Went out sketching the other day with the MTL:USK group. Brought my two water soluble pens to the Mount Royal Plateu. My new Lamy Safari Extra Fine, and equally new Kuretake #13 brush pen. (jetpens.com!) I swapped out my usual Pentel Pocket Brush, in favor of the Kuretake, to enjoy the water-soluble properties of their cartridges. Here’s some lines, followed by clear water melting. It’s a neat magic trick! World’s most convenient watercolor kit.

I can also report, the Kuretake is capable of much finer work with the point (vs. the Pentel GFKP Pocket Brush). It’s about twice the price however, so there is that. As well, the K#13 has a metal barrel, that I find quite slippery, so that’s a bit annoying. But you can’t have everything! You have to love the convenience of a convincing ‘real’ (nylon?) fiber brush in a fountain pen format.

Just a note – early registration discounts for my 10 week watercolor class at Syn Studio (starting Jan 21) are ending this week (wed 13). If you know anyone interested in a studio watercolor class (not Urban Sketching, but training for it   send them the link : http://synstudio.ca/expressive-watercolour/.

We’ll be focusing on quick sketching in watercolor, emphasizing good drawing and expressive (calligraphic) brushwork.

I was pleased to see a little crowd on the steps of the museum when I showed up. They were banging on the door trying to get the museum caretaker to open up on time. (It’s hard to be patient in this weather). I don’t think the staff are used to a big group appearing at opening time Sunday morning.

It was great to see a lot of new sketchers come out – I hope we can continue to build up our group, one day it would be great to be putting on a show or collaborating on a book based on the Montreal sketching community.

[Pen and Ink, composite drawing, roughly 24x36"]

Sketching wise, I stuck to drawing – though this is one of my composites, done on 12×16″ plate finish Bristol using about 7 sheets in collage. It’s sort of a mental game of mine, planing how the final drawing will stitch together. I have ballpoint, brush marker, some rust colored ink and dip pen and pencil in this. The haze over everthing is something I do in the scanning process – exaggerating the smudges left by my hands. I like the tone that develops by accident. This is the sort of thing that would make a good underlay for a painting.

This day, we had a pair of reporters from La Presse show up to shoot some video, so I’ll let you know when their footage goes up. I did some drawing under the camera, so we might see some timelapse of my sketch. Fortunately Shari was there to do an interview in French. (I’m sadly not doing anything about my monolingual situation – my art will have to speak for me). Of course it’s also fascinating to me that the paper sends a camera crew, but I suppose it is only a matter of time before there is no more dead-tree paper, and we get it on our mobile devices.  I’m sorry journalists! but I can’t wait. It’s ok, there will still be journalists! Just like artists, they will have more, and better tools at their disposal.

Just back from our monthly USK:MTL sketching outing – our annual Dimsum lunch.

Always fun chatting with sketchers and snacking on Chinese delicacies. Among the people at our table were a med student (pathology), a person trained in biology and museum science and someone who’d recently retired from the CBC (our national broadcaster). Seems like every time we go out you meet a new interesting person. The pastime of sketching seems to attract fascinating people :)

Pics or it didn’t happen:

For this month’s USK:MTL 4th Sunday sketch-out we did a walking tour of Griffintown.  I had scanned the area in google street view and picked out a few likely drawing spots.  I am told by people in the know I wasn’t really looking in Griffintown proper, but I think after some wandering around we found some things that qualify.

You’ll have to consider that I’m not a very reliable guide. But if you’re anywhere near metros Lionel Groulx or Lucien L’Allier and looking for something to sketch, here’s my map for the sketch walk.

Wikipedia has this to say about the neighborhood:

The name Griffintown was derived from Mary Griffin. Ms. Griffin illegally obtained the lease to the land from a business associate of Thomas McCord in 1799. She then commissioned land surveyor Louis Charland to subdivide the land and plan streets for the area in 1804. Griffin’s husband, Robert, owned a soap manufactory in the area, and went on to become the first clerk of the Bank of Montreal upon its formation in 1817.

