Sketching With The Jesuits

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Larry Marshall

Last Sunday we met at the Maison des Jésuites de Sillery as our monthly Croquistes de Québec sketchcrawl. Our time window was short because these small museums that are scattered around Quebec don’t open until 1PM during the winter but they are warm and they do have stuff to draw. This particular place is a large two-story house, associated chapel, and the foundations of the original church that was across the street. Contained within it are a bunch of artifacts that tell the story of this 18th Century missionary settlement.

While most were drawn to displays on the second floor, I couldn’t resist the golden eagle that was on display. Halfway through the drawing I was wishing I’d chosen something else. Did you realize that eagles have a lot of feathers? I did like this view, however, as it’s a little different than the typical sideways, head up of most eagle photos/drawings. Anyways, here’s what resulted from my interaction with this beautiful bird.

Stillman & Birn Beta softcover (8×10), Pilot Falcon, Diluted DeAtramentis Document Black

Old-Time Kitchen Sketching

Posted on December 11, 2016 by Larry Marshall

In recent weeks I’ve had to forsake urban sketching because it’s just too darn cold outside and so I’ve started doing domestic sketching (my name for studio sketching as the opposite of urban sketching) and historic sketching (drawing from old photos). Seems there is jargon-ese convergence in what I present today – historic, domestic, urban sketching.

Yvan and I braved the cold and took the ferry to Levis, where we climbed the hill and made our way to Maison Alphonse-Dejardins. Dejardins is the guy who started the Quebec banking system and his home is now a museum in his honor. I was on location and sketching and thus, I was an urban sketcher again. But this time my target was the sink and counter in the smallish kitchen in this home. Next time I’ll do the coal-fired stove cuz it’s a dandy. And in one swoop, this sketch is both historic and domestic. Voila, I did historic, domestic, urban sketching (grin).

I know, I’m being silly, but then the labels we put on everything, and worse, the debates over what qualifies as fitting a label are pretty silly too. Anyways, here’s the sketch I did in a Stillman & Birn Beta (8×10) softcover sketchbook. I kinda let the perspective get away from me but what the heck, if they were all perfect there’d be no reason to continue trying.

Urban Sketching In 2029???

Posted on December 4, 2016 by Larry Marshall

There I was, with John Connor, fighting against the machines. Somehow my fountain pen didn’t seem quite up to the task. Truthfully, neither was I. The machines had taken over the Earth and they were in the process of exterminating the human race. They were everywhere, as was evidence of the carnage. What’s an urban sketcher to do? Draw, of course. A little thing like the annihilation of the human race can’t slow down an urban sketcher.

Ok…so I lied. Actually, I was at our Museum of Civilisation, in the nanotechnology exhibit. In that exhibit is a full-size model of the Terminator of movie fame in all its shiny metal glory and, of course, it’s posed over several broken skulls. In honor of John Connor I did my best to capture the remains of the 2029 urban landscape. I drew the skulls.

Stillman & Birn Beta softcover (8x10), Pilot Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black (diluted)

Stillman & Birn Beta softcover (8×10), Pilot Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black (diluted)

I’m Back Drawing Soapstone

Posted on November 23, 2016 by Larry Marshall

[note: this was done last week but I forgot to press the publish button]

We returned to the museum of civilisation on Thursday and I continued sketching Inuit soapstone carvings. These are not precise carvings but they have a smoothness about their surfaces that is impressive when you realize they’re generally done by hand. More importantly, traditional Inuit carving is a form of story-telling, a reflection of Inuit life.

I started a two-page spread in my Stillman & Birn 8×10 Beta softcover book but only got the central sculpture done. It depicts a family’s successful hunt.

Sorry about the poor photo. I found it impossible to scan a two-page spread and didn’t have lights set up to photograph it properly.

When It’s Cold, Sketch Quickly

Posted on November 18, 2016 by Larry Marshall

We are getting a reprieve from the relentless march into winter. We’ve had a couple days where the temps have gotten up to 6-7C (low 40s for the metric-challenged). It’s also been very windy but yesterday the winds dropped to a reasonable level and I just couldn’t pass up the possibility of doing some outdoor sketching.

I decided to go armed with quick-draw (pun intended) materials so I took a couple of 10×14 Coroplast sheets, cut some 6×9 sheets of cheap multi-media paper, and I taped two sheets on each side of the coroplast. These were shoved into my bag and out the door I went. The idea was that I needed to do sketches quickly so I didn’t have to sit for a long period, which cause my old Arizona bones grow cold and I get grumpy.

I managed to get a couple sketches done with considerable walking in between, each sketch taking only 15 minutes or so. I applied the color at home. Hope you like them. For me it was a major victory and gives me some hope that I’ll be able to do some outdoor sketching using this method. As it gets colder I can shift more and more towards Marc Taro Holmes’ “5to7 sketches” where you use 5-7 lines to do sketches very quickly. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.