Opportunistic Sketching In Ottawa

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Larry Marshall

I was in Ottawa to pick up my daughter, who was coming home for the summer. My wife and I decided it would be a good idea to spend a few days there and, I decided it would be a good idea to also drive to Toronto to see a Blue Jays game, though in my defense, it was my daughter’s idea.

And so it was that I found myself as a tourist, with my family, as we wandered the city, mostly just eating, drinking and relaxing. Many have discussed the difficulties of sketching while on excursions with ~~non-believers~~, err… non-sketchers and I’m no exception to this struggle. Still, if one takes advantage of opportunities and is happy with quick-sketching, sketching can become part of the experience. Here are a few of the small sketches I did while in Ottawa.

We were walking along the Rideau Canal, enjoying the sunshinek and using phrases like “it’s hot today” for the first time in months. We were thoroughly enjoying ourselves. My wife and I decided to give our daughter a rest (that’s our story and we’re sticking to it) so we sat down on a bench. I got out my sketchbook (3×5) and did this quick sketch of a couple girls talking on the other side of the canal.

Once my daughter was well-rested we moved on. We walked and walked and walked. If you lined up all of our steps in a straight line it would be a very long straight line. But it was fun even for an old man like myself.

We sat on the grass in front of Parliament, along with a bunch of other like-minded (tired from walking no doubt) folks and, as a group, worked on our sunburns. After that was accomplished we went across the street to the information center. I’ve found I can get a lot of sketching done while women are in the bathroom and so I started quick-sketching people walking across the street. Parliament should be in the background somewhere but there’s only so much bathroom time available and I was pushing it. Color was added later that evening.

At one point we were in a park not far from the US embassy and the art museum. I don’t know its name and you probably don’t care anyway. We were drinking bubble tea. Lots of other folks were enjoying the day and I decided to quickly sketch a few of them. Here’s one of those sketches, again done in the 3×5 sketchbook.

We went walking again when we returned from Toronto. There are numerous places where you can look over the Ottawa River and I decided that I needed to do a small cityscape. I typically fail at this because I try to put too much detail in too small a space, so I was determined to keep this one spartan, quick, and clean. I hope I succeeded. I did this one in a Moleskine watercolor book; the brown came from a waterbrush filled with dilute Noodler’s #41 brown ink.

Last and probably least I’ll share with you a sketch I did of my new favorite hyper-sweet drink. It’s called bubble tea and is composed of tea, a bit of milk and sugar, a choice of flavoring, and a bunch of huge tapioca balls, called “babba” that are soaked in something that makes them black. They give you a big diameter straw so you can suck these things up along with the drink. Great opportunity to play with your food.

Sometimes Sketching Isn’t About The Sketching

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Larry Marshall

My daughter is home from school for a week and I got a late start as I headed to the museum to do some sketching. By the time I got there it was nearly 11AM and I found that three of my friends had been there since opening time. Two of them I hadn’t seen in quite a while so we spent some time ‘catching up.’ Ultimately we decided to meet in the cafeteria for some of their divine cremed turnip soup. And so it was when I headed off to find something to draw.

Then I realized that soup time was only 25 minutes away. Hmmm… Rather than starting a long pencil drawing of one of the statues I decided to whip out the Namiki Falcon and use it to do a simple sketch of one of the glass cabinets and their contents. These things are two huge sheets of glass set parallel to one another with a table inside. The area above the table is encased in a big glass box. Easy peasy, says I. By the end my eyes had crossed trying to follow transparent sheets of glass inside of sheets of glass. It was fun though. The soup and company were better. Sometimes sketching isn’t about the sketching.

Stillman & BIrn Alpha (10x7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black, Pentel brush pen with Platinum Carbon ink

Stillman & BIrn Alpha (10×7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black, Pentel brush pen with Platinum Carbon ink

Polar Bear Sketching As Winter Approaches

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Larry Marshall

It’s becoming difficult to sketch outdoors in Quebec City. It’s comfortable to walk as long as one wears proper attire but to sit and sketch for any period of time is beyond my capacity to endure.

So now the scramble to find indoor subject matter begins. Claudette and I met at the Université Laval library and their small natural history exhibit. It’s a small display and we’re running out of sketching possibilities but I decided to draw the head of a polar bear who, I suspect, had ducked into the library just to get out of the cold. Sketchers aren’t the only ones that find Quebec winters harsh.

I had fun doing this in my Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook, though it’s only a 6×8 and I would have like a larger format for this sketch. Have I mentioned how much I like Faber-Castell Albrecht-Durer watercolor pencils? They’re the only ones I’ve found where a waterbrush can completely eliminate the pencil lines. Anyways, I hope you like Mr Polar Bear, though he might be a she.

Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook, Pilot Falcon w/Platinum Carbon Black ink

Michaud Service – A Limoilu Landmark

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Larry Marshall

One of the fun things about sketching in Quebec City is being able to sketch buildings that have been repurposed and, sometimes, being able to see photos of what the building used to look like. There are a couple photos of Michaud Service from the 50s but they’re copyrighted and so I’m not going to post them here.

Michaud Service used to be an auto service location, with two large bays and an office area, all accessible from the street side of the building. There were also several bays whose doors faced north, on the other side of the building. These days it seems that the north access bays are used for storage while the front of the building houses a couple social service organizations. My sketch was done as I sat in a small park area on the south side of the building, an area that used to be a parking lot associated with Michaud Service.

In a way, this is a fairly plain building but the huge sign that still resides atop the building, and the somewhat organized graffiti along the south wall just spoke to me. There was also the matter that I could sit in the sun which kept me from completely freezing as I sketched. I did high-tail it for home and tea to do the color once I warmed up.

Michaud Service: Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7), Pilot/Namiki Falcon, Platinum Carbon Black

Sketching Mobile Homes

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Larry Marshall

In the display at our local library is a cabinet full of mobile homes. As I like drawing architecture it seemed fitting that I draw some houses used by animals that aren’t human so I chose these two.

I drew them in a Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook using my Pilot/Namiki Falcon and Platinum Carbon Black ink. Color comes from Faber-Castell Albrecht-Durer watercolor pencils.