[Sketches are Lamy washable ink and W&N watercolor pans in an 8x8" HandBook sketchbook]

Our first stop looking for G-town was this two-towered basilica. I’m not sure the history of this looming structure – but today it’s the Korean Martyrs Mission. It surely must have been something before that, as it has the hallmark look of all of Montreal’s historic religious architecture. I don’t know when all this lot was built – perhaps I’m going to have to read a book. This is the kind of stuff I love to draw – I’m always game for a dome’d tower.

All the little speckles by the way, are rain. When I closed the book, the water-soluble ink transferred from the branches to the raindrops.

Next stop, Robbie Griffin’s Bank of Montreal. A fine looking red sandstone block, with a fun roof decorated with Griffins and Lions. This family might have had some clout in this area? I dunno. One day I’ll have to go back and do some detailed drawings. This place has numerous gargoyles and medallions that would make for great pencil drawing studies.

Just up the street from there we found this old church. You can’t tell from the drawing, but there’s some kind of an interesting story here. There’s a lot of broken glass in the windows, and some of the doors are sealed with a small plaque. All the copper statues and finials are gone. Either sold off, or packed away for safety.

I have heard cases of valuable copper decor being stripped and sold for scrap. Something about a fellow from Laval killed by a falling saint. Some instant divine-justice there. Perhaps a precursor of what is coming for all of us. I don’t know where you think you can sell a 500lb statue anyway. Perhaps they have to cut the saint up and sell the parts piece-meal? Got to be some bad karma.

Anyway, I get the impression this place is on its way to being shuttered. Perhaps even demolished. There’s a lot of talk about how much of this area has been razed and replaced with freeways and warehouses, which are now being upcycled into condos and artist studios.

But on the other hand, I also hear people saying, good riddance to those old shacks. There probably aren’t a lot of fond memories of Ms. Griffin’s factory worker’s housing. I’m not the one to judge. But it was an interesting feeling to sketch this old church and wonder about the history there.

Today (May 3d) was the Montreal Croissant Festival. A magical day when bakeries all across the city (30 this year) put forward their most flaky buttery crescent shaped delicacies – for only $1 a piece! Well ok, if you want the chocolate ones, or the maple bacon – that might run you a bit extra. But for basic melt in your mouth croissants – today is the day for stocking up.

We tried out a range of almond and maple choices at Marius et Fanny, and couldn’t resist a second stop at Les Co’Pains D’Abord after meeting their friendly Croissant Girl with her basket of free samples. Brilliant marketing apparently, because they were jam packed. I needed the long walk home after five croissant in one morning.

Earlier this spring, a bit before drawing on the street was seasonable here in Montreal, I spent an afternoon sketching in the greenhouse at the MTL Botanical Garden.

Looking back in time, my location drawing has been a fairly steady transition from black and white line drawing, through line and wash, and towards painting on location.  Mostly I see this as a natural progression. An ‘improvement’ from drawing towards painting. I think most people would feel that paintings are somehow more challenging. A ‘higher art’ than drawing?

There’s some biological reason behind it I’m sure. A painting, being tonal, can tap into the eye-to-brain function and convince us we’re looking at reality. But, oddly, that’s why I love line work. Because it’s not such a straightforward illusion of reality. There’s something about an ‘unfinished’ sketch that really appeals to me. It’s partially the speed of execution (they are more fun for the artist – no labor, just free-flowing seeing), and partially the way line is both specific about detail yet an abstraction at the same time. A line drawing conveys so much, so compactly. I can’t get over the joy of that magic trick.  How does it work? That a drawing can make us see an object in our mind?

That’s why I’m currently hooked on washable ink.

