Redpath Museum Sketchcrawl
Last weekend was the monthly Sunday Sketchcrawl for Urban Sketchers Montreal. We had 12-15 people out at the Redpath Museum for a day of sketching the curiosities within.
Only the hardiest (or craziest) Montreal sketchers were out at 10am in -8c. There’s Helmut, Shari and Jennifer sketching from the steps of the Redpath. We lasted about 45 minutes before fleeing for the Tim Hortons. (Timmy’s is a Canadian landmark – our local Dunkin’ Donuts).
Once warmed up we spent the afternoon in the museum. I’m always attracted to the stuffed animals. Charmingly morbid. I saved a lot of skulls for a future trip. And a suit of Samurai armor – as we’re planning to go to a big Japanese armor show later in the year. But next outing (January) we’re going to the art gallery. I think outdoor sketching in Montreal is officially over for the season.
Finding indoor sketching spots in Montreal
I had some downtime while attending the Montreal International Game show at the Bonaventure Hotel. The office tower nest door has helpfully lined up their lobby with the central dome of the Marie Rienne du Monde Cathedral. There’s a six story atrium created so the windows can offer a perfectly framed view of the copper dome.
The security guard came by and checked what I was drawing. He said if I’d been sketching the lobby interior he would have had to throw me out, but the cathedral alone was fair game. Very strange. So if you’re sketching around downtown Montreal, make sure to only sketch beautiful old churches, never never draw glass windows or shiny chrome escalators.
This is done with water and Lamy pens again. My current favorite ‘take anywhere’ kit. The color is an interesting artifact of the scanner on my cheap Cannon five-in-one office printer. Everything useful in the studio is packed for a move, so I used this silly thing. It introduced these weird color shifts into the scan, which I chose to ramp up in Photoshop:) Neat hey?
Dawson Watercolor Demo
The other day I was invited down to Dawson College to do a demo for the watercolor class. I don’t know if you guys remember this old cheat sheet on three-pass watercolor? (full tutorial here)
I did the original demo with an iPhone, on location in the Mount Royal Cemetery, and went back to those snapshots for the in-class demo. It’s interesting how the new sketch relates to the actual situation. I had some google’d photos of ivy covered monuments on hand – just to have the extra data loaded into memory. You might say it’s improved. Certainly complexified.
So, that’s something I only lightly touched on in class. Get out into the world, do the visual research, and then when the time comes to draw something similar, you have real world experience behind you. Also, students who were actually there will note I did 10 minutes more work her face when I came home, and pushed the contrast a bit during scanning. Nothing too serious, just a few touches. Perhaps some of the illustrators in class can think about post-processing their paintings before they sign off on the next assignment.
Mount Royal Sketchcrawl
Here’s my sketchbook pages from today’s Sunday Sketching with the Montreal Urban Sketchers. We lucked out on weather. Just warm enough to stand about and sketch with plenty of coffee shop breaks in between. Next outing (Nov 25) will be in the Redpath Museum on McGill Campus.
In a weird way, I like how this cheap book I had bleeds through. I sort of enhanced that in the scanning process. It’s not something you’d use for a serious drawing, but for these Lamy and water-brush sketches the effect is kind of neat. I was traveling super light gear wise – so these are ink-washed with diet pepsi.
We had 15 people turn out to draw, including a couple from Ontario. So, that was extra neat. This is turning into a great way to meet artists in Montreal.
Sketch!
Just a drive by post. Neck deep in freelance this week. Sketch from the corner of Berri and St. Catherine. Lamy fountain pens, 12×16″ ish.
Jean Talon Market, Head Shots
Our first official Urban Sketchers Montreal Sunday Sketching! Nine artist met at Jean Talon Market for a morning of drawing in freezing wind. Just the kind of cheery reception we planned for our first outing.
Well, not really, but I guess you have to be an optimist to do outdoor sketching this late in the year.
Some of the the others (Shari for one) love markets. The colors and complexity, the tasty looking foodstuffs. I guess I’m the odd man out in that respect. I wasn’t sure pumpkins and squashes would be my thing.
The first thing I saw on arriving was a violinist busking for change. Perfect! I’ll spend the morning doing tiny little watercolor portraits in a 3″ sketchbook. Might as well take advantage of all the merchants in their market stalls. Captive subjects! When sketching people in the field, you need to find those captive subjects – people who aren’t going to up and leave on you.
