Sketching Trip - Mission District, Calgary

Out of all my drawings today, I like this one best.

We have had a few weeks of unseasonably warm weather here in Calgary. I've been looking forward to a sketching trip with my friend and a few of her former classmates. Imagine my surprise and dismay to wake up to cold temperatures and grey skies today! However, since we are Canadians we stuck with our original plan of drawing buildings in the Mission District in the heart of Calgary. 

Three of us braved the cold and set out with our folding stools and drawing supplies. My friend, Cindy, took the leap today and brought only digital sketching implements (which was so cool to see what she could do on her Ipad Pro with an Apple pencil!) Belinda and I chose to play with watercolour and pen. 

We settled in on a side street and picked some houses to draw. Starting with a 20 minute drawing might have been ambitious because not only were we not warmed up to drawing or doing fine architecture... we weren't warm, period. The weather changed quite abruptly and we sat through a very chilly picture. Once the sporadic rain started to become a little more persistent we decided to break camp and head to Starbucks. 

The results of my frozen efforts outside. My fingers were quite stiff by the end.

Once we had hot drinks in hand and settled in at our table, things started to loosen up quite a bit. We decided to not do timed drawings and instead focused on details and subjects as they inspired us. I have been finding a real sweet spot with 5 minute drawings lately. I've been loving how loose and gestural they've been ending up. Once I had set that parameter I became quite engrossed in searching out the customers in the store to see what I could capture. 

Despite the crummy weather, we really enjoyed comparing our travel sketch kits and chatting about all things drawing related. It was a real treat to spend the afternoon with these ladies. I came home so inspired to be in my sketchbook more frequently. 

Another favorite 5 minute sketch. I really liked the bold pattern on her dress.