Victoria, Part 1: Urban Sketching with Gabi

4/14/19 BC Legislative Assembly Building

Although I have been to Victoria, British Columbia, several times, all those visits had been before I began sketching. A few months ago, Gabi Campanario announced that he was offering urban sketching workshops in the charming Canadian city. Recalling the historic architecture and lovely harbor, I jumped at the opportunity to visit again – this time with sketchbook in hand.

4/12/19 Gabi and I met up on the Clipper ferry to Victoria. Here
he is finishing up his presentation.

Co-sponsored by Greater Victoria Placemaking Network, the workshop weekend began last Friday afternoon with a free presentation by Gabi about urban sketching. Although I’ve heard Gabi give similar talks at other workshops I’ve taken with him, I always find it helpful to be reminded of his tips, basic practices and principles to get the most out of urban sketching. For example, here’s the order of priority that Gabi places on the elements of a sketch:

1. Composition (more than 60 percent of the success of a sketch depends on a strong composition)
2. Tones and values (“squint hard to see them”)
3. Color (might not be necessary if other elements are strong)

Other words of wisdom:

• For the sake of speed, keep drawings small (he favors pocket-size sketchbooks; workshop participants received a small Stillman & Birn free) and stay on your feet (you’re less likely to spend a long time on a single sketch if you don’t get too comfy)
• “Keep your eye on your subject, not on your paper.”
• “Don’t be intimidated by all the gear. . . all you need is a pencil or a ballpoint pen.” Keep materials simple.
•  “My sketchbook is a laboratory, not a portfolio.” Gabi encouraged us to experiment and take chances with our sketches instead of trying to make them perfect and precious.
• “I have nothing against erasers.”

4/12/19 My notes while Gabi gave his presentation.

4/12/19 St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

After Gabi’s presentation, members of Greater Victoria Placemaking Network, “a group of Greater Victoria residents dedicated to improving our region’s shared places,” took participants on a short walk around the neighborhood to experience public urban spaces. They encouraged us to use all our senses to observe without judging. Since urban sketchers naturally observe their surroundings closely as part of sketching, the group’s values – “we focus on what happens in ‘the public realm’” – complement urban sketching well.

Although making a sketch was not necessarily part of the brief exercise, sketching is the easiest way for me to efficiently observe and focus on any space, so I chose to make a quick one (at left) of the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church that I could see in the distance. (Little did I know then that it would be a dry run for the next day’s workshop!)

Gabi offered three workshops over two days: Architecture, People, and Nature. I opted for Architecture, which continues to be my biggest challenge. Saturday dawned wet, cold and windy (much colder than Seattle only a hundred miles south as the crow flies). We were originally supposed to sketch the stately and formidable BC Legislative Assembly Building, but without nearby shelter, it was untenable. Gabi decided to change the workshop location to the same church I had hastily sketched the day before, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian, because a building with a deep overhang was conveniently available directly across the street. The overhang kept us all dry and somewhat sheltered (though not warm! We were all frozen by the end of the workshop). All weekend as he had to change plans according to the weather, Gabi noted that being flexible is an important part of urban sketching!

 

Gabi demo's composition options.

I look cold, don't I?

Thumbnail of the composition I chose.

The street light fixtures had an unusual curved shape that was different from the ones I’m used to sketching back home, so I wanted to include them in my sketch. As we talked about composition, Gabi noted that it might be a better choice to move slightly down the sidewalk so that the light poles wouldn’t be planted firmly in front of the church. Although the rain had slowed by then, I admit that I was reluctant to leave the overhang’s shelter. I stayed put and made my thumbnail. When I told him I had chosen to stick with the original composition, he said that it was still possible to make a successful sketch if the poles were given prominence so that their lines didn’t get mushed together with the lines of the church.

My final sketch is below. In retrospect, I think that Gabi’s idea of moving down the street would have made a stronger composition. But I tried to use color (on the church) and heavier lines on the light poles to distinguish them from the church.

 

4/13/19 St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

Gabi wrapped up the architecture workshop inside a nearby coffee shop so that we could warm up and share our sketches. He demo’d watercolor techniques and showed us his favorite sketch materials there.

 

Architecture workshop participants

The next day, the rain had stopped, but the temperature was still not amenable. Instead of following the Nature workshop students to a nearby park as I had planned, I decided to explore the historic Fairmont Empress Hotel. Thinking I would find an interesting interior to sketch there, I was delighted to find something much better: a fantastic view of the Legislative Assembly Building that we had to forego the previous day! And a cozy, comfy couch to sketch it from, to boot (sketch at top of page)!

