit there more than a short time but, frankly, I became pretty frustrated long before I finished.  I was experiencing more smudging of the ink which resulted in attempts to fix (cover up?) smudges, which made it worse, which caused more attempts to fix it, etc., etc.  Anyone who has sketched for a while knows that drill.  The results are never pretty.  This sketch was done on Stillman & Birn Alpha paper, which is more heavily sized than my dollar store notepad.

The real ‘test’, however, came when I got home and attempted to put relatively light color on top of the sketch.  As you can see, everything is dull and muddy, largely because the ink washed out into the color.  When I was finished I emptied the pen and filled it with Platinum Carbon Black.  Noodler’s Black is not an ink I’ll be revisiting again… ever.

Snow Walking Along The Riviere St. Charles

I’m lucky because it’s only a 10-minute walk to the St. Charles River, a beautiful river that runs through Quebec City.  It provides me with a little bit of urban nature and the ability to walk for several kilometers without having to deal with automobiles.

Yesterday was my first attempt to walk it and while I had to crunch along on top of icy snow, there were some places where the path was clear.  The day was nice in any case and I stopped to sketch this cluster of trees on the other side of the river.  It’s sooooooo… nice to be sketching outdoors.