Many people are afraid of clowns for some reason. They might be scared to death if they walk down rue St. Paul in the old port area of Quebec City because, between two buildings there is a humongous inflatable clown head scrunged between the two walls. I think it’s cute but it could also be scary, depending upon your point of view. I had to draw it.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), DeAtramentis Document Black, Wing Sung 8009, Platinum brush pen
My wife is a gardener and she loves to visit garden centers. She was doing just that a couple weeks ago and they were having a big sale. She came home with a car full of plants and a plaster garden cow that, to me, looks like a sheep with horns. I think it’s the stone fur that does it. In any case, it’s cute as can be so I drew it.
Stillman & Birn Beta (8×10 softcover), Platinum Carbon Black, Platinum Plaisir
I was sitting in the park in front of our train station, just enjoying the light water spray from the fountain there. It was a beautiful day and I’d been out doing my walking exercise.
I love the train station and have drawn it several times but never from this angle through the trees. As it turns out I drew it a bit wider than it actually is but she’s still a stately building even if I gave her a bit more weight.
The Artistes dans les parcs provided a unique opportunity to sketch at La Foyer de Charite Notre Dame (I think I have that right). Anyways, it’s a huge estate, built on a hill overlooking the St. Lawrence River. It was built by the guy who started the Bank of Montreal.
It’s a gorgeous place with lots to draw but the hilly terrain didn’t make my bad knee very happy. I was so happy to be out sketching, though, that it didn’t really matter.
Here’s a sketch of my buddy Yvan sketching a fountain. I’ve started using the Moleskine watercolor book I mentioned recently and I really don’t like the paper. The colors just all look dull to me when compared to the same paint on my S&B sketchbooks.
After lunch we were up high on the hill. My knee didn’t want to move, so I decided to draw the coastline I could see when I looked over the cliff. The tide was out and I was faced with this scene.
I did a few other, tiny sketches but otherwise I just sat on the porch and enjoyed the view. What a wonderful day. Now, what do you do with an expensive sketchbook you REALLY don’t like?
I go to our new Grande Marché almost every day. Part of the reason is that I’m trying hard to walk as much as possible to rebuild strength in my bad leg. But the other reason is that there’s just something soothing about seeing all the local farmer produce on display. I can’t really explain why that is so and the hectic nature of lots of people running around buying stuff would argue against it, but it makes me happy for some reason.
The other day I drew the corner of a really large, classic building that used to be the Science & Technology building on the fairgrounds on which the Grande Marché sits (it used to be the Agriculture building). Anyways, I just love the corners of this building. This was a quick and small sketch. Some day I’ll have to do a larger one.
