Sometimes my sketches don’t work out.  Yvan and I headed to the south shore of the St. Lawrence to sit in the new ferry terminal and sketch the Quebec City skyline on the north shore of the river.

The view is great but the buildings are small from that distance.  On a clear day the morning sun provides sufficient contrast to allow one to make out the building relationships but on this morning, Mr. Sun was sleeping in and the buildings sort of blended into one another.  We tried to sketch and while Yvan was successful (he always is), I struggled with a couple false starts and I never did get a decent sketch done.  This was the best I could muster.

Platinum 3776, DeAtramentis Document Black

The results may suggest that this wasn’t a great sketching day, but exactly the opposite was the case.  Yvan and I went downstairs and got coffee at the newly opened Tim Hortons.  I did a small sketch out the window but the real fun was that we got out some watercolor paper and started discussing color, mixing and matching.  I’m sure this is how kids feel when they finger paint but, of course, we were very adult about it and we had a lot of fun.

small 4×6 sketch – Platinum 3776, DeAtramentis Document Black

As we played with my paints, we talked about drawing, my favorite subject.  Yvan is a veritable fountain of drawing knowledge and I’m finally experienced enough to understand what he’s telling me most of the time.  His mentorship is priceless.  It was a spectacular sketching day.  Tomorrow we’re headed back to the museum.  I love it that I have to maintain a calendar of my sketching sessions.