Desperate Sketchers Brave The Elements

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Last Saturday was supposed to be the Bazar des ruelles in Limoilu which is always a fun event. This is a part of the city that, when built, included alley ways behind the houses. I think those went out of style with the invention of ‘suburbs’ but it affords a great opportunity for the people in this part of Limoilu as they organize a huge garage sale every year, with signs and balloons all over the place, that direct wanderers up and down the ruelles to the many garage sales. There are also places that sell hot dogs and there are things for kids to do as well. In short, it’s a city-wide party.

I was supposed to meet my buddy Yvan at 8AM and we did meet. We stood under umbrellas as the rain came down and even we could figure out from the note on the signs saying “in case of rain, we’ll do it Sunday” that we were alone. We turned it into a sketcher social event, spending several hours talking art, drinking coffee and playing with fountain pens. We also planned to meet again the next morning.

Sunday began with me standing, same place, same umbrella, different rain. Yvan showed up with his umbrella and we stood. Then we headed to the coffee shop where the guy there told us that the event had been rescheduled for next week (Jun 15th). So, after coffee, and quite desperate to draw SOMETHING, we headed downtown to the library, where we did quick sketches of umbrellas with feet through the library windows. I did this small sketch of a window across the street. Yvan’s sketches were wonderful. Mine were…not so much. Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6) and a Noodler’s Creaper as the pointy device.

It finally stopped raining so we headed for the old city and set up under an awning where the calesh horses get to snack and wait for tourists willing to part with a lot of money for a ride. This is a sketch of the Kent Gatehouse (not surprisingly it’s associated with the Kent Gate, the middle gate of three gates that let too many cars have access to the old city. It felt soooooo good to sketch something outdoors, though it was still too cold for comfort and threatening rain. Stillman & Birn Zeta (5.5×8.5) and a Pilot Prera/Lexington Gray combination. By the time we finished I was cold enough to express an urgency for getting indoors and preferably at a place where I could drink something warm.

We’d talked about the McDonalds in the old city and I’d told Yvan about its’ nice second floor view. We headed there for some well-deserved warmth. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get one of the ‘good’ seats until we were about to leave but we grabbed them and quickly did sketches. I did this building. Yvan did something really nice.

We wandered around looking for something that turned our heads and we ended up sitting in a gravel parking lot for some apartments, looking up at this tower attached to an old building. The sky spit rain on me on occasion which is why I left the sky blank. Same S&B Zeta sketchbook; same Pilot Prera pen.

I mention Yvan a lot but I never show you his sketches. Yvan sketched the same tower that I did, did a much better job and then, while he was bored and waiting for me to finish, he did this sketch of me finishing up my sketch. Yvan is amazing and I’m lucky to call him friend.

Such is life for a mid-June sketcher in Quebec City this year. The prediction is for sunshine this weekend, though, so I’m really excited. Maybe summer will be better than spring.

Rain, Rain, Go Away…

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Here it…June and my street sketching spring is almost gone with not much to show for it. We’re setting records for rainfall if, records are a consolation, but they don’t do much for my disposition. I’ve got to figure out how to get my brain to be happy sketching indoors from pictures, I guess.

Until I do that, these are the sorts of things I’ve been doing. I hopped off the bus one day and did this tiny sketch. When I look at it what I remember was the rush I got from actually doing a sketch outdoors. I was only off the bus for 10-15 minutes but it was a precious 15 minutes. Done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6) using a TWSBI Mini and Noodler’s Lexington Gray.

Another day, I got to the bus stop just as my bus was pulling away. I quickly did this little sketch of a somewhat ugly restaurant across the street. This place has changed hands so many times I can’t remember all the restaurant names it’s announced proudly to a customer base that never came. Not sure what kind of food they serve now. I’m one of those who never went. Same sketchbook but I was using a Noodler’s Creaper here. Only had 10 minutes as I had to catch the next bus.

I tried to have a sketching day with my friend Claudette. It was raining but we climbed aboard the ferry that traverses the St. Lawrence. It only takes 10 minutes to cross and crossings take place every half hour. We made several circuits but, for me, it was not a great adventure. The fog was so bad that you couldn’t see the buildings on either side of the St. Lawrence and for a while it rained so hard you couldn’t see much of anything. Mostly I just looked out the windows and wished it would stop raining. This sketch was done in an S&B Alpha (10×7) with the TWSBI Mini. I sort of lost interest by the time I got to the vending machines (grin).

