More Museum Sketching

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Larry Marshall

I’m still doing sketching at our museum in what is, for me, lightning speed. It’s funny to write that as I regularly do 1-2 minute sketches but those are quick ‘grabs’ at some subject. In this case I’m trying to rush my way through sketches while retaining a semblance of accuracy and detail.

Stillman & Birn Beta, Namiki Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black

I can’t say I’m successful but it’s sort of like the 1-minute, single-line drawing exercises I’m doing in response to a Marc Taro Holmes workshop; it’s a sketching time frame that’s teaching me things and helping me visualize proportions quickly and helps me prioritize what’s important and what is not. If 1-minute single-line sketches are the 100-yard dash, these are more like the 3k run and in contrast to my normal sketching which is akin to a marathon. I did all these sketches in about an hour. At the rate I’m going, I predict that I’ll have sketching figured out by the time I hit 130.

Stillman & Birn Alpha, Namiki Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black

Museum Sketching Exercise

Posted on November 7, 2015 by Larry Marshall

Stillman & Birn Beta, Namiki Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black

We’ve got a sketchcrawl coming up on Saturday and it looks like an unexpected blob of warm weather in early November is going to reward us for scheduling an outdoor event this late in the year.

But, truth be told, outdoor sketching is mostly over so I’m making regular trips to the museum to draw. The big exhibit right now is Egyptian and composed, mostly, of small statues, jewelry, and some miscellaneous goods. I’m in a mood right now to work on speeding up my sketching so rather than doing slow, precise drawing of these items, I’ve decided to draw a bunch of them more quickly. I’m not quick-sketching (2 min or less) but rather I’m spending 10-20 minutes per item, trying to capture them as accurately as I can in that time. Given my normal snail-like pace, I admit to feeling rushed. It’s fun and I’m hoping that this exercise will add something to my skill set. Here are a couple of the sketches I did during the first exercise session.

Stillman & Birn Beta, Namiki Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black

Eventually I’ll do more detailed renderings of some of these pieces, but I feel that varying the time I give myself to do sketches has really helped me improve and I want to continue playing with that variable. Do you do that?

Sometimes It’s More Than Sketching

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Larry Marshall

The change of seasons, for me, means transition from street sketcher to museum sketcher. It’s a sad time, but also an exciting time. There’s so much shape variation in museum exhibitions.

Our Musee de la civilisation has a new exhibit just opened that presents Australian/New Zealand aboriginal art and as I play didjeridu and love aboriginal art, I’m quite excited about it. Most of the exhibit is paintings, rugs, and such but there are some statues and masks that I’ll be taking advantage of this winter.

I was there a few days ago, drawing a large wall-hanging mask. So were a bunch of kids on school outings. The kids were great as they’d come to see what I was doing and when I talked to them I got half a dozen more coming to see what was going on. This begat more and more kids to the point where I was mostly just talking to them about the watercolor pencils, waterbrushes, and how much fun it is to draw. Kids “get it.” They haven’t learned the feelings and emotions about art that adults somehow acquire.

Eventually they wandered away, though, and I got back to drawing. I was really enjoying the music and serenity of the room. A mother and her two young daughters (I’d guess they were 4 and 6) came by and, again, the kids were interested and, as is often the case with parents, the mother told them to leave me alone. I told her it was fine and I showed them what I was doing.

The older girl had some sort of writing/sketching book with her and started to draw with me. The younger one, of course, wanted to draw too, which sent mom scrambling for paper and pencil. She found some paper but had only a Seattle Seahawks pencil with her and it needed sharpening. I sharpened it and we chatted as I did. They were on vacation from where some of my favorite urban sketchers live – Seattle.

The kids drew a bit and I finished my sketch. The older girl came over to show me her drawing and I asked her if she wanted to use my watercolor pencils to color her drawing. Her look was priceless and I loaned her one pencil at a time. The same thing happened with the younger girl. We had a regular sketchcrawl going on.

I wish I had been smart enough to take some photos. Sadly, all I can share is the sketch I did, but it was the most insignificant thing that happened on this day.

Stillman & BIrn Beta (9×12), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black, Albrecht-Durer watercolor pencils

Return To Museum Sketching

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Larry Marshall

I wonder what my dad would think if he knew that the thing I remember most about him was him saying to me (often), “You’d forget your head if it wasn’t attached.” The sad thing is that, decades later, he’s still right.

I headed off to meet sketching buddies at the Musee de la civilisation the other day, which amounts to full acknowledgement that outdoor sketching is finished, or nearly so, for the year. It’s starting to get cold and this Arizona boy doesn’t do cold. None of us is very excited by the current expositions at the museum but there’s always something to draw, if only to provide practice and opportunity to try different techniques.

Once at the museum and I started thinking of sketching, I realized that I’d forgotten my light and my stool. Most of the rooms are so dark that without a light clipped to my sketchbook, I can’t see what I’m drawing. And, oddly when you think of it, most of the displays are low, requiring a stool to get your eyes on level with what you’re drawing.

Lucky for me, my head was attached and I used it to decide to draw something from the main entrance, where the museum seems willing to pay the electric bill and thus there is sufficient light. I thought about the stairwells, they’d be an interesting drawing challenge. I thought about the old bones of a boat that’s part of the entrance display. To do it justice, though, would require a lot of hours. I thought about drawing the ticket counter, but I’d already done that once.

Instead, I looked out the window to the courtyard associated with the museum and did this sketch. I forgot a lot that day but because of this sketch I’ll always remember to be grateful that my head is attached.

Quebec City Museum of Civilization courtyard

Stillman & Birn Beta (6×9), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

Sketching A Hansom Cab

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Larry Marshall

space

A minute later we were both in a hansom, driving furiously for the Brixton Road. – A Study in Scarlet

I’m a big fan of Sherlock Holmes. Not the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock. Not the TV show Sherlocks. I’m a fan of the original, as written by Arthur Conan-Doyle. In those stories, Holmes and Watson were often travelling in hansom cabs.

Sherlock’s carriage equivalent of the taxi was, more precisely, the Hansom safety cab, designed by architect Joseph Hansom in 1834. It’s interesting to note that “cab” is short for cabriolet, a French word for a 2-wheel, horse-drawn carriage. It’s also where taxi cab comes from.

I’d never actually seen one until Quebec City’s Musée de la civilisation opened an exhibit of 13 representatives from a large collection of carriages. I had to draw it.

I did this one in a Stillman & Birn Gamma (10×7) sketchbook. It was the first sketch in my new, “Spring” sketchbook. I hope you like it.

Stillman & Birn Gamma (10x7), Namiki Falcon w/De Atramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Gamma (10×7), Namiki Falcon w/De Atramentis Document Black