At long last, a post! Time flows inexorably indeed. I can’t believe it’s been this long since my last entry. Progress is slow on the project I’ve been working on for too long, but in between times, I’ve managed to get out with the Urban Sketchers. On the weekend the group met at the Crystal Mall in Burnaby. The market alone is worth the visit. I’ve included my drawing here, but the group did some super work and it’s worth a look.
And, there’s always a cartoon in my head. Sometimes I manage to draw them. The one below is just something I was thinking while making a temporary escape from Officeland and taking a little walk along Marine Drive out at UBC.
I have some older monoprints that I kept from printmaking days that are basically unfinished. I believe I was playing around with various media to see what kinds of effects I could get. What with limited time these days, I’ve pulled them out and added some drawing, and/or a bit of watercolour to see what happens. I keep them on my desk and just sit and draw for a few minutes when I can. Below is one of two monoprints that I think were originally oil based. I added some charcoal drawing, plus a water colour wash here and there, and finally – for some reason – I added a little verse in the sky.
“As a river rushes to the sea, as the sun and moon glide across the mountains in the west, as days and nights, hours and moments flee, life flows away, inexorably” Padmasambhava, 8th century
Another great outing with the Vancouver Urban Sketchers – we went to the Via Rail station near Main Street. Built around 1917 on reclaimed land in False Creek, this building, in addition to being a train station, has also been Greyhound’s Vancouver home since the old bus depot on Dunsmuir Street was torn down. I’ve been travelling on Greyhound since I was 15 so I’m a little sad it’s shutting down its Western Canada operations, although I’m not particularly surprised. My first sketch is the ticket counter, soon to be a memory. I’ve also posted these sketches to the Urban Sketchers site – you can see my fellow sketchers’ work at this link.
We’re in another heat wave in the city but I found a nice shady spot to sit for a couple of hours and sketch. A group of Vancouver Urban Sketchers met at City Hall then spread out around the grounds. Regretfully, I didn’t bring a pad of heavier paper and the scan shows ripples on the page from the washes, but OH WELL. Just means a visit to the art store for more art supplies! Such a chore…
