Most people who know my sketches know that I like fire hydrants. Their variety is simply amazing. This little guy was in the middle of a large park in Quebec City. You’ll notice the sign that sits on an 8-foot high pole. It indicates the existence of the hydrant. They all get covered with snow here and the signs let people know where they are. For me, they will forever be fun to draw.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6), Pilot Prera, Noodler’s Lexington Gray
Last weekend I went for a leisurely walk along my river. There are those, of course, who would point out that I don’t own the river, but I always call it ‘my river.’ Actually it’s the Riviere St. Charles, which is the backbone of a very long, unevenly developed park that runs through Quebec City. I’m just lucky enough to live within a five minute walk of ‘my river’ and I spend a lot of time walking along it.
When I got to my river on Sunday I found a lot of other people using it. Seems I was in the midst of the St. Charles River Walk as there were lots and lots of people, each sporting a number pinned to their stomachs, who were participating in the event.
As I walked I realized that the end point for the walk was in a park that’s just south of the bridge near my house so I headed there, figuing there might be something fun to sketch. I grabbed a bench and did the sketch you see here.
I tried something new, for me. I made a few organizational marks with pencil and then started adding blotches of color. Ink lines came later. I felt like a fish out of water as my watercolor abilities are very limited, but it was still fun.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6), TWSBI Mini, Platinum Carbon Black
Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6), TWSBI Mini, Platinum Carbon Black
The Quebec provincial parliament building is huge. The front of the building is actually the narrow side of the building and yet it’s a couple blocks long. When it gets a bit warmer I hope to find a view where I can capture the entire face of the building.
On Tuesday, though, the temperature was border line so I decided just to draw the main tower over the entrance. Even so, by the time I’d finished the ink sketch I’d cooled down enough that I felt the need to move so I quickly dashed on some color when I got home. It was good to see the sun while sketching. It’s been a long time coming.
I bought a sheet of Arches hot-press watercolor paper and wanted to see how it responded to my pens and watercolors. I cut a small section from the sheet (4×6) and got out a Pilot Prera.
Thinking I would let Google give me inspiration I searched for, and found, a bunch of small houses. One of them reminded me of the many houses Anita Davies has drawn (https://www.flickr.com/photos/anitadavies/) and I love her clean, simple, approach to her architectural sketches. I decided I’d try to do one in her style. Apologies to Anita as I didn’t come close to her standards and probably missed her style. But it was fun and I found working on the hot-press paper to be lots of fun.
I was heading downtown the other day, marching along ice-covered sidewalks and hopping over occasional mounds of snow when it occurred to me – it was pretty “warm.”
Now you’ve got to understand what the word means in early March in Quebec City. It means I was walking briskly, wearing a sweater over a long-sleeve shirt and with a heavy coat on top of that. It was “warm.” The temperature had risen all the way to -5C (22F).
And possibly a result of my being a street sketcher harboring a desperation brought on by a long winter, I made a decision. Rather than go to the coffee shop, or to the library, as I was planning, I would head to Place D’Youville (a central location inside our old, walled city) and sketch something OUTDOORS!!!
And it all started great. When I arrived there were a bunch of ice skaters waiting for the Zamboni to clean off the ice rink. I took a position among them on one of the benchs, got out my Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6) and my Hero 578. I wasn’t completely delusional about the definition of “warm” so I decided this would be a sketch done quickly.
By the time I got to thinking about adding some details, the notion of “warm” had long since disappeared, as had my ability to feel the pen in my hands. My brain had shifted from “get it right” to “get it done” and I was quickly bringing the sketch to a close. I packed up and headed for the McDonalds on St. Jean Street.
After huddling over a cup of coffee for warmth, I decided to add some color and got the bright idea to “boldly go where Larry had not gone before” and play with mixing color on the paper and I capped this off with a bit of splatter. While I had no idea what I was doing, there was a serendipity about the process that was fun.
Because McDonalds was very busy, they’d opened up their third-floor eating area so I headed there, hoping to get a different look at the rooftops. Unfortunately, there were big posters covering most of the windows so the view was limited. But, by ducking down and shifting forward a bit, I could see under an ad for something called a McWrap and I could see the steeple of a small church next to the downtown hospital (founded in 1639). It stuck up behind a pile of metal thingies on top of the building in front of it. Same sketchbook here but I used my Pilot Prera on this one.
While it wasn’t as “warm” as I thought, it was a great day and, as they say, I broke the ice on 2014 outdoor sketching… almost literally.