Normally I would fill the entire composition with a huge building like this, but as I scoped out the scene, I heeded Gabi’s suggestion during the workshop: “Leave extra room in front of the building so people can ‘walk’ into your sketch as if they were walking into the real building.” A bus, a vendor’s umbrella and pedestrians in the foreground seemed like a handy way to give the composition the space that Gabi had advised.

The park in front of the legislative building was the location for the final event of the weekend – a sketchcrawl open to the public. Since I had already sketched the domed building from the comfort of the Empress, everything else seemed like icing. I chose the statue of Queen Victoria prominently placed in the park (you can also see a tiny version of her in my sketch at the top of the page).

 

4/14/19 Queen Victoria's statue

Despite the rain and cold, I had a very enjoyable weekend meeting sketchers from Victoria, Vancouver and other parts of British Columbia. I learned new tips to apply to future sketches, and as always, I was inspired by Gabi’s enthusiasm for and commitment to urban sketching.

Cathy sketching a totem.

Gabi sketching the legislative building.

Sketchers at Queen Victoria's feet.

Final sketchcrawl participants

Two Cats

4/18/19 Roosevelt neighborhood

On my way to a haircut appointment, I was annoyed to discover that the whole block where I usually park had been closed due to construction work (what else is new?). Of course, my mood improved immediately when I saw that I had my choice of numerous earth movers and other heavy equipment to choose from!

As soon as my appointment was over, I dashed back to the construction site and started on an excavator I could see most easily from the sidewalk where pedestrians were allowed. It was an easy target because it wasn’t moving. But a short distance away, another machine sprang to life, moving things around with its claw. I managed to get both of these done just before it started raining again.

The curious worker who came by told me that yet another condo will be built on the property. He assured me that they still have plenty of digging and earth-moving to do, so I’ll be back for more.

4/18/19

Squirrely

3/31/19 interloping squirrel

Our bird feeder is designed to keep non-bird critters from feeding. Called a Squirrel Buster, it was recommended by our local Audubon Society office as an effective way to keep squirrels out, and it is. We’ve been having other issues with it lately, though, so we temporarily replaced it with an older feeder that doesn’t bust squirrels well.

Sure enough, we’ve been having visits from a determined interloper who must make a climb on a slippery, angled pole before getting to the feeder. Once there, he clings precariously to the feeder, circling it slowly as he gobbles up seeds that the birds have spilled in the tray. (Fortunately, he can’t pull fresh seeds from the holes as the small birds can.) It’s hilarious comedy watching him scramble up the pole and contort himself into awkward positions to eat!

We’re about to take down the feeder for the season, and next year we’ll return to using the Squirrel Buster, so these sketches may be my last chance to capture this squirrely guy.

3/31/19

American Goldfinch

4/7/19 male American goldfinch (breeding colors)

Last winter we saw finches at our feeder only occasionally (juncos and chickadees were our primary visitors, and still are). This year, several varieties have been showing up daily, and in no small numbers. Our feeder is often covered with the tiny birds frantically vying for seeds.

In December I sketched a male American goldfinch with his “non-breeding” colors – some yellow on his head but with a brown back. Now that it’s spring, we’ve been seeing more males with their breeding colors on – brighter yellow all over.

4/1/19 male American goldfinch

I recently heard Gage life-drawing model Randy say that he sometimes holds the same pose for a whole academic quarter – three hours a week for 10 weeks, with a break every 20 minutes. Students work on a single oil painting or sculpture, week after week, as Randy returns to the same pose. My approach toward sketching birds at our feeder is similar: Over the course of weeks or months, the same birds (or ones that look identical) return to the same positions on the feeder again and again. Instead of 20 minutes, I might get only a second or two, but each time, I refine a detail or gesture, and eventually I complete a whole sketch. After numerous attempts, I finally caught enough goldfinches that I could complete a couple of sketches showing their coloring and wing details.

Alas, I was never able to complete even one sketch of a Bewick’s wren. All winter, I waited patiently to catch this infrequent visitor, but it’s just too fast for me and doesn’t come often enough, even using the Randy method. I tried several times with my usual colored pencils, but pencils are too slow for wrens. Frustrated, I took a cue from my own life-drawing practice, where I use brush pens containing ink for the shortest poses. The best I could do on the wren was to grab a few gesture sketches using a brush pen (below).

