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.

Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn Bridge Park

I made a quick trip to New York this past week, and we took a leisurely saturday wandering around Brooklyn.  Here is the Manhattan skyline, as seen from Brooklyn Bridge Park. What a gorgeous day it was to lie on the grass and paint.

Sketching at High Park

I was hoping to see the famous cherry blossoms at High Park during our sketching session, but the heavy rain fall from the previous days and the unusually cool temperatures of the past few weeks have considerably reduce the volume of flowers in the trees this year. So it's not as spectacular as it could be but it was still nice to be in the park and take in the scenery. There were a few petals on the ground and a fewer flowers holding on to the trees. It was interesting to see the amount of people taking pictures along the path.

Today was a particularly cold day and, despite our good intentions, it was just too cold to spend the whole day sketching outdoor. I managed to sketch a view of the pond with a little cherry tree closer to the pond. The tree was more green then pink, but still attracted a good amount of photographers and models. Some even picked up petals from the ground and threw them in the air to simulate petal falling from the sky.

After about an hour and a half, we called it quits and decided to look for a warmer place to sketch. According to the Sakura Cherry Blossoms website, this long weekend is the last chance to see them in full bloom as more rain is expected in the next couple day, most likely knocking out the remaining flowers. I guess I'll have to wait until next year to experience this display of natural beauty the as shown in the video below from last year.

Sketching at the Brookfield Place

A little over a week ago, our sketching group met at the Brookfield Place to do some sketches of the office building complex located near the Union Station. We gathered in the spectacular Allen Lambert Galleria, also known as the "crystal cathedral of commerce", which was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Looking up at the curved ceiling, it definitely reminded me of Spain.

The place was rather quiet during most of our session. There was classical music playing in the background and people passing by at various time. Two couples came with their photographers to apparently take engagement pictures. It's a very popular place for that. It just goes to show the importance and impact of designing spaces to not only be functional but aesthetically pleasing. The design for this space was the result of an international competition to comply with Toronto's public art requirement. I would say that this is a success, judging by the amount of people who felt compelled to stop and take photos while we were there.

Once again we had a great turnout for our event and lots of great sketchers from the participants, as shown below. Now that the weather is getting warmer, I'm hoping we'll be able to sketch outdoors a little more. But on a cold day, this is a great place to hang out. The only thing missing in my opinion, are seatings for people to fully take in this beautiful space.

43rd World Wide Sketchcrawl in Toronto

Despite still being a little too cold to spend the days sketching outside, a group of us participated to the 43rd World Wide SketchCrawl. The plan was to go through a portion of the Toronto PATH and stop at various locations to sketch our surroundings. I had plan to start at Osgoode subway station, then visit the Four Season Centre for the Arts, the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel Lobby, the Richmond Adelaide Complex, the Hilton Hotel Lobby and then finish with a meal at the Vegetarian Haven. A few adjustments were needed in order to accommodate for the fact that the Four Season was closed, but it turned out great. We had a little over 20 participants and a lot of great sketches. (See the Toronto Urban Sketchers Facebook page for more pictures). 

I started sketching in the subway on the way to Osgoode station (colours were added later at home). There was not a lot of people around since it was rather early on a Saturday. 

Our first stop was at the Sheraton Hotel. They have a spectacular lobby including a beautiful courtyard with two waterfalls, greenery and stone sculptures. This was obviously a great subject to sketch and the sketchers were able to find comfortable places on two floors to sketch it. Can you spot some of them in the photo below ? 

Despite being a little chilly, I decided to venture outside to sketch the waterfall a little closer. It was warm enough for me to get most of my lines in but my fingers were getting a little too cold to complete it outside. It was great being in this little oasis, with the sound of the water in the background and birds chirping from time to time. Whoever thought about designing this area for the hotel created a great asset. As I was sketching, I was wondering about the bright leafy green near the stairs. It's obviously not quite the time for leaves to come out since it's still quite cold. I wonder what kind of bushes they are.  

 

After our sketching session at the hotel and a quick lunch, we headed over to the Richmond Adelaide Complexe and sketched items around the area. I spent some time in the sun outside and sketched one of the outdoor seating areas. I like the giant flower pots near the chairs. I'll have to pass by again later during the summer to see how it looks when the leaves are out. 

We then headed toward the Hilton Hotel and sketched in some of the areas around. There's this really neat building right in front of the hotel which is home to Momofuku restaurant. The entire building looks like a piece of art and includes a very complex sculpture. I later found out that it was made by artist Zhang Huan and the piece is called Rising. It is intended to be aphilosophical reflection of the world around us. It was too intriguing not to sketch, even if it was very complex to draw, I gave it a shot. The sculpture has several birds seeminglly flocking towards a mass that looks like an abstract animal that's difficult to define. According to the info on the artist's site, the objective was to  convey the message that humans can exist in harmony with nature, and that, if this delicate balance is struck, our cities will become better places to live. Through the monster-shaped tree, he would like to advocate the protection of ecology, and the harmonious relationship between humans and nature. The doves in the tree symbolize the peace of the world and his wish is for beautiful city life to be shared by mankind and nature. I completely agree with his view. 

Unknowingly, and perhaps inspired by the sculpture, on our next stop I wanted to capture the fiberglass geese in the Toronto Eaton Centre. This installation was created by artist Michael Snow and called Flight Stop.  

Overall we had a fun and prolific sketching session for our first SketchCrawl with a lot of great talent and people sharing valuable ideas, insights, experiences, tips and tricks along the way. There's a lot to see in Toronto and I'm looking forward to do it again in the future so that we keep showing Toronto one sketch at a time. 

Robarts Library

We had a great sketching event at the Robarts Library this weekend. It was my first time seeing this fascinating building up close. Built between 1968 and 1973, this brutalist style architecture has a lot of interesting angles and geometrical details to sketch. 

There was a lot of students studying in the building, so there weren't a lot of available seats nears the windows, but I managed to find a chair overlooking and interesting portion of the library. I really like the perspective between the shelves. Unfortunately my spot was near a cold vent, so I had to leave after a little while and completed the colouring at home.

The 3rd floor gives  a great birds eye view of the main entrance on the second floor. The ceilings are really high and give a grand look to the place. Most students were fixated on their laptop. I'm sure it must be quite a change compared to how things used to be when the library first open in the early 70s. 

I ventured outside for a little bit to sketch a portion of the building since the weather a little warmer. Not warm enough to spend hours sketching details, but enough to get an idea of the building's architecture. I'll have to come back on a warmer day to try various viewpoints. It was really fun to sketch all these angles. 

Back inside, I sketched this student talking on the phone near the escalators from a floor above. It was a great opportunity to practice a birds eye view perspectives. 

 

 

We had a great turnout with a couple new sketchers including our youngest sketcher to date: only 6 years old. He did an awesome job! See if you can find his sketch :)