While Walking Through The Park One Day….

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Yvan and I planned a sketching session on St. Denis street and we were to meet there. This street has many majestic residences and a large grassy area in front of them so it’s an ideal place to sketch.

As I arrived I realized that I’d forgotten my WalkStool. This is a big problem as my knees and me don’t much like sitting on the ground, for fear that we’ll never be able to get back up.

And so the search began for a sitting place with something in front of me to sketch. It’s not really rocket science but I wandered around for a while before finding such a combination. I ended up in the Parc des Governeurs, a small park between the Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City’s tourist landmark and the American consulate.

Both of these buildings are great sketching subjects but I chose this more humble structure that sits in the park. Yvan suggested that it was once a toilet but these days it looks to be used by maintenance people. In any case, it had a bench, in the shade, and so I sketched it in my Stillman & Birn Zeta (5×8) with a Pilot Prera and Platinum Carbon Black ink. I used Lexington Gray for the stairs in the background. I’m enjoying the contrast between these two inks. As always, I used Winsor & Newton watercolors like crayons to add some color.

Ferry Dock Sketching

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I use any excuse to take the ferry from Quebec City to Levis, which is on the other side of the St. Lawrence River from us. I do it because 1) I like boats, 2) my bus pass makes it free, and 3) did I mention that I like boats?

On this day, I did it because Yvan wanted to sketch the ferry station, which is an old train station that’s been sort of messed up by neglect and its conversion into a ferry dock. But they’re planning on tearing it down and he wanted a sketch of it. Seemed like a plan to me.

But when I got there, something about sketching the station just didn’t turn my crank that morning so I found an alternative, this building that was probably a hotel at some point and may still be. I like the way the cliff jutted up above, dwarfing what is actually a very large building.

It was done in a Stillman & Birn Zeta (5×8) sketchbook with Pilot Preras and Platinum Carbon Black and Noodler’s Lexington gray inks. Hope you like it. It was sure fun.

Desperate Sketchers Brave The Elements

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Last Saturday was supposed to be the Bazar des ruelles in Limoilu which is always a fun event. This is a part of the city that, when built, included alley ways behind the houses. I think those went out of style with the invention of ‘suburbs’ but it affords a great opportunity for the people in this part of Limoilu as they organize a huge garage sale every year, with signs and balloons all over the place, that direct wanderers up and down the ruelles to the many garage sales. There are also places that sell hot dogs and there are things for kids to do as well. In short, it’s a city-wide party.

I was supposed to meet my buddy Yvan at 8AM and we did meet. We stood under umbrellas as the rain came down and even we could figure out from the note on the signs saying “in case of rain, we’ll do it Sunday” that we were alone. We turned it into a sketcher social event, spending several hours talking art, drinking coffee and playing with fountain pens. We also planned to meet again the next morning.

Sunday began with me standing, same place, same umbrella, different rain. Yvan showed up with his umbrella and we stood. Then we headed to the coffee shop where the guy there told us that the event had been rescheduled for next week (Jun 15th). So, after coffee, and quite desperate to draw SOMETHING, we headed downtown to the library, where we did quick sketches of umbrellas with feet through the library windows. I did this small sketch of a window across the street. Yvan’s sketches were wonderful. Mine were…not so much. Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6) and a Noodler’s Creaper as the pointy device.

It finally stopped raining so we headed for the old city and set up under an awning where the calesh horses get to snack and wait for tourists willing to part with a lot of money for a ride. This is a sketch of the Kent Gatehouse (not surprisingly it’s associated with the Kent Gate, the middle gate of three gates that let too many cars have access to the old city. It felt soooooo good to sketch something outdoors, though it was still too cold for comfort and threatening rain. Stillman & Birn Zeta (5.5×8.5) and a Pilot Prera/Lexington Gray combination. By the time we finished I was cold enough to express an urgency for getting indoors and preferably at a place where I could drink something warm.

We’d talked about the McDonalds in the old city and I’d told Yvan about its’ nice second floor view. We headed there for some well-deserved warmth. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get one of the ‘good’ seats until we were about to leave but we grabbed them and quickly did sketches. I did this building. Yvan did something really nice.

We wandered around looking for something that turned our heads and we ended up sitting in a gravel parking lot for some apartments, looking up at this tower attached to an old building. The sky spit rain on me on occasion which is why I left the sky blank. Same S&B Zeta sketchbook; same Pilot Prera pen.

I mention Yvan a lot but I never show you his sketches. Yvan sketched the same tower that I did, did a much better job and then, while he was bored and waiting for me to finish, he did this sketch of me finishing up my sketch. Yvan is amazing and I’m lucky to call him friend.

Such is life for a mid-June sketcher in Quebec City this year. The prediction is for sunshine this weekend, though, so I’m really excited. Maybe summer will be better than spring.

A Bit of Urban Sketching

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Just as spring had sprung and it was starting to be warm enough to sketch outdoors, yours truly decided it was time to get sick. I spent more than a week feeling pretty bad, made all the worse by coming home one day to find water dripping from our first-floor ceiling. I still have a hole in the ceiling to fix but the pipes are holding water again.

Before getting sick, though, I did get out with my buddy Yvan and we rode our bikes on an adventure into Beauport, a suburb of Quebec City. We sketched this house, which I liked very much. I used my Pilot Prera for this one. Same Noodler’s Lexington Gray I normally use.

I did stop in the old city one day as I was returning from French school and I made this sketch in a Stillman & Birn Zeta (5.5×8.5) sketchbook, using a TWSBI Mini and Noodler’s Lexington Gray.

And so, as the weekend approached, and my energy had come back, I was chomping at the bit to go sketching. Mother Nature had other ideas and it rained all day Saturday. Yvan and I went sketching anyway. We headed to the Musee de la Civilisation and while it’s between major exhibitions, it was at least warm and dry and we figured we could find something to sketch there.

What we found was a small exhibit of architectural models of classic structures that were part of old Paris. I chose to sketch Cabaret Le Chat, one of the popular hot spots on the north side of Paris. The model was about 15″ high and fairly well-done, though the building to the right of it lacked any detail, which is how I drew it. Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook and TWSBI Mini fountain pen. I had switched up the ink and was using Platinum Carbon Black.

When we finished there it was still raining and we decided that we should board the ferry that goes between Quebec City and Levis, across the St. Lawrence River. The ferry has a nice, cozy passenger area with big windows and we figured we could sketch from there. We hadn’t included the heavy mist/fog in our calculations as you could hardly see the other side of the river, only a few hundred yards away.

So, we just rode across, got off, and decided to sketch out the windows of the ferry building, catching the next boat (30 minutes) for our return. I still have problems sketching while holding a sketchbook in one hand, pen in the other. I generally perch my sketchbook on my knee or on a table if one is available. I also have trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time so maybe it’s just too much for my brain to hold one item (sketchbook) still while moving another (pen) around. This sketch suffers from a case of the wobbles and the fact that I was working quicker than my normal glacial pace. I did this it in a small Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6) with the same TWSBI Mini and Platinum Carbon Black. Color comes from some quick swipes with Faber-Castell watercolor pencils.

I went sketching. It was a wet day, but a good day.

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.