3/31/19 Bewick's wren

#Oneweek100people2019 Wrap Up

4/10/19

By the end of day 2 of the #Oneweek100people2019 challenge, I wanted to up my game a bit and look for more active people to draw. On day 3, I headed for Northgate Mall and decided I would focus on the motion of walking, which is complicated to break down. In Thomas Thorspecken’s book, Urban Sketching: The Complete Book of Techniques, he breaks down the movement very effectively with simple illustrations (refer to my review to see the illustrations). 

I had these in mind as I closely observed people walking. When the front foot is planted firmly, the front leg is under the body weight, the back leg is bending, and the back foot is getting ready to lift. When the front leg is at an angle, only the heel should be touching the ground, and the back leg is distinctly bending with the foot sharply flexed. I found that these two phases of the walking motion are the easiest to see and therefore draw, but I still missed subtleties in some of these (is the toe up at a sharp angle, or is the foot nearly flat?). It’s easy to end up with the keep-on-truckin’ look (like No. 61) if the front leg sticks out too far. Most people walking at a comfortable mall pace seem to have a fairly short stride, making it even more difficult to see the subtleties among the various walking phases.

4/10/19

4/10/19

I also tried to sketch people walking toward or away from me. Although these are easier in that I can’t see (and therefore don’t have to draw) the varying leg motions, it’s much harder to show that a person is walking and not just standing. I think I did the best job on No. 64 in showing the bent knee and bottom of the shoe.

In about an hour and a half, I made 30 sketches, bringing my total to 87. The best part about this excellent practice is that I think I’ve developed my “vocabulary” for the walking motion that I can apply to future sketches.

4/10/19

4/10/19

After that marathon of walkers, I took it easy the next day and went to Starbucks. With the usual cast of characters – texters, a talker, a sleeper, a flirter, a couple of kids – I finished up my hundred. (I still had a few minutes left on my parking meter, so I did a couple more.)

How did your week of a hundred people go? I hope you had as much fun as I did! As always, taking on this annual challenge taught me new things about drawing one of my favorite subjects.

4/11/10

4/11/19

4/11/19

4/11/19

4/11/19

Secret Jazz Club

4/6/19 jazz trio performing at the Secret Jazz Club

A friend told us about the Secret Jazz Club, which is billed as an “intimate” concert venue in Georgetown. Its location is obviously not a secret, since it sells tickets through Airbnb and can be readily found when searched on the Internet. It turns out that the reason it is a “secret” is that the musicians you hear may or may not be the ones who were scheduled for the evening that you bought tickets for. It could be a total surprise! We love jazz, and the venue sounded intriguing, so we took a chance and got a pair of very reasonably priced tickets.

4/6/19

We’re glad we did. Indeed, the jazz trio we heard that evening were not the performers who were named and pictured on Airbnb, but no matter. The music was wonderful, and – more important to me – both the stage and the seating area were well-lit for a concert venue, so it was an entirely sketchable event. With a great view of pianist Matt, bass player Mike and drummer Max, I spent the first set sketching the trio. During the second set, I made a couple of small portraits, trying to achieve better likenesses and expressions. Max, especially, had such a blissful expression during his drum solos that I wanted to capture it.

Art Talk and Free Pizza

4/5/19 panel discussion at Gage Academy

Gage Academy occasionally offers free lectures and discussions by instructors and other artists. Last week, visiting instructor Susan Jane Walp and instructor Kimberly Trowbridge were on a Q&A panel to give students an opportunity to ask them about their art practice. Moderated by Gage executive director Stefano Catalani, the panel discussion included free pizza! It was an enjoyable way to spend a wet and blustery lunchtime hour. (Get on Gage’s mailing list to find out about these events.)

Some might have the impression that sketching while people are talking is rude because it seems like attention is not focused on the speaker. I’ve always found it fascinating that I remember more of what is being said when I sketch while listening. In addition, I sometimes take notes on the sketch, and those notes are far more likely to be referred to again because they are part of the sketch instead of lost in a notebook.

Technical note: I made this sketch with the Sailor Cross Point fountain pen that I filled to get ready for the One Week 100 People challenge. I think it’s been months since I took the fountain pens out of my bag because I hadn’t been using them much. It felt good to get inky again. And I was suddenly very happy that my nib was gliding on Zeta’s smooth surface instead of cold press paper.