Finally – Outdoor Sketching

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Larry Marshall

Quebec City + April 18, 2014 =

Larry FINALLY gets to sketch outdoors!!

It warmed up all the way to 44F on Friday and there was little wind. I found myself sitting in front of the Quebec Parliament building and while the sketching was quickly done, it felt GREAT to be outdoors while sketching.

I started by drawing the right spire of the parliament building itself. I followed this with a lamp post and then did the sketch of a large fountain featured in front of the building. Done on cheap brown paper, the Lexington Gray feathered a bit, even when using my fine nib Pilot Prera but I was having so much fun that it hardly mattered.

I was cooling down but I did a very quick sketch of the St. Louis Gate, through which rue St. Louis passes into the old city. By the time I finshed, the 44F temp had taken its toll and I needed to move. Nevertheless, I officially decree that the Quebec City outdoor season has begun. The fact that it’s too cold to sketch outdoors today is irrelevant.

Sketching Brownian Movement

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Larry Marshall

Anyone who has taken a basic chemistry class has been taught about Brownian movement. Blame Robert Brown for that as he’s the guy who first saw small particles, suspended in a liquid, dancing around randomly, a result of many collisions with unseen and inumerable numbers of atoms that vibrate constantly. It took Al Einstein to explain what was going on but Bob saw it first. Timing is everything and Bob is forever famous for it.

So, what’s that got to do with sketching? Well, I went sketching today. I went to the mall because every Easter they have a bunch of cages with farm animals that thrill the kids to no end. I figured that sketching kids and animals would be a good idea. Little did I know.

This year they did things a little different. Instead of several cages and fenced areas, they had one fenced area. I’d guestimate it to be 15′ x 25′. They added to this area a dozen or so goats and sheep. They threw in a couple small pigs and a gorgeous Alpaca for variety. What a great opportunity for a sketcher.

But throw into this area a dozen or so little kids chasing the animals around, and the animals chasing the kids around. Add to this mix a bunch of parents, explaining to their kids that they wouldn’t be eaten and that instead, maybe they should try to feed the animals. And what do you get – Brownian movement. Everything within that fenced area was in constant motion. Maybe not random motion as the goats figured out pretty quickly which kids had food and were in chase of them. Everything was moving, except for the big parent-like entities that stood around, blocking the view. Not such a great opportunity for a sketcher.

Toned paper. Pilot Prera & Lex Gray ink.

And so it went today as I went to sketch animals. Instead, I drew these two animals, that were happy to move more slowly, content not to be chased or do any chasing. And when I finished I realized I’d never sketched this kind of trashcan before so I’ve added it to my collection of trashcan sketches. Not such a bad day afterall.

A Sketcher’s Audacity To Try

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Larry Marshall

With audacity one can undertake anything, but not do everything. – Napoleon Bonaparte

So there I was, a street sketcher, faced with a room full of plaster casts. No buildings to sketch. No cars. Not even a single fire hydrant to sketch. So, with all the audacity I could muster, I decided to draw Napoleon Bonaparte. And he was right; audacity did let me try. However, my limited skill limited my ability to do it. Such that it is, here is my pen and ink drawing of General Bonaparte, drawn about 10″ high using a couple Pilot Preras and Lexington Gray.

One thing that might interest to some is that I have diluted Lexington Gray about 50% with water and use this for most of the early ink work. I follow this up with normal strength Lex Gray. This approach seems to have some potential beyond my use of it as a quick-sketching approach.

Danny Gregory is also right. Sketching is all about the process, not the end result and I had a lot of fun doing this one.

Funky Sketcher Or Just In A Funk

Posted on April 13, 2014 by Larry Marshall

The last couple weeks have been tough on my psyche. My clock says its spring. I should be able to sit in the sun and sketch. But Mom Nature is still playing tricks on me and that has put a damper on my sketching enthusiasm.

Has this happened to you? I’ve managed to keep a pen in my hand, sketching in museums and at indoor ‘still life’ sessions, but it’s the tantalizing thought of sketching outdoors that has caused my funk. The temps get just warm enough that I think I can go out. I do and it doesn’t take a long time to realize that an extended, sit-down sketching sessions is just not possible because it’s not quite warm enough and it’s only the walking that is keeping me warm. If only I liked to sketch from photos.

Got on a bus at a turnaround point. Was the only one on the bus, so I sketched the area behind the driver. Pilot Prera.

Doesn’t everybody sketch earbuds? Pilot Prera.

So, my sketching has become a long series of small quick sketches, some done outdoors but often done while I’ve been bored by TV. Here are a few of those sketches. All of these were done in my cheap 3×5 notepad. Pen is noted. I guess I’m slowly starting to do a bit of sketching outdoors but ‘slowly’ and ‘bit’ are the operative words. Will it EVER warm up?

Just some doodles. Pilot Prera

A streetlamp in Place D’Youville. Pilot Prera.

A garbage scene. Color added before scan. Hero 578.

Got to a lunch appt. a few minutes early. One of the food court kiosks. Hero 578.

Mountain Equipment Co-op Seat-In-A-Sack

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Larry Marshall

All summer I wander the streets of Quebec City, carrying my messenger bag of sketching stuff. It’s what I do. I love it. But to wander for two to three hours with art supplies hanging from your shoulder causes me to be more than a little bit concerned about weight.

So, while my Walkstool is my normal butt-holder, and while it’s lighter than most tripod stools and provides me with a comfortable (most don’t) and stable (most aren’t) throne, I often leave it behind (bad pun intended) just to lighten the load.

When I’m without it I search for, and rarely find, park benches or other seating provided for the many tourists who are wandering with me. More often than not, however, I end up sitting on concrete steps, stone walls, or on the grass which is ok, but often hard in all senses of that word. It’s also the case that I have have an ongoing dispute with Mother Nature over these seating areas as she likes to dump her morning dew over everything and/or she rains on my parade route, leaving these seating areas, even those park benches, wet and uninviting.

So, it was with some excitement when my sketching buddy Yvan showed up with this gizmo. It’s sheer genius and made for sketchers like me. It’s got a simple valve that you use to blow it up, providing a ripstop nylon surface on the top and a rubberized, tough fabric on the bottom. What could be better?

I’ll tell you what! It’s a pad like this that ends up this small and that is easy to get back to this size. Unlike so many of these ‘see how small the bag is’ products, this bag could actually be smaller and still accommodate the seat so you don’t have to beat yourself up to get it back in its sack. Mountain Equipment Co-op, my butt thanks you.