Last Trip To The Museum Before Christmas

Posted on December 23, 2016 by Larry Marshall

With my daughter coming home for Christmas, and Chantal getting a few days off, I won’t be doing any location sketching for a while. But I did go with the gang to the museum for a pre-holiday sketching session. They wanted to sketch some of the folk art nativity scene that is now in place there. If nothing else, it demonstrates imagination on the part of its creator. Have you ever seen a flying cow-fish?

I decided to sketch a wooden carving of a fusilier in another part of the museum. It is fairly large, almost telephone pole diameter and quite black, as though it had been creosote treated. In spite of this, it suffers from severe cracking in places. Nevertheless, it’s an impressive carving, far more impressive than my sketch of it I’m afraid. I got caught between wanting to include detail and the fact that the entire left side was in deep shadow, almost black. Like every sketch, though, it was fun to do which is why I do them.

Stillman & Birn Beta (8×10) softcover, Platinum Carbon ink, Platinum 3776 pen

When I finished I headed up to the nativity scene and found everyone busy drawing. They were talking about getting coffee, though, so I just sat down and waited for them. The thing is, I can’t sit for very long without getting out a sketchbook and I did this quick sketch of Lisette, busy sketching some wooden guy (I think, but I was too far away to know for sure) in a large glass case.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (8.5×5.5) softcover

I’ll probably put together some sort of post during the holidays but I’m not sure what. I willl be spending lots of time eating and sketching, though, so there will probably be something to post. In the meantime, and since it’s December 23rd,

Happy Festivas

A Quick Trip Across The River

Posted on December 22, 2016 by Larry Marshall

We made a quick sketching trip across the St. Lawrence River, back to Maison Alphonse-Dejardins last week. With the holidays rushing towards us I entirely forgot to write about it so here’s the abridged version.

We went. We were there. We had fun. I drew a cabinet hanging on the kitchen wall, mostly because of all the goodies hanging from it. I shot this photo of sketch and cabinet as I waited for the first bit of paint to dry. Once dry, I added more color and this was the result. I mucked up the shadows but nobody’s perfect 🙂 Done in a Stillman & Birn Beta (8×10) softcover. I’ve fallen in love with these sketchbooks. Same great paper as my hardcover books but at almost half the weight.

I thought I’d throw in this small sketch I did of one of the lights in the house. I did it quickly a few weeks ago while waiting for others to finish up.

It was great to get out sketching on location again, in spite of the snow and the cold. I suspect I’ll be returning to Maison Alphonse-Dejardins this winter.

Leaf-tailed Geckos In Quebec

Posted on December 20, 2016 by Larry Marshall

In the nanotechnology exhibit of our museum rests a glass box and inside is a stick and a small plant – a terrarium of sorts. It’s raison d’etre is to house two of the oddest creatures – leaf-tailed geckos.

They’re only six inches long. They have none of the flair of the whiptail lizards I used to chase when I lived in Arizona and none of the venom of the gila monsters I avoided. No, if you walked by these guys in a forest you wouldn’t even see them and quite often that’s the situation in our museum as well. I’d been waiting for today.

You see, the reason they’re in our nanotechnology exhibit is that they have nano-hairs on their feet. These are hairs so fine that they can cling to glass, those hairs ‘sticking’ to glass molecules using Vanderwaal forces, the forces that hold molecules together. And finally, today, one of these lizards was sticking to the glass out where I could see and draw him.

The view I had was a top view and I wanted to capture both its shape and the fact that when they do this they are squashed down flat to the glass. They remind me of how Wile E. Coyote looks after the Roadrunner dropped an anvil on him. They are really flat. In the end it doesn’t make much of a sketch but I walked away quite satisfied that I’d accomplished the task.

Sketching With The Jesuits

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Larry Marshall

Last Sunday we met at the Maison des Jésuites de Sillery as our monthly Croquistes de Québec sketchcrawl. Our time window was short because these small museums that are scattered around Quebec don’t open until 1PM during the winter but they are warm and they do have stuff to draw. This particular place is a large two-story house, associated chapel, and the foundations of the original church that was across the street. Contained within it are a bunch of artifacts that tell the story of this 18th Century missionary settlement.

While most were drawn to displays on the second floor, I couldn’t resist the golden eagle that was on display. Halfway through the drawing I was wishing I’d chosen something else. Did you realize that eagles have a lot of feathers? I did like this view, however, as it’s a little different than the typical sideways, head up of most eagle photos/drawings. Anyways, here’s what resulted from my interaction with this beautiful bird.

Stillman & Birn Beta softcover (8×10), Pilot Falcon, Diluted DeAtramentis Document Black

Old-Time Kitchen Sketching

Posted on December 11, 2016 by Larry Marshall

In recent weeks I’ve had to forsake urban sketching because it’s just too darn cold outside and so I’ve started doing domestic sketching (my name for studio sketching as the opposite of urban sketching) and historic sketching (drawing from old photos). Seems there is jargon-ese convergence in what I present today – historic, domestic, urban sketching.

Yvan and I braved the cold and took the ferry to Levis, where we climbed the hill and made our way to Maison Alphonse-Dejardins. Dejardins is the guy who started the Quebec banking system and his home is now a museum in his honor. I was on location and sketching and thus, I was an urban sketcher again. But this time my target was the sink and counter in the smallish kitchen in this home. Next time I’ll do the coal-fired stove cuz it’s a dandy. And in one swoop, this sketch is both historic and domestic. Voila, I did historic, domestic, urban sketching (grin).

I know, I’m being silly, but then the labels we put on everything, and worse, the debates over what qualifies as fitting a label are pretty silly too. Anyways, here’s the sketch I did in a Stillman & Birn Beta (8×10) softcover sketchbook. I kinda let the perspective get away from me but what the heck, if they were all perfect there’d be no reason to continue trying.