Tag Archives: Quebec City

The Grande Marche Opens In Quebec City

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An exciting event occurred just down the street from my house; exciting mostly because it’s “just down the street from my house.”  The Grande Marché just opened in Quebec City.

This is a huge farmer’s market that also includes cheese, pasta, sausage, etc., etc. shops.  We’ve always had such a place but it was smaller, not nearly as fancy, and it was a significant drive from our house.  This one is a two-minute walk.  I go there nearly every day, if only to get my walking exercise started for the day.

What does this have to do with sketching?  Well, it’s also a great place to sit and quick-draw people.  I’m still experimenting with places to sit within the complex but there are several that are great.

Our growing season started really late this year but we’re starting to get farmers showing up with more and more produce so drawing their kiosks will be on the agenda soon.

Just so I don’t leave you empty-handed, here’s a drawing/painting I did of the exterior of the building.  While the interior has changed completely, the basic structure is mostly as it was when this was the building that housed the horses and cows when we had a state fair.  Only the entrances have been upgraded.  It smells better too (grin)

Fabriano Artistico, Daniel Smith watercolors, some pen work at the end.

Location Sketching (Finally) In Beauport

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To say that spring/summer has been slow in arriving would be a big understatement but we’re finally starting to get some warm, sunny days.  We took advantage of one of them last week and found ourselves in Beauport, along Avenue Royale, a street that runs along a hillside, a part of the city where the architecture is spectacular but quite different from the really early architecture of our “old city.”

My first sketch was an example of me biting off more than I could chew.  It didn’t start out that way.  I intended to draw just the end of a long set of Quebec equivalents of New York brownstones.  These are covered with gables, towers, etc. and are quite stunning.  They’re also quite complicated.  Very quickly, though I let my eyes grow big while my time stayed the same and the result was that very soon I was scribbling my way to depicting half of the entire complex, something that should have taken twice the time and been done in a much larger format.  My little 4×6 book just wouldn’t hold it all.  Here it is, serving as a lesson – when you decide the scope of a drawing, stick to it.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), DeAtramentis Document brn/blk, Daniel Smith watercolors

As it turned out, I had more time than I thought.  It has been forever since I’ve sketched outdoors with our little group and getting back into the swing of things is harder than it should be and my timing is off.  Anyways, I started drawing a small subject, figuring I could get it done before everyone wanted to head off for lunch.  In spite of its simplicity, I really like this one.  Hope you do too.  In any case, summer is here and I hope it will be a good one.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), DeAtramentis Document brn/blk, Daniel Smith watercolors

A Day At The Garden

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I attended another event organized by Denise Bujold’s Artistes dans les parcs.  This one was held at a large garden on the other side of the city from where I live and I’ve drawn there a lot.  On this day it was supposed to be sunny and hot.  The sun never showed up and it didn’t get very hot.  We lacked shadows, but the temps were just right for sketching.

I’m not sure I fit into this group very well, though everyone is very nice.  But the members set up easels, tables, and paints.  I sit down on a tripod stool with my sketchbook.  A bigger problem, for me, is that my French is not good at all so carrying on a conversation is mostly out of the question.  Nevertheless, it’s nice to be out with a bunch of people doing art.

I chose to draw a really tiny waterfall that connects two small ponds near the entrance to the garden.  I started by covering the paper with some blotches of color to match the subject and then wandered around the garden while that dried.  I really like the idea of doing paint first but I’m not sure I’ve got the patience to deal with the drying time.  Eventually it did dry and I started drawing with DeAtramentis Document ink.  More watercolor was added to finish the drawing.  It’s a fun way to work, except for the drying time, so I’ll probably do it again.

Drawing A Giraffe In Quebec City

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We’re finally experiencing outdoor temperatures.  Normally this would mean that I’d be wandering the streets every day, drawing my old-man heart out.  That behavior has been derailed by my bad knee.  Just this morning I started out with the idea of taking the bus downtown to sketch, but I quickly realized that, today, my knee wasn’t going to allow that to happen.  So, instead, I’m writing this blog post and thinking that maybe I’ll sketch a pepper plant we bought last weekend.

Last week I got to go to our Musee de la civilisation to see the new Curiosities du monde naturelle.  This exhibit is reminiscent of the old natural history museums, before all the fancy displays and such intruded on a simpler time when museum managers thought people were more interested in seeing actual items than they were pictures and videos of them.

Our museum seems to have a new to this.  They put everything in the dark.  I’m not sure what that’s about but we have to draw with a light on our paper and half the items are too hard to see to draw at all.  This is supposed to be good?  We have two exhibits that are like that currently and it seems to be a trend.  Anyone else seeing this in their museums?

Part of this exhibit is the head of a young giraffe and I decided to draw it.  Where I had to sit was too close and I was looking upward at the head such that I couldn’t see things like its left ear so the sketch is a bit odd.  Still, I had fun finally being out sketching and I enjoyed drawing this guy, or girl.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), DeAtramentis Document brn/blk, Platinum 3776

Is It Spring Or Is It Summer?

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Yesterday was Memorial Day in the US and all day I heard the US press saying that this day, unofficially, marks the beginning of summer.  Here in Quebec City we had a frost advisory and the trees are just now deciding that they might as well put out their leaves.  It’s sunny today and feels very much like spring.  So, is it summer or spring?  Weather this year has been hard to take for many parts of North America.  I’m hoping we have a really long summer, or is it still spring?

In any case, the squirrels are out and about and I even saw a bumble bee this morning.  In honor of this change of weather, I drew a squirrel with a smile on his face. Like me, he’s happy that things are warming up.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6), DeAtramentis Document Brn/blk