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Harriet Irving Common Room Windows

It’s hard to do proper perspective with only a six inch ruler. In trying to keep my kit to a minimum, that’s all I brought with me. I worked on this for about an hour and a half. A protractor and compass would have helped. In the end, as time was running out, I had to freehand most of it, sometimes losing the gridlines I had placed for a bit of control — so, the exit door on the right ended up square on to me.  But, It’s only a sketch and we’re doing this for skill building and practice until the weather clears. Next time I’ll bring a pin and a piece of string to capture more horizontal lines.

Coffee Shop sketching

Watercolour and Ink

Today, a few of us sketched at #TANCoffee in Kentville. I was inspired by the couple on the left. She had reached under the table to take the hand of the man in the wheel chair. In a tender moment they leaned in close, smiling. I usually paint landscapes so people doing people things is always exciting and challenging. And it’s a good excuse to do live art when the temps outside are below freezing. Patrons arrived, moved around, stood in front of objects I was trying to draw, finished their coffees, and left. I guess you could compare it to the weather or light changing while painting outdoors. One could argue this is really four separate sketches in one as my focus shifted from group to group. These are done fast without a lot of correction. Thankfully, the coffee kept us on our toes. We had some excellent discussions after and everyone appreciated the challenge. Next week we’ll be sketching in the Common Room at the #HarrietIrvingCentre in AcadiaUniversity. I’d be interested in hearing what motivates other sketchers.

Shhhh! Sketching at the Library

Skipped the pencil and went right to pen. Brought too much stuff.

Trying to capture the light

Finished sketch

We switched our urban sketching session to last Friday because of the snow on Thursday. We went to the Kentville Library where three of us sketched. The library has beautiful stained glass windows as it was converted from the old United church. A couple of us got cautioned that our voices could be heard all through the library. We were in an area that was acoustically designed for singing. After that we kept our voices low and at noon retired to TAN Coffee for lunch and discussion.

Sketching at the Market

Sketching at the Market today for a another brief outing. Looking forward to the weather warming up in a month or so. Til then, content to continue working in the studio.