This is a sketching subject you won’t find Singapore urban sketchers talk about.  And people living in the southern half of the US might wonder, “Is he serious?”  But here in Quebec, we’re rapidly approaching a time when we get serious about coats and where the notion of sketching outdoors is, well, nuts.

But I like to postpone the inevitable as long as I can and one way is to protect my hands from cold and wind.  Heavy coats keep the core warm and I’ve got a ridiculous-looking, but very warm fur-lined leather hat with ear flaps that I willingly don if it allows me to continue sketching outdoors.

But hands are a different matter.  I have pairs of heavy gloves but these are useless for drawing as you lose both control and feel of a pen.  I’ve tried fingerless gloves and they’re ok but I end up with frozen finger tips.  I’ve tried surgical gloves too, and those just don’t do enough to keep out the cold.

One moderately functional solution are these gardening (I think) gloves.  I bought them at our Dollar Store for $2.  I  know…I know…they need to change the name of those places.  Anyways, these are tight-fitting nylon gloves.  The palms have a rubberized surface with little bumps on them.  I’m sure that’s a ‘feature’ if you’re trying to pick up flower pots but those bumps really get in the way if you’re trying to guide a fountain pen across paper.

BUT…if you put the right glove on your left hand (or the other way if you’re handicapped by being right-handed) the rubbery stuff is out of the way, it better protects the back of your hand from wind, and you have a nice, smooth surface through which to grip the pen.  It’s not a perfect solution (if there is one, let me know) but these gloves allow me to sketch in colder temps than I could without them.