Sketching Between Rain Days

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Larry Marshall

We’re still getting more rain than we should and certainly more rain than I want. But we got a weekend that only started under rain and high winds. We ended up with slightly damp conditions and warm temperatures. There was this scary yellow ball in the sky. Not sure what that was but it seemed harmless enough.

Yvan and I took advantage and we went to Artillery Park, an area in old Quebec City that has a bunch of old military buildings and fortifications. It’s also where a munitions factory operated until 1964. Now the large buildings are museums surrounded with park areas, cannons and high walls – a great place to sketch. And we did.

I sketched a building called Redoubte Dauphine. It’s an impressive structure and I set up at the base of it, sitting on the edge of a parking lot. I sort of botched the perspective by placing a couple lines incorrectly. As I didn’t want to restate them in their correct locations, I made the best of it and finished it with the wonky angles. Do me a favor and squint a lot when you look at the sketch. Maybe you won’t notice (grin). The sketch was done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7) sketchbook with a Pilot Prera and Lexington Gray.

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It was very hazy and cloudy so I decided to return to add color/details, when there was some sun to provide contrast. I packed up and went looking for Yvan. I located him, sitting high above me on a wall. In fact, I noticed that you can see him as a tiny orange blotch on the right of the photo above. He was sketching something and I thought it’d be fun to do a quick sketch of him. I did it in my Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6) with a Pilot Prera and Platinum Carbon Black.

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I climbed the hill you see in the first sketch and entered a tiny park area associated with what was once an officer’s quarters. I liked the shape of the end of that building and so quickly sketched it. Same small sketchbook; same pen/ink.

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2013-06-29OldBuildingSite The eastern edge of Artillery Park is bordered by an old rock fence. On the other side of it there’s a grand old apartment building that’s no longer inhabited and, sadly, it’s crumbling from neglect. It pokes its second story above the rock wall and I liked the view, of the back of the building and so I sketched it. Same sketchbook, same pen, same fun experience. Every sketching day is a great day.

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Rain and Wind – Will It Ever Stop?

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Yvan and I were supposed to go sketching but it was very windy and rain was threatening. Since the new Paris exhibit had opened at our Musee de la Civilisation, we headed there instead. They have some great vehicles there that I want to sketch but geez they’re complicated.

This one is a 3-wheeled steam-powered vehicle produced by Dion-Bouton in 1885. It just oozes ‘cool’ in my opinion, but I’m sort of biased towards anything that’s steam-powered. Clearly a vehicle that would be comfortable putting around in a steampunk novel.

This was done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7) sketchbook using a Pilot Prera and Lexington Gray ink. It provided a great hour and a half of fun. Hope you like it.

Cheers — Larry

Paris In Quebec City…Sort of.

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Larry Marshall

The Musee de la Civilisation launched its new Paris 1889-1920s exhibit by holding a special grand opening on a Tuesday evening. As I’m a member I got an invitation and Yvan and I decided to go. We saw it more as a reconnoitering session than anything else so our plan was to quickly run through the exhibit, noting what would be good to sketch. This exhibit will be one of our principle sketching subjects this winter.

We decided, though, that we should go early enough that we could sketch in the old port for a couple hours before the event and that’s what we did. We sat in Place Royale, a tourist hot-spot and boy, were there tourists. Because of our lousy weather it didn’t seem like summer to us until we looked at the sea of people. So, we looked up and I sketched this roof line over the heads of the tourists. Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7), Pilot Prera and Lex Gray ink.

When we finished up we still had some time and we wandered into a place adjacent to Place Royale that has a cannon battery pointing out at the St. Lawrence, to protect Place Royale from the tourist and ferry boats. This is the gate into the place but from the inside, looking out. I felt a bit rushed so it got a bit wonky but I like the sketch nevertheless. Same sketchbook and pen/ink combo for this one.

Downtown Sketching Event

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Larry Marshall

There is a series of outdoor sketching events, in Quebec City, this year. Time will tell how organized, or not, they are but Yvan and I attended on a week ago.

We were to meet downtown in a small park near the Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City’s challenge to Hogwarts. It’s a grand hotel and there’s a huge fountain in the park next to it.

While waiting to meet up with Yvan to walk downtown, I did this little sketch of a branch that caught my eye. It doesn’t take much to get my pen moving.

When we arrived there were four other sketchers there and we all scattered about and got busy sketching. Yvan and I took advantage of the fact that they’d been working on the fountain and it was dry. We climbed into the fountain, sat on its perimeter and started sketching some of the fountain details.

We broke for a quick lunch and then it was back to sketching. I love this large steeple and so it became my target. About half an hour into the sketch it started to rain so we hot-footed it to the Subway a block away. We got lucky and got a seat by the window and we drank coffee and sketched through the window. There was a bike race going on and the rain didn’t stop it so we had plenty to sketch. I’ll spare you my quick sketches from that session as they’re particularly bad.

Once the rain stopped, though, we returned to finish our sketches. Here’s the steeple. Done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7) using a TWSBI Mini and Platinum Carbon Black.

It was a great day, though I remember being particularly tired at the end of it.

A Bit of Urban Sketching

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Just as spring had sprung and it was starting to be warm enough to sketch outdoors, yours truly decided it was time to get sick. I spent more than a week feeling pretty bad, made all the worse by coming home one day to find water dripping from our first-floor ceiling. I still have a hole in the ceiling to fix but the pipes are holding water again.

Before getting sick, though, I did get out with my buddy Yvan and we rode our bikes on an adventure into Beauport, a suburb of Quebec City. We sketched this house, which I liked very much. I used my Pilot Prera for this one. Same Noodler’s Lexington Gray I normally use.

I did stop in the old city one day as I was returning from French school and I made this sketch in a Stillman & Birn Zeta (5.5×8.5) sketchbook, using a TWSBI Mini and Noodler’s Lexington Gray.

And so, as the weekend approached, and my energy had come back, I was chomping at the bit to go sketching. Mother Nature had other ideas and it rained all day Saturday. Yvan and I went sketching anyway. We headed to the Musee de la Civilisation and while it’s between major exhibitions, it was at least warm and dry and we figured we could find something to sketch there.

What we found was a small exhibit of architectural models of classic structures that were part of old Paris. I chose to sketch Cabaret Le Chat, one of the popular hot spots on the north side of Paris. The model was about 15″ high and fairly well-done, though the building to the right of it lacked any detail, which is how I drew it. Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook and TWSBI Mini fountain pen. I had switched up the ink and was using Platinum Carbon Black.

When we finished there it was still raining and we decided that we should board the ferry that goes between Quebec City and Levis, across the St. Lawrence River. The ferry has a nice, cozy passenger area with big windows and we figured we could sketch from there. We hadn’t included the heavy mist/fog in our calculations as you could hardly see the other side of the river, only a few hundred yards away.

So, we just rode across, got off, and decided to sketch out the windows of the ferry building, catching the next boat (30 minutes) for our return. I still have problems sketching while holding a sketchbook in one hand, pen in the other. I generally perch my sketchbook on my knee or on a table if one is available. I also have trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time so maybe it’s just too much for my brain to hold one item (sketchbook) still while moving another (pen) around. This sketch suffers from a case of the wobbles and the fact that I was working quicker than my normal glacial pace. I did this it in a small Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6) with the same TWSBI Mini and Platinum Carbon Black. Color comes from some quick swipes with Faber-Castell watercolor pencils.

I went sketching. It was a wet day, but a good day.