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.

Downtown Sketching Event

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Larry Marshall

There is a series of outdoor sketching events, in Quebec City, this year. Time will tell how organized, or not, they are but Yvan and I attended on a week ago.

We were to meet downtown in a small park near the Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City’s challenge to Hogwarts. It’s a grand hotel and there’s a huge fountain in the park next to it.

While waiting to meet up with Yvan to walk downtown, I did this little sketch of a branch that caught my eye. It doesn’t take much to get my pen moving.

When we arrived there were four other sketchers there and we all scattered about and got busy sketching. Yvan and I took advantage of the fact that they’d been working on the fountain and it was dry. We climbed into the fountain, sat on its perimeter and started sketching some of the fountain details.

We broke for a quick lunch and then it was back to sketching. I love this large steeple and so it became my target. About half an hour into the sketch it started to rain so we hot-footed it to the Subway a block away. We got lucky and got a seat by the window and we drank coffee and sketched through the window. There was a bike race going on and the rain didn’t stop it so we had plenty to sketch. I’ll spare you my quick sketches from that session as they’re particularly bad.

Once the rain stopped, though, we returned to finish our sketches. Here’s the steeple. Done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7) using a TWSBI Mini and Platinum Carbon Black.

It was a great day, though I remember being particularly tired at the end of it.

When A Sketcher Sees Red

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I have a bottle f J. Herbin 1670, a dark red that’s not waterproof. I’m not exactly sure what to do with it but I decided that I should experiment with using it for sketching. I loaded up my Wahl-Eversharp Symphony with the ink and while watching baseball I doodled a bit, creating this page in a Strathmore ‘toned gray’ sketchbook. Wish the paper was better but for pen-only work it’s not bad.

I’ve been playing around with this color as a street sketching color and I’m not sure how well that will work out but I sketched this window and lamp as sort of a test. Same Strathmore gray paper.

While riding the ferry to another event I did this small sketch of one of those tie-off thingies (sorry for my use of technical terms). For some things I can see this color being fun to play with but I won’t be giving up my bottle of Lexington Gray anytime soon.

The Summer Rush To Sketch

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I waited so long for it to come. Now summer is here and I’ve been sketching up a storm. I’ve also forgotten to post anything on my blog so consider this a catch-up post.

I do some sketching on buses, though I find them too bumpy and bouncy for my untrained eye and hand. Still, here’s one of the many sketches I’ve done of seated passengers. I do these in a small, cheap sketchbook I buy at the dollar store.

I love boats and our marina is, once again, full of boats. Most are sailboats but this one is one of my favorites. This one was done in an S&B Alpha (10×7) with a TWSBI Mini and Platinum Carbon Black ink.

I was at my mother-in-law’s 3rd floor apartment for dinner one night and after dinner I went out on the balcony and got this birds-eye view of a tall church steeple. This church is going to be turned into an indoor skateboard place this fall. S&B Alpha (4×6) with TWSBI Mini/Platinum Carbon Black.

This is a paper mill that’s near the old port area in Quebec City. It’s been the center of brisk debate where one day it was going to close and the next it wasn’t. So far it’s stayed open and they seem to be doing well.

Those are a few of the sketches I’ve done recently. I’ll try to remember to post some more but heck, it’s summer. Around here, when the sun’s out, you go out cuz it doesn’t happen all that often.

Holiday Weekend Sketching

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Last Friday was a crazy day, with trying to fit X hours of work into fewer than X hours of available time. But I was desperate enough to get it done cuz Saturday was the beginning of three days of good weather and SKETCHING!!!!

Saturday I hopped a bus for the other side of town as I’d convinced my buddy Yvan that we ‘needed’ to sketch Maison Gomin. This is a castle-like building that used to be a woman’s prison. It’s now a funeral/crematorium place that drips money inside. Seems there’s a lot of money in dead people. Anyway, this sketch represents one end of the building. The dragon sits on top of the other end, guarding the princess. It was done in my Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7) sketchbook. I used a TWSBI Mini and Platinum Carbon Black.

Sunday morning Yvan and I headed the the north part of the city and we sketched an old mill (17th Century) built and operated by Jesuits. It’s now a historical landmark.

It was done in the same sketchbook with the same pen. It suffers a bit from a change of heart on my part. When I laid out the sketch I thought I’d let the end of the smaller building run off the page to the right. But later I decided I wanted the end of it in the sketch and thought I could do that by simply shortening it. I did that but the proportions of the building made it look odd, but then most of my sketches are odd so I guess it fits.

As we were packing up I decided to do this quick sketch of a sundial which is unlike any I’d seen before. It’s a tiny sketch, done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6). I used Lexington Gray in a Noodler’s Creaper to draw it. Color was quickly applied by waterbrushes filled with very, very dilute ink.

Monday I was going to stay home and work but I got the itch to sketch some more and so I wandered downtown. I realized that I had never sketched the Musee de la Civilisation, where I spent the winter sketching. So I took the opportunity and did this sketch of the left end of the museum complex. Back to the S&B Alpha (10×7) for this one and the TWSBI Mini, though I switched to Noodler’s Lexington Gray for ink. I prefer the dark gray lines to the stark black of Platinum Carbon Black.

All and all, it was a great weekend, with good weather, good company, and a great time sketching. I’m still thinking about it as this week it’s been raining almost constantly 🙁