A Drawing a Day: #10

Street musician across from Birks, Montreal. Felt pen and wash in an Omer de Serres sketchbook, 8"x 11."

Birks is an iconic jewelry store in the heart of downtown Montreal, right across from the cathedral (hence the churchy-looking wrought iron fence) on the corner of Union and St. Catherine. I did this ten-minute sketch, leaving out all the cars, signposts, and trash receptacles, while waiting for a friend yesterday afternoon. This morning I added some watercolor, and pretty much ruined it! Glad I photographed it first.

As I wrote to another artist recently, I've pretty much stopped using sketchbooks. I find I prefer to carry loose sheets of papers I like, bound with rubber bands between stiff boards all cut the same size. Then I can just choose a sheet and work on it, without the problem of a fold, and the paper can be of better quality. Lately I've been working on Stonehenge, a nice multi-media paper from Maidstone/Rising Line (the same paper I used for the big Icelandic drawings), and on Arches hotpress watercolor paper. When I tried to use this sketchbook yesterday I was really unhappy - the paper is comparatively absorbent, and awful for watercolor or any kind of washes. If I decide to use sketchbooks again, I'm going to continue to make them or buy a Stillman&Birns specifically for wet and dry media. What I do like about sketchbooks is their diary-quality, which you certainly don't get with cut sheets  (unless you post the results to a blog!)