Waiting for Spring

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I feel like one of the guys in Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot. Every day they show up to meet with Godot. Every day he doesn’t come. He never does. I’m beginning to think spring in Quebec is like Godot as while it’s officially been spring for a month, we’ve yet to see anything resembling spring.

I thought I’d share a few sketches I’ve done while waiting for a decent sketching day. First, here are the last two sketches I did of the Nigeria exhibit at the Musee de la Civilisation. Both were done in a Stillman & Birn Epsilon (5.5×8.5) sketchbook.

Lexington Gray in TWSBI mini. Watercolor pencils.

Lexington Gray in Noodler’s Creaper. Waterbrush with a few drops of Noodler’s Polar Brown in it.

This next sketch was my attempt to defy the elements. I went out one morning because it was all the way up to 4C and it wasn’t windy. As I sketched it got windy. Then it started raining lightly. I was driven from the street by hail and thought I was going to freeze to death (grin). Done in a Stillman & Birn Zeta (5.5×8.5) sketchbook with a TWSBI mini filled with Noodler’s Lexington Gray.

Lastly, I took my new Wahl-Eversharp Symphony 913 pen for a test drive. This is an old 14k gold flex nib pen and while it’s old technology, the nib is wonderful. I was playing with ‘quick-sketching’ some buildings. That term is relative and as I’m a slow sketcher, what I mean by this is that I only spent about 20 minutes doing this sketch on S&B Epsilon paper. Watercolors applied in my typical, inept fashion. I’ve got to devote some time to learning watercolors.

The Future Of Sketching Is Good In Quebec City

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Every year, Le Soleil, the premier newspaper in Quebec, conducts a writing and drawing contest for young, creative citizens. The Musee de la Civilisation just set up a display of the art entries and it is truly inspiring. As I looked at all the great drawings I couldn’t help but think of a quote from Danny Gregory’s The Creative License:

When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked one day what I did at work. I told her that I worked at the college – that my job was to teach people how to draw. She stared at me, incredulous, and said, “You mean they forget?” – Howard Ikewoko

Kids do know how to draw. And we adults do seem to forget, both how to do it and how much fun it can be. We in Quebec City are lucky that Le Soleil puts so much effort and resources behind fostering creative activity from our youth. Thanks, Le Soleil.

Here’s a few photos to give you some idea of the variety and quality of these drawings. These kids are good.

Sketching On Toned Paper

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I’m no expert to artist materials. Most of the time when I talk about using them the discourse begins with me saying “This is the first time that…” This is almost true of my use of toned paper in my sketching activities. During last summer I made a small sketchbook from toned paper (Canson Mi-Teintes) and I did a few pen sketches in it. Unfortunately, the sketchbook itself wasn’t stiff enough (thin covers) to work well as a sketchbook to use on location while I held it in my hand.

Now that it’s winter and very cold here, I’ve been working a lot in museums. This shift in location and subject matter has been coupled by me doing some experimenting with different tools and materials and recently I’ve done a couple sketches on single sheets of gray, toned paper and I thought I’d share them here.

The first was done at the Musée de la Civilisation, in a large Nigeria exhibit that features lots of masks and headdresses used in ceremonies. This one was done in Canson Mi-Teintes paper. As I am also trying to learn how to use a pencil as a sketching medium, I used the smooth side of this paper and it worked well. Not being a pencil guru, I started layout with a 3H pencil and ultimately ended up with an HB mechanical pencil. Nothing special here and, I’m sure, most pencil experts will probably cringe that I didn’t use softer pencils. I added a bit of highlight using a Prismacolor white pencil but I was fairly tentative in this as I’ve never done that before at all. Still, the results ended up better than I expected.

The next sketch I did was done during our 38th Worldwide Sketchcrawl, which we did at the Musée de Francais and its associated chapel. The chapel has been ‘secularized’ and is rented out for meetings and banquets. Still, its walls are still adorned with statues of saints, the windows are stained glass, and a huge alter remains.

But I love to sketch buildings and being driven indoors by snow and cold is frustrating. I took advantage of the sketchcrawl to set my tripod stool in front of a huge window that looked out on a courtyard that was bordered by a very long, probably 150+ feet long building. Rather than capture the entire structure, I decided to concentrate on a slice of it and I came up with this sketch.

This sketch was done on Strathmore Series 400 “toned gray” paper. I bought a 9×12 spiral sketchbook of this stuff. The sheets are perforated and can be easily separated from the sketchbook. I did the linework with a Pilot Prera filled with Noodler’s Lexington Gray ink. The suggestion of snow was added using the same Prismacolor pencil I used in the first sketch. I like this paper a lot. It’s much cheaper than the Canson paper and it’s a great pencil paper. I felt that it was a bit too absorptive for ink, though. A heavy line tends to feather a bit.

I really like drawing on toned paper. I’m less wild about using single sheets of paper for my sketching and wish Stillman & Birn would create a gray version of its Epsilon sketchbooks. A sketcher has to have a dream (grin).

