Sketching Marais Du Nord, Quebec

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Larry Marshall

Marais du nord is one of my favorite places in the Quebec City area. It’s only a few kilometers out of town but when you go there, you leave the hectic, noisy city behind and enter the world of chittering squirrels, bird noises and, most of all, the silence and peace that comes from being close to nature.

Marais du nord (north marsh) is situated within and around a large expanse of marshland between Lac Delage and Lac St. Charles and is maintained by a consortium of concerned citizens who decided that too much of the land around the lakes was being bought up and developed. They took on the Herculean effort of convincing the government to give them money and developed the “park” (I’m not sure whether park or reserve is the better word) to maintain the marshland and to provide hiking trails, bridges, overlooks and benches for people wanting to get away from the city for a while. A lot of Quebec kids are getting to see nature up close because of Marais du nord.

Chantal and I headed there for the day, mostly to clear our heads with a bit of hiking, lunch in the woods, and maybe, just maybe, to find some mushrooms to sketch. She has a “mushroom book” in which she sketches mushrooms and the mushroom diversity at Marais du nord is extraordinary.

It was a glorious day, though it was cut a bit short by threatening clouds that dumped a few tons of water on us as we sat in the car. Sometimes things do work out and we guessed right this time. Nevertheless, we got some hiking done and found some of those mushrooms.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7), Namiki Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black

Because this was a hiking trip, the notion that I would spend a couple hours doing a landscape was out of the question. Chantal is patient but there are limits. There were mushrooms to find, afterall. I saw this lack of time as an opportunity to force myself to put into practice some of the stuff that Marc Taro Holmes is trying to teach those of us taking his Craftsy Travel Sketching in Mixed Media course.

I’ve been doing a bunch of quick, single-line sketches, trying to capture a scene quickly and simplifying by elimination of details. My typical sketching style makes it hard for me to capture a chunk of nature quickly; nature is just too darn complex. So I decided to see if I could grab a scene quickly. I didn’t use the single-line approach but worked VERY loose and quick, for me, and in 10-12 minutes I’d done this drawing. This was nothing short of a miracle for me as I can burn an hour drawing a single tree. The bridge would have taken another hour. I did several of these quick sketches during the day and I was generally pleased with the results. Maybe Marc’s right and that by the time I’ve finished up a few dozen of those single-line sketches I’ll have figured it out.

10-12 minute sketch in Stillman & Birn Beta (9×12), Namiki Falcon & Kuretake #13 brush pen.

Marc Taro Holmes Comes To Visit

Posted on September 12, 2015 by Larry Marshall

I’m fortunate to have some sketchers that I can sketch with regularly but I confess that sometimes I feel isolated from things like urban sketchers, as we have no regional group here. So when Marc Taro Holmes said he’d like to come to Quebec City to sketch, I was pretty excited. I’m a big fan of his and have learned a lot from his book and from his Craftsy courses.

He and his wife Laurel were to arrive Sunday morning and so I was sitting outside their hotel, waiting for them to arrive. It seemed natural that I should sketch the hotel while I waited.

With that done, I did this quick sketch of a bronze bust of a famous Vietnamese guy, whose name eludes me.

I was getting a bit worried because they were very late in arriving. As it turned out, most of their hold up was due to problems finding a place to park. By the time they did show up, I’d done this sketch of a lamp post. It’s amazing how much you can find to draw without moving.

As Marc and Laurel had driven from Montreal, they needed a break before we headed out sketching and so we headed for a coffee shop. Anyone who has met Laurel and Marc know they are very laid back, and absolutely wonderful people. We talked about sketching, did the typical kibbitz about some of our sketching kit and then I made my confession.

“Marc, I’ve got a problem. We’re going to sketch in places where I can sketch any day of the week. I can’t look over Marc Taro Holmes’ shoulder any day of the week. It’s going to be hard for me to sketch today.”

I’m pretty sure Marc thought I was kidding but…well, I wasn’t. As it turned out, my statement was prophetic. While I was embarrassed that all my pen could produce was babble, and precious little of that, I learned so much from watching Marc draw and from our conversations. This is the only sketch I managed to produce while Marc produced four 16×20 sketches during the day. It was a bit embarrassing.

Marc, doing his thing on the terrace near Chateau Frontenac

The conversation stuff was another “problem.” Marc can talk while he draws; I cannot, and our conversations were near nonstop. In spite of me dropping the sketching ball, the day was very special to me and I hope Marc and Laurel enjoyed themselves in Quebec City. Thanks, Marc, for a great day. I promise to sketch more next time.

Here’s the ‘thing’ Marc was doing. He spent the day working with dip pens and doing magic

A Day With My Daughter

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Larry Marshall

My daughter returned to school last week but before she did we spent one morning wandering around old Quebec City, enjoying an unseasonably warm day. We sat down near City Hall in the new fountain area south of the building and while we chatted, I did this quick sketch.

We continued walking, talking and generally wasting time until hunger took hold. We decided to head to one of my favorite spots for lunch, McDonalds. Not any old McDonalds as I’m not particularly fond of the food, but rather the McDonalds on St. Jean street, where you can sit in a window on the 2nd floor and look out at great scenes and down on lots of tourists. I’ve done a lot of sketches from this perch (their coffee ain’t bad). On this day, since I didn’t want to spend a lot of time ignoring my daughter, I did a simple sketch of the window contents across the street. The pitcher was tall and very striking. I doubt I did it justice in the few minutes I spent on it.

My daughter was supposed to meet someone downtown in the afternoon and so eventually we split up and I headed home. On my way I found that the Levis Marathon, an annual event, was finishing up. I decided to quickly sketch some of the spectators lined up along the receiving path the runners took to the finish line, along with the proverbial guy who feels the need to climb up on the fence to be above everyone else.

It was a good day. Not a lot of sketching but just enough. In writing this I’m realizing just how far behind I am in blog posting as this day took place more than a week ago. I’ll try to get caught up ‘real soon.’

Jupon Presse On Rue St. Jean

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Larry Marshall

We’re getting bonus summer here. Maybe it’s payback for the lousy June and July we had 🙂 In any case, I’ve been taking advantage of it and doing a lot of walking and sketching.

I found myself on Rue St. Jean, one of the iconic streets that lead from the old city through, coincidentally, the St. Jean Gate. A few blocks from the old city is an old church and an accompanying cemetery with headstones that date back into the 1700s. This was the ‘edge of town’ cemetery back then, I suppose.

It has become a park, as the graves were all moved at some point, though many of the original gravestones remain, it’s where downtown people go to eat lunch and enjoy the trees and park benches. I was going to draw some of the old head stones, but as I rounded the end of the church I saw this store across the street from the church. I’m sure I’ve walked under those awnings a bunch of times but I’ve never noticed them. From the cemetery the store was hard to miss and I found the place really cute. So I drew it.

ps – I was asked the other day what watercolors I use. I use Daniel Smith and love them. I wish they’d pay me to say that but they don’t. You can get their color chart here.

Stillman & Birn Beta (6x9), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Beta (6×9), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

Sketchcrawl At Bois Du Coulonge

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Larry Marshall

This month’s Croquistes de Quebec sketchcrawl will be held at Bois du Coulonge. If you’re unfamiliar with the park, it’s a gorgeous piece of land with trails through the forest, large gardens, a few buildings and bridges, and views of the St. Lawrence River. In short, it’s a fantastic place for a sketchcrawl.

We’ll be there on Sunday, Sept 13th, starting at 9:30. We should eat lunch together (bring your lunch) around 12:00 and then sketch again in the afternoon. Hope you can be there. For more info, go to the Croquistes de Quebec website.