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.

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!

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.

Montreal Backyards 1

The facade of a building it's usually its most attractive side. However, there's something about the "B side" of buildings that remains worthy of sketching.

I'm trying to use more colors and accentuate the shadows.  I think the drawing looks kind of flat though.

Montreal: Dawson College and Parc des Écluses

A couple of sketches I did last spring. The first one is a view of Dawson College from Barat road. The second, a sketch done at the Old Port of a place called Parc des Écluses.