The Spires of Quebec City

Posted on September 27, 2016 by Larry Marshall

If you follow my blog you know that there are a lot of pointy things that rise up from the citiscape and that I love to draw them. Nowhere is this more evident than in the old city area where there seems to be more churches, tall fountains and statues than there are people. I’m trying to work my way through some severe back pain that’s limiting my ability to sketch (can’t sit on my stool as it’s too low), but I found a bench facing a nice stack of those pointy things and I drew this. The statue is in front of the old post office and I’m looking west, towards City Hall.

Stillman & Birn Beta (8×10)

Five Years A Sketcher, I Am

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Larry Marshall

Tina Koyama just did a blog post about completing five years as a sketcher. It reminded me that I’ve been sketching for five years as well so I thought I should do a short post about that fact.

When I began as a sketcher I couldn’t draw anything. I’d read Danny Gregory’s Everyday Matters and bought into the idea that being good wasn’t important; the process of doing it was what was important. This was an important epiphany for me at the time because I’d been convinced that I had no “talent” for art.

These days I know that “talent” is something you create by passion and persistence; you’re not born with it. Anyway, I started drawing cubes and doing simple drawings of things. I started posting a few things on Russ Stutler’s sketching site, which is where I first ‘met’ Tina. At that time I was drawing on photocopy paper and throwing the results away when I was done. Someone on that group explained what a bad idea that was and that I should keep my early sketches.

This was my first location sketch. It’s dated Oct 2011.

I wish I had some of them to post here but instead I’ll post the first location sketch I did (Oct 2011), a window manikin (I figured she wouldn’t mind me sketching her) and one of my first building sketches (done in Oct 2011 from a photo). I’ll add to this the last location sketch I did just a few days ago. Hope you can see a difference as there have been several thousand sketches done in between these. With a bit more persistence, maybe I’ll improve by the end of year six. In any case, sketching has improved my life so much that it doesn’t really matter.

This one was done Sept 2016

The Tribulations Of An Urban Sketcher

Posted on September 25, 2016 by Larry Marshall

I love sketching on location. Most of what I do is done outdoors, but sometimes Mother Nature throws up some roadblocks, or at least speed bumps. As we head into autumn I’m reminded that she ultimately wins and that I’m forced to spend several months each year where I have to find indoor venues for my location sketching.

Our last sketchcrawl was one of those times where I fought Mother Nature and, at best, I achieved a tie. Most people didn’t even show up for this sketchcrawl. Yvan and I were there and a couple other diehards put in an appearance, but we started off with a threat of rain, followed by some rain. It was short lived but then it became cold and very windy.

Before the rain I drew an ice cream parlor on Terrase Dufferin, the large boardwalk that runs in front of Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City. Compared to the rest of the day, I was quite comfortable while doing this sketch.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (8x10), Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black

Stillman & Birn Beta (8×10), Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black

Then the rain came. We ducked under an overhang associated with the Frontenac and waited for it to stop. When it did I sat down next to the overhang to draw one of the light fixtures on the building. I won’t be showing you that one because as the wind came up it blew a big pile of rain off the overhang and onto me and my sketchbook. The sketch became an abstract of ink blotches before my eyes.

I decided to head up to a small park just west of the Frontenac. It’s high on a hill that provides some unique views of Quebec, including the back side of a church from above its roof line. I decided to draw it.

That would have been a better idea for a day when it wasn’t so cold and windy. I was completely exposed to both. I tried…I really did. My sketching got faster and faster. My sketching got less and less detailed. And I got colder and the wind got windier. Everyone else left because it was crazy to be sketching in that weather. I wanted to finish. Mother Nature decided the end of this sketch.

Stillman & Birn Beta (8x10), Pilot Falcon, Noodlers Polar Brown

Stillman & Birn Beta (8×10), Pilot Falcon, Noodlers Polar Brown

The Public Pool In Limoilou

Posted on September 22, 2016 by Larry Marshall

I walk a lot which means that I know every park within a couple hours walk of my house because I often take a break in them. One such park is in Limoilou and it has a public pool.

I was sitting in the park, resting my bones when I decided that it was worthy of a sketch. It’s not the best composition ever put to paper and it was done quickly, but it was fun so I share it here.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (5.5x8.5), Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black

Stillman & Birn Alpha (5.5×8.5), Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black

Heading Towards Autumn As A Sketcher

Posted on September 20, 2016 by Larry Marshall

This time of year is crazy for me. It’s entirely self-inflicted, though our orbiting world has some play in the matter. You see, we’re hurtling towards the Autumnal Equinox. Now, if you live in Arizona this probably means nothing to you but if you’re a sketcher, living in Quebec City, it means everything.

The Autumnal Equinox means my days as a street sketcher are numbered because it will soon be too cold to sketch outdoors. It’s leaning that way already. And so, each year, without intention, I become frantic to “get out there and sketch.” I can’t help myself. There are also the “We gotta go _fill in the blank_ before it gets too cold to do so” events and this adds short trips to hither and yon in an attempt to keep up with an Earth that’s flying along at 108,000 km/h. How’s a guy to keep up?

So, we’ve been day-tripping and I’ve been sketching and the days have become so full that I don’t have any time to even scan my sketches, let alone write blog posts about them.

So I apologize for my lack of presentation but rest assured, I’ll make up for it as things slow down a bit. In the meantime, here’s a rather quick sketch I did of a cute little storage building (not sure of its orignal purpose) that lives in the Parc des governors in Quebec City.

Stillman & Birn Beta (8×10)