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.

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.

At the park

Every time my mother comes to visit I ask her to bring me literary magazines, so I can read essays, short stories and poetry in Spanish. There is something about a magazine that allows you to read also the pulse of the society where it has been edited that make them more attractive as presents than books, especially when books are more readily available from local and internet bookstores, but having subscriptions for 3 or 4 foreign magazines could be pricey... Anyway, I took my magazine to the park two weeks ago, with all the intention to read it cover to cover while sitting on a bench and enjoying an hour of sunshine, but while reading Benedetti's Huellas the itch to sketch was overwhelming and voilà... Glossy paper is great for Staedtler pigment liners and it doesn't buckle too much with a very light wash of watercolor (applied today).

Finishing touch

Shadows are trouble for me. It seems that I can not get the right amount of contrast without darkening the whole area, like it just happened with one side of the church. Well, it is just paper, right? Back to the drawing board, with more practice and observation, but if anybody knows of a good book about light and shadow please let me know!

Close to the park in watercolor

This is the same house as yesterday, but with color and some touches of ink applied.  I think the foliage of the maple tree in the background would need more work, but I was afraid of creating a mess. The oak in the foreground is still bare. 

Summer Music

I just finished formatting the sketch of a cellist performing at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. I am still working on another sketch I hope to post soon.
I have been reading the post at the EDM forum about Rose Madder and was quite surprised to learn about its lightfastness. That's why I love the forum, I learn something everyday! I'm only using a 4 colour palette based on Jeanne Dobie's "Making Color Sing." I do love the transparency of her works, but a little more reading about pigments won't hurt and I'll be able to make an informed decision while choosing the next tubes to buy.
The orange was made with a mix of Aureolin Yellow and Rose Madder, both from Holbein (top left corner).My watercolor teacher always stressed that brand and quality matters. She liked a lot Daniel Smith wc, but they're not available in Canada. OK, there's mail order, but I love the feeling of walking into an art store and choosing the colors, reading the labels, the feeling of the brushes, the smell of paper...

Acabo de terminar un croquis de un violoncelista tocando en el Festival Internacional de Jazz de Montréal. Todavía estoy trabajando en otro croquis que espero terminar y publicar pronto. He estado leyendo en el foro de EDM acerca del Rosa de Garanza y me sorprende que sea un color que se destiñe. Es por eso que me encanta el foro: se aprende algo cada día. Estoy usando una paleta de sólo 4 colores, basada en las recomendaciones de Jeanne Dobie y su libro "Making Color Sing". Me encanta la transparencia de sus acuarelas, pero un poco más de estudio acerca de los pigmentos no me hará daño y podré tomar una decisión más informada cuando compre otros tubos de acuarela. El naranja fue obtenido de la mezcla de Aureolína y Rosa de Garanza, ambos de la marca Holbein (esquina superior izquierda). Mi maestra de acuarela solía decir que la marca y la calidad sí importan. A ella le gustaba usar colores de Daniel Smith, pero no están disponibles en Canadá. Claro, están los envíos postales, pero a mí me encanta eso de entrar en una tienda y escoger los colores, leer las etiquetas, sentir los pinceles, el olor del papel...