Will it EVER stop raining?

Rainy Weekend Sketching

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Larry Marshall

This past weekend was rainy and windy, so my hopes of outdoor sketching were dashed…or dampened…or blown away. It depends on your view. And when it’s a gloomy, rainy day, a philosopher sits on a rock and ponders the universe. A sketcher draws the rock. Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), TWSBI Mini with Lex Gray.

Sunday was the same – rain and wind. No outdoor sketching today either. So there I was, watching the Bluejays on TV. Since I can’t watch TV without doing something else I started flipping through photos I’ve taken around Quebec and found a photo of Quebec’s “cannonball tree.” This is something that would be hard to sketch on site because, in the winter, it’s covered with snow and in the summer, it’s surrounded by groups of tourists taking photos of it.

Back in the 18th Century the Brits came along and decided they like this “Nouvelle France” place, so they started lobbing cannon shells on the city…I’m sure in an attempt to make it look more British. In any case, they did that for several months, ultimately got the French to surrender, and we’ve all lived happily every after ever since.

But somehow, this French tree grabbed a British cannonball and hung onto it, for a couple hundred years. It seems reluctant to give it back and so so the tree has become famous for its persistence, appearing on tourist guide maps of things to see. My sketch is in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6) and I used my TWSBI Mini with Lex Gray ink.

Will the rain ever end?

Pilot HiTec V5 (05) Cartridge Pen

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Larry Marshall

This pen, the Pilot HiTec V5 cartridge pen, showed up at our local pen store recently. I’m a fountain pen guy and wouldn’t have even noticed it if not for the display right next to it that held Pilot fountain pen cartridges. For those who like nylon/felt-tip pens for sketching, but who also would like access to the range of colors available to fountain pen folk, may want to give this pen a try.

It’s available with either a .5 mm or .7 mm tip. I bought the .5 mm and its line does compare to a Sakura Micron 05. The ink density and color is similar too but with one very large difference. Pilot inks are not waterproof. This can be good or bad depending on what you’re going to do with the pen.

It made no difference to me as I bought it with the thought of seeing if I could use it with other inks, specifically, Noodler’s Lexington Gray which is my main sketching ink. I emptied the cartridge and used an ear syringe to pressure a bunch of water through the feed/point to clean out the ink contained within. This is a slightly bigger job than it would be with a fountain pen as the feed on these pens seems to hold a lot more ink. Nevertheless, it only took a minute of two.

I filled the cartridge with Lexington Gray and once attached to the pen I squeezed the heck out of the cartridge to pump ink into the feed/point. This would be easier if one were to use a Con-50 converter, which has a plunger that would pressure ink into the pen. Nevertheless, in another minute or so I had Lex Gray coming out of the pen. Refilling, of course, is quick as I just pull the cartridge and use a pen syringe to refill it.

My concern was that the pen would dry/plug up so I waited to write this until I’d had the Lex Gray in the pen for a week or so. While walking through a local park, I made this little sketch of one of my favorite subjects, a park trashcan. Done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6),I was impressed by how the pen performed.

I paid $3 for mine so this pen isn’t a bank breaker and it does open up interesting possibilities for those who prefer felt-tip pens

Newsflash: Weather Responds To Blog Post

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Last Thursday I wrote a blog post titled “Waiting for Spring.” I moaned and groaned that in spite of spring being a month old, it was still too cold to sketch outdoors.

Well guess what happened? On Friday our temperatures increased significantly. We had sun…LOTS of sun. Even the wind died down. So I tucked my sketchbook under my arm and headed out for a weekend of sketching. It was wonderful.

Here’s the first sketch I did. I was out with my buddy Yvan and we’d previously talked about sketching on Rue de la Remparts, which skirts the upper portion of our ‘old’ (founded in 1608) city. So, our first stop was there. I did this sketch in a Stillman & Birn 7×10 Alpha spiral sketchbook. Though I really dislike spiral-bound for storage, I love it for this larger format because I can fold the book back on itself , making it manageable while the book rests on my knees. I used a TWSBI Mini filled with Noodler’s Lexington Gray.

While “warm” by comparison to the previous day, it was still cool and we both ran out of body heat about the same time. So, I snapped the photo above and we headed for something warm to drink. I applied some color later and this was the result.

I suppose some might suggest that the weather changing had nothing to do with my blog post – that it was only a coincidence. I’ll continue to believe otherwise… I think.