sketchbook 12/21/10

sketchbook 05/18/10

More micros from the ROM.

sketchbook 05/15/10

Is it really surf and turf if the surf part also inhabits the land?


A few hours at the ROM drawing. I was fortunate that someone else had that same thought!

sketchbook 05/07/10

A few relative quickies at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Also trying to incorporate more hand lettering into these smaller ones. The font is an eyeballed version of Minion Pro.

sketchbook 03/31/10

This is the last image I drew for today at the Yonge/Dundas Square. It's the major open space in downtown toronto and what you're looking at is the north west corner. It's really grown on Torontoians and it's home to free open air concerts, farmers market's and great spot to sit and people watch.
Trying another drawing without the micron pen. Poor planning resulted in the lady in the foreground painted rather harshly on an established background. Kinda like the effect though.

Warm up sketched at the ROM.

sketchbook 4x3

I've realized something drawing the cafe images. I get pretty uptight using the micron pen and it definitely translates into the line work. No fluidity and looseness at all. So to combat my nervousness using the micron I decided today that my sketches would be based on quantity versus quality. So here are 12 images I drew over the course of the day. The first 9 are images drawn at the Future bakery and the last 3 are drawn at the Royal Ontario Museum. It was a great challenge for me to be loose at the ROM because everything I've done up to this point at that location has been pretty tight. I actually caught myself a few times tightening up. The image I like the most is the buddha because it's the least favourite of the lot. It's so unlike my style that it makes me cringe and I think doing something that is outside of my comfort level will eventually help me expand my repertoire.

black and blue

I did this piece at the ROM a few days ago. It was after I had done a similar piece (in medium and technique only) that I thought I'd give it another go. I've been mulling over it for the last few days and still haven't decided it I really like it or not.

Any thoughts on layout technique, composition from the blogosphere would be appreciated.

Sketchbook 01/06/10

I returned to the ROM today and bumped into Jai Wax, an artist I've seen around here before but never had a chance to draw. Well today was my lucky day because I got two sketches of him. The good part about this situation was that Jai would draw different sculptures for 10 minute sets which meant I had to sketch him in that allotted time. It really boiled these drawings down to the essentials.

Thanks Jai for being so gracious while I stared at you for 20 minutes!

sketchbook 30/12/09

Using two coloured pens. This is me being daring.

sketchbook 23/12/09

The last spread in my current sketchbook. I had a lot of fun drawing the snapping turtle at the ROM today. Apparently snapping turtles are an invasive species to the Great Lakes ecosystem and as a result, are creating quite a bit of havoc to the natural native flora and fauna.


When my dad was in the hospital, he roomed with a few gentlemen. This is his second roommate, Guido. I kid you not.


This spread was a reaction to the first day back to the ROM in about a month. My main objective was to lay down a lot of ink. Subject matter wasn't too important.

My sister renewed my membership to the ROM and I have to say it is one of the most thoughtful birthday gifts i've ever received!

sketchbook 06/11/09

This is the façade of the old ROM sketched from a walkway that leads to the new Crystal wing. The walkway had a great irregular shaped opening that I thought would be a nice framing device for this view. I wished I got a bit more of the opening



A few things I learned today:

1. Allan Gardens Conservatory is spelled with an "A" instead of an "E"

2. me+watercolour+drawing vegetation don't mix well.

3. sitting on an iron bench for a few hours-- not very comfortable, on several levels.

4. Bring an apple next time.

5. Another great indoor location to sketch for the up coming winter… and it's free.

sketchbook 23/10/09

Oh it felt so good to get back to my sketchbook. Went to the ROM to get the most of my membership..it's coming to an end and I need to pack in as many days there as I can.

It was serendipity once again, because there were some sketchers there who I got on paper. Actually it was a mini field trip for two people who appeared to be taking a drawing class with the woman who I got down on paper (lower right side).

sketchbook 18/09/09

sketchbook 28/08/09

With the threat of rain, I returned to the ROM for some guaranteed sketching in dry conditions.

I found another sketcher in the gallery that was to be my haunt for the next few hours and decided to sketch her. She was a really good sport about it, but she left before I got her name. So a big thanks to this sketcher girl for holding still for me on Aug. 28.

