Sunday - plein air

I've become so used to sketching lately, its as if I've forgotten about other mediums. And today was no different when I took my sketchbook with me to Torbay beach. The tropical depression, Ernesto, is causing large sea swells here so while I sketched a bridge over the river leading the the ocean, I could hear the surf breaking on the rocks behind me and feel the occasional bit of spray from the waves at my back. The river flows from the hills in Torbay down over the rocks to meet the sea. Wild ducks, who are now almost tame, enjoy the shallow, fast moving water and linger at the edges, occasionally squabbling amongst themselves.

I decided that this scene needed an injection of colour. The day was bright and sunny and warm. The light was sparkling on the water and the greens of the valley constrasted with the subdued colours of the bridge and stones. I used coloured pencil for this sketch, but at the scene, the drawing was done with my mechanical pencil in an ordinary Canson sketchbook.

I am amazed how I can lose myself even in public once I start working on a drawing. I become absorbed and nothing distracts me. Well something did distract, a loose dog whose big wet nose jerked me back to reality with a chuckle.

I moved on later to Quidi Vidi Lake in downtown St. John's. I sat in the sun, fighting wasps and finally moved to some large stone slabs laid around a statue to have some peace. The stones are huge boulders, dressed no doubt to be flat on top and are arranged in arcs surrounding The Rower. I sat and sketched with rapidograph pen til I was approached by a woman who was admiring my sketch. She was Russian and in broken English told me that she too drew and painted. It was a lovely encounter and I enjoyed meeting her. I watched her and her young family take photos then move on to feed the ducks on the lake.

Then home again. I had spent the morning making paper. A messy business that needed me to be outdoors to do it. While waiting for some paper to dry I sat by the backdoor and started sketching the view for a Scavenger Hunt list item. I felt like Snow White, as every animal decided to come visit me, take a sample of the slurry that I was making the paper from and try to walk on the drying paper. Ducks and chickens invaded my space but were still amusing and I included some of them in the sketch. The view from the backdoor. Its a rather unusual view compared to the average home where the fence acts as the boundary. This fence was created to keep the old dog contained so he wouldn't come to harm. The dog is now gone but the fence remains, like a little piece of security in a huge 15 acre landscape. Its now more an oasis and sanctuary for timid creatures escaping the wild world.

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