38th Worldwide Sketchcrawl in Quebec City

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I received this from Celine Poulin, via email:

38e Sketchcrawl à la Chapelle du Musée de l’Amérique française

Bonjour à tous les amis du dessin,

Un 38e Sketchcrawl aura lieu à Québec le samedi, 19 janvier prochain. Voici les renseignements pertinents :

Lieu : Chapelle du Musée de l’Amérique française, 2 Côte de la Fabrique (à côté de la Cathédrale de Québec)

Coût : Gratuit (annoncer au guichet que c’est pour l’activité de croquis)

Heure : 13h

Apporter son banc ou sa chaise pour plus de confort.

Pour infos : http://www.mcq.org/fr/maf/renseignements.html

Pour ceux qui veulent visiter le musée avant l’activité, c’est gratuit de 10h à 12h le samedi (janvier et février seulement)

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For those unfamiliar with French, the 38th Worldwide Sketchcrawl will be celebrated by Quebec City sketchers on Saturday, January 19th at the chapel associated with the Musée de l’Amérique française which is at 2 Côte de la Fabrique (next to the Quebec Cathedral). This chapel was secularized for banquets and meetings but it’s gorgeous and should be great for sketching.

This is a free event. Just tell them at the door that you’re there for the sketching activity and they’ll let you in. We’ll start at 13:00. Bring your materials, and if you have one, a stool, as it will be more comfortable than standing all afternoon.

You can get information about the site here: http://www.mcq.org/fr/maf/renseignements.html

View Location Map
Lastly, if you would like to visit the museum, during January and February it is free from 10-12h on Saturdays.

10 Favorite Sketches of 2012

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Larry Marshall

2012 represents most of my sketching experience to date. I started trying to draw cubes back in September of 2011 but I didn’t start doing any location sketching until spring of 2012 as the Quebec snow melted. It’s been a fantastic journey as I’ve climbed the early stages of the sketching learning curve. I thought it might be fun to do a ‘ 10 favorites’ post, where I present what I think are some of my best sketches of the year. I’m often accused of being ‘down’ on my sketches. Here’s my chance to show people that I’m actually happy with some of them (grin).

Because 90% or more of my sketches have been done on the street and most have been buildings, I thought I should vary my choices by selecting one sketch from ten different categories, just to increase the variety. So, here they are. I hope you like them.

Building

This is, by far, the hardest selection. I’ve done a LOT of building sketches and none of them really stand out as extraordinary, though many are personal ‘favorites’. I’ve chosen this one because it, in the extreme, is the brightest (grin).

Vehicle

I’ve drawn a number of cars, trucks and even heavy equipment. I chose this one, however, because the subject was so darn cute when it found it lounging in the old port area of Quebec.

Fire hydrant

Pete Scully, by example, caused me to notice and sketch fire hydrants. I don’t know what it is about them but once you start looking at them you realize they vary considerably and that fire hydrants have oodles of personality. I chose this one because I like the composition.

Samurai helmet

I’ve tried drawing from photos and it’s ‘ok’ but sketching, for me, is about going places and seeing things. But winter in Quebec City is just too cold to be outdoors so we’re all driven indoors. At first I found that depressing but once I saw the Samurai exhibit at our museum of civilization, I was hooked on indoor sketching. I started sketching Samurai helmets, which are amazing, serving to protect heads as well as indicate status, identity, and even to serve in ceremonial roles. It’s hard to choose a single helmet sketch as I love these amazing pieces of hardware. I chose this one as it nearly drove me nuts drawing all those flame thingies.

Human

This was hard as I haven’t drawn many people. It’s on my ‘to do’ list for 2013. But I chose this one, a very simple sketch, because I liked the way I was lucky enough to capture the movement of this guy’s coat as he walked along.

Ship

Quebec City has an active port so I’ve sketched several ships. I chose this one because I remember struggling with all the decks and railings. I also have memories of how much fun I had that day as I sketched with my buddy Pierre.

Steeple/Dome

Quebec City is heavily populated by domes and steeples projecting upward from their supporting structures. I love sketching them and have done a bunch of them. I chose this particular sketch because it features both domes and steeples in a single sketch.

Telephone pole

Maybe you have to be an urban sketcher to appreciate them, but I like telephone poles and all the wires, transformers and connectors that hang from them. I did this sketch on blue paper and liked the way it turned out.

Tree

I’ve drawn a bunch of trees but mostly they’ve been ‘studies’ where it was just the tree and nothing for supporting material. This one, however, was done one day when Pierre and I headed out one Sunday morning looking for things to sketch. It was a crisp autumn day and the maples had started to change colors. I decided to make the tree the main attraction, putting the building in the background.

Vignette

To fulfill my promise of ten sketches, I’ve added this vignette to complete the set. I was sketching with my friend Nicolas and we were sitting in a church yard, a church that has become a library. I looked over my shoulder and could see part of this restaurant, liked the red umbrellas and so I drew it. Again, it brings back memories of a good day.

I’m looking forward to 2013 sketching. For a while I’m going to have to work indoors but sometime around April we’ll start having a day or three where it’s tolerable to sketch outside and you’ll find me on the streets all summer. Happy New Year, everyone.