The Thrill Of The Chase

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I’m a sketcher… a street sketcher. What excites me about sketching is the process, not the results. I love the feeling I have as I sit, studying a subject, drawing lines – oblivious to everything around me. I love people who stop and ask questions. Often they’re the same questions (eg – Do you sell these? Did you go to art school? How long have you been doing this?) but there’s always a smile attached and some simple chit-chat that connects me to my fellow humans.

And part of the process, for me, is finding something to sketch… the thrill of the hunt. It’s pretty rare that I plan to go some particular place to sketch some particular thing. That takes half the fun out of it for me. I like to just strike out, in any direction, looking for something that catches my attention.

The other day I did just that. I walked to a main intersection near my house. There were metro buses that head east/west/north/south and I decided to hop the first one that came along. I found myself heading east and, once I had passed areas I knew well, I got off the bus. I continued, walking east until I came across a small park.

I walked into it and sat on a bench. I looked around. There were ravens in one end of the park and I thought about sketching them. There were swings, slides, and what looked like a hamburger that kids could ride. It sat on a large spring. These would make a nice sketch, too.

Then I noticed a small mechanics shop stuffed between two larger buildings. I walked to that corner of the park, picked out a shady area, plunked myself down on my tripod stool, and started this sketch.

My hunt was a success. I spent a blissful hour while my pen entertained me as no television ever could. Life is good.

Stillman & Birn Zeta (5×8) sketchbook; Pilot Prera pen; Platinum Carbon Black ink; W&N artist watercolors

Big Building In A Little Town

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Quebec City is not an industrial town. We have no massive factories except for our paper mill. Rather, we have government…lots of government as we’re the capital of the province of Quebec. And we have the oldest walled city in North America and cruise ships visit us regularly. We do tourism. And so we have lots of politicians and tourists. We also have UbiSoft, the video game manufacturer so we have animators…story-tellers. In short, no big factories to sketch.

But we are also a port and the largest building around that port is a huge grain elevator and ship loading facility along the northern side of our marina. Lots of train cars and boats visit the place as grain is moved onto awaiting ships. In short, it’s a big, intimidating building to sketch 🙂

I took it as something of a challenge and so became my sketch of the Bunge grain elevators. Done in a Stillman & Birn Zeta (5×8 x 2) sketchbook with a Pilot Prera and Platinum Carbon Black ink. W&N watercolors give it a bit of color. Click for a larger image.

Do You Sketch The Boring Stuff?

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I like to sketch boring stuff. I guess I should be more precise and say that I like to sketch things that other people find boring, or worse, don’t even notice them at all. Things like garbage cans, fire hydrants, telephone poles… and plain, ‘boring’ buildings.

So when I saw this view of the end of a 3-store complex, it called to me. I set up my stool, sat down, and got out my Stillman & Birn Zeta (5×8) sketchbook. I used a Pilot Prera loaded with Platinum Carbon Ink to do the sketch. I was happy with the results.

What do you think? Do you sketch boring stuff?

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.

Sometimes You Just Need A Challenge

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Larry Marshall

If you know Brenda Swenson’s “75-day Challenge”, you know the concept of casting aside the pencil, even for organizational purposes and sketching directly with pen. It’s said, and I believe it to be true, that doing so for a lot of sketches, will improve your ability to see and put what you see on paper. The process moves a lot of thinking to early in the process, ensuring that when you do lay down a line it’s in the right place.

I do a lot of ink work but typically use a pencil to lightly outline main masses and relationships in a sketch. But sometimes a guy just needs a challenge and I was feeling like one when I started looking at this railing and post.

I set up to sketch it (Stillman & Birn Zeta -5×8, Pilot Prera) and decided to do it ‘ink-only’, though I confess that I drew a pencil horizontal line at the top of the railing and a vertical line at the inside of the post. Then I got out my pen and stared. And then I stared some more, measuring, seeing, and occasionally putting a dot on my paper. Then I drew the lines… and the curves. For me it was a struggle with all the curved wrought iron to render. And there are screw ups… there are always screw ups. It’s my signature move. But generally, I like the results and had a lot of fun with the process.