Sketching On A Summer Morning

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Larry Marshall

It’s fun to be out sketching early in the morning. Quebec City wakes up slowly and if you are out walking at 7AM, you’re mostly alone. Of course this morning I met up with my buddy Yvan and we found ourselves on Rue des Remparts, a great sketching street that skirts the upper portion of the old city. We chose a scene, that was really the backyard and garage areas of several houses. The location also provided a nice shade tree under which I could sit.

The sketch was done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7) sketchbooks using a Pilot Prera and Platinum Carbon Black. W&N artist watercolors and a a waterbrush were used to add color. Before it was done I was wishing I’d brought my real brushes along.

Sketching Tiny Town

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Larry Marshall

The Ursuline Convent in Quebec City was founded in 1639, which makes it the earliest learning institution for woman in North America. It’s also seems that they owned half the old city at one point. Ok…maybe that’s an exaggeration but they owned a lot of land and buildings and still do. But most of the private residences and some of the other large buildings have been sold off. The curent compound is home to the convent, a school, and it’s a popular tourist stop.

2013-07-02UrsulinesSite

One of the private residences still held by the Ursulines is this place. I’m not sure how big it is but it’s got to have the smallest entrances of any on Quebec. Its unique nature made it a great sketching subject, though gray on gray isn’t the ideal color scheme, I suppose.

The building on the left if the Ursuline library and museum. If you get to Quebec City, be sure to visit, if only to talk to the very nice people who work there. After we were done sketching, they let us browse through their library where we found several books used to teach drawing to students. While I’ve yet to tour the museum, they told me that there is a section on how drawing was taught to students. I’ve got to get back there to see that.

I did the sketch in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7) sketchbook using a TWSBI Mini with Platinum Carbon Black ink. I added some color… well, gray… with W&N artist watercolors.

2013-07-02Ursulines

Sketching Between Rain Days

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Larry Marshall

We’re still getting more rain than we should and certainly more rain than I want. But we got a weekend that only started under rain and high winds. We ended up with slightly damp conditions and warm temperatures. There was this scary yellow ball in the sky. Not sure what that was but it seemed harmless enough.

Yvan and I took advantage and we went to Artillery Park, an area in old Quebec City that has a bunch of old military buildings and fortifications. It’s also where a munitions factory operated until 1964. Now the large buildings are museums surrounded with park areas, cannons and high walls – a great place to sketch. And we did.

I sketched a building called Redoubte Dauphine. It’s an impressive structure and I set up at the base of it, sitting on the edge of a parking lot. I sort of botched the perspective by placing a couple lines incorrectly. As I didn’t want to restate them in their correct locations, I made the best of it and finished it with the wonky angles. Do me a favor and squint a lot when you look at the sketch. Maybe you won’t notice (grin). The sketch was done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7) sketchbook with a Pilot Prera and Lexington Gray.

2013-06-29RedoubteDauphine1sm

It was very hazy and cloudy so I decided to return to add color/details, when there was some sun to provide contrast. I packed up and went looking for Yvan. I located him, sitting high above me on a wall. In fact, I noticed that you can see him as a tiny orange blotch on the right of the photo above. He was sketching something and I thought it’d be fun to do a quick sketch of him. I did it in my Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6) with a Pilot Prera and Platinum Carbon Black.

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I climbed the hill you see in the first sketch and entered a tiny park area associated with what was once an officer’s quarters. I liked the shape of the end of that building and so quickly sketched it. Same small sketchbook; same pen/ink.

2013-06-29redoubteLogis

2013-06-29OldBuildingSite The eastern edge of Artillery Park is bordered by an old rock fence. On the other side of it there’s a grand old apartment building that’s no longer inhabited and, sadly, it’s crumbling from neglect. It pokes its second story above the rock wall and I liked the view, of the back of the building and so I sketched it. Same sketchbook, same pen, same fun experience. Every sketching day is a great day.

2013-06-29OldBuilding

The 40th Worldwide Sketchcrawl On July 13th

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Larry Marshall

The 40th Worldwide Sketchcrawl has been scheduled for Quebec City. I hope you can make it to this event, which is anticipated to be our best ever, and with good reason. We’re going to meet near the St. Jean Gate into the old city and sketch in the rue D’auteuil – Artillery Park area. Lots of people to sketch, lots of great architecture, and some really nice park areas if you want to sketch trees or just sit and enjoy the ambiance.

DATE: Saturday, July 13, 2013
TIME: 10:00 to about 15:30
LOCATION: rue D’Auteuil – Artillery Park near the St-Jean Gate
COST: Free unless it rains as we’ll all run for the Artillery Park museum (see below) which costs $4.

DETAILS:

We’ll meet near the St. Jean Gate and begin sketching at 10AM. Around mid-day, we’ll break for lunch, have fun seeing everyone’s sketches, and have the inevitable sketching discussions. Those who arrive late and those who remain with us for the afternoon will sketch until around 15:30, when we can once again enjoy each other’s sketches.

This is a sketch I did of the Artillery Park Museum entrance, which is just inside the St. Jean Gate.

The weather will be beautiful, I just know it will … but otherwise we will gather in the Artillery Park Museum. We’ll have to pay the $4 entry fee but they have agreed to allow us to sketch the museum holdings.

Celine Poulin and Yvan Breton are the organizers and we all hope to see you out sketching with us! Please invite your friends, and feel free to circulate this invitation!

Paris In Quebec City…Sort of.

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Larry Marshall

The Musee de la Civilisation launched its new Paris 1889-1920s exhibit by holding a special grand opening on a Tuesday evening. As I’m a member I got an invitation and Yvan and I decided to go. We saw it more as a reconnoitering session than anything else so our plan was to quickly run through the exhibit, noting what would be good to sketch. This exhibit will be one of our principle sketching subjects this winter.

We decided, though, that we should go early enough that we could sketch in the old port for a couple hours before the event and that’s what we did. We sat in Place Royale, a tourist hot-spot and boy, were there tourists. Because of our lousy weather it didn’t seem like summer to us until we looked at the sea of people. So, we looked up and I sketched this roof line over the heads of the tourists. Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7), Pilot Prera and Lex Gray ink.

When we finished up we still had some time and we wandered into a place adjacent to Place Royale that has a cannon battery pointing out at the St. Lawrence, to protect Place Royale from the tourist and ferry boats. This is the gate into the place but from the inside, looking out. I felt a bit rushed so it got a bit wonky but I like the sketch nevertheless. Same sketchbook and pen/ink combo for this one.