It really is the best of both worlds. I’m convinced that this approach is the ultimate sketching tool. The Lamy fountain pen, (or washable dipping inks – Lamy in a bottle, or Private Reserve) I’m using these days, combined with watercolor. It’s so much fun. Melting your drawings, into paintings. (Yes, yes, I’ve said it all before - but I love this so much, it’s a mini-obsession right now). I’ve recently discovered that the paper matters a great deal. I’m getting nice results with coated stock, such as this 8×8″ watercolor book by Hand Book.

Here’s another before and after showing the drawing, the melting with color, and the results.

All this being said – I am still on that path, walking from drawings toward painting. In a future post I’ll show you more of that transition. I’ve been getting some nice stuff recently. Things are piled up on the scanner waiting for you.

The weather this year has been awesome (knock wood). Seems like the sun is syncing up with the weekends!

Last week I was over in Mount Royal park hanging out at the Tam Tams. This is super opportunity to sketch people in action. If you want some practice figure drawing – you don’t need to go to UQAM, just come here :) It’s a lot of fun, sketching with the music.

Hey everyone, here’s Laurel’s pics from last weekend! You all look great :)

Who doesn’t love those rascally swashbuckling pirates?

They’re the embodiment of the 99%. Romanticized history. Escaped slaves giving what-for to the Empire that shanghaied them. It’s the Robin Hood thing.  With more robbing, and less giving to the poor. Unless you use the classic rationalization: ” Well, I’m poor, so I’m keeping this booty”.

I wanted to escape the winter with an afternoon of museum sketching – so poked my head into the relatively new Pirates or Privateers exhibit at the Pointe a Calliere Museum of Archaeology.  I was actually there for an entirely different show, but I got distracted.

I’m about 25% through the book The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down, by Colin Woodard.  Speaking as an author of my own book bearing a long subtitle – I wonder if he regretted that choice. But then again, it was my publisher’s idea not mine, so the dislike of typing that might go double for Woodard.

But I digress.

This is really an exhibit for kids. There’s not a lot to see. And a great deal of imagination is required to enjoy it. If you’ve seen it, and compare your memory with these drawings, you’ll already know what I mean.

There’s a pair of wooden ship models (I can never resist drawing a model ship), a few historical costumes on manikins, (also a go-to sketching thing for me) and otherwise it’s a few flintlocks and sextants in glass cases, and a lot of cut-out graphics and interpretive signage of the dreaded ‘interactive’ variety – where the kids can push a button to hear some recorded voice acting.

The only real attraction is that the room is filled to bursting with a full size pirate ship!

As if the building was somehow built around the thing.  It’s perfectly planned for kids to run around, playing pretend pirates, while parents in turn pretend their kids might be getting an education.  But I can’t criticize. If you have a 5 year old, they’ll probably dig this place. It can be their reward after you drag them through the grown up exhibits.

No major art-tips to say today, other than these are in a shiny new Stillman & Birn Epsilon Series Sketchbook (8.5 x11″).  A smooth, lightweight paper – really a joy for a detailed pen drawing. I’ve avoided watersoluble ink this time – that darn rigging would just melt to nothing.

I’m also pleased to say we can now get Stillman & Birn books in Montreal. Pierre, the owner at our local shop Avenue des Arts has gone out of his way to organize Canadian distribution. He mentioned you can also get them in Edmonton at the Paint Spot (I worked there with some good friends back in art school!). Thanks to their teamwork on the import effort.

So, that’s good news. S&B have put out a few new sizes as well – I’m looking forward to trying out a nice Alpha Series 9 x 6″ landscape format they’ve introduced.

I don’t usually show my ‘bad’ sketches.  I often draw on loose sheets of paper, and tear up bad ones right on the spot. So there was no evidence.

These happen to be in a sketchbook, and this was such a classic incident, I figured I’d post it for you.

Here we have what I’d consider to be a pretty average drawing.  Not very structurally sound. It’s stiff. And it doesn’t even show what’s going on.

I ran into this fellow doing a lampworking demonstration at the Corning Museum of Glass. He’s probably there 9-5, five days a week, doing his thing. But I only had 20 minutes before I had to be somewhere.

