Category Archives: Sketches, etc

This past week we visited the exhibition of Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun ( French, 1755-1842) at the National Gallery of Canada which will end this September 11. She is a prominent 18th century painter with more than 600 portraits, 200 landscapes and this is her first retrospective. The Ottawa NGC gallery exhibition stated, “her talent, her extraordinary capacity for work and her social skills” were her outstanding qualities and we see this before our eyes as we walk through each room. Vigée Le Brun painted about thirty portraits of Marie Antoinette but with the start of  the French Revolution ( 1789-99) she fled quickly from France. Her talent and gifted skills continued to give her a portait career in Italy, Austria, Russia and England. She returned to Paris when her name was struck from the list of enemy émigrés.

I received a gift of Caran d’Ache, Fancolor 15 from a friend and wholesale distributor of these products. The thin metal container is 11 cm by 28cm by 2.5 cm, is ultra light with a full range of pan water-soluble pigment: 14 in total plus a tube of white gouache, a nice mixing area and a small quality brush. I used it, as I do my regular watercolour pigments on a quarter sheet of Fabriano, cold press, traditional white, gsm 300. For myself, the small light size with a few larger brushes and water container make it an ideal plein air kit.

Plein Air, Coteau du Lac, Caran d’Ache, FANCOLOR 15

Blockhouse, Coteau du lac, Caran d’Ache FANCOLOR 15, 2016

Mill, Coteau du Lac, Caran d’ache FANCOLOR 15, 2016

Here are some sketches completed during the summer at Linda Drewry’s favourite Tuesday plein air sketching group.

Pointe du Moulin, Ile Perrot, East/south view, 2016

Ste Anne de Bellevue Locks, northside, 2016

Ile des Moulins, water spray on pond,  Terrebone, 2016

This summer in Québec the weather is balmy and usually 30 degrees. No excuse not to get out and sketch. One of my favourite spots is the Sanctuaire in Rigaud, free but accepts donations. Shady, peaceful and usually quiet except for a yell from youngsters finding Pokémon on their screen. It is a place of meditation. Quiet is the command here but miracles do happen and need to be celebrated.

Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Qc

Another cool spot, Parc Valois, 331 Avenue St. Charles,Vaudreuil-Dorion on the water has free parking and entrance.

Parc Valois, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Qc

Worth a visit, Parc Historique, Pointe-du-Moulin, Notre-Dame-de-I’Île-Perrot, free on Monday and Tuesday.

Le Moulin, Notre-Dame-de-I’île-Perrot

As always, the flowers from the garden await brush, pigment and water.

Summer Bouquet

Les Jardins Quarter-Vents , Malbaie, Qc, Quincyhammond.com

This past month we obtained tickets to view the Jardins de Quarter-Vents  in MalBaie, Qc. For this season 2016 all dates are full but for 2017 start to look in November at Centre Écologigue de Port du Salmon .The guides are well informed volunteers; it takes 2 and 1/2 hours; most tours are in the French language. It is a visual feast of colour, texture, architecture and designed to please the eye. No time was allowed to sketch here but I did these later in the day at St. Joseph de Rive and Les Éboulements.

Early Morning, St Joseph de Rive, Qc

Church Parking Lot, Les Éboulements, Qc

Under a full moon, 21 hours after leaving Québec City the Draken Harald Hårfagre arrived in Montréal, June 19th, 2016. Last evening the 20th of June was the start of summer solstice – hot, cloudy, windy with lightning and thunder. Unable to see the full moon here we must wait for the next summer solstice when they join together June 21, 2062. Fitting, this rare phenomena happens when this viking ship is in our city.

Yesterday, I arrived at Quay Jacques- Cartier at le Vieux-Port de Montréal to see this magnificent vessel. Unbelievable, a crew of 28 crossed the Atlantic Ocean in this slender wooden craft 34 metres by 7 metres!

I took my Venezia Sketchbook, Arches paper and my paint box with a few brushes. Here are some of my sketches. The hot record breaking weather and high winds presented their challenges but insignificant in comparison to the elements facing this ship and crew.

Vikings used Ravens to sight land. If land was sighted by these birds it was nearby. They are non migrational so return to ship quickly if no land in sight.

Viking boat in Vieux Montreal, 2016

Cleaning the deck, Montréal,

Dockside, Brockville, Ontario

The world’s biggest Viking ship, Draken Harald Fairhair. (Jan Kaare Ness / NTB Scanpix / AFP)

The Draken Harald Hårfagre has left Newfoundland and is sailing up the St. Lawerence. We can follow it thanks to a tracker installed on the ship ( have a look here ) and via Facebook. The ship will arrive June 15 in Quebec City as posted by the Captain on Facebook. Opportunities to see this beautiful ship are coming our way as it heads towards Montréal.

My hope is to see and sketch the ship. For now,  here are some of my sketches from the past two weeks.

watercolour, Derelict Lock, Soulanges Canal, Pointe Cascades, QC, 2016

watercolour, Pointe Claire Yacht Club, Qc, 2016

watercolour, Pointe Claire Yacht Club, QC, 2016

watercolour, Centennial Park, Dollard des Ormeaux, Qc, 2016