Sketchbook

Walking home and cutting through the campus of my almamater and taking a rest break at Heart House.

Today was an odd day in terms of me sketching in public. Normally, I'm the ninja/covert/under-the-radar kind of sketcher in public, but when I dropped in to the All That Jazz Cafe, there was no where to hide, especially when Brent and Carl showed up to play an afternoon session of jazz. So I went ahead and sketched. Afterwards, Carl (the guitarist) came up to me and asked what Iwas doing. I showed him my drawing and he took it from there. He's a natural salesperson and started showing everyone in the cafe. If you know me, this is not my style, but I have to take lessons from this man. He's a natural born people person and self promoter. I've been guilty of not promoting my work in the past but after seeing this man operate, he's inspired me.

I even got them to sign my drawing.

Carl and myself outside of the All That Jazz Cafe in Roncesvalle. (Carl's idea) 

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A lovely afternoon sketching at Timmies with an iced coffee.

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This was a first today for me at the Bloor Gladstone Library.

As many of you know, the Bloor Gladstone Library is a regular haunt for me to sketch at, particularly the users of the library. Today, as I have done many times in the past, I went after work to sketch library people. Midway through drawing a lady (see below), a librarian came up to me and asked me to stop drawing her because it was an invasion of her privacy. She also mentioned that library policy prohibits taking pictures of people… architecture is good. People, not good. Technically, I wasn’t photographing anyone.

I understand the librarian’s issue with it, but 99% of the time I’m drawing people who are so engrossed with reading, fiddling on their mobile devices or sleeping, that they don’t realize that they are being sketched. Whenever I was “caught”, I’d show them what I did. For the most part they were flattered that I had drawn them. I’ve posted past drawing sessions from the library (all people) on my twitter feed and “likes” have come from the Bloor Gladstone Library account multiple times. If this was an issue, perhaps raising it then would have been the time to do it. I know the account is probably controlled by some tech guy somewhere else, but it gives me mixed messages.

As an artist, this is how I interact with the world. I’m drawn to people and sketching them is my record of that time. Some people write in their journals or keep small momentos from a special moment. This is my way to remember. In the entire eight years I have been sketching in public, this is second time I’ve been asked to stop sketching a person. When asked, I have stopped and apologized. That’s all I could do. I won’t stop drawing people in public, but I guess the Bloor Gladstone Library will only be a place where I borrow books from.

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Trying to work in a larger size sketchbook at the Bloor Gladstone Library.

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Trying to squeeze everything I can out of the Bloor Gladstone Library, in particular, the people. Thank you, my unsuspecting models... except for the sleeping subway guy.

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Post work sketch session at the Bloor Gladstone Library.

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Oakham Cafe. Ryerson Uni. Cheap eats. Decent coffee. And a lot of people who don't move too much.

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Unsuspecting subjects at the Bloor Gladstone Library. A nice way to unwind after work.

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A new year. A new sketchbook. Getting it all dirties up!

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I just walked west today on Bloor. I stopped in for a quick coffee at Timothy's and stayed there far too long.

One of the issues of have with sketching people in public is that they move (I say that sarcastically). However, part of my drawing pattern is to draw a farely detailed image of what i see in front of me and moving people don't lend themselves to my way of drawing. So I'm trying to find a way of adapting to "moving people".

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My first urban sketch in a while. This is the scene in front of my tent at the QWAC show. (who doesn't like a drawing of porta potties!)

Trinity Bellwoods park
Toronto

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I returned to this same spot this afternoon to finish off the spread. It was a beautiful day to finish it on... a tad hot though. Toronto Harbourfront, Canada.

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sketching at Venezia Bakery

It's been a while since I've been to Venezia Bakery on Ossington. The last sketch of the Bakery can be seen here (WOW! that was 6 years ago!). It's one of the last few hold outs on this strip where posh, hipster cafes, bars and galleries have taken over. It's run by an older Portuguese couple and they have definitely made their presence known in the shop. The lady of the business is loud, shrill and friendly and talks to her Portuguese clientele without paying heed to how long the line up is… that's what her daughter is for. I loved it and actually got a pat on the back from her when I was drawing this. I'll be sure to visit again.

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I saw the gentleman on the left and he had a great nose. A nose with a lot of character. I had to put that down on paper.

Sketchbook - subway sleeping

I love to see people sleeping on the subway. More people should do it. It makes my sketching easier. Pass the word on , please.

Subway sketching and one

After a week and a half of being under the weather and no desire to sketch, it was nice to get out  from under that cloud and put some ink on paper.

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Sketching at the Cafe Neon after my physio appointment.

A little…

Alot…

Just right!

sketchbook: A bit of walking and a bit of drawing

I decided to walk west on Bloor. Just walk. I stopped off at the Runnymede Library for the first time and spent most of my time there. A lot of mucked spreads but I managed to salvage two, the two I've uploaded here. My next stop was to get a coffee and of course, some sketching. I was looking for a non franchise coffee house that had something that piqued my drawing interest. The Coffee Tree fit those criteria.