I’d found him just as he ignited his jet of flame and started to melt glass. I’m a sucker for a jet of flame. I’ll watch anything on fire.

So I dive right in aaaand – – – terrible sketch right?

Despite the interesting subject – it just didn’t turn out.

We had driven two hours out of the way to see the other demo I was heading to –  so, I wasn’t interested in missing that. But this drawing was really bugging me. I had already taken five steps away when I thought ‘No. Actually – I can’t live with it”.

So – turned around, did another one.

But, wouldn’t you know it!

Still a pretty weak drawing.

I’ve become a lot more demanding about capturing a likeness in recent months.  It’s never going to be perfect – but this isn’t even close.

Plus – I don’t mind a messy drawing – I’m fine with a sketchy feeling. But I want open, floating lines that have some elegance. This guy looks hunched over – his shoulder is a mess.

Even though the clock was ticking, there was nothing to be done but try again.

I had to slow down, ignore the possibility of losing a good seat for the show, take my time, and really look at the guy. Find what is distinctive about him.

His shoulder length hair rolls down the back of his skull, and flips up around his neck. It’s not just a bunch of lines – it’s a flowing shape with weight. Smoothly falling, only then dissolving to brush work.

He had a bit of a heavy jaw (a little chubby – after all, he’s a desk worker like me). His goatee was very specifically trimmed. Almost a Fu Manchu mustache – not just a generic scruff of hair. A beard always follows the jaw line.  It’s not pasted on – it reveals the shape of the jaw. Solving that leads me to his somewhat fleshy lips, and prominent – yet pointy – nose.

Now I have an actual person, not a generic human.

As well, the strange device spitting flame – it’s like a little cannon on spindly legs jetting blue fire. That’s a unique prop that is important to get right. Add in the glass rods and sculpted vials he’s crafting – and now I have a real description of an artist doing lampwork. A useful document of the day, not just a scribbled person.

Hope that helps you feel good about any bad drawings that happen. Use them as an opportunity. Flip the page and keep going. Getting a bit better each time. Persistence is everything in this game.

If you are in the Montreal area, you might be interested to come see me doing a 90 minute watercolor painting demonstration at the Hudson Artist’s Association.

Wednesday, March 18th
Ste-Mary’s Parish Hall 273, Main Road Hudson
Starting at 7:30pm

I’ll be showing some original paintings from recent trips to Rio and the Florida Keys, and will be demonstrating my current favorite method for field sketching in watercolor – a kind of ‘alla prima’ approach where I draw directly with brushes and build a painting out of bold silhouettes of rich color.

Hope to see you there!

~m

I have had a generous offer to be a guest artist at Galerie Farfelu in Westmount.

My friends Lydia and Marin are showing their gold and sliver jewellery, and have offered me the wall space in their show. We’ll be there Tuesday June 2 for the opening, or you can see the works in the window anytime between June 1-14.

If you remember these from awhile back – they are quite a departure from my usual watercolors. But in a way – they are an attempt to paint oils like a watercolorist :) In big areas of wet in wet!

If you get a chance to see them in person, you might enjoy the effect.

We had perfect lazy Sunday weather for today’s USK:MTL monthly sketching meetup. I was doing more talking than drawing today so we have a little bit of everything going on in the sketchbook. Thanks to everyone who showed up. It was fun meeting a lot of new people today.

A view of the canal – in an unusual (for me) vertical composition, thank’s to a suggestion from my friend Shari. We were sitting side by side. She sketched the view 90 degrees to mine.

Here’s what we were really looking at. I was kind of happy with my redesign of what was there. Less is almost always more in a quick sketch.

A quick sketcher portrait. I don’t know this person, so if you’re the lady in the red coat who left early, this is you concentrating on your sketch :)

And, after lunch the Phil So Good quartet set up (only three of them for whatever reason?) and we all hung out and sketched them while they played for us.

(By the way, if anyone else who drew the musicians wants to get in touch with Phil Bélanger to send them a sketch – they have a contact link on their page here).