Sketches worth a thousand words!

B.G. Merkle, 2012 - Sharing sketches during a break

We often hear the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”  In a fine demonstration of the notion, sketchers were out en masse last weekend, and Quebec City was no exception.  Saturday, July 14, was the 36th Worldwide SketchCrawl, a global sketching event in which thousands of people took to the streets to document the world around them. 

L. Marshall, 2012 -
Yvan sketched the sketchers sketching in the park

The event originated with Enrico Casarosa, who participated in a marathon bachelor party in San Francisco nearly ten years ago. Predicated on the “pub crawl” concept, Casarosa says, “The basic idea is to record non-stop everything [we] can around us. After a whole day of drawing and walking around the city, the name seems quite fitting: ‘SketchCrawl’ - a drawing marathon.”

B.G. Merkle, 2012 - Yvan and Céline
sketching on the Plaines of Abraham

Inspired by SketchCrawls organized in other cities, a few of us (Bethann, Larry, and Céline) organized what we believe to be Quebec City’s first ever SketchCrawl. Twelve sketchers met and created a vivid visual record of the Jardin Jeanne d’Arc and the Plaines of Abraham, during a total of five hours of drawing. 

Based on the number of participants, the enthusiasm of all the sketchers, and how long everyone stayed out on a hot, humid Saturday, the event was successful beyond what we had hoped.  

Larry said it best.  "Today was a visit to sketching heaven for me.  I had so much fun talking with everyone that I didn't get much sketching done, to be honest.  But, I took photos, ran around as though I were Johnny Sketcherseed and just had a ball."

B.G. Merkle, 2012 -
Yvan explained a handy tool used to gauge dimension
and scale, and Sylvie, Nicolas, and Larry were hooked!

More from Larry - "We were on the Plains of Abraham at 10AM and most of us didn't leave until 3:30PM. Lots of sketchbook page flipping occurred, lots of talk of sketching, possible plans for the future, and we all worked on our Vitamin D generation as it was a bright, sunny day."

Scroll down for plenty of photo highlights and lots of sketches.  Thank you to all the sketchers who shared their work for this post.  Please respect their copyrights.

L. Marshall, 2012 - Jardin Jeanne d'Arc

L. Marshall, 2012 - Nicolas hard at work

Photo by  L. Marshall, 2012, of Nicolas's sketch

L. Marshall, 2012 -
Katherine, deep in concentration

L. Marshall, 2012 -
All Catherine's concentration paid off.

L. Marshall, 2012 -
Larry sketched the welcome kisoque!

N. Pavey, 2012 - Natalie sketched the whole
scene, with a great sense of color used to focus
the attention on Joan of Arc at the end of the garden.

L. Marshall, 2012 - Bethann pencils in a sketch of the
classical French garden commemorating Joan of Arc.

B.G. Merkle, 2012 - The scene of the sketch

B.G. Merkle, 2012 - Bethann's final sketch

L. Marshall, 2012 - Pierre in the garden

L. Marshall, 2012 - Céline and Nicole sketched
the Plaines, from a shady spot in the garden.

C. Poulin, 2012 - After lunch, the sketching resumed in earnest.

L. Marshall, 2012 - Céline sketched Pierre.

L. Marshall, 2012 - So did Yvan.

L. Marshall, 2012 - In keeping with the
trend, Bethann sketched Pierre...and 
Sylvie, Catherine, and Nicolas, too.

C. Poulin, 2012 - Céline also sketched the Concord,
a well-known hotel with a revolving restaurant at the top.

L. Marshall, 2012 - Catherine sketched the park administration
building, which used to be a lovely, quaint visitors' center.

L. Marshall, 2012 - Catherine's finished sketch

B.G. Merkle, 2012 - Sylvie used another
of Yvan's tools, this one for filtering out
mid-tone greens, to help identify darks and
highlights when sketching a landscape.

L. Marshall, 2012 - Yvan continued drawing people...

L. Marshall, 2012 - ...all afternoon.

L. Marshall, 2012 -
What do you do in a park?  Why, have a picnic, of course! 

B.G. Merkle, 2012 - Everyone hard at work
after a delightful picnic lunch.

Obviously, we all had a grand time.  Judging by the amount of information exchanged about sketching tools, places to sketch, and so on, my bet is next time will be soon.  And, the picnic will be a potluck!

More activities are already scheduled, and more are in the works.  Check out the calendar for more info, and come sketch with us soon!


Extra, extra, read all about it!  1st Quebec City SketchCrawl is just the beginning!

• The SketchCrawl made the news!  Read the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph article here (page 8).
• Bethann's process for sketching Jardin Jeanne d'Arc
• Larry's follow-up about sketching the following week
• Céline's post on SketchCrawl.com.