Wicked Cafe, Vancouver, Canada.

I know, I know. Technically this shouldn't be here, because I did it in Vancouver instead of Toronto. But I thought I'd give you full disclosure.

One Car Two FIFA Teams

I spotted a parked car, the other day, from a family displaying their support for two countries competing at the FIFA World Cup. I'm assuming it's a family based on the stick figure stickers on the rear window. I was too far to see the details of it, but most likely it belongs to two parents and a couple kids, maybe with a pet. It seems to be a trend to showcase who the owners of the car are by displaying personalized stickers in the back.

This particular car had two Italian flags attached to the side of it. And as I was sketching the car, I noticed that the front was blue instead of red like the rest of the car and realized that it was most likely an Australian flag that they managed to attached to the hood of the car. To me, this is a perfect representation of the diversity and openness of our city. You can support different teams and still get along.

Sketchbook, the St. Lawrence Market.

Some sketching down at the St. Lawrence with a friend. 
(I depicted her with football line backer shoulders, but I assure you she's a lot more slender than that).

Sketching some St. Lawrence MArket people. Actually having sketched these people, it sparked a potential idea for my next set of paintings. What do you think of closely cropped images of people eating?

The Balcony of a FIFA England Fan

There's a worldwide sketching challenge going on right now with Urban Sketchers to cover the 2014 Fifa World Cup. Since it's an international event that connects us all in a way, I thought it would be fun to participate.

My first finding is this decorated balcony from England fans, ready for the game. They even added red and white flowers matching the colour of the flag. I wonder if they were chosen this way or if it's a coincidence. Out of hundreds of balconies in that area, it is currently the only visible flag from that side of the building. The games officially start tomorrow, it will be interesting to see if more flags show up as the game starts. 

I'm not too big on sports but from my understanding,  Canadians are typically more into hockey than soccer. However, since Toronto is a very multicultural city with Canadians having roots in all corners of the world,  I wouldn't be surprise to see flags from various countries appearing throughout the city. I might have to look at different neighbourhoods to see different flags, but I'll try to keep and eye open and my sketchbook at hand to capture the effect the this years world cup in Toronto. If you're curious to see what other sketchers around the world are capturing, search for  #UskWorldCup in various social medias and if you happen to be sketching and posting something related to the world cup, make sure to use that hashtag as well. 

Sketching at Nathan Phillips Square

Last weekend, we headed over to Nathan Phillips Square, an urban plaza in the city nestled between the new city hall and the old city hall, to sketch the area. It's a great gathering place with tons of event going one and interesting details to sketch such as a reflecting pool and fountain, a stage, sculptures and a variety of architectural buildings and features.

Fortunately this time we had a beautiful sunny day so we were able to stay all days sketching various interesting points of view. I mostly focused on the old city hall located across the street. Build in the late 1800's, its architecture is of the Richardsonian Romanesque style, full of intricate details. The more I looked at it, the more I discovered interesting details. No wonder it took 10 years to build!
We had a great turnout and lots of great sketches from the participants as shown above. It's definitely a place I would go back to sketch again.