End-of-Days, Vancouver

Thick orange, purplish or strangely flesh-toned smoke is hanging over Vancouver, ash is falling from the sky, a hot wind is blowing, and not a single person is mowing their lawn.  It's a day when the word "Armageddon" lurks in the back of your mind.  (Or, if you have a weird cognitive difficulty with polysyllable A-words like I do, you have "Armadillo", "Archipelago" and "Asparagus" lurking, but it's eerie all the same.)  That's the other word of the day - "eerie".  People passing on the sidewalk just shake their heads slowly and say "Eerie".  So, a quick sketch, and now I have to make sure my membership dues are paid up to whatever organization promises to get me the most years off my time in Purgatory.

Lonsdale: Saturday in the Park

Nobody who was alive in the 1970's can draw on Saturday in the park without having the Chicago song stuck in their head.  For at least 6 days, apparently.  There was no man selling ice cream, but can you dig it?  Yes I can.  So could several other people, playing, reading, texting in the shade of the big beech trees on one of our endless hot sunny summer days.

As I was doing that drawing in Victoria Park at Lonsdale and Keith Road, I hatched a new project: to draw each of the 38 blocks of Lonsdale Avenue, the "main street" of the city of North Vancouver.  My local neighbourhood is so familiar that it has become hard to go out sketching nearby.  Epic monuments or exotic scenes are singularly lacking here - and maybe everyone feels that way about their own home range.  But one of the points of urban sketching is to appreciate what is right around you, everyday scenes, little details, men selling ice cream, and I'm hoping the project will help me with that.  I decided not to worry about using a consistent style or viewpoint for each block, and to do them in random order, since I suspect that seasons will go by before I'm done.

Fortunately, for the second sketch in the series, my random-number generator (one of her many roles), picked 22, and I could draw the Lonsdale and 22nd Street block while sitting under a shady chestnut tree on another hot and sunny day.  I go often to the Harry Jerome rec centre on this block, to swim, play hockey and lift weights.  I think of it as a big, busy, energetic place.  So I was surprised to notice how well it blends in and almost disappears behind the trees and shrubs of little Crickmay Park on the Lonsdale side.  I apparently blended in to my chestnut tree quite well too, because two older ladies stopped just on the other side of the tree and discussed fairly intimate details of their childrens' personal lives for almost the whole time I was drawing.  The things you learn when you get out in your own neighbourhood,..

To T.O. two times

Two trips to Toronto, and a few drawings.  The first is the Evergreen Brick Works in the Don Valley.  I used to ride by it when I was a kid.  It was still in operation then, but on its last legs.  A friend's brother worked there, in quality control - which meant hitting each brick with a little hammer.  "Plink" was good, "plunk" was bad.  Plink plink plink plunk.  Plink plink plink plink plunk...  No such edifying work any more - the area has been redeveloped as a market, cafes, gardens, a wetland, even a private school.  They retained and restored some of the original buildings, but lost the 100-years' worth of chaotic mess that I loved riding through.

Also a view of part of the city skyline from Don Mills.  Don Mills was the first "planned community" suburb, but it is now well treed.  It seems to have a little bit more architectural diversity and character than the endless subdivisions that now surround the city.

And, in case anyone thought that the view out from the Toronto airport is any different than the view from any other airport ... it isn't.  Except perhaps for the subtly distinct skyline of Mississauga in the distance.

The Beach Lady, and many others - for sale, cheap!

A reminder about the life drawing show at Sandrine Pellisier's studio - 125 Garden Avenue, North Vancouver - from 6-9pm Friday June 19 and 10am-5pm Saturday June 20.  Hot off the watercolour block, "The Beach Lady" will be for sale - cheap! - along with many others by all the talented people who draw and paint at Simply Drawing life drawing sessions.

Mo' Edmo'

I took an extra day on last week's trip to Edmonton to go to Elk Island National Park, about 45 minutes east of the city (at least that's how long it took at 4 a.m., as I headed out at robin o'clock to see some eastern birds).  There were no people, great trails, lots of birds and bigger wildlife - but also mosquitoes.  Not quite as big as the bison, but more aggressive.  I can draw in hot and cold, busy cities, mountaintops, wind and even rain, but the bugs defeated me.  So my only drawing was of Lake Astotin, from a bluff where the wind kept the little biters away.  It seems unfair that when summer finally comes after the looong winter, people only have two weeks to enjoy it before the onslaught begins.  I guess it makes them tougher...

Speaking of tough people, I tried to venture beyond the funky confines of Whyte Avenue to draw the more typical Edmonton of vacant lots, industrial yards, warehouses, oil drilling equipment storage, malls, more oil drilling equipment storage, more vacant lots.  That lovely scenery for an urbansketcher seems to stretch for miles around the city and starts within a couple blocks of Whyte Avenue.  But when I ventured there I ran into an unconscious (I'm assuming) body in an alley, a drug-addict trying to break down the back door of a metal-working shop, and two guys on motorcycles who made a point of swerving towards me to make me jump out of the way.  I decided to do another drawing of Whyte Avenue...

And finally, as always, the airport - this time on a golden summer evening.

Life drawing show

Sandrine Pellisier is organizing a show of life drawings from her Simply Drawing sessions.  There are a bunch of fabulously talented artists.  And me, too.  The show is at her studio, 125 Garden Avenue, North Vancouver (near the west end of 1st St by the old railway station), Friday June 19 6-9pm and Saturday June 20 10am-5pm.  As well as more finished works, there will also be drawings for $5 and up.  For $100, you could probably wall-paper your bathroom in original art!  Here are a few from me:

More flamenco

Some more recent flamenco drawings.  I'm hoping to work up to something show-worthy for an exhibition of flamenco-themed art at Basic Inquiry in September.