I’m usually a fan of making a good drawing before painting – but these were moving subjects, done quickly, and from within a dense crowd screening the view. So, I figured it would be a lot more entertaining to go straight in with watercolor.
Return of the Tall Ships
Last weekend was the annual visit of the wooden masted Tall Ships. Neat to be sketching them again – these ships were the first thing I drew in Montreal, two years ago.
All the rigging and railings on these floating museums make for a fun drawing challenge. Fortunately, I’ve been sketching a lot of boats, what with the recent Newfoundland trip.
Vessels like this used to bring trade goods from all over the world. Today, I suppose their cargo is nostalgia. Thousands of people (they expect 300,000 over the four day weekend) turn out for a day of touring the cramped vessels, meeting the crews, enjoying performances of sea shantys and folk music, and perhaps, a beer served by a pirate wench.
Montreal Art Tattoo Show 2012
The Montreal Art Tattoo Show is going on this weekend. I spent yesterday hanging out, watching the artists , body painters, and the mobile art show that is the crowd.
I love the whole concept of etching your artwork on another human. It must be incredibly satisfying for these artists to have their work on permanent exhibition. Or should I say, permanently on exhibitionists.
There’s a few people out there wearing my drawings – mostly gaming logos I’ve done – but there is this one guy here.
Besides being a fan of the art, I wanted to spend a day tuning up on drawing people. I love the challenge of drawing natural, un-posed subjects. People who are doing their own thing, ideally unaware they are being sketched.
It’s the same attraction as candid street photography I suppose. You’re finding stories. Interactions you couldn’t plan for. Real attitudes and postures that you couldn’t invent from whole cloth.
Over the next (long term) while, I’ll be compiling a few notes on sketching people in the wild. I want to do a bit more with this next year.
The first few tips that come to mind are:
Be willing to show your drawings. You’re taking their image, you can’t be shy about showing the results. Often I’ll take down their email and send them the work afterward. (Not this time though, I was trying not to intrude on the artists. I’m assuming they need to concentrate doing this kind of art, so I wasn’t really chatting with people).
Be polite, don’t stare with laser intensity – hang back, take your time and glance over every so often.
If they catch you drawing, nod, make eye contact and use the international pen-wiggling-over-paper gesture to communicate, “Is it ok if I sketch you?” If they look too weirded out, then just give them a thanks and move on promptly. To be honest, once they know what I’m doing, I usually wrap it up quickly. I always feel like it’s intruding, or their natural poses will get stiff if they’re aware.
And the main thing, find subjects that are doing something interesting (beyond just waiting for the bus). Both so you have a story to tell with the drawing, and so they don’t simply move off suddenly. Look for public events, performances, or people at work. I came to the tattoo show knowing I’d find good material. You can find these situations anywhere once you start looking.
Oh yes, since people will ask: 0.7 HB Mechanical pencil on Bristol, 8.5×11”, Digital color, about 10-15 min each.
Newfoundland: Mission Complete!
Here it is! Two weeks in Newfoundland compressed into a sketchbook.
I really didn’t know what to expect from this part of the world. Certainly there were some areas of blasted wasteland (Tablelands, Gros Morne) – which was what I came for. The whole ‘One does not just walk into Mordor’ experience.
But I didn’t know I was going to see twisted forests of wind-tortured trees, crinkly little harbors with quaintly sagging docks and boat houses, and endless epic views over rocky headlands.
I absolutely recommend it. If you have a chance to take a trip out east – you won’t be disappointed by the landscape.
We were traveling in a group with family and friends, so I didn’t bring a painting setup. Just a small sketchbook and all the dregs of tiny tubes from 10 years ago when I used tiny tubes of watercolor.
Turned out this was perfect. I could carry the book everywhere, sketching while the kids beachcrawled or museum’d. Mostly I was playing catch-up, painting over the line drawings back at the hotel or when we stopped to eat. On the drive home I was able to catch up with a big batch of work, painting in my lap while playing navigator. (Take highway 1 for 400 miles, Destination on right).
The limitations of a small sketchbook turned out to be an advantage. It was a lot of fun being that portable. Sure, I wish I could have done some big paintings, but that wasn’t in the cards this time, so instead I have this book, and probably I’ll get to the paintings in the studio this winter.
On the ground in Newfoundland
First sketch in Newfoundland. Will see how it goes the next few days. Hope I can fit a few more pages in while playing tourist.
Citizen Sketcher 