Thursday Museum Sketching Group

Posted on December 22, 2015 by Larry Marshall

Some of us in Quebec City have met at our Musee de la Civilisation for a while now, sometimes on Tuesday, sometimes Thursday, and sometimes both days, but we seem to be making the Thursday morning meetings a regular event, mostly due to emails sent out by Claudette to let us know what day we’re supposed to show up.

These sessions are really fun and quite different from a typical sketchcrawl. Rather than an all day affair, these are only two to three hours. We sketch for most of that time but then meet in the cafe for coffee/tea and to talk about drawing. If we’re lucky we can get Yvan talking as he always teaches us something interesting about drawing. Mostly, though, it’s just a regular, fun get together that keeps us all in touch and yet doesn’t require the commitment of an entire day.

At the last session I drew this Egyptian musical instrument called a sistrum, or at least that’s what the sign said it was. I’m not sure how it’s supposed to work or what sounds it makes but I suspect it’s sort of like a tamborine and that you shake it. I suspect there are supposed to be wires running through the other sets of holes. In any case, it’s a paradox of simple, rusted strap-metal with small, carved characters stuck onto it. Very interesting shapes to draw.

Stillman & Birn Gamma, Namiki Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black

I wandered around, had a conversation with Claudette and knew I was running out of time. Claudette had shown me her sketch of this little guy so I sat down and did this quick drawing of him, or her. Hard to tell with otters.

Stillman & Birn Gamma, Namiki Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black

Right now, there are eight of us who are regulars at Thursday Sketching Group. We won’t be meeting Christmas Eve day and probably not New Years Eve day, but otherwise, why don’t you come out and join us. You’ll have fun. I guarantee it.

Egyptian Burial Urns

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Larry Marshall

I was introduced to Egyptian burial practices in the usual place – a romantic comedy called The Mummy. The bad guy was dead, but his lover was determined to bring him back to life. They entered the place where the mummy was buried and next to it were several urns and we were told they contained the organs of the guy in the sarcophagus. Getting the romantic adventure comedy yet? I guess you had to be there.

Anyways, some of the most artifacts in our museum’s Egyptian exhibit is a set of these urns. I’d been avoiding them because I knew that when I did them I’d have to draw all four at once and because I draw at a rate slower than glaciers and snails, I knew it would take me a while. But the time came and the deed is done.

I shaded them with light blue, which seems a mistake as my scanner isn’t subtle in its treatment of light blue and so some of the shading was lost in translation. Doesn’t matter, though, these were fun to draw.

Stillman & Birn Delta, Namiki Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black

It’s Winter – Gone Fishing

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Larry Marshall

I knew it couldn’t last. I was forever hopeful but our balmy low 40s (F) December has come to an end with freezing rain. Oh well, I’m way behind in my blogging anyway.

Last week I met the gang at the museum but I decided to give the Egypt exhibit a break from me and sat down instead in front of a fishing exhibit. Seems there was a prominent Canadian ethnologist by the name of Richard Gauthier who a day job in the field, but his hobby was fishing and the study of fishing practices in Canada. To that end he amassed a large collection of old fishing equipment. We’ve been blessed with a small exhibit of some of these fishing artifacts and they’re great sketching subjects.

I started with Richard’s hat. I have much to learn about the use of watercolor pencils to achieve tonal gradation but here’s my rendition of his hat.

Stillman & Birn Delta (5.5x8.5), Namiki Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Delta (5.5×8.5), Namiki Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black

When I finished with the hat I got up and wandered around the museum. Half of it has been closed due to a fire that took place in early summer (construction guys seem prone to burn things down as they try to build them up) and I wanted to have a look at what it looked like now that that wing of the building was open again.

I spent so much time doing my walkabout that by the time I got back the other sketchers were nearly finished for the day. I did this quick sketch of a fishing scale as they finished up. You know what they say, “A bad day fishing is better than most other days.” I think that applies to sketching as well.

Stillman & Birn Delta (5.5×8.5), Namiki Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black

Another Sketch From Egypt

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Larry Marshall

This time of year is always tough for me on the sketching front. Besides it being a busy time of year, I always get lethargic while getting used to living in the dark (we’ve only got about 9 hours of daylight these days). To top it off, this year I’ve had the flu and now seem to be have some intestinal thing. This has been very disappointing because our weather has been very atypical (ie low 40s F) and I should be out walking/sketching.

Whatever the reasons, the bottom line is that while I continue to draw (scribble?) at home, I haven’t gotten out sketching much. Here’s a sketch I did the last time I was at the museum. The model for it is a leg from a ‘bier’, the low table upon which a sarcophagus was placed.

This guy is Bes, a dwarf god. He must be popular as there are several versions of him in the museum’s Egyptian exhibit. He was hard to draw because it’s so darn dark in the exhibit that it’s hard to see the shapes. On several occasions I had to swing my booklight around and shine it on him so I could see the statue.

Stillman & Birn Beta, Namiki Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black

A Morning At The Museum

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Larry Marshall

I realized that I never posted sketches from my last trip to the museum. My only excuse was that I was still dealing with the flu and wasn’t much in a blog-writing mood. But as I looked at them I realized they told a story of the day in a way that only sketches can.

When I arrived at the museum I was feeling ok. Not great but not good enough that I hadn’t cancelled the trip. There were five of us and we all headed to the Egypt exhibition. I realized two things. I’d forgotten my stool and I’d forgotten my light.

The exhibit is pretty dark so it was hard to find a subject where I could get enough light on the paper to see what I was doing. I found this little statue (about 40cm high) and if I stood close enough to its glass case, the spotlight that was on it illuminated my paper, sort of, and so I drew. I remember noting how hard it was to draw something when you stand that close to it. I used a watercolor pencil to add the color.

By the time I finished this sketch, though, I felt like I’d been run over by a truck. I went sat down and stared into the dark for a while, interrupted only by a couple short conversations with students about the drawing above. Mostly I was waiting for the others to finish as I just wasn’t up to standing and sketching.

Eventually I got up and walked to where Claudette was sketching and sat down to watch her. She was mostly in the dark but I decided to do a quick-sketch of her. Mostly I was making it up as it really was hard to see her. In fact, I completely missed the fact that she had a sweater laid over her shoulders. We need more light in our museum exhibits (grin).

When the others were done we headed to the museum cafe for coffee and to share sketches and to talk sketching. This must have revitalized me a bit as while we typically leave after coffee, I decided to stop and do a quick sketch of a fishing creel that’s part of a small historic fishing exhibition going on right now. I guess I felt guilty that I hadn’t accomplished more.

I remember thinking how stupid itwas to be drawing in a museum while feeling the way I do. I also remember thinking that the dedication to drawing that drew me to the museum was why I can’t understand people who say they don’t have time to draw.