Sunday was the last day of the Nouvelle France festival in Quebec and the Croquites de Quebec held a sketchcrawl which was pretty much a repeat of the sketchcrawl of the day before.

I showed up at 9:30 to find several people waiting for the organizers (Yvan and myself).  We all did howdy-dos just as Yvan arrived.  Things were pretty calm in Place Royale at that time in the morning so architecture seemed the thing to draw.

It struck me as funny to see old stone structures, fake old kiosks and then a modern stage scaffold with some signs attached so I decided to draw this anachronistic scene.

Things got rolling along around 10AM but before that I drew this kiosk and the woman who was setting before the crowds showed up.  I added a couple people to the page just to fill up it.   You’ll notice a ghost head, with partiallly drawn 3-corner hat, rising through the roof of the building.  Many ghosts were created as subjects walked away, often when I had  just started to draw them.

This is just a page of random sketches, done of people within Place Royale.  This kind of sketching is like shooting skeet.  You’re happy when you get one and not too disappointed when you miss because there’ll be another to shoot at sketch real soon.

Here’s a couple of “our mothers”, or so they are called here in Quebec.  Long ago, Quebec was settled mostly by adventurous men, sent by France to claim parts of the New World.  But as settlements were established, and the notion of permanence set in, it was clear to the king (and probably those adventurous men) that having some women around might be a good idea.

So, Louis XIV paid women to immigrate from France to Nouvelle France.  Some 700 women took part in the program.  Called Les Filles du Roi it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why these women are called by Quebecers “our mothers.”  They have their own society.

A portion of the festival is the arrival of the filles du roi, by sailing ship, and they are greeted at the old port and ushered into the city.  The society has a kiosk and the women wear traditional garb.  They are absolutely beautiful.  I spent a fair amount of time sketching them.  I’ll end with a final sketch of a fille du roi that had a beautiful cape to go with her dress.