Travel reflections / Réflexions de voyage

Pont Neuf, Toulouse, 07/1996

Opening old sketchbooks can be emotional at times. My first sketchbooks were more journal-type with more text than pictures, describing personal and family events more than places.  However the impulse to capture a particular scene was there already,  and  when a building or open space drew my attention, the sketches were done with whatever I happened to have on hand: pencil, ball point pen, felt pen. Fast lines. Total freedom from my own censorship.

Since then there have been steep learning curves, blank pages, and muddy watercolors. Periods of steady, disciplined sketching followed by stages of discouragement have taught me that I should always keep paper and pen next to me because a “sketching moment” could happen any time. With the evolution of technologies, sharing and exchanging sketches has become more dynamic and clicking on images has taken over sitting down to reflect on my own process. This blog is a part of it, and although it’s been neglected for sometime, the drawings here are strewn over several sketchbooks, so looking at posts online has a different narrative than it has in physical form.  These sketches keep true to those old journals; however sharing thoughts, readings, and drawings on the same place makes a more organized collection through this journey, this path of daily discoveries in everyday places and the joy of travels.

En route Montréal-PEI, 08/2017

Ouvrir un ancien carnet de croquis me rend émotive. Mes premiers journaux avaient moins d’images et décrivaient plutôt des périples personnels ou familiaux. Il y avait, néanmoins, l’impulsion de dessiner quand je voyais un bâtiment ou un espace qui attirait mon attention. Les croquis étaient faits alors avec des traits rapides, avec les outils à disposition immédiate: un crayon, un stylo, un feutre, en totale liberté et sans jugement.

Dans mon procès d’apprentissage il y a eu des pages blanches et des aquarelles ratées. Des périodes de discipline et des étapes de découragement m’ont appris qu’il faut toujours garder un carnet sur moi parce que le moment de “croquer un sujet” peut arriver n’importe quand. Avec l’évolution des technologies, le partage des croquis se fait plus dynamique, et la tentation de regarder plutôt que réfléchir sur mon procès était grande, et malgré le fait de l'avoir mis de côté pour un certain temps, ce blogue est une partie de ce procès.  Les croquis ici présents sont parsemés dans plusieurs carnets, alors quand je regarde les anciennes publications en ligne, elles font partie d’une narrative différente à celle des carnets en forme physique. Ces croquis sont toujours les mêmes en esprit mais y apparaissent d’une façon plus ordonnée pour décrire ce voyage de découvertes quotidiennes et le plaisir des voyages.

mermaid

mermaid, a photo by interior_perspective on Flickr.

Avant-garde designers poured their creativity and best skills into ONE | Outfits from a New Era. The official title of this dress is "Mermaid Skin" by Geneviève Bouchard. According to the information sheet, 97 salmon skins, 40 mussel shells and 300 metres of fishing line were kept away from the landfill, however this one-of-a-kind garment must be displayed in a freezer to keep its good looks!

http://www.ec.gc.ca/biosphere/default.asp?lang=En&n=8BCED24D-1

Place d'Armes, Montreal 1

Place d'Armes, Montreal 1, a photo by interior_perspective on Flickr.

A group of enthusiastic sketchers gathered yesterday in Old Montreal to take part in the 40th World Wide SketchCrawl. We were happy to have Topi, a visitor from Finland, who is spending his vacation in the city and found us through the international forum. The heat was building up and good shade spots were a bit difficult to find.
I spent the morning at Place Jacques Cartier and the afternoon at Place d'Armes, in front of the Basilica, however the Hotel Place d'Armes seemed more appealing to sketch because the horse drawn carriages were parked nearby.

Beaver Hall Building

Beaver Hall Building, a photo by interior_perspective on Flickr.

This building was once the head office of Bell Canada. It was built between 1927-1929, with a steel frame. In the 20's the advances in construction technology allowed architects and engineers to conceive higher buildings which were often taken as emblematic of the proprietor's prestige.
At the time, the Beaver Hall was the second tallest building in the city (the Royal Bank Tower was the highest) and was designed to include a number of services to employees, like lounges, a nursing station and a preventive medicine office.
The official address is 1050 Beaver Hall, however the sketch was made from the point of view of the National Bank building front door, which is at 600 de la Gauchetière, in Downtown Montréal.

