Urban Sketching, Reminiscence and Hope

 Late last week, Eli and I went to Canada for three days. It was a great break for us because in all this heat, we've been doing the prep work for painting our house. It was warm in White Rock, B.C., but the beach was one house and one street from where we stayed...and there was some breeze from that proximity. The first afternoon, we ate dinner very early...before anyone else had the same idea. The restaurant was ours. We ate some great Greek food at the Cosmos Greek Restaurant while downing many frosty glasses of sweet ice tea, extra lemon. (Ice tea, Canadian style). Since only a couple of other tables had guests by the time we were done, it was time to sketch the yet empty tables on the patio.

  

The next day, while Eli did some writing in our rented studio apartment, I went exploring down Marine View Driven, the main drag by the waterfront.  Up on the higher up waterfront sidewalk, I saw artists had set up tables, easels, umbrellas, etc. as sales 'booths' to sell their art. Hmmm. Nothing wrong at all with that picture: ocean breeze, shade and seating by a wall, a view of the States across the water, and, a fellow artist close by to chat with when either of us took a break. She 'posed' in the position above for about 2 minutes...and moved constantly the rest of the time I was there.

After my 'artist-model' packed up her gear to leave for a dinner with some friends in Vancouver, I went around the building to its other side. Again, the shade was right where I needed it. And, there was a bench! Because of the heat, I chose shade first, view second. If I wasn't a slow sketcher, I could have done several other nice views without moving an inch from this perfect spot.

 

The next day, while I waited for Eli to finish an appointment, I walked down the block and found a Tim Horton's Restaurant kitty corner from a covered bus stop that had lots of empty, shaded seating! I felt a bit guilty the whole time I sketched (but not too much, apparently) : I kept nodding 'no' to approaching bus drivers, to let them know they need not pull over and stop for me. I once left a Tim Horton's and accidentally forgot my purse hanging on the back of my chair. It was returned to me hours later,  100% contents intact: an almost full sketchbook, sketching materials, money, credit cards, the usual. To borrow one of my husband's favorite phrases: "sometimes we're luckier than we're smart."

Yesterday I got up at 5 am to chip paint and caulk in the ever-increasing heat of the day. Today, I got up at the same time and gardened until a few minutes ago (almost 1 pm.) I reminisced, most of the time, about last week's Canadian sketch-outs, remembering everything I saw around me and 'feeling'  the shade and breezes. While I had focused on what I sketched, I also remembered lots of things that weren't put into my sketches. When I wasn't reminiscing , I was dreaming ahead about an invitation I received in my email today: to go sketching with some friends this coming Sunday. All day!  It's written in ink on my calendar.(Admittedly, most things are.)  Reminiscence and Hope, two delicious, pleasurable side-benefits of urban sketching.  I often  enjoy them both when I'm not sketching. I hope the same happens for you!!

Sketching in Canada

Last weekend we returned from Nanoose Bay (Vancouver Island) in British Columbia, located between Nanaimo and Parksville.  Our week away was to honor my husband’s birthday…one of those  decade-ending  ‘big ones.’  Now, back home in the real world of our lives, we spent another week  ‘catching up.’

But forget reality, let me share the dream of 'island time': We had early morning coffees on the bluff behind our cottage, watching deer munching tender young greens for breakfast. We walked about cities, towns, villages, and shores. We had a lot of meals in area restaurants and we coffee shop ‘hopped’ as we drove the up the west and east coasts of the island.  It was a week of ‘total vegging’ and enjoying ourselves.

  

I always had my trusty little 4” x 6” Pentalic sketchbook,  a Micron pen, a pencil, a few colored pencils (regular and water soluble), a  waterbrush, and a Tombow Brush Pen  in my shoulder bag, so it was easy to find time, here and there, to sketch. Product Reviews: The sturdy little Pentalic sketchbook handled all the mediums extremely well. 

Here’s some important information for my sketcher and painter friends: 

There’s a great art supply store, independently owned, (a rare beast, in other words) in Nanaimo, BC called Iron Oxide Art Supplies at #5 Victoria Road....should you ever NEED it.  The supplies there are professional quality.  I didn’t really need anything…but, I bought a Tombow brush pen (black ink). I learned the shop owner ‘knew her stuff’ (and was probably an artist herself) when she first confessed to being an ‘art supply junkie’ (like all of us?) and suggested “another approach to brush drawing would be to put different values of india ink in waterbrushes.”  I’m going to try that one of these days…but meanwhile, my first Tombow sketch is below, along with second one done in the same location with Micron .01 pen and colored pencil. 

My other sketches from the week can be found on our Urban Sketchers-Tacoma Flickr site at:

www.flickr.com/groups/tacomasketchers/