sketching

We are heading out somewhere warm on a family excursion. I’m looking forward to some turquoise water and higher temperatures.  We had a wonderful sketch demo by Prashant Miranda from the Bay of Bengal–and he showed us how to to do a beautiful turquoise wash. Around here the water is gray and fast moving. In fact, the ice just moved out a week ago or so. So I have been preparing my palette for sun washed shores and turquoise water. A while ago I took out the little metal brads that held the paint containers in my new palette box and was then able to fit 7 colours more! And you can see the turquoise glistening in the middle on the far left. Waiting.

Below is my pile of books ready for the trip. My sketchbook, two novels and two great sketching books. I continue to  find inspiration in Gabriel Campanario’s book and it looks from this link that he has another to be published this August. Thomas Thorspecken‘s book just arrived in the post today! I am so excited about it that I included a couple of the pages for you to see. Gorgeous colour and layout! And I will be taking Sketchbook Skool with me –week four now; it is certainly exceeding my expectations in quality of production and amount and level of content. Semester 2 begins July 4 and I think there will be a rerun of semester 1 then too. Check it out and sign up! And I’ll be back in a week.

The sketching course is into its third week and this week’s teacher Prachant Miranda made some wonderful video demonstrations of his watercolour techniques. His assignment for us was to go outside and sketch our surroundings, including the sky. I am trying to do a sketch a day–and gradually my confidence, if not my skill, is building. It has been too cold to sit outside sketching so the first sketch of the City Hall was done from my car. But since today was sunny and warm, I packed all my sketching gear into my bicycle saddle bag and pedalled to the waterfront. There is a marvellous old factory there which I have always loved. To my mind it’s kind of Dickensian. I had to paint squinting through chain link fence–and while I was at it, a man stopped in a car to tell me the site is slated for demolition and a condo development. I tried to find the date of construction for this red brick building, originally the Marsh and Henthorn company, but couldn’t. It must be turn-of-the-last-century. I did find a catalogue of their products from 1912. The building is equally interesting from the other side, so I will go back soon and peer through the chain link once again. (There is lots of this old red brick in Belleville but not all buildings have the charm of detail like the turrets and fan transom found on these two.)

This sketch was done in a café in Toronto last week where the afternoon sun was blasting through the windows. I am trying to sketch quickly with ink and then add watercolours–but ended up using a brush pen for this to capture the sun soaked bikes.

Can you believe it? There are 889 people in the closed Face Book group that is associated with my on-line sketching course! And well over 1300 have watched the first set of lessons. Yikes! Imagine. Our first set of lessons was in my inbox last Friday morning. It included talks about creativity and expression, video tours of two of Danny Gregory’s sketchbooks and a video demo of him sketching his son’s shoes. (And transcripts of all the information ready to be downloaded.) Danny is a warm and generous teacher who believes that creativity is a crucial life force which we should honour. I’ve long been a fan of his approach since I read his first book The Creative License. Check out this link and read his story. He will convince you too.

Anyway, the weekend was very busy with all my family home, something that doesn’t happen often, and lots of tramping about in the sugar bush. But today I got down to sketching. Our assignment is to take our sketchbooks with us and document the week. Today it was pouring rain and cold, so these are indoor sketches. First my Ahnu boots which have been to Kenya and Amsterdam and back as well as braved this Ontario winter–but are now ready to be stored away until next year.

And then below, 15 Campbell Street. I sat in the library to do this. Our library has full-length windows and wing chairs positioned strategically at each one. I sketched from there last week, but today I found another window at the back and this building which I have walked by millions of times, but never really taken in. It is a 1909 classic, now empty and sad as is much of our downtown. This was a quick sketch–most of the time spent trying to get the angles right. We are to sketch ink first, no pencil, and this results in some wonky lines and do-overs as you will see. I have wanted to document the lovely old buildings in Belleville for some time–it is amazing what you learn about design and craft when you really look. And so I have made a start. I still need to work out just where the sketch will be on the page–so I don’t lose the bottom of the building as I did here!

And for those of you who have been wondering, I have finally finished a leather bag, my first in four months. It has definitely been a long time coming–and should be posted here this week. It is made of great black upholstery leather and lined with the very last of the Amsterdam squares.

I’m not quite sure how it happened, or why, or even when, but I have become a sketcher. I’ve gone from someone who used a pencil only for words to someone who is intent on capturing the world  in inky squiggles. Yes, I’m a little embarrassed to put my sketches out for you to see, and I’m quick to tell you that I have no pretensions, that this is about process and where my head goes when I sketch, not about product. But what I really love about it all is that I look at the world, the little aspects of my world, in a different way. I see shadows and tones and gradations. I see patterns and beauty. And I see aspects of my city and my world that I never never noticed before. And embarrassed or not, second-guessing myself or not, I am posting them too.

I’ve been thinking about all this because I am starting an online sketching course tomorrow–and it’s really full of talented people–and I’m wondering about my place in it all. But I’m looking forward to it too. Looking forward to expanding my sketching repertoire and seeing new things. And I’m inviting you along for the ride. Starting tomorrow I’ll have 6 lessons from six sketchers from around the world.

Meanwhile…we went to Port Hope this week and I had a little time to try to capture one of the delightful old homes that line the streets. I value and admire the way that city has preserved its heritage. The main street still has many architectural beauties, and the back streets contain gems like this one at every turn.

My long-time friend A was here this week for four days of sketching . After visiting the best recycled clothing store on day one, we headed for Kingston via the ferry and lake shore.  It’s still very cold in Ontario and the ferry makes its way through the ice. The shore is  lined with great old limestone buildings–and I really want to come back in warmer weather to sketch. Speaking of old limestone–Kingston is full of it–and we spent a lovely hour in Olivea on the market square sketching the city hall.

I got some new watercolour pencils this week and used them in this sketch of my favourite place in Bv to have a latte…or a croissant…or absolutely anything they serve. Like so many small Ontario cities, our downtown is in decline and we are soooo lucky to have this gem there. I had just begun to sketch these two men when they finished their meal and left–so a very sketchy sketch of them.

It’s still too cold to sketch outside here, so this was done looking out the library window 30 minutes before a meeting. It’s a great old Victorian with lots of angles and details. I’m trying to do straight on-ink and accept the mistakes, the errant lines, as part of the process. Still trying to loosen up. I begin an on-line course soon and hope it gives me a big push in this direction!