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

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.