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sketching

odds and ends from our trip to Portland Maine

September 6, 2016 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

I know I have not been posting very much lately. I hope to make it up this week with a few sketches and a couple of new bags. But before that, here are a few images from our August trip to Portland Maine.inn on carleton

We stayed in this great BandB in Portland within walking distance of the downtown core.  It is actually called the Inn on Carleton, but the address is right! I guess I was rushing to get the sketch done.

Below is the Court House in Montpelier VT. I love this city because of its architecture and its friendly vibe. It is a place I know well from attending Green Mountain Rug School. We stayed here coming home from Portland and had the best meal of the trip at a ‘farm to table’  called Kismet. It was across from the Court House and I had time to explore the tower again in a continuous line sketch as we were waiting for our meal.court house montpelier

Views below from the ferry rides out of Portland. We don’t count a trip complete unless we get out on the water, and this trip we managed it three times. Islands and ferries are a way of life in Portland and we loved being part of that.sunset cruise portland

sunset cruise 2 portland

And finally, we made the trek to L.L. Bean. My canoe-building partner was enthralled by the canoes hanging about, especially this one, a Canadian cedar-rib canoe.bean canoe

Filed Under: sketching, travel, Uncategorized

Lake Wes lighthouse

August 30, 2016 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

Lake W lighthouse aug 2016

Here is a sketch done this week of the lighthouse on our lake in Eastern Ontario. The lighthouse was constructed in the 1930’s and has been a reliable guide around the point for many years. Apparently, it was originally designed  to generate electricity, not as a navigational aid.  And the rumour persists that both Henry Ford and Thomas Edison stayed at the lighthouse cottage.

Whatever the stories about its past, the lighthouse still stands proudly, a unique marker at the entrance to the main part of the lake. It embodies the lake history and traditions and no matter how many times we pass, and that is often because the lake is 80% water-access even today, gives a sense of stability and well-being.

As for the sketch, I am experimenting with a Japanese brush pen which uses carbon ink cartridges. I’m liking it for the very darks, but in small doses.

Filed Under: cottage, sketching

book of 1960’s Toronto sketches

June 24, 2016 by Birdbrain 7 Comments

I recently found this great book of drawings of Toronto buildings published in 1969. I lived in Hamilton then, but made many trips to Toronto which was far more exciting. It’s been an inspiration to study John Richmond’s black and white sketches of the city. So much of the texture of the time is included–the fashion (bellbottoms!), the street details, even the facial expressions. I’ve scanned a few here but could not include the many wonderful double page drawings. I hope those of you who know Toronto or would like to know it will love  them. Don’t miss the wedding couple in the second to last sketch. And the last one which could be a bittersweet good-bye to the Toronto we knew then. I’m going to treasure this first edition which is even signed by the artist. richmond cover

richmond 2

richmond 3

richmond 4

richmond 5

sam the record man

Filed Under: sketching

sketching in Kingston

June 18, 2016 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

new palette june 2016

We were in Kingston yesterday and there was a little time to sketch. I have been changing my palette this week, removing colours–Potter’s Pink, Ivory Nlack, Bithume–and adding some different ones–Winsor &Newton Indanthrene Blue and Sennelier Sepia as well as the returning Naples Yellow. This link will take you to a great summary of blue pigments. I’ll work with these choices now, but it’s actually Indanthrone Blue which I’ll be looking to add. Thanks to Jane Blundell for the amazing resource which I will be studying more.

We had lunch on a patio and I could just see this weathervane peeking over the wall so I had fun scribbling and adding paint while waiting for our pizza. It was a beautiful day in Kingston and after lunch I found a shady spot at the side of the church and set up my stool. I had a time limit, but really wanted to capture the glorious late spring day. Lots I can see the improve here–but with the help of Shari Blaukopf’s excellent landscape tutorials which I am re-watching, I’m getting ready for summer sketching at the cottage.

st george's june 17

Filed Under: sketching

behind Kingston City Hall

June 1, 2016 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

We were in Kingston yesterday and I had time to sketch while my husband worked on our son’s sailboat. I set my stool up beside the market vendors behind City Hall. I got the sketch done and the first layer of paint on before it was time to meet the rest of my family at the Tett Centre on the shores of Lake Ontario. The Tett is a beautifully renovated limestone building originally part of the Morton Brewery and Distillery Company. It now houses many of Kingston crafts and artistic groups. In addition it has a super café with tables right beside the lake.

As for the sketch…I’m still working on natural-looking windows and perspective as you can see. behind kingston city hall

Filed Under: sketching

reading and sketching

May 30, 2016 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

lewis manWe are taking a trip through the Hebrides in the fall. This is a location I have wanted to visit for a long long time. My aunt lived in Stornoway and my father’s stories of his visit there intrigued me. I’ve been to Scotland four times. The first time I was 2 1/2 and the last time was about 10 years ago when my sister and I walked the West Highland Way. But it is the northern islands that have always had a sense of magic for me. So I’ve been reading Peter May’s trilogy about Lewis; above is the second book in the series. These books are mysteries but they also beautifully evoke the landscape, the weather and the customs of this rugged land. The book on the right is a wonderful sketching tour of the Hebrides by Mairi Hedderwick. She travelled the islands alone in a van and sketched everyday for 195 days! The book is a chronicle of her late 1980’s trip accompanied by lots of her delightful sketches. I am enjoying reading of her experiences on the 40 islands she visited. And although our trip will not be as extensive, I am taking inspiration from her and plan to sketch as much as I can when I am there.