Rue de l'Eglise

Rue de l'Eglise, a photo by interior_perspective on Flickr.

Is it easier to draw familiar buildings or something completely new to the eye? Do we always have the whole scope of what we want to draw? I think some buildings catch our eye immediately, while others awake our senses in a more subtile manner. For example, I've seen the adjacent hall to this church many times but it was always second to the church's main façade. That is, until I took a different route and approached the building from another point of view. Then I saw its geometry, the wooden beams of the roof, the deep shadow marking the front door, the little garden (not sketched), the details that delineate what I think it is its own personality. I thought of it like a neighbour you cross paths with on your way to work: you exchange nothing but a polite "good morning" for a year or more, until one day you find each other at a common friend's dinner party, then you start a real conversation and the discovery begins.

Grocery shopping. Montreal.

Grocery shopping. Montreal., a photo by interior_perspective on Flickr.

I have decided to start a new set on flickr with drawings done while my toddler sleeps. If everything goes right, she will have a nice 90 minute nap and everyone would be happy. If not, I'll settle for 30 minutes. As long as I have my pocket sketchbook and some drawing media. There is always a pen or a pencil in my bag(s), but the Lamy, the Noodler's Flex Nib and the Microns travel from bag to desk to kitchen table and therefore they're not always on hand.

This sketch was done with a ballpoint pen. The lady was a perfect model: she barely moved during my sketching. Maybe she was tired of pulling her cart uphill from the big grocery store half a mile away.

10 min walk to the park + 40 min sketch + 10 min walk back home. Baby slept all the way. Lady was still there when I left.

36th SketchCrawl 1

36th SketchCrawl 1, a photo by interior_perspective on Flickr.

The 36th edition of the SketchCrawl took place on Sat, July 14th and Montrealers gathered at the Atwater Market to sketch together. The Lachine Canal runs behind the market, where this first sketch was done. In the background, a condo & loft complex build out of reconverted industrial buildings. They have great living spaces with high ceilings, wide windows and great views of the canal.

Ecomuseum1

Ecomuseum1, a photo by interior_perspective on Flickr.

A visit to the Ecomuseum today. We got there late and only had an hour to visit, so this time we did the tour backwards: first the birds of pray, then back to the entrance and up the other trail to see the bears. My absolute favourite is the wooden promenade where you find the birds of prey enclosures. All this magnificent birds have sustained some kind of injury but are now well taken care of in this, their new home and are the delight of visitors of all ages.

McGill Medical Sciences Building

McGill Science Building, a photo by interior_perspective on Flickr.

It has been a few weeks since I sketched this building during a visit to downtown Montreal. I went to the McGill University campus and parked on Pine Street. Lots of late XIX and early XX century houses to sketch around, but I went for the McIntyre Medical Sciences Building, a 16 storey concrete tower built in 1965.

backyard@spring

backyard.spring, a photo by interior_perspective on Flickr.

One more view of the backyard. This would be the last one where the trees are bare. It was drawn before the trip, but couldn't post it before with all the hassle to get ready to go abroad. This week the trees are in full bloom, the scilla (little blue flowers) are gone and the dandelions have invaded the lawn.

Riviera Maya

Riviera Maya, a set on Flickr.

Back from a one week vacation to the Riviera Maya, in Mexico. I was dying to dive head first in the turquoise waters nearby the Tulum archeological site and got my wish. I am so grateful that I was granted the opportunity to go back to one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I wish there had been more time for sketching... To my surprise, back at the hotel, there was a small temple at the hotel beach. It is a little construction known as "el nicho" which is very similar to the God of the Winds Temple at Tulum. It stands on a large rock in the middle of a small bay and there are many palapas nearby to comfortably sit and draw.

Views of the neighborhood

Montreal-backyard-1, a photo by interior_perspective on Flickr.

