Category Archives: Sketching

Sketching Pirates and Assasins

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For some, drawing people is seen as the pinnacle of art.  Not for me.  I like doing portraits, as long as they’re portraits of buildings.  I like clothes on people and find capturing all the folds and pleats to be a near impossible task given my limited drawing abilities.  But, it’s winter, and there are more people inside buildings than buildings inside buildings and if I’m going to have to draw from photos, why not something I don’t normally draw?

Stillman & Birn Alpha (10x7), Pilot Prera, Lexington Gray

Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7), Pilot Prera, Lexington Gray

And so it is…winter, and I’ve decided to draw a few more people than normal.  I decided to draw this pirate from a book.  He was fun and ample proof that I still have much to learn about pen and ink, particularly shading with ink.

I went to the Musée de la Civilisation on Friday and met up with Yvan and Claudette.  I decided to draw “Connor”, the protagonist in the 3rd Assassin’s Creed video game.  The museum has a life-size statue of him at the entrance to a video game history exhibit.  As he has a great costume, I may have to sketch him at least once more.  I might even do him in color as his tunic is tan but his coat is Revolutionary War blue, and he’s got leather chaps and a red belt with gold trim.  Video game designers have good tastes in clothes, if nothing else.

Stillman & Birn Zeta (6x9), Pilot Prera, Lexington Gray

Stillman & Birn Zeta (6×9), Pilot Prera, Lexington Gray

A Bit Of Christmas Sketching

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It seems that some sketchers become very active during holidays and get togethers.  I seem to be just the opposite and when a holiday rolls around, I find it hard to find either time or inclination to sketch.

That’s not to say I don’t sketch at all.  During the two days around the Christmas holiday, I did four sketches but for me, that’s a lull.  I thought I’d share a couple of them with you.  They’re nothing special but they reflect the laid back way my family celebrates.

Books are a big part of our gift-giving as we all love them.  The result of this, of course, is that we spend time on Christmas day listening to music and reading.  Within the limits of my very limited sketching ability this is what my daughter looks like when she’s curled up at the end of the sofa, big comforter wrapped around her and her face in a book.  I don’t think her nose is really that long (grin).

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4x6), Pilot Prera

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), Pilot Prera

Christmas movies are a tradition too.  We watch them, ad nauseum, throughout the holiday season.  There’s Elf, Santa Clause, Santa Clause 2, Santa Clause 3, Miracle on 34th St (the old and the new), It’s a Wonderful Life, Heloise at Christmas… well you get the picture.   Here’s another picture.  It’s a sketch I did during one of those movies.  The real thing rests on top of our Christmas tree.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4x6), Pilot Prera, Lexington Gray

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), Pilot Prera, Lexington Gray

 In conclusion, I don’t think there could be a more laid-back Christmas than ours but we enjoy each other’s company and not having to go anywhere.  And, between all the eating of too much of too many things, I did a bit of sketching.  I hope you enjoyed your holiday as much as we did ours.

 

 

 

 

A Visit to Bugel – The Bagel Maker

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In my continuing quest to eat my way through Quebec City, sketching as I go, Claudette and I visited Bugel – Fabrique de Bagels, a small place that makes some of the best best bagels I’ve ever tasted.  Situated at 164 rue Cremazie, it is hidden from the main traffic corridors but the locals know it well.  Besides, there are a great used bookstore across the street that has a lot of art books I can’t afford, but looking is free.

It was a nice way to spend the morning, though we had to cut it a bit shorter than our normal sessions as had things to do before Christmas eve.  Claudette managed to sketch a bunch of the patrons, many of whom were running in to pick up orders and each time someone came through the door, we’d get a blast of Quebec air, which kept us quite alert.  This is the time of year where I conclude that I will be permanently ‘cold’ until sometime in June.

Here’s my sketch.  The funny thing on the side is the stained glass address that rests above the door.  You might be able to make out the 164 (backwards) but it was really a failed attempt on my part.  Too much of an afterthrought.  Hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4x6), Pilot Prera, Kuretake brush pen

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), Pilot Prera, Kuretake brush pen

 

A Merry “Sketcher” Christmas To All

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I thought about sketching the proverbial Santa Claus for this post but geez…that red suit and white beard are everywhere.  The world doesn’t need another.  But you can hardly imagine a case where there would be too many fire hydrant sketches in the world and this acts as a great stand-in for Mr. Claus, don’t you think?

2013-12-22Xmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

dd

Sketching At Paillard In Quebec City

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2013-10-10Gallerie_colorThe first restaurant I sketched was the new Paillard in one of the Quebec City Malls.  You can read about it in a post about the brown-paper sketchbook, if you like.  This one has few walls and I sketched it while standing outside the restaurant.

But there’s another Paillard that is more famous, if restaurant fame is measured by being part of tourist’s agenda items when they visit Quebec City.  logo-paillardThis one, the original Paillard, is in downtown Quebec City, the “old” city, on rue St. Jean.  This is not a really old cafe where poetry was read and music played in the 60s like Chez Temporel.  In fact, when I came to Quebec City long ago to do a post-doctoral fellowship, the location of Paillard was a grocery store ‘down the street’ from my apartment and I shopped there regularly.

But in the intervening years I moved away and Paillard took the place of the grocery store. It has become a ‘hot spot’ for tourists.  It’s a large, brightly-lit and roomy melange of a bakery and a café.  Their pastries are wonderful but the real star is their frothy coffee drinks, including one of my favorites, the bol de café au lait.  I’m mostly ignorant of differences between latte, cappuccino, and the other frothy drinks are but in the case of café au lait  I think it’s heaven.  While I normally drink my coffee black, I’ll break with tradition for a bol de café au lait.  It’s strong coffee with lots of frothy milk added to it and I add a bit of brown sugar to the mix.  But it’s the bol part of the equation that’s important…it comes in a soup bowl so you get a lot of it.

I’m rambling.  Sorry.  Claudette and I went to sketch Paillard the other day and we had a great time.  I got my bol de café au lait and a muffin.  She was less of a cochon (pig) and got a regular café au lait.  We were there early and pretty much had the place to ourselves.  There were a couple people sitting behind me and Claudette started sketching them.  With no people in my sight line I drew food and chairs and tables.  Ultimately I did quickly sketch a woman who was ordering something, maybe her own bol de café au lait .  Here is my tribute to Paillard.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4x6), TWSBI MIni, Platinum Carbon Black

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), TWSBI MIni, Platinum Carbon Black