Halloween door sketching

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Larry Marshall

A week or so ago I posted a sketch of a fancy door in Quebec City. A comment from a long-time friend, Pat Roberson, asking for more door sketches has resulted in this one.

A week ago I saw this door but I was on my way to St. Vallier to sketch with friends and so couldn’t sketch it. It’s not one of the old, classic Quebec City doors, but Pat is such a fan of Halloween, and apparently doors, that I just had to go back and sketch this aperture into the bright orange house with black trim. Hope you like it, Pat.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (9x6), Pilot Prera, Noodler's Lexington Gray

Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6), Pilot Prera, Noodler’s Lexington Gray

Quebec City’s Harbor Is Busy Again

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Larry Marshall

For the last couple weeks, all the pleasure boats that have spent the winter in their cocoons have been carried, one-by-one, down a ramp and plunked into Bassin Louise, the protected harbor for pleasure boats in Quebec City. There is a lock that allows boats to come and go in spite of the significant tides of the St. Lawrence River and just outside those locks is where all the tugboats are, that serve the larger ship traffic along the St. Lawrence and/or are loaded/unloaded in Quebec City.

I walked down to this area today and there was a spring (pun intended) in my step. I have to say it…I just have to. No way I can avoid it. It’s just got to come out. IT WAS WARM, WARM, WARM today. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt as I skipped along the St. Charles River. I was a happy sketcher. Did I mention that it’s finally WARM in Quebec City?

There was only one glitch in the day. I sat down to draw a small tugboat that I hadn’t seen before. Most of our tugs are what one might call ‘ocean tugs’ – really big, really powerful tugboats. This one was much smaller. It was cute. When I was a kid I had a book whose main character was L’il Toot. He was a brightly colored tugboat with big eyes on the front of his cabin. This tugboat reminded me of him. But when I opened my sketching bag I found that I’d forgotten to stuff my sketchbook into it. I did have a small Strathmore “Drawing” book, however, so I did this quick sketch of my tugboat as it poked its head above the harbor wall. Did I mention that it was WARM today? In spite of the lack of a real sketchbook, this was a great day.

Strathmore 4x6 "Drawing" book, Uniball Signo UM-151 pen

Strathmore 4×6 “Drawing” book, Uniball Signo UM-151 pen

Sketching Rocks In St. Vallier – Part 2

Posted on May 31, 2014 by Larry Marshall

Yesterday I talked about a day-long sketching session in St. Vallier with my buddies. I mentioned that I did a sketch in the afternoon but didn’t have time to apply color. I also promised that I would post it once I did add the color.

Here it is. This wall of rocks was piled up to support the hill behind it. Just behind the fence is the walking trail that we used to walk down onto the beach. It seemed like a fitting challenge since our goal was to practice drawing rocks. Hope you like it. I nearly went cross-eyed trying to do this.

Stillman & Birn Alpha 9x6 sketchbook, Pilot Prera, Noodler's Lexington Gray

Stillman & Birn Alpha 9×6 sketchbook, Pilot Prera, Noodler’s Lexington Gray

Sketching Rocks In St. Vallier

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Larry Marshall

Louise and Fernande

I’m a lucky guy to have friends like these. Plans for this sketching session in St. Vallier came from discussions between Claudette and Louise, who are best buddies. Louise hosted the event as she lives in St. Vallier, a beautiful village about half an hour from Quebec City. Plans were made. The weather checked. It was on the calendar.

When the day came we faced a very cool morning with very windy conditions. Undaunted, we piled into Claudette’s car and headed to St. Vallier, which is on the south coast of The St. Lawrence River as it opens up into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It’s always windy there so we were concerned that it might be too cold to sketch.

Claudette

Yvan

It was windy when we arrived, but sunny. As we walked to the rocky areas we were all bundled up as though we were invading the North Pole but the sun was out, our pens warmed up, and we were ready to draw rocks.

We found some parts of the coastline where we could be sheltered from the wind and it was quite pleasant. We sketched and chatted all morning and then climbed the hill back to Louise’s house for lunch. Homemade cream of mushroom soup, wine and sandwiches was an unexpected treat, served in a gorgeous solarium that doubles as Louise’s studio. Then, having eaten more than I should have, Louise brought out a strawberry upside-down cake. When we were finished I needed a siesta. Louise has agreed to adopt me.

Rocks at St. Vallier (Stillman & BIrn Alpha 9x6, Uniball UM-151,.38 pen

Rocks at St. Vallier
(Stillman & BIrn Alpha 9×6, Uniball UM-151,.38 pen

But there is no rest for the sketcher. We headed back down the hill for a shorter, but fun sketching session. It had warmed up so, out of the wind, I could actually unzip one of the two jackets I was wearing. I did one drawing during this session but didn’t get a chance to add color. I’ll do that and post it later. Thanks to all, and especially Louise for her hospitality. Life is sweet.

Louise, our host. She was sitting next to a storm wall, drawing trees that rose above it. (Stillman & BIrn Alpha 9x6, Uniball UM-151, .38 pen

Louise, our host. She was sitting next to a storm wall, drawing trees that rose above it. (Stillman & BIrn Alpha 9×6, Uniball UM-151, .38 pen

T-shirt Sketching

Posted on May 27, 2014 by Larry Marshall

I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. Everyday is t-shirt day in Phoenix. But I now live in Quebec City and May 26th was the first day this year that I could go walking in jeans and a t-shirt, my typical street-sketcher garb.

It was glorious and as I headed out for a long walk and sketching session I had high hopes that I’d get a lot of sketching done. That didn’t happen. Some sort of Forrest Gump think happened and I just kept walking…and walking…and walking. It was so much fun that the thought of sitting down to sketch never occurred to me. I covered 7.5 kilometers on my walk and enjoyed every step.

I did come across a new sort of streetlamp in Vanier and I did sit down and sketch it. I used a Pilot Prera, Noodler’s Lexington Gray and moved the pointy end around in my Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6) sketchbook. Then I walked some more. It’s been a long time coming but real spring is finally here.