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.

Sometimes You Just Need A Challenge

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Larry Marshall

If you know Brenda Swenson’s “75-day Challenge”, you know the concept of casting aside the pencil, even for organizational purposes and sketching directly with pen. It’s said, and I believe it to be true, that doing so for a lot of sketches, will improve your ability to see and put what you see on paper. The process moves a lot of thinking to early in the process, ensuring that when you do lay down a line it’s in the right place.

I do a lot of ink work but typically use a pencil to lightly outline main masses and relationships in a sketch. But sometimes a guy just needs a challenge and I was feeling like one when I started looking at this railing and post.

I set up to sketch it (Stillman & Birn Zeta -5×8, Pilot Prera) and decided to do it ‘ink-only’, though I confess that I drew a pencil horizontal line at the top of the railing and a vertical line at the inside of the post. Then I got out my pen and stared. And then I stared some more, measuring, seeing, and occasionally putting a dot on my paper. Then I drew the lines… and the curves. For me it was a struggle with all the curved wrought iron to render. And there are screw ups… there are always screw ups. It’s my signature move. But generally, I like the results and had a lot of fun with the process.

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.

Do You Sketch Small?

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I’ve always carried a small sketchbook with me for doing quick-sketches of things. But more and more I’ve been sketching in 5×8 or 10×7 sketchbooks. Working larger is fun and lets me ‘stretch’ my gaze a bit more. The result is that my small sketchbook became a cheap dollar store sketchbook that wouldn’t tolerate watercolors while my larger sketchbooks are all Stillman & Birn, first-class sketchbooks. The ‘gap’ between small and large had become greater in my sketching.

So I tried one of Stillman & Birn’s 4×6 sketchbooks. In fact, I’ve nearly filled two of them. The paper is fantastic, as always, but a 4×6, thick sketchbook is too ‘big’ to be called a ‘small’ sketchbook, at least for this street sketcher. I need something I can stuff in a pocket.

And so I bought a Moleskine watercolor book. I don’t much like its landscape layout but it’s tolerable in this small size. The larger one is almost painful to manage if you try to balance it on your knee while sitting on a stool, which is my typical approach. I do wish they’d produce a portrait format sketchbook with their watercolor paper. Heck, what I really wish is that Stillman & Birn would produce a thin (30pages?) 3×5 sketchbook with their Epsilon paper. Then I’d be a very happy sketcher.

This is a Celtic Cross in Artillery Park. 3x5 and done with a Pilot Prera.

This is a Celtic Cross in Artillery Park. Done with a Pilot Prera.

Anyways, I’ve started doing small pen & ink watercolors again and I’m really enjoying it. I thought I’d share some with you. All of these were done in the tiny Moleskine. I’ll mention the pen used in captions.