This is the first of a series of drawings of the different views of the neighborhood I get from home. I wish I had sketched more while we still had snow.

Our neighborhood was built in the 50's. There are detached and semi-detached single-family houses lined by mature silver maple trees.

A quiet afternoon, cold and sunny. I like the way the shadow of the tree branches falls on the wall of this house.

Quick update

2011 has been a busy year with the arrival, in January, of my youngest daughter. We are close to celebrating her first birthday, and before I start planning about the cake I carved out some time to update the blog and flickr. So here they are!

Fall sketches

After a long hiatus, I felt the need for some encouragement and decided to take a sketching class at the Montréal Botanical Gardens. The instructor guided us through a process that included writing a few lines about what we wanted to convey with our drawings. I found that really useful, not only to unblock the hand but to better frame the subject and to select the emphasis points.

I worked with pencil and non-permanent ink, but decided to apply a touch of color at the last of the three sessions, on Sunday October 17.

Chinese Pavilion. The color theme for this year's The Magic of Lanterns is blue.

Small bridge at the Japanese Pavilion

Japanese Pavilion

Pagoda at the Chinese Pavilion

Around the neighborhood

Three sketches done with ball point pen.

Easter Sunday

We had a quiet Easter Sunday at home: church in the morning, homemade brunch, and lots of sketching by the Lakeshore Cultural Centre in Pointe-Claire, a West Island suburb of Montreal. My daughter and I packed a box of drawing supplies (sketchpads, watercolors, markers, brushes, pencils...) and sat on a bench overlooking the lake. I love this spot because there is a great view of the Saint-Louis Lake. It was a perfect afternoon for a walk to enjoy the warm weather and the breeze. My first sketch was of a maple tree, and later I drew a group of seniors sitting on lawn chairs close to the water (they were having a rather heated debate about physiotherapy!) The sun was setting and mosquitoes clouds began to rise. For some reason, they had a preference for the young sketcher by my side and left me alone to draft a general view of the lake and the distant church. She managed to finish her sketch despite the buzz, color and journal entry included, I am so proud of her!

Fruit cravings

This week my body was really craving for lots of fresh fruit, but instead of heading to the market in the first place, I went to dig into my desk drawers to find this sketch from the 2007 sketchbook...

The church before the rain

I usually make an effort to avoid talking or writing about the weather, but this year we have had an unusually short winter in Montréal, and now it feels more like the end of April than mid-March: there is no more snow in the streets and our sunny week came to an end with some showers. I managed to do this sketch of the church before the rain came. It was a very pleasant time that to spend with my daughter, a real urbansketcher-in-a-bud.

Musicians

Downtown Montréal was all lights and music on Saturday, Feb 27th, as thousands of people took to the streets to participate in one or more of the 180 cultural activities that ran through the night. I made this sketch at my first stop while listening to the contagious rhythm of gypsy music.

Conference at the Woodwork Hall

More than a decade ago, when I landed in Montréal, my attention was captured by this building but never actually researched its history. Fast forward a decade: a conference happened to take place at Université du Québec à Montéal inside the Woodwork Hall (Salle des Boiseries). I asked if anyone knew what part of the former church we were in, but no one seemed to have more information. Knowing that in Montréal, and the whole province of Québec, education used to be in the hands of the Church until the 60's, when the Quiet Revolution occurred and a lot of changes took place, I assumed the church was purchased by the university during this period, when schools and colleges became under the responsibility of the State and a lot of religious buildings were repurposed. To my surprise, I discovered that St-Jacques Church was in fact Montréal's first Cathedral! It was consecrated in 1825 and burned down in 1852 (along with 1200 other buildings). They eventually built Mary Queen of the World Cathedral and proceeded to rebuild St-Jacques to serve as a parish church in 1857. The building endured two more fires and reconstructions, until it was purchased by the University in 1973.

During my research, I came across this photo which shows how the block looked like in 1976. St-Jacques spire and transept, considered historic monuments, as well as Notre Dame de Lourdes chapel, were later integrated into the University campus.