Walking Through The Park

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Larry Marshall

Summer means a lot of walking for me. I’ll regularly walk a couple hours a day and often those walks take me to the largest park in Quebec City, Battlefield Park, or what most still call the Plains of Abraham, after a farmer who tilled the area before British and French soldiers stomped around in the fields.

These days, the park is more tranquil, with rolling hills, lots of grass, lots of shade trees. Oh…and lots of stuff to draw, including this building, which serves as something of a service center for the park.

While I was drawing I was approached by a tourist from Peru. We tried our best to have a conversation but my Spanish is worse than my French and English and so we were limited, mostly, to smiling at each other but somehow we managed to communicate. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. You meet the nicest people while sketching.

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

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

Sketching Together: July 12th

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Larry Marshall

For a while we had regular sketchcrawls in Quebec City. With each one we gained more and more participants because everyone found them so much fun. Well, just like the Terminator, “We’re back!”

Yvan Breton has proposed that we have monthly sketchcrawls on the second Sunday of every month. These will be informal events with time and location suggested but otherwise, it’s up to you to bring your sketching materials and lunch. You’ll get out of these events what you put into them but most people immediately start enjoying the comaraderie of the events and they learn from each other about techniques, tools, and maybe different ways to enjoy sketching.

Women enjoying the ambiance of Parc Jean D’Arc

Kiosk at the west end of Parc Jean D’Arc

Our first event will take place in Parc Jean D’Arc, on the Plains of Abraham, on Sunday, July 12th. We’ll start at 9:30 and finish no later than 4:00, with a lunch break somewhere in between. For more information, Yvan has set up a web page with all the information here. We hope you’ll join us.

Outdoor Car Show Sketching

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Larry Marshall

Last weekend I went to a large, outdoor car show in the park at Montmorency Falls, just east of Quebec City. This is a show of hundreds of cars with thousands of people paying their eight bucks to look at them.

I mention this because people who haven’t done much location sketching often express how they’d be afraid to sketch in public. I always respond with “people interaction is one of the best things about location sketching because only nice people ever talk to you and the interactions are always fun.”

I have to revise that view just a little bit. Am I a bad person for getting annoyed at LOTS of people being really nice? I started sketching and because there were so many people telling me how talented I was, asking if I was an artist, and telling me that they couldn’t draw, that I had a hard time actually getting any sketching accomplished. Still, it was a great day and the people were wonderful.

I’m old, so ‘cool car’ means cars that existed when I was a kid. In 1956 I was eight years old and Ford Fairlanes were everywhere. And so, with every car imaginable on display, it was nature for me to find a ’56 Fairlane to draw. I sort of messed up the wheels but otherwise I was happy with this result.

Stillman & Birn Gamma, Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

After attracting more than my share of observers while doing that long sketch, I decided a better tactic might be to wander around, drawing pieces of cars. That was fun too and I did this page. I didn’t complete the ’30s Ford front end as, well, I was getting really hungry and I would have had to stand in line for an hour to get something to eat. I didn’t have the patience for that so I decided to go home.

Stillman & Birn Gamma (10x7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

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

Parc Des Braves – Quebec City

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Larry Marshall

A few days ago I talked about Parc des braves and showed you a sketch I’d done of the toilet building. I was back in that neighborhood and decided to draw the large monument in front of the parc. This monument is in tribute to soldiers who died in one of the final battles (1760) of the French-English war. It’s hard to capture a monument this tall but I hope I’ve done it justice.

Stillman & BIrn Beta (9x12), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

Stillman & BIrn Beta (9×12), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

Sketching At Caleshes Quebec

Posted on June 27, 2015 by Larry Marshall

While the mayor of New York wants to eliminate the horse-drawn carriages from Central Park, Quebec embraces them. They are part of our tourist trade and are responsible for relieving tourists from around the world of their money. They also provide an ambiance that is pretty darn special.

I was excited to learn that one of the members of Le Collectif had arranged for us to get a couple hours to sketch at Caleches Quebec and their stable area. It was more than a bit cool the morning we met and I wished I’d worn a jacket, but it didn’t dampen my spirits. There were ten or more of us, sitting in the paddock area, trying to draw the horses who were wandering around in the pasture. I’d drawn a horse statue before but never horses. I definitely need more practice.

Stillman & Birn Gamma, Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

Poor horses. Every one of them looked better than I depicted them. Here’s a couple more partial sketches.

Practice, practice, practice. Before leaving I decided that I should capture something of the place so I walked out to the entrance and drew the view as you enter the area. It was a wonderful day but please, don’t tell the horses how poorly I drew them. I hang out with these guys all summer as we both march around the old city, me sketching and them making tourists happy.

Stillman & Birn Gamma, Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black