There’s a new exhibit at Quebec City’s Musée de la civilisation.  It’s thirteen gorgeous carriages and sleighs from a large collection.  They are amazing examples of transportation from times past… all crammed into a room where, apparently, someone forgot to pay the light bill.

I understand the crowding problem.  These things are very large objects and displaying them indoors requires a LOT of space.  It’s also the case that it’s not the museum’s prime directive to provide enough space for artists to get back to a proper viewing angle for drawing.  I get that, and some imagination is going to be required to capture these objects on paper.

But why does it have to be so dark?  It’s so dark that it’s hard to see the details.  I had to get up regularly to look at what I was sketching to see its construction.  The fact that many of them are black makes this even more difficult.  It will be a challenge and doesn’t do justice to the objects.

I spent most of my first sketching session in this exhibit just looking.  The carriages are amazing and it’s interesting to compare and contrast the different ways the undercarriages were designed and built.

Stillman & Birn Alpha, Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

I don’t know if it was because it was so dark or something else but I was drawn to the lights on some of these carriages, which were much more than lights; they were works of art unto themselves.  I drew two of them.  Hope you like them.

Stillman & Birn Alpha, Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black