I was out walking the other day and realized that I’d forgotten my stool. This limits where I can sit to sketch so I started looking for the magic sketcher’s triad. A shady spot, a subject to sketch, and something to sit on. Eventually I found a bench under a tree and the end of a bridge I could sketch. This was the result.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (5×8), Esterbrook J9550, diluted DeAtramentis Document Black
Our group wanted to sketch some more in the allies of Limoilou. I’ve written about our previous sketching sessions there. This part of the city was built mostly during the period where alleyways were used for garbage collection, electric wires, and other services.
But while the rest of the group headed off to the alleys, I decided to draw a chapel on 3rd Avenue. I’ve wanted to sketch it for a long time and think most about the idea when there are no leaves on the trees as this affords a better view of the building. But trees are nice too and this is what it looks like in July.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (5×8), Esterbrook J9550, diluted DeAtramentis Document Black
When I finished I wandered around the alleys looking for the group. I found them and they were all finishing up drawing an alley scene. I only had a few minutes but I documented this gaggle of sketchers.
Previously I posted some sketches I did at an event hosted by the Charlesbourg Watercolorists at Gallerie Magella-Paradis in the north part of Quebec City. I guess Yvan and I didn’t make too much of a nuisance of ourselves because we were invited back when the group decided to do it again. I don’t really have much to say about the day that wasn’t said the first time we went except that these folks are really nice and the weather much better than the first time we attended.
Here are the sketches I did, all in a Stillman & Birn softcover (5.5×8.5) sketchbook. I used an Esterbrook J2048 pen with DeAtramentis Document Black ink. Clicking on them will make them larger.
“Artillery Park” is a name given to a cluster of buildings that used to be an ammunition factory but that now is a mix of a tourist spot, a park and two small museums. It’s also going to be the site of our Fêtes de Nouvelle France this year. But on this day, it was where Yvan and I went to sketch. There are a bunch of nice scenes to be had there and we’ve both sketched there before, but we’ve yet to wear it out so we aimed our pointy devices at it again.
Photo by Yvan Breton
Photo by Yvan Breton
I chose to draw the backside of a small administration building that features a couple really humongous chimneys. Why they’re so big I haven’t a clue as the building itself isn’t that large. But I thought it made for a nice scene. Besides, the city had set up signs for me so I’d have a protected place to sit while drawing.
I had a lot of fun with this sketch but confess that I struggled with the perspective of those big chimneys for some reason. Just couldn’t ‘see’ them right.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (6×9), Esterbrook J2048, DeAtramentis Document Black
Ile aux Grues (Crane Island) is the largest islandof an archipelago in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, near the point where it widens into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It can only be reached by ferry and then only when the tides are favorable enough to provide enough depth for the ferry. The few children that live there go to school on an airplane every day, which sounds pretty cool to me.
Last Wednesday, though, it was sketching day and five of us went sailing to Ile aux Grues for a day of sketching. It was an ideal day. As we learned late in the day, this included a breeze which kept the mosquitos away from us.
The hike across the island is 1.2 km through oat and corn fields, with church steeples sticking up out of the greenery and everywhere you looked was a sketching subject. There is just one idyllic scene after the other on the island and it was hard to decide where to stop, until we came to the location of this scene. All of us wanted to draw it so we spread out to our favorite perch and point of view and set to work. Next time I do this scene I’ll get closer. Maybe I’ll also be better 🙂
Stillman & Birn Alpha, Esterbrook J2048, DeAtramentis Document Black
Then it was time for lunch and more walking. Some started searching for a bathroom. But once lunch was over we split up again to sketch. I walked back down the road to a place we’d passed that I thought particularly interesting and started sketching. It was so pleasant that once in a while, I’d pop out of my sketching meditation and just sit, looking out at a ship passing by or a seagull squawking about something. This was a day that sketchers dream of, only I was living it.
But, at one point, the rest of our group came marching down the road in my sketch and ‘decided’ that my sketch was finished, which is why I present it in kinda-sorta, almost finished condition. They wanted to walk down to the cheese factory (the island is known for its high-quality cheeses) and that’s just what we did.
Stillman & Birn Alpha (6×9), Platinum 3776, Platinum Carbon Black
There’s not much point in buying cheese if you’re not going to eat some of it so we all reconnoitered around a picnic table in the camping area and chowed down on cheese and crackers.
After a while we realized that we had to make our way back to the ferry landing and the person in the campground gave us “instructions” (note the quotes) for how we could “just walk down this dirt road and turn right.” Well, that put us in the middle of a mosquito-infested forest with what was sort of a trail, but not really. We did eventually make it back to the ferry but this is exactly why men don’t ask for directions 🙂
Our day wasn’t done, though. We had an hour to wait for the ferry and so we drank some coffee and I wandered down the queue with Yvan where he gave me a great lesson in starting with general pencil tone, followed by drawing on top of it. It was quite an eye-opener. Now, if only I can get it into my brain.