Sketching Doesn’t Have To Be Good To Have a Good Day Sketching

Posted on January 30, 2016 by Larry Marshall

Sometimes my sketches don’t work out. Yvan and I headed to the south shore of the St. Lawrence to sit in the new ferry terminal and sketch the Quebec City skyline on the north shore of the river.

The view is great but the buildings are small from that distance. On a clear day the morning sun provides sufficient contrast to allow one to make out the building relationships but on this morning, Mr. Sun was sleeping in and the buildings sort of blended into one another. We tried to sketch and while Yvan was successful (he always is), I struggled with a couple false starts and I never did get a decent sketch done. This was the best I could muster.

Platinum 3776, DeAtramentis Document Black

The results may suggest that this wasn’t a great sketching day, but exactly the opposite was the case. Yvan and I went downstairs and got coffee at the newly opened Tim Hortons. I did a small sketch out the window but the real fun was that we got out some watercolor paper and started discussing color, mixing and matching. I’m sure this is how kids feel when they finger paint but, of course, we were very adult about it and we had a lot of fun.

small 4×6 sketch – Platinum 3776, DeAtramentis Document Black

As we played with my paints, we talked about drawing, my favorite subject. Yvan is a veritable fountain of drawing knowledge and I’m finally experienced enough to understand what he’s telling me most of the time. His mentorship is priceless. It was a spectacular sketching day. Tomorrow we’re headed back to the museum. I love it that I have to maintain a calendar of my sketching sessions.

Collectif Rendevous At The Museum Of Civilisation

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Larry Marshall

The Collectif group in Quebec City held its annual rendevous at Quebec’s Musée de la civilisation last Saturday. Unfortunately, a bunch of the regulars were playing snowbirds in one for or another and so turnout was down from previous years. Nevertheless, we had a great time.

I started sketching in the Egypt exhibit, where I drew this pharoah mask. I used Faber-Castell Albrecht-Durer watercolor pencils for color. It’s hard to deal with color in that exhibit because it’s so dark so it’s hard to know what you’ve got until you’re done and eating lunch (grin).

Fabriano Artistico CP, DeAtramentis Document Black, Pilot Falcon

I took a short break by wandering around a bit and when I saw this large Australian aboriginal totem I had to translate it to paper. Pretty simple drawing. Lots of fun. It’s good to be back out sketching.

Fabriano Artistico CP, DeAtramentis Document Black, Pilot Metropolitan

Cruising Down The Nile

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Larry Marshall

Egyptian culture was inseparable from the Nile River. It was a source of water, provided fertile soils for agriculture, fish were a ready protein supply, and the bullrushes that grew along its banks provided material for baskets, floor mats, and other Egyptian stuff.

But heck, you gotta suppose that Egyptians used it for fun too. Swimming might not have been a great idea because the Nile was home to crocodiles but how about hopping in the family yacht and going for a cruise. Egyptians must have done that. And one of the objects in our museum’s Egyptian exhibit is a large (4-feet long) wooden model of an Egyptian boat, complete with several people standing on deck. It seemed that sketching it was the right thing to do. Hope you like it.

Fabriano Artistico cold-press, DeAtramentis Document Black, Pilot Metropolitan F

What’s In The News Sketching – Quebec City Hall

Posted on January 24, 2016 by Larry Marshall

I was still resurrecting our house from the recent construction and so couldn’t get out sketching, but I was desperate to do something other than quick doodles. I was reading the newspaper over lunch when I came across a picture of the top of our city hall and decided to sketch it.

I don’t sketch from photos and other than quick doodles, I rarely sketch at home, so this was…what’s the word… err… uhm… oh yeah… DIFFERENT. I was sitting at our kitchen table, in a real chair, with paper resting on a hard surface. What a difference that makes. It’s a lot easier to draw this way than perched on my tripod stool on location. I can’t say its as much fun but maybe I should do it more often. Anyways, here’s the top of Quebec City’s seat of government. Tomorrow I’m heading to the museum.

Fabriano Artistico cold press, DeAtramentis Document Black, Pilot Metropolitan F

Sketching As The Walls Fall Down

Posted on January 22, 2016 by Larry Marshall

I’ve been failing my blogging duties, not having posted anything in nearly a week. Sorry about that, but I have an excuse…sort of. I haven’t been doing any sketching either…sort of. But, as I said, I have an excuse…sort of.

You see, one of my addictions is books. I have more than a few of them. And its from there that my excuse comes. All of my books are in our “library”, which means a room that is crammed to the gills with bookshelves and my office desk. And, well, a problem arose, or maybe to be more precise, it descended.

My meager, multi-ton book collection broke some joists that hold up the floor and, well, it descended, at least partially. It wasn’t a cartoon affair where one minute I was sitting at my desk and the next I was sitting in the basement. This was an “Geez…the floor is sinking and what’s that gap between the wall and the floor” situation.

So rather than blogging and sketching I’ve been moving everything from the room, stashing it everywhere around our house. Then I spent a couple days doing things I’m neither physically capable of doing nor did I have the knowledge to do it. But, with the help of my wife, we made a complete mess of the basement but we fixed the floor/ceiling above. The house is now stronger than it’s ever been. I am less so. Then came the need to move everything back into the room, some of the library ending up downstairs to spread the load, and now I’m back, with only a few bruises to show for it.

But I haven’t been out sketching so what to blog about…hmmm. I thought I’d share with you some of the little sketches I do when my brain needs a fix and I can’t get out. These are typically done in minutes, from photos, TV or simply from imagination. The largest one (the bus) is 3″ square. I hope you like them.