Rue Saint-Denis in the Rain
Couple of very rapid sketches grabbed while waiting out a sudden downpour. (Colored when I got home – a rare cheat!) This happens to be in the Latin Quarter on St. Denis, but really these cupolas are typical of the walk up buildings all over central Montreal.
Every house, no matter how mundane – depanneur (corner store), run down apartment, little boutique – they all have their own decorative touch. It might be these peaked cupolas or a small minaret, a stone carving, or an extravagant balcony. The streets are full of feisty little row houses. Nobody wants to be boring in Montreal!
McGill Campus
The main McGill campus just a few blocks north of the exact city center of Montreal. (The main gate is on Ave. Mcgill and Sherbrooke Ouest). I’ve always enjoyed walking through its quiet green spaces surrounded by the ivy covered halls of learning. It’s a great place for sketching – close to all the services downtown, but away from the bustle. (At least in the summer when the students are on break). There are plenty more interesting structures here – so this is just a quick tour – I’ll be back for more!
Not quite Canada Day at St. Joseph’s Oratory
Our actual Canada day (July 1) was grim and grey – which is perhaps suitable to our temperament. So I saved up a painting trip for today instead. I don’t know why everyone says Canadians are so friendly. I find us to be a rather pragmatic lot most of the time. BUT – I digress.
Here’s a watercolor of St Joseph’s Oratory. This white marble edifice is imperiously situated at the top of a steep climb up the north west shoulder of our mountain. After those steps you feel suitably penitent when you arrive for mass. They have a special wooden staircase for those who prefer the traditional method of climbing on hands and knees. I saw at least one visitor availing themselves of this orthodox route.
The huge dome on the cathedral is said to be the third largest in the world. But sadly – the interior is quite restrained, (done in a 1960’s flavor of modernism) and does not grant you an uplifting view of the inside of the lofty dome. It seemed oddly understated compared to the baroque grandeur of some of Montreal’s other cathedrals. Perhaps the place is so large I was actually on the wrong floor? Not sure. But for today, my best view was certainly the magnificent approach to the cathedral. Looking up at it from the entrance, hundreds of yards below – it’s quite an edifice.
Doorways in the Golden Mile
Here’s a couple of doorways I often pass on my morning stroll through the Golden Mile. This posh Montreal neighborhood is situated on the foot of the mountain, overlooking the city center.
It’s full of interesting structures, which Wikipedia describes thusly: “The architecture of the area was an eclectic mix of the Neo-classical, Neo-Gothic, Romanesque, Second Empire, Queen Anne and Art Nouveau – often within the same home.”
Corner of Sherbrooke and Guy
Returning to Portugal – very soon now!
Here’s a look back in time to 2004 – some of my very earliest location drawings.
These are from one of our first trips expressly for drawing. We spent a week or so in and around Tomar, just a bit north of Lisbon. We rented a car (expensive!) and drove all over the twisty mountain roads – found some beautiful locations. The first drawing is the mountain town Marvão. I think the arches are from Alcobaça. The last is in Tomar itself, from a nice cafe on in the shopping district, looking up a the local convento.
I’m getting excited to go back to Portugal next month for the USK symposium. This time we’ll be drawing in the city of Lisbon for three days, after which I expect I’ll spend a little time in Sintra and Belém. It will be interesting to see how different the drawings are now!
These, by the way, are why I don’t draw in sketchbooks anymore! What do you do with images that go across the spine? And I do like to cut out bad sketches. So that left me with the hard choice of losing a good one on the back of a bad page, or sometimes keeping a drawing that didn’t turn out, in order to save a spread. Thus – now I draw on loose sheets.
Calgary comes up James Short
Who is James Short and why does he deserve a park?
The internet tells me there used to be a James Short School on this spot. I can only assume the school sunk into the ground leaving the clock-tower projecting out of a tiny bit of lawn. The ‘park’ is a postage stamp green zone in the heart of Cowtown’s glass canyons.
Anyone who debates the cow-towniness of Calgary, I’ll just point out your new city cops with the big black hats and matching stab proof vests. Not that I’m calling you out Calgary – but the only thing I found to draw was a tin roofed shed!
Wandering Eye
Just an old fashioned sketchcrawal. Walking around downtown Montreal with my buddy Jens Claessens, just drawing whatever we happen to run across.
(The Redpath Museum, Place Phillips Square (behind the Hudsons Bay), and the old Ecole Des Beaux Arts on Sherbrooke and St. Urbain).
And then somehow, we ended up on the back side of City Hall, without ever seeing the front entrance. They have been doing some work on city hall – and right now, the roof is a dark reddish brown, instead of the normal green patina. I wonder if they’re going to restore it to the weathered finish? or let nature take it’s course. It doesn’t match the photos on the side of the tour buses anymore!
By the way – I’ll be out of town for about a week – so I’ll try and post while I’m away – but we’ll see what we can get for wireless on the road hey?
~m
Rue Sherbrooke, Museum District
At last! Yes – I’ve been on a long hiatus, (working hard on a book project, that sadly I cannot discuss quite yet). I apologize the drawings haven’t been flowing as fast as you or I would like. But! In the next few weeks we will be back to steady posting. It is getting close to the Urban Sketchers symposium in Lisbon, so I have to be all tuned up and ready to draw!
[Le Chateau – Ballpoint sketch with Watercolor, 14×17″]
This is the rooftop of a towering stone apartment block across Sherbrooke from the Musée de Beaux-arts. Seen from down a side street, peering out from an awning. (It started raining immediately after I had the line art roughed in).
I had always thought it was the Ritz Hotel, (which is nearby; under renovation at the moment). But on investigation I find it’s actually simply apartments. Apartments for people so extravagantly affluent they need to live in a historic castle high above our city! I poked my head in the front door – and there are shockingly few addresses on the directory. It looks like there should be hundreds of apartments – but I have to think it’s quality over quantity up there. I imagine these are the third and fourth homes of the sons of bottled water millionaires and the parchment-skinned ex-wives of mineral rights barons. Only used in ski season, before retiring to the Canary Islands in darker months. Talk like that is not going to get me an invitation to enjoy the view however.
[Church of St.Andrew and St.Paul, Ballpoint sketch with Watercolor, 14×17″]
Since the rain wasn’t letting up, this next is from the third floor of the Musée, looking out at the church tower across the street.
There’s a very convenient window with a waist height marble shelf where one can stand and draw. And as a bonus, it’s free admission to this wing, (the permanent collection). So you can get this sketch yourself any time. The rough stone church has been under scaffolding the last few times I visited Montreal – but finally, it seems restored to it’s original antiquity. I really ran out of time on this one, so I’ll be back some day to get a nicer drawing. Don’t even try to make sense of the perspective down below the tower :) HA!
Scarlett James at Dr. Sketchy’s Montreal
This afternoon Dr Sketchy’s Montreal brought us some real star power! Burlesque performer Scarlett James wowed the crowed with sultry stage presence and classic glamour poses.
This was a top-form Sketchy’s style event. Great model, snazzy costumes, and a littel strip-ter-mission between posing sets. You know you’re drawing burlesque when the model’s rocking a 12 foot ostrich feather boa!
[Linkage: ScarlettJamesBurlesque.com, Dr.Sketchy’s Anti-Art School]
Citizen Sketcher 