Chinese restaurant, Pacific Mall

Only three tables were occupied on this cold and quiet Wednesday night at one of the largest Chinese restaurants in the city.

365 Things To Draw: Week 8

My son's depiction of a ruler shows some promise, with a burgeoning ability to put down on paper what he sees in front of him. At the same time, I'm a little torn by the fact that this is a sign that he's making a transition from drawing for the sheer joy of markmaking, to a mode of drawing that will inevitably lead to the pursuit of realistic depiction as an ideal (not always a good thing).

Missionsfest 2014

 A peaceful view across the river from the Shaw Conference Centre, where we attended Missionsfest and heard a powerful testimony and message by Setan Lee, who survived the Pol Pot regime and was led to forgive his tormentors.

sleeping

 My son sleeps after a long day stuck at home with a cold.

For a change, I've used a larger (at least for me, anyway) 11x14 pad... so freeing. 

Elk Island hikes on Family Day

 It is Family Day in Alberta, and today happened to be (arguably) the most beautiful day of the season with bright blue skies and very mild temperatures.
I needed to get my snowshoeing fix and made an afternoon solo trip out to Elk Island National Park. The snow conditions were perfect on the Hayburger Trail; meanwhile (unlike previous visits) Astotin Lake only had an inch of snow cover and did not require snowshoes. It's a different experience every time.

365 Things To Draw: Week 7

This week's calendar drawings, full of more intentional collaborations with my daughter.

dining chairs at IKEA

I had a few hours to kill and decided to spend some time at IKEA. There are many uses of IKEA stores including dining (if you can call it that), entertainment, and of course (planned or rash) shopping. (Also, filming.) I discovered that sketching also has rich possibilities.

I have an ongoing fascination with chairs. Especially dining chairs. They seem to most closely reflect the same kinds of issues that arise in the conception of buildings, except on a much smaller scale... things like comfort, economy, structure, style, craft, ritual... I believe that dining tables should be full of different chairs, all with unique characteristics like the individuals sitting on them. Naturally, I bought yet another chair.

more skyline doodles

 A series of (mostly) blind contour sketches of the Edmonton skyline from the west. I really enjoy doing these... the process is really quite liberating and full of unexpected surprises.

365 Things To Draw: Week 6

Week 6 drawings.

Vi's for Pies

Vi's for Pies is a bit of a Glenora establishment which we haven't gone to since having kids. The pies are indeed good, but its busy-ness has its drawbacks -- sketching under pressure to leave. Yet this too is one of the many circumstances that ends up being embodied in the sketch and forms part of the story!

north Edmonton

A panoramic view north of downtown, looking over MacEwan University towards NAIT, the decommissioned downtown airport (the large patch of white by the horizon around the towers on the left), and beyond. The huge new Target logo can now be seen all the way at Kingsway Garden Mall from here.

giant sweet potato

Two views of a sweet potato. This one is quite large, probably about 10" long, with a grotesquely lumpy and muscular appearance.

365 Things To Draw: Week 5

This week's drawings from our calendar. With the acquisition of 2 additional books, we now have 642 plus 712 (for a total of  1354) new things to draw.

an afternoon at the art gallery

Some sketches from an afternoon at the Art Gallery of Alberta.
Fortunately, the kids behaved thanks to (and fittingly) the opportunity to draw. The Italian painting exhibit (which I visited in December) is quite impressive, but my kids seemed to enjoy the series of installations that utilizes a (compulsive) collection of natural objects and arranges/orders them into some beautiful compositions.

skyline doodles

"A line is a dot that went for a walk."
"A drawing is simply a line going for a walk."
Paul Klee

A line is a dot that went for a walk.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/paul_klee.html#xuXIhqfhCSpQiaXs.99

A drawing is simply a line going for a walk.
Paul Klee

Walk, Line, Simply

A line is a dot that went for a walk.

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/paul_klee.html#xuXIhqfhCSpQiaXs.99

I took the wrong sketchbook (with much thinner paper) to a location having a downtown view, leading me to do a series of exercises rather than sketch in my regular mode. So I took the cityscape, and "took a line for a walk...", pen following eye with single line contours and sneaking a peak at the paper only as required. I ended up with about 15 of these during my lunch break, with mixed (but interesting) and fresh results.