Cityscapes

I went for a walk the other day in the Lachine Canal and stopped for two sketches. I had only pencil with me, later I colored with markers.

Next sketch was cut short - I was in full sun and I could not take it anymore - some buildings are missing.

J. Herbin Ink tests

I bought a bouquet of flowers to use for a still-life sketch. Needless to say, the result was catastrophic. I then decided to fill a page with bits of flowers and leaves, but this failed partially as well because I did not fill the page as I wanted. I managed only few small sketches.

I discovered the importance of having a small, pointed brush! I know, hardly anything worth writing about. But most of the time I use a medium size water brush. In this case , I used a smaller brush and I like the way colors blended. I used leftover color from my palette.

I outlined the leaves with J Herbin Bresil cocoa ink and Lamy EF pen. To my surprise, the ink dissapeared completely when  I applied the wash. I add some lines at the end.

I did a test using the ink with a dip pen and the line does not dissapear the same way. I guess it is really a combination between the ink and the type of line the pen creates.

I realized I could cheat with this ink - draw with it, then melt it with washes and the end result will look as if I painted straight with watercolor. Clever, huh ?!

Bits and bobs

To get past the move-blues, I went for a short walk around Atwater market and stopped to sketch the Church of the Korean Martyrs. I took with me only a thick carbon pencil, the idea being that I will be forced to simplify the structure instead of fidgeting over every stone curlicue. That was the plan.. but we all know what happens to best laid plans.

In this case, the results was this:

One.Single.Orphan.Dome.Waiting.To.Topple.Over...

I tried to sketch the top part of the church, but of course I sized it all wrong, the sketchbook page is 5x8 and I run out of space ...I figured I will try again home from a pic from the net - but there doesn't seem to be one decent photo of this place in the cyberspace.

I then tried some people sketches - same idea: thick lines, only the essential. Every time I picked somebody, 10 sec later they moved....