How Did Apollo Carry His Water?

Posted on November 29, 2014 by Larry Marshall

The “Olympus” exhibition at Quebec’s Museé de la civilisation includes a series of art-laden pots and pitchers that make ideal drawing subjects, as long as you’re not easily frustrated by a bunch of design details. This particular jug is about a foot in diameter and a bit taller. My view of it, from sitting on my stool, only exposes the bottoms of some of the characters and trees that wrap around the top of it but the placard explains that these folks are Apollo and his buddies and that the jug was used to carry water. I mostly take a ‘who cares’ attitude towards such things as the important thing to me is that it’s a stunning piece and something fun to draw.

I started with a pencil to organize basic shapes and to lay out the detailed banding – banding that drove me nuts as I tried to draw it. I used Strathmore Series 300 (vellum) bristol for this drawing. Once I was happy with the proportions I switched to a Pilot Prera (F) filled with De Atramentis Brown ink, one of the new permanent fountain pen inks made available by the company.

I can’t recommend these inks enough. They’re a dream come true. If you haven’t seen them, go to Jane Blundell’s blog where she’s mixed up a series of colors using them. Then you’ll want to head to Goulet Pens to buy some (grin). To me these are the ink equvalent of Stillman & Birn’s great sketchbooks entered my life. Both provide ideal solutions to my sketching material needs.

Apollo water jug

I’m a ‘line’ kind of guy. I’m not a watercolor guy who happens to do his drawing with a pen. And so when the drawing is done, I feel that I’m done. If I add color it’s mostly done as an afterthought. In this case, however, I decided to try adding some color. Rather than using the original, I scanned it and printed to Canson Montval Watercolor paper. This is my first time using this paper and it may be my last. I much prefer the paper in my Stillman & Birn sketchbooks when it comes to using watercolors. Anyways, this is what it looked like when I was done abusing the paper, or it me.

Sketching The Heads Of Olympus

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Larry Marshall

I found myself chuckling at myself as I struggled to use pencil to draw this plaster head of what may or may not be one of the Greek gods of old. Besides an uncertainty about the subject, the placard said that it was created in 50AD and was once part of a full statue. I thought it nice and besides, there was a seat available.

I was chuckling because I couldn’t help but think of how people talk about moving from pencil to pen. It’s said to be “scary” or “really hard.” I’ve done almost all my sketching with fountain pens and I find sketching with pencil to be “really hard.” I’m unsure of the marks I make with pencil and certainly skills like graded tones elude me. But it sure is fun, as is every kind of sketching I’ve done. Maybe I’m kidding myself but I think the more lines I put on paper the better I will get so that’s my goal. As I make those marks, I just hope that some of them resemble what I’m trying to draw. Occasionally they do.

Anyways, this drawing was done on Strathmore Series 300 vellum bristol paper. I like it for this sort of drawing because it’s stiff enough to stand on its own and seems to like pencil. I used Mars Lumograph pencils this time.

Asclepius???
50AD

The Best Pencil Is The One In Your Hand

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Larry Marshall

A couple days ago someone on Facebook asked what the best pencil was. I responded by saying that the best pencil was “the one in your hand” and then went on to talk about the various brands I’d tried. I don’t know much about pencils so my advise was limited.

I was reminded of this advise when I went to the museum on Sunday. I’d set up my stool, and realized that I’d forgotten my pencil case. I grumbled a bit and dug through my bag. I had my Pentel Kerry (.5mm HB) and Pentel 207 (.7mm 2H) pencils and the stub of a Blackwing 602 wooden pencil (a bit softer than HB). Those were the pencils I had in my hand. Great tools for light layout lines for ink drawings but…well, that’s what I had and I wanted to draw a Greek plaster mask that dated from 200AD. So I started to draw.

What drew me to the subject was that it had a chip out of the nose and several from the chin area. I’m trying to learn to capture these features and I’m very clumsy with a pencil, but I hope that this sort of drawing will help me improve. Besides, it’s fun to draw in the museum. At one point there were half a dozen people standing behind me, watching me draw. I tried to chat with them, in both my bad French and passable English, but I really have a hard time drawing and talking at the same time. Anyways, this is what I ended up with, using the “one in my hand.”

Greek plaster mask (200AD) – Strathmore 300-series Bristol (8.5×11), mechanical pencils

It’s Museum Season In Quebec City

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Larry Marshall

Only the brave would venture outdoors to sketch in Quebec City these days, and I’m not one of them. So, it’s museum time for me. And because our Civilisation Museum is featuring a large exhibition of some remarkable white, plaster statues and busts from the Greeks and Romans, I’ve decided to set aside my fountain pens and try to learn how to push a pencil. Strange gizmos these are as they produce a substance that is magnetically attracted to the little finger of my drawing hand, allowing automagic smudging of everything I draw.

I did this guy’s head in a Stillman & Birn Alpha series sketchbook and I think pencil would work better on their Epsilon paper. I’m using Tombow Mono 100 pencils (2H and HB this time). The pencils are beautiful and seem to work well, though my inexperience doesn’t permit actual evaluation. Maybe a winter of museum sketching will change that.

Trial By Pencil: A Sketcher’s Tale

Posted on May 18, 2014 by Larry Marshall

I’ve mentioned that I’m trying to figure out how to use a pencil and I’ve posted a couple drawings that I’ve attempted with them at our Musée de la Civilisation. I’m using rainy days to continue that practice.

I decided to attempt to draw one of the gorgon heads that were found in Pergamen. Guestimated to have been made prior to 129AD, they’re one of the few things older than I am so I thought it fitting that I should draw one. Gorgons, if you’re unfamiliar with them, are minions from the underworld. They have large eyes and are said to have snakes for hair. The one I drew also has a large chip out of its chin.

This was a lot of fun but also took me a long time. Mark me down as the slowest pencil driver on the planet. Done on bristol paper I enjoyed the smooth surface. It reminds me of my beloved Stillman & Birn Zeta paper. I used a mechanical pencil and some Faber-Castell 9000 pencils.

While I’m at it I’ll post this little sketch of a hanging towel. I do a lot of these little doodles while I watch my Blue Jays lose. Pencils are fun. Pens are more my style.