Thursday, October 31, 2013

Plateau Library

Not being pleased with the sketch of the library, I went online and found a picture of the building.
Plenty of room for improvement of course, but I like this one much better ...

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Urban sketching

This is something I wanted to do since January - join the Urban Sketchers meetings. Something came up every month - work, move, vacation, the whole nine yards. This past Sunday, I decided that come hell or high water, I will be at the Mont Royal metro at 10AM. I made it at 10:15 on a cloudy, windy and cool day.

I found a spot to sit right by the exit door and I decided to try to sketch the cultural centre accross the street.

I chopped off the cross on top, as well as some other parts of the building. But I was out in the cold with my notebook!


At about 11:30, I decided it was time to find a spot inside and have lunch. I stopped at Première Moisson for a pork and brie sandwich (sadly, not up to the standard). I sat at the window bar and tried my hand at sketching the Second Cup accross the street.

An espresso was in order and I remembered that, few weeks back during the Avenue Gourmande I found a small coffee shop that made an excellent espresso - Flocon Espresso. I had a macchiato and an apple-abricot-oatmeal bar.
Voila...

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Expressive watercolor - 4

Topic of the week - life drawing! 10 minutes to sketch to figure and apply the first wash, then another 10 min to apply shadows and darks. 'Nough said.



I was very confused - what to do first? Drawing, measuring, mixing the wash? Very good exercise to work in small increments - it avoids the tendency to agonize over every line and angle.

I found on the internet a "recipe" for measuring the body in relation to the head. Things like accross the shoulders is two heads, the lower leg in two heads and so on. This of course does not take into account foreshortening. I tried to correct the drawings, but it did not work out. I am keeping the recipe for future reference though.

I want to go regularly to life drawing sessions, but I will need some kind of plan to approach drawing the figure. The road ahead is long ... but fun.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Preparing for winter

This being Canada after all, and in spite of a long and warm autumn, it is time to think about the cold to come. I gather leftover yarn from the socks I made last year and knitted a pair of hand warmers to use at work.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Autumn leaves

I picked up these leaves on a walk around the block last week because I liked the variety of colors and shapes of the spots. The rain of the last few days turned the blanket of leaves outside into mush, so I am glad I picked them up when I did.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Stuff on my desk

Canson multimedia sketchboog and cheapo set of paints
My desk is a mess - two laptops, one external monitor, keyboards, mice, tons of papers and the list goes on. I decided to put the mess to good use and immortalize some of it. I tried to pay attention to the process more - which shapes were wet at a given time, wait for the first layer to dry before applying the next.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Expressive watercolor - 3

Week three proved more challenging than expected because we had to work against the clock on two paintings.

On the spot, I did not like the results. Looking at them in daylight the next day, I realized they aren't bad. There are some colour mixes that are quite nice.

On the technological front, my laptotp is playing tricks on me. I had to reset it to factory settings and as a result, I cannot use the scanner anymore. Both laptop and scanner are old and I cannot find the driver for the scanner online anymore. I have to take pictures with the camera ...  Plus, some keys jump around when I type so I end up with garbled text. I should probably get a newer laptop, but I won't until this one is really toast.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

More blind contours

I drew this at the coffee on Thanksgiving. Pencil, Fabriano sketchbook.



Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Elephant

More practice drawing shadows, but I picked a complicated subject. Pleased with the drawing though. 


Monday, October 14, 2013

Expressive watercolor - 2

Second week was about drawing strong shadows. I chose a Thai statuette with a lot of details. I did not finish, but i am pleased with the result.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Expressive watercolor - 1

I started a expressive watercolor course at Galerie Syn. Week one - simple still life composition and working wet-in-wet.

A lot more practice is needed to get the process right ...

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

On the plane


I went hiking in Utah at the beginning of September and did a few sketches on the way. This is the view from my seat in the plane - the seat in front of me and a gentleman asleep across the aisle from me.