Le Capitaine

I am determined to make my Moleskine sketchbook work for me so please excuse my endless experimentation with a book that some may consider nearly useless for watercolour. Last night I found a discarded pen in my drawer — one that I had tossed in there in frustration because it was filled with water-soluble ink — and a light bulb went on. I can try this in my sketchbook! If I use it to draw and then dilute the ink line, it might be quite nice on the cream paper. A few days ago when I posted about the trouble I was having with watercolour on this paper I received so many useful comments. René Fitjen suggested I wet the paper first and add pigment when the paper is nearly dry and that is what I tried today. I wet the paper and then diluted the ink line into it. This is all going somewhere of course… If this wetting of the paper and then adding a gray wash works, then the next step will be to work in full colour in this book.

By the numbers

One year, 366 sketches (it was a leap year), 182 views so far today, 96,960 views all-time, 1,747 views on my busiest day, 291 followers, 9 big Moleskines, 2 small Moleskines, many sheets of watercolour paper, lots of paint, several pencils and countless Micron pens.

But this year is not really about the numbers. It is about the people I have met, the places I have travelled to, the good things that have happened because of this blog.

One year ago today I posted my first drawing of a chair. My drawing skills were so rusty that I was embarrassed to post the thing but the idea was to make the commitment to the daily exercise. So for the past year I have posted something every day, no matter how bad the day was or how bad the drawing was. Successes were posted as well as failures and struggles. And there are plenty that I didn’t post, too.

It is a given that with daily practice, anyone’s drawings will improve. But what I didn’t expect out of this process — what came as a complete shock — was how many people I would meet. Some around the corner but many in other parts of the world — including countless more through Urban Sketchers. People who I can say have now become friends because we share a passion — a love of drawing and painting, of seeing the world and of sharing our work.

As I probably said when I completed 200 sketches, I am not sure where this is taking me but I will keep on going because the ride is so much fun.

Notre-Dame de Lourdes

The concepts I learned at the Urban Sketchers Symposium are thankfully still rattling around in my brain somewhere and I remembered one of them yesterday when I started this drawing. Architects and sketchers Frank Ching and Liz Steel taught me the importance of  giving a sense of the whole building even if you are drawing a detail of it. Several months ago I might have only drawn the silvery, fishscale dome of the church but this time I remembered to suggest the rest of the building including the golden madonna. I am starting to appreciate the format of my new Moleskine sketchbook that allows me to continue my lines like this.

Near the airport

I was hoping to work again in the Moleskine sketchbook, trying out some of the ideas people sent me after yesterday’s post (thanks to everyone who commented!) but I ran out of time (it is Thanksgiving, after all) so here is something I did in my tiny Laloran sketchbook on the way home from work the other day.

Jarry Park

Jarry Park Stadium was home to the Montreal Expos baseball team from 1969 to 1976, until the covered Olympic Stadium was built and the team moved there. The Expos (named after Montreal’s Expo 67 World’s Fair) played their final game in October of 2004 and the Jarry Park Stadium was eventually converted to a tennis venue, but for Montrealers of a certain age Jarry Park will always be associated with our beloved baseball team.

No right turn

Montreal has so many interesting corners but it is often hard for me to find a parking spot where I get a good sketching view. I found a spot on the corner of Faillon and Chateaubriand and miraculously there were none of those pesky “Residents Only” parking signs.

At the carwash

Using my car as my travelling studio and sometime lunchroom has left it a little… DIRTY! While waiting for it to be cleaned I grabbed my little Moleskine and my Lamy pen…