New Sketching Hat

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Larry Marshall

During much of the year I wear a leather hat that has big furry flaps. It’s a reflection of Quebec temperatures. But when late spring and summer roll around, I need some shade, particularly while I’m sketching.

For that I’ve used an old Tilley hat. It’s one of the original designs and I bought it in the mid-90s. It’s still fine but I like the looks of the newer style Tilley hats and so I plunked down my argent, as we call it here, and brought one home. I love it as its lighter than my original and fits better on my semi-square head.

It seemed only fitting that I sketch my sketching hat so enlisted Winnie the Pooh to model it while I that. He liked it too but had one criticism. He thinks it needs a couple holes for ears because he wasn’t able to pull it down onto his head properly.

Sketching A Memory Of 1759

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Larry Marshall

There’s a hospital a mere half hour walk from my house that has a small cemetery associated with it. It’s somewhat special because there is a sculpture that honors French soldiers who died during the Seven Years War (1756-1763) as well as a series of plaques listing their names, by year. It’s also the case that Montcalm, the Commander of French forces is interred there. Montcalm was killed during a battle on the Plains of Abraham, the battle that was the turning point of the war in favor of the British, though the British commander, Wolfe was killed as well.

My Sketch with the sculpture in the background. Stillman & Birn Beta, Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

I mention all this because I met with Claudette, Louise and Fernande to draw the sculpture on a day that was too cold and windy for reasonable people to be outside, but we’re tired of waiting for spring. So, bundled up and huddled against the wind, we drew, we laughed, and enjoyed each other’s company. I had the presence of mind (an odd thing for me) to take a photo of the group so you can finally meet some of my friends. I also had the opportunity to take quick photos of their sketches so I can share those with you as well. Hope you enjoy them. They’re very talented sketchers.

LtoR: Louise, Claudette and Fernande

Claudette’s sketch

Fernande’s sketch

Louise’s sketch

Just Me, The Kids, And The Dinosaurs

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Larry Marshall

When we returned from Toronto we wanted to spend a few more hours in Ottawa, preferably not walking a gazillion steps, before we piled in the car and pointed it towards Quebec City. Somehow, and I’m still wondering how, it was decided that we should walk, just shy of a gazillion steps, to the Canadian Museum of Nature , where we would ALL sketch. Yep, you heard that right. My wife and daughter produced sketchbooks and we all headed to the museum. Maybe I was dreaming.

I wanted to draw in the dinosaur rooms. They wanted to draw mammals. We split up and agreed to meet in a couple hours. Group sketching is always fun, but amounts to people getting together so they can ignore each other for extended periods of time. This is punctuated by greeting each other again and the intense kibbitzing that friends do when they haven’t talked in a while. We sketchers are a crazy lot but we’re having more fun than most people.

And so it was as I headed off to draw more bones. But I didn’t. I went into a room where they had a room-sized diorama, with two Tyranosauruses (Tyranosaurusii??) looking over a walkway, mouths open and looking hungry. On the other side were two Tricerotops in defensive positions. I’m no James Gurney but I had to try to draw one of these guys. I also got to draw in one of the new 9×12 Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbooks. I think I’m going to like this size, though it does present some scanning issues.

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

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

As I drew I learned that this was a prime stop for school tours. They bring the kids in and ask them questions like “What do you think these Tyranosauruses eat?” and “Do you think they are hungry?” And as the kids stand between the participants in this confrontation between predator and prey their eyes get big and they become very quiet. It’s fun to watch.

And the kids were lots of fun. They’re always curious. They can relate to people drawing better than adults can. But they are reluctant to talk until you look up and say hi. Then the fun begins. One kid wanted to buy my sketch. Another said, “Hey, that looks just like a dinosaur.” But mostly we talked about how much fun it was to be at the museum. It was a very good morning.

Best of all, when I met up with family, they’d had fun sketching lions, rabbits, pikas, bats, and owls. They were smiling. And we only had “just shy of a gazillion steps” to walk to get back to where the car was parked.

Drawing Some Bones

Posted on May 10, 2015 by Larry Marshall

My family is great. While I was in Ottawa they understood that I was frustrated by not being able to sit down and sketch for an extended period. I didn’t have to say it – they knew. And so, the day before we left for Toronto, they sent me off to sketch by myself. Hmm…or maybe they were just tired of my presence and wanted to get rid of me. Either way, I got to go sketching.

I headed immediately for the Canadian Museum of Nature which is spectacular. We’d spent an evening doing a quick tour of the place and I could spend a lifetime sketching there. But I was after bones. Dinosaur bones.

Ever since Tina Koyama started posting her sketches of bones contained in a Seattle museum, I’ve wanted to draw some myself, but bones are sorely lacking in Quebec City, except those holding up the bags of water that march along the streets.

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

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

Once I paid the entry fee, and became a member of the museum, I headed directly for the dinosaur portion of the museum. It was a great morning as crowds were minimal, the security guard was really nice and we had a great conversation about sketching and photography, and I got to draw bones. Here are a couple of my efforts. What fun! The shapes are interesting, complex and organic.

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

Opportunistic Sketching In Ottawa

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Larry Marshall

I was in Ottawa to pick up my daughter, who was coming home for the summer. My wife and I decided it would be a good idea to spend a few days there and, I decided it would be a good idea to also drive to Toronto to see a Blue Jays game, though in my defense, it was my daughter’s idea.

And so it was that I found myself as a tourist, with my family, as we wandered the city, mostly just eating, drinking and relaxing. Many have discussed the difficulties of sketching while on excursions with ~~non-believers~~, err… non-sketchers and I’m no exception to this struggle. Still, if one takes advantage of opportunities and is happy with quick-sketching, sketching can become part of the experience. Here are a few of the small sketches I did while in Ottawa.

We were walking along the Rideau Canal, enjoying the sunshinek and using phrases like “it’s hot today” for the first time in months. We were thoroughly enjoying ourselves. My wife and I decided to give our daughter a rest (that’s our story and we’re sticking to it) so we sat down on a bench. I got out my sketchbook (3×5) and did this quick sketch of a couple girls talking on the other side of the canal.

Once my daughter was well-rested we moved on. We walked and walked and walked. If you lined up all of our steps in a straight line it would be a very long straight line. But it was fun even for an old man like myself.

We sat on the grass in front of Parliament, along with a bunch of other like-minded (tired from walking no doubt) folks and, as a group, worked on our sunburns. After that was accomplished we went across the street to the information center. I’ve found I can get a lot of sketching done while women are in the bathroom and so I started quick-sketching people walking across the street. Parliament should be in the background somewhere but there’s only so much bathroom time available and I was pushing it. Color was added later that evening.

At one point we were in a park not far from the US embassy and the art museum. I don’t know its name and you probably don’t care anyway. We were drinking bubble tea. Lots of other folks were enjoying the day and I decided to quickly sketch a few of them. Here’s one of those sketches, again done in the 3×5 sketchbook.

We went walking again when we returned from Toronto. There are numerous places where you can look over the Ottawa River and I decided that I needed to do a small cityscape. I typically fail at this because I try to put too much detail in too small a space, so I was determined to keep this one spartan, quick, and clean. I hope I succeeded. I did this one in a Moleskine watercolor book; the brown came from a waterbrush filled with dilute Noodler’s #41 brown ink.

Last and probably least I’ll share with you a sketch I did of my new favorite hyper-sweet drink. It’s called bubble tea and is composed of tea, a bit of milk and sugar, a choice of flavoring, and a bunch of huge tapioca balls, called “babba” that are soaked in something that makes them black. They give you a big diameter straw so you can suck these things up along with the drink. Great opportunity to play with your food.