I was walking back from the museum and found this guy, sitting in the park, looking out at the river. I could almost see what he was thinking. All of us who live in Quebec City are thinking it. Note his heavy coat. Note the lack of vegetation of any kind. This is nearly mid-May and while Quebec City is known for its cold, this is getting ridiculous (grin).
Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6), TWSBI Mini, Noodler’s Lexington Gray
If you’re at our Museé de la Civilisation they most certainly are with you, or at least their stone faces are everywhere. Weather predictions suggest we’re in for a week of rain. The proverbial “April showers bring May flowers” are running late, like everything this spring. I hope we get those flowers before it starts snowing again (grin).
I’m spending my mornings drawing up a storm, trying to figure out how to use pencils. Great learning experience with lots of fun and some frustration. This drawing is, I guess, a generic ‘god’ as he bears no name. I’d sure like to know more about how sculpters worked. There are stylistic similarities and differences that suggest many artists but all working to a common set of guidelines and goals. The exhibition is a spectacular place to work on one’s ability to see half-tones, mentally follow complex hair and beard patterns, and generally to be able to sort out the proportional demands of these subjects. I’m not quite up to these tasks but it’s fun to try. This drawing was done on Strathmore ‘vellum’ bristol paper. I tried Faber-Castell 9000 series pencils on this one but I’m far to ignorant of pencils to actually see a difference between these and my Staedtler pencils.
One of the things I’ve always wondered about are the small ice cream places that exist in Quebec City. We have a fairly short summer and most of them simply close up in the fall and sit idle all winter. Things must be moving slowly for them this spring as we haven’t had much ice cream weather thus far. But the stores persist, in spite of the short selling season. I wonder how.
This is one of the cutest. It’s on chemin St. Louis in the old city and is very inviting, or it will be when it warms up a bit more. Done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6) with a Hero 9296 pen and Lex Gray ink. New pen for me but so far I like it. I always like new pens.
Seems there have been a few additions to my city since I roamed it last fall. I came across this one and had to sketch it. Nothing says ‘urban sketching’ like a concrete ping-pong table. The net is made of a thick, hard plastic and the playing surface is black concrete. Nothing to break, nothing to set up. You just show up and play.
Drawing in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6) sketchbook with a TWSBI Mini and Platinum Carbon Black ink. Still a bit cool for watercolors on the street so these were done at home.
It’s amazing! As I headed for the museum I couldn’t believe it. Spring had really sprung. The sun was out. It wasn’t windy. And it was warm. Well, maybe not warm by normal standards. It was 47F, but compared to what we’ve been experienced it was warm.
I’d told Yvan that I’d meet him at the museum but I couldn’t resist stopping in the park in front of the train station to draw a cool kiosk that resides there. I was about 20 minutes late to the museum but it was worth it. It felt sooooooo good to be sketching outdoors.
Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook (9×6), Pilot Prera, Lexington Gray
I spent about an hour sketching at the museum and decided that I “needed” to get back outside to enjoy the sunshine. I was almost giddy as I walked the town, looking for things to sketch. But I didn’t want to stop to draw. I was having too much fun wandering, taking inventory of my city, making a mental list of things I want to sketch. In the end, I only did a couple really quick sketches but I walked nearly nine kilometers. It was sooooo fun, but I was beat by the end of the day. It’s gonna be a fun summer.