Alfred Pellan: Quebec Artist

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Larry Marshall

Alfred Pellan is well-known to the Quebec art crowd as a guy who produced surreal imagery, kinda-sorta Picasso-like (I’ll probably be stoned for saying so). Born in Quebec City, he became closely associated with École des Beaux-Arts de Québec. Like many Quebec artists, he also studied at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He died in 1988.

There’s a bust in honor of him in the Jardin de St. Roch and I drew it. I struggle with pencil shading. I’m sure this is in no small part because I do it so rarely but to make matters worse I decided to try to do it with red pencil. My buddy Yvan does it so smoothly so I know it’s not the tool, but the guy I see in the mirror every morning that is at fault.

Nevertheless, here is my attempt. It was drawn on 8 1/2 x 11 Strathmore Bristol (vellum) using a 2mm lead holder and Turquoise red lead. There was also a couple hours involved.

Quick-Sketching On The Bounding Main

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Larry Marshall

Sailing, sailing,
Over the bounding main,
For many a stormy wind shall blow
Before Jack comes home again!

I remember this bit of a song from when I was a kid. I’m not sure why. I’m less sure how. But it bounces between my ears every time I get a chance to get on a boat.

Platinum Carbon pen, Platinum Carbon Black ink

I was out walking and ended up near where the ferry docks on the Quebec side of the St. Lawrence River. I was looking across the river at the new ferry complex on the other side and decided to take a boat ride, but the two ferries had just started swapping places so I’d have to wait a bit. I sat down and got out my Field Notes book and did this quick sketch of the top of the old post office building. More a scribble than a sketch but, after all, it was done in my ‘scribbler’ so that was appropriate.

Sailor Profit fude pen, De Atramentis Document Black ink

I boarded the ferry and wandered around its decks, letting the fresh almost sea breeze blow across my face. I’m lucky to live in a place where I can be “on the bounding main” with nothing more than a swipe of my bus pass over a card reader.

I’d like to talk about taking a three-hour tour like Gilligan but the truth of the matter is that it takes only about 10-minutes to get to the other side. I did get a couple quick-sketches done.

Sailor Profit fude pen, De Atramentis Document Black ink

Once on the other side I wandered around, looking at the on-going construction, trying to figure out what the overall plan was for this new place. I decided that I wasn’t smart enough to understand and took a wait and see attitude. I went inside.

Once you get through the turnstile to get on the ferry heading north, you climb stairs to a large room with a wall of glass. What a great view of the Quebec City skyline there is from there. I’m going to have to go back when I’m in the mood to do larger sketches but on this day, I was in quick-sketch mode. I got out a larger, but cheap sketchbook (6×9) and did a 5-minute pencil scribble of the skyline. It’s not much but it will motivate me to get back there to do something better and provide a good excuse for another boat ride.

A bell went off and like a bunch of cows we were all herded through large doors and onto the ferry. I felt inclined to say ‘moo’, though I don’t think that translates well into French.

I watched a small tugboat chug by as the ferry was pulling away from the quay and once we started crossing I was amused by a couple sailboats trying to change course and/or stop so the ferry could proceed. Once that show was over, I got out my Field Notes book again and did a couple more people sketches, this time using my Platinum Carbon pen. It was a great day to be sailing on the bounding main. What is a bounding main anyways?

Croquistes de Quebec Inaugural Sketchcrawl

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Larry Marshall

Yvan Breton, our leader. Apologies to Yvan for the poor photo

Last Sunday, the Croquistes de Québec held their first sketchcrawl, randocroquis, urban sketchers meeting, or whatever you want to call it (grin). Whatever the name, we were out en masse sketching on location. Our fearless leader is Yvan Breton and he brought together more than a dozen folks for the purpose of enjoying the company of fellow sketchers.

And wow, did we have fun. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder and there is no better evidence of that than how Quebecers respond to a nice, sunny day. We got one on Sunday and we all took advantage of it.

The garden, Jardin de Jeanne d’Arc, is part of Battlefield Park and is one of the prettiest places in Quebec City. It’s a long strip of land with a large statue in the middle and a well-tended flower garden surrounds its grass interior. Our dozen or so sketchers spread out and began to sketch. I couldn’t help but notice the various seating approaches used.

Some (Jodie & Larry here) used the local benchware. [photo by Yvan]

Celine brought a comfy chair

While not popular the elevated view was used by some.

While not popular the elevated view was preferred by Joanne.

The most popular approach, of course, was the tripod stool modeled here by Ann.

Some brought an entire studio along with their comfy chair

Yves brought an entire studio along with his comfy chair

In the end, though, we were all comfortable. We broke for lunch on the grass and talked about pens, sketching and how great the weather was. Did I mention that we were impressed by the weather? Then, it was back to our benches, tripods, and chairs and our pointy devices started moving again. We didn’t do a formal show-n-tell but sketchbooks were exchanged, mostly during lunch, and I think everyone went away with a hope that the next sketchcrawl will occur soon.