In the meantime, here are a couple of pages of my sketchbook from last week. The red house sketch was done standing beside my bicycle and the paint added later. The yellow house was done from the car. Neither position is ideal for getting proportion and line…but they do document the moment. You will see as I decided, I’m including more text and clippings.red house

yellow house

Filed Under: sketching

Goderich sketches

May 25, 2016 by Birdbrain 2 Comments

In April, my friend Anne and I went on a sketching trip to Goderich. I posted a couple of sketches here and planned to post the others, but did not get to it until today. Since the start of that trip I have been using the Hand.book Travelogue sketchbook in the 8″ x 8″ size and I like the format very much. It’s not too big to tote around yet gives ample room so that the sketch does not feel crowded.

Below is the Goderich train station. It was a sunny, very cool April day down by Lake Huron and we sat bundled against the wind to sketch this wonderful building. It had been moved from its previous location, because like so many railway stations in Canada, it is no longer in use. But it has been beautifully restored and houses a restaurant now.goderich b

What follows here are some of the cottages on the Goderich streets. You can see I am still working out how to do the windows. It’s an on-going search. goderich d

goderich c

goderich d

Filed Under: sketching

holiday weekend sketches

May 24, 2016 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

The weather was lovely this past long weekend and we spent the day Sunday around Lake Ontario. I finished the sketches on site and added the paint once I got home.  The bluebird boxes strung up on a fence were just too quirky to resist. And the charming building? I stood on the side of the road to sketch–adding paint later. I continue to work on  the colour of shadows and foliage. Still, these sketches are a great reminder of a beautiful day.cherry valley 2

cherry valley 1

 

Filed Under: sketching

changing my sketchbook focus

May 21, 2016 by Birdbrain 1 Comment

I’ve been starting to broaden the focus of my sketchbooks. I am still sketching my surroundings and trying to get better at that. That’s number one. But now I am getting back to including other ideas and notes, as well as tickets, notices and print excerpts. I’ve had a journal of sorts since I was 12 when my father made me a varnished wooden box with a lock on it and a C in gothic script painted on the top.  And now I want to get back to keeping more of a record. When I looked at one of my first sketchbooks from 2009 I saw the richness of including ideas and excerpts, something that has been missing in my recent books where I concentrate solely on sketching. In fact, the idea for my next rug came from some notes and a poem excerpt in that 2009 journal. So I am getting over my notion that I’m ‘wasting’ watercolour paper by writing on it and including extras on my pages.

There is a good article in today’s Globe and Mail about travel sketching by David Gillet, The pencil is mightier than the flash. I found it reassuring to hear: “It’s not about great art or skill. Drawing is something everyone can do. I don’t use an eraser or straight edge when I sketch: misplaced lines, doodles, quirky shapes are all part of it.” And again…”The physicality of putting pen to paper…There is a visceral muscle-and-nerve connection to the scene in front of you when your mind observes a shape and tells your hand how to bring it to the blank page….To sketch a scene challenges our notions of what really matters as we move through a new city or react to the beauty of a great windswept plain.”

The weather was a bit more spring-like this week and my friend Anne was here for a visit. We headed out two of the days to find something in the area to sketch. Our first day was in Wellington on the shores of Lake Ontario. This is the tiny Anglican Church on the main street. My angles are wonky, especially around the front door, but I just went with it, hoping to right it a bit with the paint.

st andrews wellington

city hall

 

Day two was threatening rain, so we sat in the arches across from the City Hall, dodged the rain drops and quickly sketched a wing of that great building. The sketch takes up a small section of the page in my sketchbook but when I look at it, I remember the conversation and the weather and the discoveries I made about a building I’ve been looking at for 30 years.

So many reasons to sketch and record.

 

Filed Under: sketching

sketches from a Toronto trip

May 12, 2016 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

train station may 9

canada life

I was in Toronto this week to hear Cheryl Strayed and watch the film of Strayed’s book Wild. Here is an article recounting a different interview on a different continent, but it captures the essence of what I heard on Monday night. Powerful, funny and enlightening. The film was powerful too, but not a patch on the book or listening to Strayed in person. Here is a link to Strayed’s reading list for the hike.

Over the two days I was there, I had time for a couple of sketches. The first is at our local train station which you have seen before. It is one of my favourite buildings in the city and I am always happy it is still there as it sits empty these days. This sketch is from the vantage point of the new station and the perspective was a challenge. I only had the time before my train arrived to do the drawing and I added paint later. The second drawing was done in a café looking up University Avenue just before going to the film.

At bottom is a super quick sketch of a not-very-interesting building. Again it is done from a café the day after the talk. I am often in this café when I’m in Toronto because the building across the road, although uninteresting to look at, is full of all kinds of hardware, rivets, interfacing and zippers I need for my leather bags.

leather and sewing

Filed Under: sketching

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