On another note, as I was working on another sketch, a girl came up to me and asked if I was being paid for all this sketching. I said no, but I think that's a great idea!!! So for any ROM employees who happen to read this, and have the power to hire me as an in-house artist, just email me... I won't bite.

sketchbook 14/08/09

Ok, it's official, i suffered a bit of museum burnout. I think going there 4 straight days is enough for the immediate future. However, I got to know one security guard a bit and we chatted about his art, my art and life in general. That's another facet of sketching in public I enjoy, and that's the interaction with people.

So I rejigged my thinking and instead of jumping into a piece that had a more finished feel, I chose to warm up with a quicky sketch and then just progressed down the line of images.


I chose to revisit the ASain wing and sketch it from another angle. I find drawing spaces repeatedly from different angles makes me understand it better and fill in things that I missed previously. I also had the objective of drawing in people. My one problem is that they keep on moving and so a quick, base watercolour gesture was drawn in and the details added after I was happy with the gesture.

Sketchbook 13/08/09

Another day at the ROM and I chose the base of the totem pole to sketch instead of the top which I had done previously here and here.

Fortunately, I picked up on a few tidbits about the pole from passing tourist groups. It's about 25m high, half the height of Niagara Falls (I assume the Canadian side ;-) ) and that it's "read from the bottom up."

I'm going to throw this out there. I'm getting drawn into the same situations from previous experiences sketching at the ROM. If you were at you local museum, what would you sketch? I'll take any suggestions and modify it to my situation.

Sketchbook 12/08/09

Another day at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). So many things to sketch there and I decided to sketch in the biodiversity gallery. This boy can't pass up sketching a bunch of sharks and bugs!

While I was finishing up this sketch, a group of young kids (approx. 6-7yrs. old) sat literally at my feet. From what I gather from the talk made by the group leader on all things shark and bugs, this was a kind of science group and the quote was said by the group leader/lecturer when she handed out some shark skins, a dinosaur tooth and other items for the kids to touch. Two things really stood out in my mind about this encounter: the group leader was super patient with the kids, especially one know-it-all. And the other was the quote illustrated. Her form of address and tone made me think of Mark Antony's famous opening line in Julius Ceasar: Friends, Romans, countrymen….

(The drawing was cropped on the left side because my scanner is too small.)


I did this drawing after the biodiversity drawing. I was feeling a bit like I was colouring by numbers with the first piece and for this one, I just painted. I left my micron pen in my bag. It was fitting for this series of figures because they had so many subtle shadows that a micron pen would never be able to convey (or at least I wouldn't be able to convey it).

Sketchbook 11/08/09

I added to the buddha drawing I did yesterday. Looking at it as it was,it looked too empty on the page and considering my tendency to fill a spread page in my smaller sketchbook, I added to it today with other objects from ROM.

Sketchbook 10/08/09

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of ancient writings containing prayers, hymns and religious laws. … The Scrolls are important to Judaism, Christianity and Islam because they contain the earliest accounts of biblical patriarchs and prophets who are known to all three of the Abrahamic faiths.
Excerpt from the Dead Sea Scrolls program

Ok, I've stated it in the past that I'm not a big fan of Daniel Lebskind's addition to the Royal Ontario Museum, but the exhibition space for the Dead Sea Scrolls in the second level basement, took my breathe away. The ambiance was amazing. The scrolls were located at the end of a serpentine route, with artifacts from the same era displayed at the beginning and the actual scrolls displayed at the end, in individual display cases.

I was one of the first ones to enter the exhibition and rushed to the end so i could see the scrolls without the crowds... and as it happened this scene was too good to pass up to sketch. With the dimmed lights, music and the sculptural quality of the columns, coupled with the actual scrolls made this a memorable visit.

Needless to say, it was a little difficult drawing and painting in the dark and I was pleased that I didn't mangle this drawing when I reviewed it in daylight. (the detailed elements such as the striped t-shirt and type were added in the Museum cafe).


Something I did after the Scrolls drawing just to reaffirm my ability to draw in a tighter fashion (aka, anally)

Sketchbook-- 19/06/09

It's been while since I posted. I've been neck deep in a graphic gig that has kept me away from my sketching and today was the first day i had in about a week and a half to get out and get some serious sketch time in. Ironically I went indoors to the Royal Ontario Museum to sketch some Samurai helmets. I've been eying these guys for a while and fortunately the foot traffic wasn't too bad.
As I was sitting there, I saw so many people just zoom by with their cameras, clicking away from one display case to another, not really paying attention to what they were shooting. Just found that funny.