Winter Food Court Sketching

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Larry Marshall

My daughter’s was home from university for a week and we’ve had some snow storms. These two things combined to keep me from going out sketching. I was longing to do some so I headed out one morning to one of the big malls, and their food court.

Food courts are great places to sketch people, either while they’re eating or when they’re standing in line to order. All food courts are not created equal, however. There’s a mall really close to my house that has two food courts and they’re both horrible sketching locations. Why? Because it’s hard to sit so you can draw people ordering and their tables are crammed together, making it hard to sketch without someone slopping their Big Mac sauce on your sketch (grin).

But the one I went to is the newest in our city and it’s big, very roomy and there’s just the right distance between tables and vendors to allow lines to form in a couple directions (providing different angles) and the view open.

There’s not much to tell about the session. I got a cup of coffee and started drawing. I was using my Platinum 3776 with Platinum Carbon Black ink and I was sketching in a Stillman & Birn 4×6 softcover Alpha series book. Great combination for this sort of thing as I like to add a bit of color when I finish up and the S&B paper accommodates that nicely. I did time the session as I wanted to see how long I could keep doing it without getting tired. I’m a lazy sketcher and have to push myself to sketch for long periods of time. Come to think of it, long periods of time is a very relative term and, for me, “long periods of time” means relatively short. Quick sketching is rather intense as people are moving a lot, but I managed to draw for 45 minutes, punctuated by coffee drinking. I ended up with 14 sketches. Here’s some of them. I got tired of scanning. I told you I am a lazy sketcher (grin).

Clowning Around With Thursday Sketchers

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Larry Marshall

We were back at it on Thursday, as we met at the museum to sketch. Winter may drive us indoors but it doesn’t slow us down much.

Canson XL watercolor, Pilot Prera, DeAtramentis Document Brown

I found this little, three-inch high clown sitting in the bottom of a small display of early children’s toys. His right foot was missing but I made one up. He was lots of fun to draw.

Canson XL watercolor, Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black

This lantern was nearly invisible and I have to wonder if it’s a forgotten exhibit. It was hanging on a dark wall, in the dark and it was black. Hard to see but it whispered ‘sketch me’ as I walked past. And so I did, or tried.

When I finished Claudette and Lisette were chatting, making plans to have tea and while they were packing up I did this quick sketch of a top hat in the case where we were standing. Then we headed for tea and had a great discussion about the value of sketching whenever we have a few idle minutes.

Canson XL multi-media, Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black

Sketching Quebec City From Levis

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Larry Marshall

Recently I wrote about Yvan and I crossing the St. Lawrence so we could sketch the Quebec City skyline. I mentioned that we were disappointed by the lack of sun that made it difficult to see the buildings clearly in the low-contrast light.

Of course we do quick sketches as we cross on the ferry. Here’s one example – A Girl On a Boat (alias A Girl On a Phone).

Undaunted by that experience, we watched weather forecasts and, on a day that was supposed to be sunny, we boarded the ferry and headed to the south shore of the St. Lawrence. That sounds too much like we took a trip. The ferry ride is no more than 10 minutes and half of that is waiting as they dock the ship. We scurried off the board and into the terminal, which is a nice, warm place from which to look at Quebec City.

Apparently, Mother Nature doesn’t read weather forecasts because there was no sun but we sketched anyway. As we were leaving it started to snow.

Fabriano Artistico CP, Platinum Carbon Black, Platinum 3776

Look Outside Sketching

Posted on February 7, 2016 by Larry Marshall

Doo doo doo lookin’ out my back door. – Credence Clearwater Revival

Looking Out My Backdoor was one of the craziest songs CCR ever created. It won gold and platinum records, made you happy when you heard it, and the lyrics made no sense whatever.

Sometimes my sketching is like that and no more so than when I went sketching with Yvan at the museum chapel where we’ve been sketching lately. Due to circumstance, mostly beyond my control, I arrived at the chapel really late. Yvan was well into his sketching and so I looked around for something to draw quickly in the remaining time.

Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black

There are windows that look out on a large courtyard, with beautiful seminary buildings encircling it. I’ve drawn their roofs and steeples in the past. But today everything was covered with featureless snow, so there wasn’t much to draw. I decided to sketch the entrance on the other side of the courtyard. Then, I drew the only other thing sticking up from the white landscape – a bicycle and trash can. See what I mean? Just like the CCR song, the sketches make little sense but they made me very happy. Hope they make you smile too.

Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black

Sketching Winter People

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Larry Marshall

At piano recital – Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black

As an urban sketcher, I guess I’m an odd one as my least favorite subject is the human. I don’t know what it is but I don’t find them that interesting. Maybe that will change some day but for now, my people sketching is done more out of desperation for something to draw when it’s too cold to sit on the streets and draw architecture.

Guy waiting for light to change – Zebra 701 ballpoint.

And so it is these days so I’ve been doing some people sketching. I thought I’d share a few of those sketches, done in small notebooks. They’re done quickly and, I’m afraid, not very well but that’s what happens when you don’t practice. Maybe I’ll be better before spring shows up.

Standing on street corner, Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black

Drawing people in ads on TV – Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black

People waiting to order at McDonalds – Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black