New Restaurant In Quebec

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I don’t have an official count but I think Quebec City has more restaurants per capita than most cities on the planet. I pass no less than 9 of them on my way to a new one that has just opened and I don’t live in what one might call a dining hotspot.

But open it has, a new Vietnamese restaurant named Ubong. If the outside is any reflection of the inside, though, I’m sure it will be successful as they’ve completely remodeled the building and painted it with this stunning yellow and green paint and trim.

It’s on a well-traveled street and every once in a while I’d have to stop as a truck or bus blocked my view and there was a steady stream of pedestrians, some of whom stopped to say hello. I really enjoy this part of street sketching. It was sketched in my Stillman & Birn Zeta (5×8) and I used a Uniball Signo UM-151 (.38) in black, followed by drawing the window and door frames using a brown-black version of the same pen. W&N artist watercolors added a bit of shadow and color.

More Small Sketches… More Fun

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I’m continuing to have fun with small 3×5 (or smaller) sketches. Thought I’d share a few more with you.

This is a small, adorable building that is the home to a dress designer. It looks like something from a fairy tale and seemed like a great small sketch subject. As with my previous small sketches, this one (and the others here) were done in a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook. This particular one was done with a Pilot Prera and Platinum Carbon Black ink.

We took a day trip down (up?) the southern coast of the St. Lawrence River to Kamouraska. I’d hoped to sketch some of the great buildings there but instead I did this sketch of my daughter looking out at the ocean (the Atlantic is out there somewhere if you look far enough). I like this one a lot, probably because of the subject matter.

I was walking across the bridges that crosses the St. Charles River just as it flows into the St. Lawrence and decided, without much thought, to sketch this scene. I think the scene would have been better served by a larger format but the little sketchbook came out and the pen started jittering around the paper. I’m not a fan of sketching while standing and this is further evidence that I’m not very good at it. But they can’t all be great. It was still fun, which is why I do this.

Lastly, and certainly least, I was taking a break on Terrace Dufferin, a large boardwalk associated with the Chateau Frontenac. Across from me was this guy, looking out at the St. Lawrence. I took out my cheap sketchbook thinking I’d just do a one-minute sketch of him and, big mistake, I started the sketch in portrait format, thinking I was only going to draw him and couple boards to represent the bench. Then I sort of got carried away making squiggles to represent the railing and before I knew it I was having to draw him smaller than I planned, the bench became more integral to the sketch, and in the end I had a tiny, 2×2 vignette of a guy on a bench. It’s sort of scratch and way too small but again, quite fun and I thought I would share it as an example of improper planning… or maybe just the right amount 🙂 This one was done with a Uniball Signo UM151 (brown-black) pen. I really like these pens and I’m now armed with several of them.

While Walking Through The Park One Day….

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Yvan and I planned a sketching session on St. Denis street and we were to meet there. This street has many majestic residences and a large grassy area in front of them so it’s an ideal place to sketch.

As I arrived I realized that I’d forgotten my WalkStool. This is a big problem as my knees and me don’t much like sitting on the ground, for fear that we’ll never be able to get back up.

And so the search began for a sitting place with something in front of me to sketch. It’s not really rocket science but I wandered around for a while before finding such a combination. I ended up in the Parc des Governeurs, a small park between the Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City’s tourist landmark and the American consulate.

Both of these buildings are great sketching subjects but I chose this more humble structure that sits in the park. Yvan suggested that it was once a toilet but these days it looks to be used by maintenance people. In any case, it had a bench, in the shade, and so I sketched it in my Stillman & Birn Zeta (5×8) with a Pilot Prera and Platinum Carbon Black ink. I used Lexington Gray for the stairs in the background. I’m enjoying the contrast between these two inks. As always, I used Winsor & Newton watercolors like crayons to add some color.

Ferry Dock Sketching

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I use any excuse to take the ferry from Quebec City to Levis, which is on the other side of the St. Lawrence River from us. I do it because 1) I like boats, 2) my bus pass makes it free, and 3) did I mention that I like boats?

On this day, I did it because Yvan wanted to sketch the ferry station, which is an old train station that’s been sort of messed up by neglect and its conversion into a ferry dock. But they’re planning on tearing it down and he wanted a sketch of it. Seemed like a plan to me.

But when I got there, something about sketching the station just didn’t turn my crank that morning so I found an alternative, this building that was probably a hotel at some point and may still be. I like the way the cliff jutted up above, dwarfing what is actually a very large building.

It was done in a Stillman & Birn Zeta (5×8) sketchbook with Pilot Preras and Platinum Carbon Black and Noodler’s Lexington gray inks. Hope you like it. It was sure fun.

Sketching Tiny Town

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Larry Marshall

The Ursuline Convent in Quebec City was founded in 1639, which makes it the earliest learning institution for woman in North America. It’s also seems that they owned half the old city at one point. Ok…maybe that’s an exaggeration but they owned a lot of land and buildings and still do. But most of the private residences and some of the other large buildings have been sold off. The curent compound is home to the convent, a school, and it’s a popular tourist stop.

2013-07-02UrsulinesSite

One of the private residences still held by the Ursulines is this place. I’m not sure how big it is but it’s got to have the smallest entrances of any on Quebec. Its unique nature made it a great sketching subject, though gray on gray isn’t the ideal color scheme, I suppose.

The building on the left if the Ursuline library and museum. If you get to Quebec City, be sure to visit, if only to talk to the very nice people who work there. After we were done sketching, they let us browse through their library where we found several books used to teach drawing to students. While I’ve yet to tour the museum, they told me that there is a section on how drawing was taught to students. I’ve got to get back there to see that.

I did the sketch in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7) sketchbook using a TWSBI Mini with Platinum Carbon Black ink. I added some color… well, gray… with W&N artist watercolors.

2013-07-02Ursulines