Sketching The Past

Posted on November 25, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Winter sketching, as I’m mentioned before, is confined my sketching to indoor venues. That’s ok because there are museums, coffee shops, and librarys to provide sketching opportunities. But what’s a guy supposed to do when he’s sitting at home and wants to draw?

Photos? I’m not very good at drawing from photos as I don’t feel I can ‘see’ the same as when I’m actually on location. It’s also not as much fun for me. But that’s the choice that Mother Nature gives me so what the heck…photos it is.

What photos, though? I’ve taken a lot of photos of Quebec City with the thought of using them as sketching material but it’s occurred to me that there may be better alternatives. Why not sketch stuff I can’t see any more? Dirigibles, Victorian hats, inkwells, carrier pigeons or steamships? Or trains….that’s it…trains.

Our society decided we’d subsidize the trucking industry in the 50s and 60s by building a highway system which allowed that industry to outcompete the railroads, that had to maintain their own ‘roads.’ So, now we’ve got LOTS of trucks to draw, lots of trucks burning fuel, and the warehouses of our world have become 18-wheel diesel-powered boxes clogging up our highways. Oh and we have far fewer trains. So yeah, I could draw trains.

And what better place to start than with the lowly caboose. As a kid, train watching was a big deal. We’d wave at the engineer as the engine went by, hoping he’d blow the whistle for us. Then we’d wait…and wait and finally, after a bunch of boxcars, tankcars, and hopper cars, here it would come…the CABOOSE…the crummy, the brain box, the dog house…whatever you called it – it was RED! They were mostly eliminated from trains in the 1980s, replaced by “EOTs” (End Of Train device) which are boring boxes of electronics and a red light that get hung on the end of the train. Kids don’t watch trains any more and I don’t blame them. My daughter didn’t even know what a caboose was when I showed her my sketch.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (9x6) sketchbook, Pilot Prera, Lex Gray ink.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6) sketchbook, Pilot Prera, Lex Gray ink.

I sketched this one from a black and white photo in a book I own. It was fun. My daughter learned what a caboose was. Maybe I’ll draw some other things she has never seen.

This Is The Back Of The Building?

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I was downtown Sunday, waiting for the Festivale de Nouvelle France events to spool up. I was sitting in the courtyard in front of the Trinity Anglican Church and from there I could see this view of the back of large government building. I think it’s the finance building. I decided to sketch it.

I took a somewhat different approach, experimenting a bit. I spent more time with a pencil, adding more than just layout lines. I used my typical 3H pencil, but from these light lines, I laid in light color washes before I added any ink to the sketch. This allowed me, or so I think, to use a lighter hand with the ink lines, which I followed up with more watercolor. I think, if I knew anything about watercolors, this would be a good approach. I know it works well for many other sketchers and I’ll continue to pursue it.

I did it in my Stillman & Birn Zeta (5×8) sketchbook, with a Pilot Prera and Noodler’s Lexington Gray ink.

More Small Sketches… More Fun

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I’m continuing to have fun with small 3×5 (or smaller) sketches. Thought I’d share a few more with you.

This is a small, adorable building that is the home to a dress designer. It looks like something from a fairy tale and seemed like a great small sketch subject. As with my previous small sketches, this one (and the others here) were done in a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook. This particular one was done with a Pilot Prera and Platinum Carbon Black ink.

We took a day trip down (up?) the southern coast of the St. Lawrence River to Kamouraska. I’d hoped to sketch some of the great buildings there but instead I did this sketch of my daughter looking out at the ocean (the Atlantic is out there somewhere if you look far enough). I like this one a lot, probably because of the subject matter.

I was walking across the bridges that crosses the St. Charles River just as it flows into the St. Lawrence and decided, without much thought, to sketch this scene. I think the scene would have been better served by a larger format but the little sketchbook came out and the pen started jittering around the paper. I’m not a fan of sketching while standing and this is further evidence that I’m not very good at it. But they can’t all be great. It was still fun, which is why I do this.

Lastly, and certainly least, I was taking a break on Terrace Dufferin, a large boardwalk associated with the Chateau Frontenac. Across from me was this guy, looking out at the St. Lawrence. I took out my cheap sketchbook thinking I’d just do a one-minute sketch of him and, big mistake, I started the sketch in portrait format, thinking I was only going to draw him and couple boards to represent the bench. Then I sort of got carried away making squiggles to represent the railing and before I knew it I was having to draw him smaller than I planned, the bench became more integral to the sketch, and in the end I had a tiny, 2×2 vignette of a guy on a bench. It’s sort of scratch and way too small but again, quite fun and I thought I would share it as an example of improper planning… or maybe just the right amount 🙂 This one was done with a Uniball Signo UM151 (brown-black) pen. I really like these pens and I’m now armed with several of them.

While Walking Through The Park One Day….

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Yvan and I planned a sketching session on St. Denis street and we were to meet there. This street has many majestic residences and a large grassy area in front of them so it’s an ideal place to sketch.

As I arrived I realized that I’d forgotten my WalkStool. This is a big problem as my knees and me don’t much like sitting on the ground, for fear that we’ll never be able to get back up.

And so the search began for a sitting place with something in front of me to sketch. It’s not really rocket science but I wandered around for a while before finding such a combination. I ended up in the Parc des Governeurs, a small park between the Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City’s tourist landmark and the American consulate.

Both of these buildings are great sketching subjects but I chose this more humble structure that sits in the park. Yvan suggested that it was once a toilet but these days it looks to be used by maintenance people. In any case, it had a bench, in the shade, and so I sketched it in my Stillman & Birn Zeta (5×8) with a Pilot Prera and Platinum Carbon Black ink. I used Lexington Gray for the stairs in the background. I’m enjoying the contrast between these two inks. As always, I used Winsor & Newton watercolors like crayons to add some color.

Ferry Dock Sketching

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I use any excuse to take the ferry from Quebec City to Levis, which is on the other side of the St. Lawrence River from us. I do it because 1) I like boats, 2) my bus pass makes it free, and 3) did I mention that I like boats?

On this day, I did it because Yvan wanted to sketch the ferry station, which is an old train station that’s been sort of messed up by neglect and its conversion into a ferry dock. But they’re planning on tearing it down and he wanted a sketch of it. Seemed like a plan to me.

But when I got there, something about sketching the station just didn’t turn my crank that morning so I found an alternative, this building that was probably a hotel at some point and may still be. I like the way the cliff jutted up above, dwarfing what is actually a very large building.

It was done in a Stillman & Birn Zeta (5×8) sketchbook with Pilot Preras and Platinum Carbon Black and Noodler’s Lexington gray inks. Hope you like it. It was sure fun.