The wind in the willow

Doing a sketch every day allows you the chance to experiment, sometimes unsuccessfully. It is a cold and damp day, far too cold to sit outside. The only place I could go on my lunch hour was to my car. I tried to paint the beautiful soft texture of the willow that was in front of me… unsuccessfully. Tried it first just in watercolour and in a last-ditch attempt to make it work, added the sepia lines. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Canopy

St. Joseph’s Oratory is a Montreal landmark and you can see the silhouette of its green dome from every direction when you approach the city. It’s how we Montrealers orient ourselves. From where I sat today (on a bench of the campus at Vanier College) I could see it in the distance, perfectly framed by the canopy of trees. It was a little bit difficult to paint since I was staring into the sun, but I had to capture the early spring view because it will only be a matter of weeks before the trees fill in and obscure it.

Homage à Pierre Henry

Years ago my parents purchased a painting from the Quebec artist Pierre Henry. It hung on their wall for years and I secretly coveted it. Or perhaps not so secretly because a few years ago when my parents were downsizing to a smaller apartment, they gave it to me. It has a place of prominence in my house and I look at it every day. It’s a view, looking uphill, of a street in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and I love it because it’s mostly just street with a few buildings on the side. I’ve been hunting for the right place to do my “mostly street” painting and finally found it in Lachine.

Wind

The wind kept waking me up last night as it shook the windows of the house, so today I had to do a sketch that had some wind in it. I parked near the lake in Pointe Claire and as I painted the waves crashed against the shoreline and the car rocked from the gusts.

Looking up

You can probably tell from looking at this sketch that I wasn’t sitting in my car to draw it. It was so warm today that I walked across the campus of John Abbott College and plunked myself right down in the grass. I have a bug bite to prove it. I have been painting from relatively the same vantage point all winter and it must be time for a change. Yesterday I looked down on the wheelbarrow and today I looked up at the door of one of the beautiful old brick houses that belong to McGill University.

Wheelbarrow in spring

I’ve painted this wheelbarrow several times now. Once in the fall, surrounded by leaves. Once at the first snowfall, covered with a dusting of snow. And now in spring, seen from an upstairs window. I figure that this may be the last time it is seen leaning against the oak tree because at some point soon I may have to do some gardening!

Blue lawn

Scilla, also known as Siberian squill, is one of the first spring flowers to bloom in Quebec. There are neighbourhoods in Montreal (like Westmount) where swaths of them form beautiful blue carpets in front of every house. I don’t live in Westmount but fortunately my neighbour has them growing in her backyard.

Little chapel

I may face some challenges in the coming months. As the temperature warms up I may have to venture out of the climate-controlled environment of my car. And that will pose some problems for me. Like wind! And full sun! I can’t paint in full sun because I can’t see anything on my paper! And the wind is a problem too. It blows all my gear around and causes the washes to dry too fast. None of these challenges are insurmountable, I know, but they will take some getting used to.

I’m still experimenting with my new pen. I was hoping that the ink I bought was waterproof but as you can see here, I applied the ink first and the wash second and ended up with some messy results on the chapel. Next time I’ll try adding colour first and line second.

Visitor parking

The campus of Villa Maria school sits up high on a hill right in the heart of Montreal and the main buildings look out over the western part of the city. This little scene faced me when I parked my car (legally!) and here’s what made me take out my paints: the contrast between the smoothness of the white marble statue and the roughness of the two trees close-by.

Watching tv

I tried out a new pen today. I have been reading about various sketchers using this Lamy Safari fountain pen so I thought I’d give it a try and now I understand why so many people love it. First of all it comes in a beautiful die-cut textured cardboard box and that appeals to the graphic designer in me. Secondly, it is a beautiful object — matte black, tapered where you grip it and light in the hand. Thirdly, and most importantly, when you put it to paper it flows beautifully, going curvy and wiggly in all the right places. I think I love it too.