While Walking Through The Park One Day….

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Larry Marshall

Yvan and I planned a sketching session on St. Denis street and we were to meet there. This street has many majestic residences and a large grassy area in front of them so it’s an ideal place to sketch.

As I arrived I realized that I’d forgotten my WalkStool. This is a big problem as my knees and me don’t much like sitting on the ground, for fear that we’ll never be able to get back up.

And so the search began for a sitting place with something in front of me to sketch. It’s not really rocket science but I wandered around for a while before finding such a combination. I ended up in the Parc des Governeurs, a small park between the Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City’s tourist landmark and the American consulate.

Both of these buildings are great sketching subjects but I chose this more humble structure that sits in the park. Yvan suggested that it was once a toilet but these days it looks to be used by maintenance people. In any case, it had a bench, in the shade, and so I sketched it in my Stillman & Birn Zeta (5×8) with a Pilot Prera and Platinum Carbon Black ink. I used Lexington Gray for the stairs in the background. I’m enjoying the contrast between these two inks. As always, I used Winsor & Newton watercolors like crayons to add some color.

A Red Flag Will Stop A Sketcher Every Time

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Larry Marshall

As an urban sketcher, with a penchant for the mundane, I couldn’t pass up this scene. The railroad track in the background feeds into the train station here in Quebec City. A passenger train was headed inbound. The track in the foreground is a seldom-used track that allows a connection between a huge cargo facility on one side of a river and another one on the other side. Not much traffic but they’re not interested in any at all when the passenger trains come and go (only a few times a day).

And so, they clip this flag to the track, to let anyone thinking of taking their train engine for a spin, not to do it. The bright red flag created an interesting scene, at least to me. Done in my Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7) with a Pilot Prera, PCB ink, W&N artist watercolors and limited skill.

Urban Sketcher Communes With Nature

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I had a wonderful time last Saturday. I was invited to the house of long-time friend, Pierre Therrien, along with two other sketching buddies, one of them being Pierre’s constant companion and main squeeze, Celine.

I picked Yvan up and we headed to Pierre’s house, which is just south of the North Pole, I think. We drove and drove and drove. Pierre lives in a forest. His home looks out on gorgeous forested landscape areas and is near Jacques Cartier River, a very sketch-ogenic river. It is a sketcher’s dream.

We spent the first hour chatting about everything and anything and spent some time drooling over his art library. Then we decided that maybe sketching time was wasting away so we headed outside and broke out the pointy devices. Yvan, Celine and Pierre set up in front of the house to draw the ‘paysage’ that splays out in front of it and ends with a backdrop of the Laurentian mountains which, to a Rocky Mountain guy like myself, have always more resembled hills than mountains. Everything’s relative, I guess, and so are mountains.

But I’m an urban sketcher so I started wandering around. I found myself in a far corner of a field, looking back at Pierre’s house. Photo is courtesy of Yvan. You can see that I was very comfy as I had a full chair rather than my stool.

All alone was I, except for the curious ants, too many biting flies and a Theridid spider. I tried to strike up a conversation with the spider but she didn’t say much. She just glared at me for plunking my chair down so close to her web.

Here’s the view I had and the partially completed sketch:

I had decided to try out my new Uniball UM-151 (.28mm) pen on Stillman & Birn Alpha paper and I’ve concluded that it’s a wonderful combination. I’m going to be ordering some more of them ‘real soon.’

After lunch I returned to my perch, with the addition of a portable umbrella that shaded me from what was now a very hot sun. I completed the ink sketch and added color, using a waterbrush and W&N artist colors. I’m a hack watercolorists but I’ve got to get back to using real brushes. Here’s the finished sketch:

Sketching On A Summer Morning

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Larry Marshall

It’s fun to be out sketching early in the morning. Quebec City wakes up slowly and if you are out walking at 7AM, you’re mostly alone. Of course this morning I met up with my buddy Yvan and we found ourselves on Rue des Remparts, a great sketching street that skirts the upper portion of the old city. We chose a scene, that was really the backyard and garage areas of several houses. The location also provided a nice shade tree under which I could sit.

The sketch was done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7) sketchbooks using a Pilot Prera and Platinum Carbon Black. W&N artist watercolors and a a waterbrush were used to add color. Before it was done I was wishing I’d brought my real brushes along.

Sketching Tiny Town

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Larry Marshall

The Ursuline Convent in Quebec City was founded in 1639, which makes it the earliest learning institution for woman in North America. It’s also seems that they owned half the old city at one point. Ok…maybe that’s an exaggeration but they owned a lot of land and buildings and still do. But most of the private residences and some of the other large buildings have been sold off. The curent compound is home to the convent, a school, and it’s a popular tourist stop.

2013-07-02UrsulinesSite

One of the private residences still held by the Ursulines is this place. I’m not sure how big it is but it’s got to have the smallest entrances of any on Quebec. Its unique nature made it a great sketching subject, though gray on gray isn’t the ideal color scheme, I suppose.

The building on the left if the Ursuline library and museum. If you get to Quebec City, be sure to visit, if only to talk to the very nice people who work there. After we were done sketching, they let us browse through their library where we found several books used to teach drawing to students. While I’ve yet to tour the museum, they told me that there is a section on how drawing was taught to students. I’ve got to get back there to see that.

I did the sketch in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7) sketchbook using a TWSBI Mini with Platinum Carbon Black ink. I added some color… well, gray… with W&N artist watercolors.

2013-07-02Ursulines