Wedded Sketching Bliss

Posted on August 28, 2015 by Larry Marshall

My wife and I have been together for nearly 30 years and married for 28 of them. There have been a lot of potholes on our road through life but I can count on one hand the number of big arguments we’ve had. It’s uncanny as I’m impossible to live with – at least I couldn’t do it.

But last week we went sketching together. It’s not the first time but it hasn’t been a regular event either. We put together picnic food and headed to the Plains of Abraham to sit in the shade and enjoy a perfect day. It was a glorious day.

Stillman & Birn Beta (10x7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

I drew a tree. It’s clear that I need more experience sketching trees. Still, it was fun and my wife was drawing a tree while sitting right next to me. Life was sweet.

Then it was lunch time and we chatted, watched squirrels and talked about sketching. What more could a guy want in life? Besides, the cheese and baguette were great.

We only had 25 minutes left on our parking time (grrr…grumble), so we decided to do another sketch. I wandered around a bit while she sat down to draw. I decided on this scene and rushed it a bit to fit it into the time frame and think I might return with more time and bigger sketchbook. This was done in a 3×5 Moleskine watercolor book.

Standing On The Corner…

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Larry Marshall

Standing on the corner…
…watching all the girls go by. — Four Lads

I’m old enough to remember a time before rock-n-roll. It was an era between big band music and Elvis Presley, where pop music came either from crooners or quartets of men or women. Lyrics were silly, but happy. Melodies simple and memorable. When I was a kid there was a song, Standing on the Corner, whose melody caught the attention of this kid. I must have been six or seven.

As an old sketcher I was standing on a corner and I suppose there were girls walking by, but what I noticed was the light pole and the block wall next to it. In the background and up the street a bit is where Rene Levesque lived, undoubtedly the best known and most beloved of Quebec’s Premiers. I did this quick drawing of the scene.

Sitting In The Morning Sun…

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Larry Marshall

“I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time” – Otis Redding

I had to meet some people in front of the Notre Dame cathedral and there’s a tiny park in front of it, which is where I was, with some time to kill.

Since becoming a sketcher I rarely ‘kill time.’ These interludes between the activities of life are sketching opportunities for me, whether it be waiting in a doctor’s office or waiting for a friend to show up.

And there I was, on a sunny morning, sitting on a bench, with a book statue looking down on me. What’s a guy to do. I got out my Moleskine watercolor book. I hadn’t used it in a long time for some reason but it seemed just right for this little sketch.

Moleskine watercolor book (3x5), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

Moleskine watercolor book (3×5), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

I Don’t Do Portraits

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Larry Marshall

Oops…I guess I do.

One thing the art world has taught me is that I don’t have the “people are interesting to look at” gene. While everyone else attends life drawing classes and draws portrait after portrait, I prefer to draw fire hydrants, buildings and telephone poles. I don’t know why but if I were to rank sketching subjects, people would be at the bottom of my list.

BUT, sketching a person walking by a fire hydrant, that’s an interesting idea and so I spend a fair amount of time doing quick, loose sketches of people.

Yet another BUT is that I’ve come to realize that being able to draw a likeness can get you into places. My buddy, Yvan, is always drawing people and because of it people in groups immediately understand him and what he does. It’s harder to comprehend a fire hydrant sketcher.

Also, to me, there are several “core” skills that make up drawing. These are 1) the ability to measure/estimate angles and proportions, 2) achieve accuracy of line and form, and 3) mastery over whatever materials you’re using. I’ve spent the last 3 1/2 years, starting out trying to draw cubes, with a rather myopic “gotta learn those things” approach. I’m getting so that my ability to assess angles and proportions is becoming a feature, not a liability in my sketching, and I’m ok with pushing my fountain pen around (watercolor is another matter).

Canson Mi-Teintes (5x7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black - This is tough with pen but I barely know which end of a pencil to put to paper.

Canson Mi-Teintes (5×7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black – This is tough with pen but I barely know which end of a pencil to put to paper.

It seems, however, that fire hydrant drawing can only take you so far when trying to learn form and accuracy and so I’ve spent a lot of time in museums, drawing all sorts of stuff that I would never “choose” to draw, all in the name of improving my accuracy, ability to see half-tones, and the rest. I figure I only have another 40-50 years of doing it and I’ll have it figured out. By the age of 115, I might be able to call myself “artist.”

All of that is to say that I’m even drawing portraits… kinda. I head to a local park every Thursday night, where a small group sits on the porch of a small chapel and we sketch one another, during 20-minute poses. I’ve never mentioned it before because… well, I’m pretty bad at it. I thought, however, I would share a couple of the sketches I’ve done recently, just to change things up here just a bit. It’s ok to laugh.

Canson Mi-Teintes (5x7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black - I'm really lost when it comes to hatching really light shades that are the form of the face.

Canson Mi-Teintes (5×7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black – I’m really lost when it comes to hatching really light shades that are the form of the face.

Sketching At Hotel-Dieu In Quebec City

Posted on August 11, 2015 by Larry Marshall

Everyone comes to Quebec City to see the “old city”, the portion of the city that has a wall around it. It’s a UNESCO Heritage site and the architecture dates from the 16th Century to the present, though “present” is held back by significant building codes to retain this special place.

I live in the old city. Not literally, but I spend so much time walking and sketching there that I claim it as a residence. And last week, Louise arranged to sketch a statue that is inside the grounds of Hotel-Dieu, a hospital in the old city, so I tagged along with her, Claudette and Yvan.

Hotel-Dieu, a hospital with a reseach program associated with it, was founded in 1637. I can only imagine what it looked like back in 1637 but since that time it has grown in patchwork fashion and is now represented by a hodge-podge of buildings – new and old. You can see evidence of this when you enter some of its more modern portions only to see that they partially encompass old, stone construction in places.

But we were there to sketch a statue and it resided in a courtyard-like area that, itself, was the roof of an underground facility of some kind. The statue, to me, was a disappointment and so I decided to sketch what is now an entrance to a larger building. I’m not sure what it was originally as you pass through it, come out the other side, and then enter the large building from a small courtyard. But it’s got a very odd shape and worthy of a sketch or three.

Stillman & Birn Beta (9×12), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

When others had finished up their statue sketching, we headed for a small park near the Hotel Frontenac, the “trademark” of Quebec City tourism. We were there to sketch the statue on top of a large fountain in the park. I’d done that before and wasn’t in the mood so I got out my toned paper ‘moustache’ book and started looking for targets. Here are a couple of those sketches.

Everyone was nearing the end of their sketches and I only had a few minutes left so I just started drawing pieces of the fountain, which sort of spread across the paper like ooze from an oil spill. The fountain is truly a complex affair and I only captured a small portion of it but there’s limited space in a 4×6 format (grin). Like all sketching days, this was a good one.