Tag Archives: Stillman & Birn softcover

Repaving The Neighborhood

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Quebec City is in the midst of a major infrastructure improvement program that includes replacing our sidewalks, curbs, some of the water and sewer lines, and ultimately, repaving our street.  Right now, though, it’s a mess.

We live, from 6:30AM until 5:30 with a near constant beep..beep…beep as big machines and trucks back up, and lots of general construction noise, but the activity does provide sketching opportunities.  Sadly, I haven’t take advantage of it because staying indoors or leaving is the only way to buffer against the noise driving me nuts.

When the workers go home, however, they do leave their toys behind and so I sat on my front porch and drew this large water truck whose job is to spray down the street to keep the dust down.  Not the most esthetically pleasing sketch but I had fun doing it.

Stillman & Birn Alpha softcover (5.5x8.5)

Stillman & Birn Alpha softcover (5.5×8.5)

The Fun Of Being Stumped

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stumpMy friend, Hubert Langevin, is on vacation but he took the time to send me this photo.  He knows I don’t sketch from photos but he thought I might make an exception in the case of this big, beautiful stump.  I suspect that he might also have been smiling with the thought of me trying to draw it (grin).

It did seem to be a worthy challenge so I dove in with pointy device flying and more confidence than was reasonable.  It’s a subject where you could easily get lost so I started very slowly, placing marks at major intersections.  Speed picked up as the overall shape was established and I started drawing the internal shapes. More than once I thought of the Cathy Johnson mantra – “they’re only shapes” as I tried to ‘see’ how everything fit together.  Once it was drawn I switched to a brush pen (Kuretake #13) to lay in some of the darks.

It was a really fun drawing to do and it was nice to sit at a desk, with no wind, no tripod stool, and the ability to have good light on both photo (actually my computer monitor) and sketchbook.

Thanks, Hubert.  This was lots of fun.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (5.5x8.5), Esterbrook J9550, diluted DeAtramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Alpha (5.5×8.5), Esterbrook J9550, diluted DeAtramentis Document Black

A Church Spire To Rule Them All

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I suspect that Quebec City has more church towers per capita than most place on Earth so a sketcher has many to draw,  but none of them comes close to the this amazing structure.  It reminds me of structures that the Legos folks come up with when trying to show off the complexity they can produce with colored blocks   This church is for sale, by the way, if you need a spacious art studio with some flare.

Anyways, on a sunny, but very windy day, I drew it, having a ball in spite of the wind and having to chase my hat on a couple occasions.  Hope you like it too.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (6x9) softcover, Esterbrook J9550, diluted DeAtramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Alpha (6×9) softcover, Namiki Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Brown

Ottawa Sketching??? Adventure

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Chantal and I headed off to Ottawa on a five day trip to visit our daughter.  Of course, I hoped to get some sketching done as well but on this trip it wasn’t the high priority.

Nevertheless, I contacted folks in the Ottawa Urban Sketchers via Facebook and one of the members said she’d send me an email to arrange a session.  Sadly, my host server’s spam mail filter decided it was spam so I never received it.  While disappointing, truth was, the rain would have likely scuttled any chance of meet up.  Next time for sure.

While waiting for our daughter to get out of work, Chantal indulged my passion by agreeing to wander around the nature museum while I sketched this guy.  While Fred Flintstone’s pet looked like a baby brontosaurus, I suspect that cavemen might have been happier with this dog-like beast.  The display only had the leg and back armor on one side, I drew it as it sat and thought it pretty cool.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (5.5x8.5softcover), Esterbrook J9550, diluted DeAtramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Alpha (5.5×8.5softcover), Esterbrook J9550, diluted DeAtramentis Document Black

We had a ball the rest of the week but there wasn’t much sketching involved.  I did a bunch of quick-sketches as people ran up and down the shopping malls while the family shopped.  We visited museums and walked a lot.  We ate too much.   We dodged the rain…lots of rain.

One evening I was sort of antsy about not having done any sketching so while the family was reading, I tried to channel Paul Heaston and drew my daughter’s kitchen.  I’m afraid that Paul and I had a bad connection because I don’t have the hatching/drawing skills that Paul has but I had fun doing it and that’s all that matters.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (3.5x5.5softcover), Esterbrook J9550, diluted DeAtramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Alpha (3.5×5.5softcover), Esterbrook J9550, diluted DeAtramentis Document Black

Sadly, it was time to leave but Ottawa hasn’t seen the last of me yet.  Besides, someone was coming for a visit in Quebec City and I had to be there to greet her.  More on that next time.

A Whale Of A Time In Tadoussac

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Tadoussac is a major whale-watching spot in North America.  It sits at the confluence of the Gulf of St. Lawrence (salt water) and a major river fiord (Saguenay River) that is both deep and rich in nutrients as it flows into the Gulf.  This interesting dynamic results in a place where large whales come into the Gulf just to amuse tourists paying to go out on boats to see them (I think that’s right), while smaller whales wander around in the mouth of the Sagueny, feeding.

This generates lots of tourist trade, boat traffic and a whole bunch of people sitting on rocks on the edge of the Saguenay, yelling “Ooooooo” in unison every time a whale decides to take a breathe.  This is great fun and very relaxing, except for my butt which doesn’t think much of sitting on rocks for long periods.

But I was there, with my family and as we watched for whales (saw pilot and beluga whales), I started making tiny sketches of the stuff I could see around me.  This was the end result.  I do a lot of tiny sketches but I rarely post them but in this case I did them all on one page and it does document the area…well, sort of.

Stillman & Birn Beta (8x10), Esterbrook J9550, DeAtramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Beta (8×10), Esterbrook J9550, DeAtramentis Document Black

After some whale watching we went back to the car to get stuff for a picnic and sat in a grassy area and chowed down, enjoying the sea breeze.  When we finished we headed back down the main street.

I posted a couple days ago a sketch of a Tadoussac street lamp that I sketched while I waited for wife and daughter near a public toilet, but I was not finished with my sketching day.  I’d seen a house that I thought particularly sketcha-genic so I proposed that we get an ice cream cone and sit on the boardwalk, watching the tour boats come and go.  We got the ice cream and I found a place for us to sit that just happened to let me sit on the end of the bench and see that house.   I managed to do this sketch of it while my family patiently waited.  They seemed amused by the interest shown in my scribbling by those passing by.

Stillman & Birn Beta (5x8), Esterbrook J9550, DeAtramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Beta (5×8), Esterbrook J9550, DeAtramentis Document Black

We had a great day as tourists and I had a fun time as a sketcher.  It couldn’t have been better.