A Church Spire To Rule Them All

Posted on August 27, 2016 by Larry Marshall

I suspect that Quebec City has more church towers per capita than most place on Earth so a sketcher has many to draw, but none of them comes close to the this amazing structure. It reminds me of structures that the Legos folks come up with when trying to show off the complexity they can produce with colored blocks This church is for sale, by the way, if you need a spacious art studio with some flare.

Anyways, on a sunny, but very windy day, I drew it, having a ball in spite of the wind and having to chase my hat on a couple occasions. Hope you like it too.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (6x9) softcover, Esterbrook J9550, diluted DeAtramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Alpha (6×9) softcover, Namiki Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Brown

New Tuesday Museum Sketchers Group???

Posted on March 29, 2016 by Larry Marshall

This winter it has become a habit for five or six of us to meet at the museum for a sketching session on Thursday mornings. I really look forward to it. I go on other days as well but it’s fun to meet and talk with some fellow sketchers.

Field Notes (3x5), Pilot Prera F, Noodlers Polar Brown

Field Notes (3×5), Pilot Prera F, Noodlers Polar Brown

Claudette suggested that we meet on Tuesday this week as well, and while some of the ‘regulars’ couldn’t come on Tuesday, she managed to get a couple sketchers I don’t see often to show up so there were seven of us sketching this morning. Why is it so exciting for sketchers to gather together only to ignore one another for extended periods of time? Don’t know myself but it sure is fun.

I started the day with a little five-minute (maybe?) sketch to try out the yellow Field Notes book that comes with the blue and red books I’ve reported on recently. It’s a small wooden statue and I guess the yellow notebook passes the suitability test. I’ll probably do more in this book, though I prefer the red and blue books.

After wandering around a bit I headed to the new nanotechnology exhibit to draw a Mayan 3-tube flute. It’s made of clay and I haven’t a clue why it’s part of the nanotechnology exhibit. Maybe I should have read the plaque.

I’d filled my Falcon with Noodler’s Lexington Gray which I haven’t used in quite a while. I’d forgotten how much its “water-resistant” nature doesn’t work on papers with lots of sizing. I applied some color with watercolor pencils and a waterbrush and everything acquired a gray overcast from the ink. Back to DeAtramentis Document Black for me.

Stillman & Birn Beta (9x12), Pilot Falcon, Noodler's Lexington Gray

Stillman & Birn Beta (9×12), Pilot Falcon, Noodler’s Lexington Gray

Thursday Sketchers At The Museum

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Larry Marshall

18th Century armor – Canson XL watercolor, Pilot Metropolitan, DeAtramentis Document Black

Our small group of “Thursday sketchers,” met at the Musee de La Civilisation. I put the name in quotes because there’s nothing formal about us except that we meet at the museum on Thursdays. Not surprisingly, we were there on Thursday (grin).

We scattered around the Quebec exhibition, which is part of the permanent collection, they’re planning on shutting it down for reorganision ‘real soon.’ Nothing motivates sketchers more than being told they weren’t going to lose access to something and so it went that day.

I’d made a short list of things I wanted to sketch before this happened so I set to work, not wanting to spend too much time on any one subject. It was a great day and we had a lot of fun together.

This goofy-looking, sheetmetal rooster came from a Church Steeple. Pilot Metropolitan, DeAtramentis Document Black

Half of a cannonball mold. Pilot Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black

Collectif Rendevous At The Museum Of Civilisation

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Larry Marshall

The Collectif group in Quebec City held its annual rendevous at Quebec’s Musée de la civilisation last Saturday. Unfortunately, a bunch of the regulars were playing snowbirds in one for or another and so turnout was down from previous years. Nevertheless, we had a great time.

I started sketching in the Egypt exhibit, where I drew this pharoah mask. I used Faber-Castell Albrecht-Durer watercolor pencils for color. It’s hard to deal with color in that exhibit because it’s so dark so it’s hard to know what you’ve got until you’re done and eating lunch (grin).

Fabriano Artistico CP, DeAtramentis Document Black, Pilot Falcon

I took a short break by wandering around a bit and when I saw this large Australian aboriginal totem I had to translate it to paper. Pretty simple drawing. Lots of fun. It’s good to be back out sketching.

Fabriano Artistico CP, DeAtramentis Document Black, Pilot Metropolitan

What’s In The News Sketching – Quebec City Hall

Posted on January 24, 2016 by Larry Marshall

I was still resurrecting our house from the recent construction and so couldn’t get out sketching, but I was desperate to do something other than quick doodles. I was reading the newspaper over lunch when I came across a picture of the top of our city hall and decided to sketch it.

I don’t sketch from photos and other than quick doodles, I rarely sketch at home, so this was…what’s the word… err… uhm… oh yeah… DIFFERENT. I was sitting at our kitchen table, in a real chair, with paper resting on a hard surface. What a difference that makes. It’s a lot easier to draw this way than perched on my tripod stool on location. I can’t say its as much fun but maybe I should do it more often. Anyways, here’s the top of Quebec City’s seat of government. Tomorrow I’m heading to the museum.

Fabriano Artistico cold press, DeAtramentis Document Black, Pilot Metropolitan F