I started my day with this sketch, of the lady honored by the park, Jeanne d’Arc. I did this one in a Stillman & Birn Beta (9×12) with my Namiki Falcon and De Atramentis Document ink. I also did a more complete pencil under-drawing than I normally do and, frankly, I think the pencil looked better than the ink, probably because it didn’t attempt so many details.

Things sort of went downhill from there when I started adding color as I stuck the side of my hand in red paint and promptly “stamped” a red blotch onto the paper (bottom left). I tried, without success, to cover up with an awful dark green grass treatment. Better luck next time 🙂

I also did this sketch of some of the beautiful rock stairs that lead down into the garden. I didn’t have time to add color so you’ll just have to look at lines, my favorite things.

Last but not least, this was my daughter’s first opportunity to sketch with other people (she’s the one sitting with me on the bench). Like so many, she was afraid she was apprehensive, certain she couldn’t sketch well enough, and that she’d be too intimidated. But, she had a great time and told Yvan just before we left that “I’ll be at the next one.”

Stillman & Birn Gamma (10×7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document black

Sketching Louis Joliet

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Larry Marshall

If you’re old like me you remember black and white movies. As a kid my favorites were the cowboy movies, particularly those about people “moving west” to settle the “wild west.” These movies were packed with caricatures, though I was too young to notice at the time. Classic “tonto” depictions of Native Americans, white guys in white hats who were bigger than life and who, I’m sure, could leap tall buildings with a single bound but who never had to because they managed to shoot 30 times with their 6-shooters.

Very often there was a French trapper, always named Jacques, who was either someone’s sidekick, or occasionally stood in for the black-hatted bad guy. As a kid growing up in Arizona, it’s what I knew of the French.

Well, there really were French guys named Jacques and I suspect they were tougher than John Wayne ever thought of being. They were the real deal, though they weren’t all named Jacques. Some of them were named Louis and one named Louis Joliet ranks right up there with Lewis and Clark, when it comes to being a trailblazer.

Born near Quebec City, Joliet became a trapper after bailing out of a path to become a priest. An accomplished harpsichordist and organist, Louis not only spoke French but several of the native languages as well, and he became a trapper and explorer extraordinaire. He and his buddy Jacques Marquette (see, there were real French trapper/explorers named Jacques), discovered the headwaters of the Mississippi River and were the first to map its entire length. Joliet, Illinois, among other places is named after him.

Ok…I’m back. This is a blog post about sketching after all. I sometimes get lost in Quebec’s history. In short, he was a big deal and one of Quebec’s best sculptors, Suzor-Côte created a wonderful bronze statue of the man. It resides against the walls of the Quebec Parliament with other statues of famous Quebecers, each with their own place in history.

On this day, I only sketched one of them, otherwise you’d have to endure more history lessons. Instead I’ll just tell you that I sketched in a Stillman & Birn Beta (6×9) using my Namiki Falcon and DeAtramentis Document Black ink. If you follow this blog you know that I’m really partial to the Falcon/Document Black combo. It’s fantastic for pen and wash, though in this case I got lazy and didn’t put any color on the sketch. The sketch is probably the better for it.

Sketching At The Zoo Park

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Larry Marshall

My wife, Chantal, took a vacation day and I coerced her into going sketching with me. She’s quite good at sketching but is convinced otherwise so it’s a special treat when I can get her to go out with me. I think it was my sneaky approach of suggesting a nice, relaxing time sitting in the shade at the Zoo Park that did it.

I really have no idea what name is currently slapped on this park. It may be the Parc des Moulins but don’t quote me on that. What I do know is that it’s a sad reminder of a bad political decision that resulted in our city losing our zoo. The park that remains is nice but not nearly as nice as when the trees had to share space with monkeys, bears, and eagles.

But we did find that shade, which disappeared half-way through our drawing. I think the tree we were shaded by moved. We took a break, ate a nice lunch and then continued to finish our sketches while sitting in the sun. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Stillman & Birn Beta (6x9), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Beta (6×9), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

When we finished up I suggested we stop and get an ice cream cone, knowing this would be get a positive response. We went to a store that’s in a house that looks exactly like the one the Adams Family inhabited and sat outside, in the shade of course, and enjoyed a slight breeze that kept the high humidity at bay. There was a nice, tall clock in the courtyard and I did this quick sketch of it in my Field Notes “scribbler.” I continue to be impressed with the paper in this new Field Notes issue.

Field Notes (3x5), Platinum Carbon Pen, Platinum Carbon Ink

Field Notes (3×5), Platinum Carbon Pen, Platinum Carbon Ink