We were enjoying cheeses, a baguette and some wine while sitting on our deck last week. It was a delightful evening, one of the evenings that we dream about during our long winters.
Eventually I got the urge to draw some of the many flowers we have all over the place, courtesy of Chantal’s green thumb. I only had a small sketchbook with me and was too lazy to go get something larger so I just started drawing little flower drawings. Here’s a couple of them.
To say that spring/summer has been slow in arriving would be a big understatement but we’re finally starting to get some warm, sunny days. We took advantage of one of them last week and found ourselves in Beauport, along Avenue Royale, a street that runs along a hillside, a part of the city where the architecture is spectacular but quite different from the really early architecture of our “old city.”
My first sketch was an example of me biting off more than I could chew. It didn’t start out that way. I intended to draw just the end of a long set of Quebec equivalents of New York brownstones. These are covered with gables, towers, etc. and are quite stunning. They’re also quite complicated. Very quickly, though I let my eyes grow big while my time stayed the same and the result was that very soon I was scribbling my way to depicting half of the entire complex, something that should have taken twice the time and been done in a much larger format. My little 4×6 book just wouldn’t hold it all. Here it is, serving as a lesson – when you decide the scope of a drawing, stick to it.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), DeAtramentis Document brn/blk, Daniel Smith watercolors
As it turned out, I had more time than I thought. It has been forever since I’ve sketched outdoors with our little group and getting back into the swing of things is harder than it should be and my timing is off. Anyways, I started drawing a small subject, figuring I could get it done before everyone wanted to head off for lunch. In spite of its simplicity, I really like this one. Hope you do too. In any case, summer is here and I hope it will be a good one.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), DeAtramentis Document brn/blk, Daniel Smith watercolors
We’re finally experiencing outdoor temperatures. Normally this would mean that I’d be wandering the streets every day, drawing my old-man heart out. That behavior has been derailed by my bad knee. Just this morning I started out with the idea of taking the bus downtown to sketch, but I quickly realized that, today, my knee wasn’t going to allow that to happen. So, instead, I’m writing this blog post and thinking that maybe I’ll sketch a pepper plant we bought last weekend.
Last week I got to go to our Musee de la civilisation to see the new Curiosities du monde naturelle. This exhibit is reminiscent of the old natural history museums, before all the fancy displays and such intruded on a simpler time when museum managers thought people were more interested in seeing actual items than they were pictures and videos of them.
Our museum seems to have a new to this. They put everything in the dark. I’m not sure what that’s about but we have to draw with a light on our paper and half the items are too hard to see to draw at all. This is supposed to be good? We have two exhibits that are like that currently and it seems to be a trend. Anyone else seeing this in their museums?
Part of this exhibit is the head of a young giraffe and I decided to draw it. Where I had to sit was too close and I was looking upward at the head such that I couldn’t see things like its left ear so the sketch is a bit odd. Still, I had fun finally being out sketching and I enjoyed drawing this guy, or girl.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), DeAtramentis Document brn/blk, Platinum 3776
I’m an old man and part of being an old man is that my daughter is now a grown, confident woman who is off beating law school into submission. I’m extremely proud of her and because of her age and maturity we now have conversations to solve the world’s problems and maybe a few of our own. That’s pretty neat.
But there is a part of being an old man that causes me to miss the days when she would giggle as I’d bounce her on my knee or carry her on my shoulders. Back then drawing meant scribbling with crayons and she was far better at it than me. That was also a time when we shared a common interest in stuffed animals. She was my excuse to buy them and she loved every one. The result is that we now have a literal mountain of them, each with memories attached to them.
I’ve started drawing some of them because, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it rains here all the time so I need stuff to draw indoors and I’m tired of tomatoes. But what really drives me with this project is that as I draw these puddles of fluff and fur, memories of those early days fill me with joy. Here’s one I did of a little poupée (doll), one of many in the collection. For some reason she lacks a nose or mouth and I saw no reason to add them.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), DeAtramentis Document brown/black
Yesterday was Memorial Day in the US and all day I heard the US press saying that this day, unofficially, marks the beginning of summer. Here in Quebec City we had a frost advisory and the trees are just now deciding that they might as well put out their leaves. It’s sunny today and feels very much like spring. So, is it summer or spring? Weather this year has been hard to take for many parts of North America. I’m hoping we have a really long summer, or is it still spring?
In any case, the squirrels are out and about and I even saw a bumble bee this morning. In honor of this change of weather, I drew a squirrel with a smile on his face. Like me, he’s happy that things are warming up.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), DeAtramentis Document Brn/blk