sketching

We spent the final couple of days of our trip staying at our son’s apartment in Montreal. His place is on the third floor of a brownstone and like much of Montreal has a steep exterior staircase and a twisting interior one–always a challenge when you are carrying a bicycle or three bags of groceries. Parking is also a headache, but that’s another story.  The important thing is we love Montreal and this location in the midst of the city, steps from the Jean Talon market, is wonderful. We enjoy walking  the aisles with all the local produce and they make the best lattes there as well. In this sketch I used a water soluble pen as suggested by Brenda Swenson in semester 2 of Sketchbook Skool. I really like the effect of the bleeding sepia ink and have been using it quite a lot lately.

I got that sepia Staedtler and a couple of sable travel brushes Avenue des Arts, an art store in Montreal I have been planning to visit for some time. It surpassed my expectations–they had everything I wanted and had trouble finding — and amazingly helpful staff. This is an independent art store, not part of a chain, and you could sense the knowledge and love of creativity in the people there.Across the street were some typical Montreal houses, each one more vibrant than its neighbour. I was sorry I didn’t have the time to sketch them.

One of our favourite places on the trip was L’Anse St. Jean on the Saguenay River. We stayed in a b&b at the end of the road and from our window we could see the sailboats and kayaks out on the fjord. I sat on the verandah one morning to sketch this, trying to capture the deep blue of the fjord and the wall of green rising up from it. The bright red roof of the yacht club was irresistible and I think I went a little overboard on the colour!  

We also stayed a couple of days in Jonquière and one morning as we were waiting, I sketched this view of  the church from the window of the library. Below that is a pastel sketch from the museum in Jonquière which houses much of the material from the Price Brothers Pulp and Paper Company.  I found the pastel sketches of the workers in the pulp and paper industry, done over a period of years by Kathleen Shackleton and Francesco Iacurto, absolutely haunting. Kathleen Shackleton is the sister of the antarctic explorer, Ernest Shackleton, and also produced paintings for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Amazing to think of her travelling in the 1930’s through the northern lumber camps and outposts with her paints. She seems to have been an intelligent and independent woman whose criticisms of the residential schools for native children got her in trouble with the press and her employers. Read more here.

After two and a half days in Québec City, we drove up the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, stopping in Baie St. Paul (a wonderful artistic community) and then reaching Baie Ste. Catherine where the St. Lawrence meets the Saguenay River. The whole drive had spectacular views of the river, really one of the most beautiful drives in Canada, but Pointe Noire was breathtaking. I sat on a picnic table just before we boarded the ferry and sketched the few valiant trees on the hill. The background music of the ferries’ horns and the sight of the soaring birds is still in my mind as I looks at this sketch.

A short ferry ride from Baie Ste. Catherine is Tadoussac, a small town with a great restaurant, La Bohème, which is located in an old general store from 1892. We spent a couple of days here and ate at La Bohème 3 times! I did a bit of sketching in this picturesque place including the red and turquoise church on the shore of the river, reported to be the oldest wooden church in North America. What sketcher could resist those colours! I had my stool with me, so sat right out in front to sketch and paint. The church was visited by lots of people as it was Sunday morning, so I had many comments on my work. The town has a lovely wooden boardwalk with a gazebo at the end where I retreated to finish the sketch.

Hello again! I am finally back here. We have been travelling for the last couple of weeks in Québec. I wanted to sketch everyday of the trip and to try to find comfort with my still developing skill and style. I pretty well kept to it, with some days completing two or three. Our first two days were in le Vieux-Québec, a totally perfect place to sketch. We stayed within the city walls and wandered around amid the old beauty. I sat on patios, benches and walls and sketched.

My rule was to complete the sketch, including watercolour, in situ, no matter how wonky or bad it seemed. And as I look at these, even though I cringe a bit (look at those weird people in the last drawing!), I can remember so much about the time I was sketching, the weather, the conversation, the taste of the latte. And I kept sketching all the way up the St. Lawrence to Tadoussac and Lac St. Jean, so in the coming days I’ll post some more. Meantime, it’s nice to be back here.

Today we took a one-hour train ride into the mountains to the resort town of Arosa.  Such stunning views of Alpine living on the way and in the town. And the yarn bombers have visited Arosa too! We loved the knitted geometric on the bench.  To see more pictures of our trip check out Bev’s website, www.greatescapeswithbev.ca

 

We are spending three days in the lovely old city of Chur, Switzerland, a tiny gem nestled among the Aps. (Heidi’s mountain is one of them.) It has been perfect sketching weather and yesterday, ignoring jet lag, my friend MB and I sat in Fontana Park and sketched. Today we spent time sketching again, this time in a cafe with two other sketchers on the trip. We also found  some marvellous rugs from India–very inspiring for you rug hookers.  We gulped at the $10 000 Swiss Franc price tag!