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.

Biding My Time Til Spring

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Larry Marshall

Tomorrow is April Fool’s Day but Quebec City is still waiting for spring. It is the case that Mother Nature gave us clear skies today but, like my attitude toward politicians, I’ve taken a ‘fool me once…’ point of view of Ma-dam Nature.

And so as I wait for her to stop playing with my sensibilities, I’ve look for places and things to draw. I’m not much of a people sketcher as they just don’t interest me very much but what’cha gonna do when the snow is falling and the temps are below freezing. I quick-sketch people. It’s fun but the results somewhat embarrassing (grin).

Here’s a couple sketches from a recital I attended recently. They were done in a Strathmore ‘toned gray’ sketchbook with a Pilot Prera. If there’s shading it was done with waterbrushes with a few drops of ink added to them.

The larger one was an attempt to capture audience and musician but time ran out and the cellist walked away before I was done so he and the cello remain unfinished. Such is life of a real-time sketcher.

I include this tiny sketch because I thought it funny. Not sure what I was thinking. Well, actually I do. These legs were attached to a trombone player and between her being short, the woman sitting in front of me being tall and her music stand, these legs were my only connection to the “action”, seen between two member of the audience.

A couple days later we were invited to a read-thru rehearsal for a play by the Quebec Art Company. Yvan does the marketing posters for them. I found this a near-impossible challenge as the actors were moving around on stage almost constantly and my people art ‘vocabulary’ is insufficient to draw people who are changing their positions every few seconds. I took advantage of one guy who was supposed to be dead (spoiler alert – he wasn’t) and drew him but, as you can see, I resorted to drawing some of the props. I did a fantastic chair but I won’t bore you with chair and sofa drawings (grin). These were done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7) using Pilot Prera and Lexington Gray.

All in all, it’s all good. The more I move pointy devices across paper, the better I get at it. Working at different speeds is like cross-training and all speeds seem to benefit. Still, I’m hoping spring comes “real soon.”

Mo Music, S’il Vous Plait!

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Larry Marshall

We’re back in the deep freeze here in Quebec. Will it never end? But we’re also in the middle of recital season, a time when the students at Conservatoire de Musique give recitals and what a joy they are to attend. Today it was pianists…amazing pianists. Marie Robitaille, Sophie Doyon, Brigitte Legendre, Bruce Gaulin-Boilard, Manuella Gagnon, Corolane Tremblay, and Ariane Filion-Thériault each graced us with their musical prowess.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4x6); Pilot Prera, Noodler's Lexington Gray ink

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6); Pilot Prera, Noodler’s Lexington Gray ink

And while they did, Yvan and I sketched, though I have to admit that at times I just stopped, listened and watched magical hands on keys. But here are a couple sketches I did during the nearly two hours of music. Thanks to the Conservatoire, the students, and Suzanne Beaubien-Lowe (their teacher) for making a very cold day seem just a little bit warmer.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6); Pilot Prera, Noodler’s Lexington Gray ink

If Only I Had Time To Sketch…

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Larry Marshall

If you sketch in the presence of others you’ll hear it. It comes in many forms but, if you get down to the bone of what’s being said it’s “If only I had time to sketch like you do” and it’s said as though my daily 24-hour time allotment is longer than their 24-hour allotment. Or maybe they’re really talking to themselves, excusing themselves in some twisted way.

I’m not sure what it is but I never know what to say. The truth is, we all have the same amount of time per day. Yes, some have to work more hours than others. Some have kids. Some are in school. In spite of this, the average American, it is said, manages to watch four to five hours of television every day. Facebook and Twitter traffic suggest that the hours spent in front of computer aren’t insignificant either. Sooo…..whether you believe it or not, discretionary time is something we ALL have available to us. It’s how you spend it that determines whether you do or do not have time for sketching.

The truth is, it doesn’t take much time to be a sketcher. It’s true that I do spend time with sketching friends and that I often wandering the streets, enjoying extended sketching sessions on occasion. But I’ve been “very busy” for the last few days and so haven’t done any “serious” sketching. In spite of that, I have sketched and I’ve had fun sketching. I thought I’d show you a few of the smallish sketches I’ve done, providing a bit of context in an attempt to demonstrate just how easy it is to include sketching in your day.

Done in Stillman & Birn Alpha (4x6), Hero 9018 and Diamine Chocolate Brown ink

Done in Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), Hero 9018 and Diamine Chocolate Brown ink

The single thing that is required to be a sketcher is to be READY to sketch, which means you have paper and pointy device with you at all times. If my sketching were limited to finding special blocks of time to set up my art materials, I wouldn’t do 2/3 of the sketches I do. As the Boy Scout motto says, “Be Prepared.” It’s also important to think about enjoying the process of drawing, not creating great art. Sketching is about the fun – about the doing – or it should be. If you’ve got to find that ‘perfect’ scene, you’ll never sketch.

Here’s a sketch I did while I was at the library. It took only a few minutes. Libraries are target-rich environments and one of the few places where humans sit still for a while.

3×5 cheap notebook, Pitt brush pen

I stopped by the art store and picked up some Pitt brush pens, followed by a stop for coffee. It seemed as good a time as any to try out one of the new pens. This rooftop sketch was done in my el cheapo ($1.25 at the dollar store) notebook between sips of coffee and increased the enjoyment of that pause in the day.

Canson Ingres paper (3x5); Pilot 78G, Platinum Carbon Sepia & a bit of Lex Gray added with a Pilot Prera

Canson Ingres paper (3×5); Pilot 78G, Platinum Carbon Sepia & a bit of Lex Gray added with a Pilot Prera

I’d been at the art museum and if you look out their front window you see a monument to General Wolfe, the guy who died winning the battle for Quebec City back in 1759. Behind it is a street lined with buildings.

That night, I was watching American Idol with Chantal and I was bored, so I picked up a pen and a 3×5 piece of Canson Ingres paper (I have these materials available at my TV watching perch) and drew the scene from memory. It only took a few minutes but it was a pleasant experience and I emphasized the use of loose, light pen strokes.

3x5 cheap notebook; Platinum Carbon pen w/Platinum Carbon Black ink

3×5 cheap notebook; Platinum Carbon pen w/Platinum Carbon Black ink

At another time I was watching a Toronto Blue Jays pre-season game and drew this group of flowers. That are part of a larger, dried flower arrangement in our living room. Used a Platinum Carbon pen for this one.

Are these great drawings? Nope…but they were fun. Did they take a long time? Nope. In fact no ‘extra’ time was required at all. I just counted and from Sunday to Friday, when I’ve been ‘too busy to draw,’ I’ve done more than a dozen sketches, all in ‘spare’ time. The only exception was my attendance at a music recital that I would have gone to with or without sketching. It doesn’t take much time to be a sketcher. You DO have time… don’t you?