Quick Trip to the Dentist

 I made a couple quick trips to the dentists this week.... 

took a picture at one of them... made drawing in sketchbook from picture... 

I had two more posts of street art from Amsterdam in the works but apparently forgot to finish them off!? Maybe this week! 

Portraits of Amanda

 I did a few portraits of Amanda while on our trip to Europe, when we had idle moments... which were... few... 

The first was at the Saskatoon Airport before our journey had really even begun!

We were at the airport hours early, so I thought I might as well get started on the drawing! 

The next wasn't until our third or fourth day in Amsterdam, when we stopped to have a meal at the Vegan Temple Bar - I pulled out my small sketchbook - which I carried with me EVERY DAY of the vacation... JUST IN CASE!!

The next was waiting at Amsterdam Centraal station

While we were waiting for our train to France! 

A few days later when we were in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Amanda actually joined a work meeting via her computer. 

The meeting was so long, not only did I DRAW a picture of her... 

I also managed to COLOUR it!? 

finally, on our first morning in Paris, I woke up STUPID early and could not get back to sleep. Amanda was still sleeping, so I drew the apartment from the little table I ate breakfast at. 

The temperature on the afternoon when we arrived was +38°C and stayed around there for most of our stay... it dropped to 31°C in the middle of the night... 

The apartment we rented was NOT air-conditioned, however... Nor did it have screens on the windows... So I didn't feel really confident about leaving the windows open all night and not having bats or rats or mosquitoes or any other number of pests joining us! We got enough flies and mosquitoes in during the hours we were there and awake and had the windows open! 

I still have three or four pictures (or maybe five..?) that I started while I was in Europe, but need to finish up (mostly colouring... and touching up here and there...?). And then the plan was to finish filling up the sketchbooks I'd taken on the trip with drawings done from the thousands of photos I took while there! 

More Sketching in May

(Whoopsie! I was just starting on uploading drawings I did on the Euro trip and realized THIS post about drawings I did back in MAY was still sitting in Drafts!)

I kind of stopped drawing for about a year! 

(Though I did still carry around a sketchbook WITH me everywhere I went!? I literally never leave the house without one!? I just fell out of the habit of getting it out and actually DRAWING anything in it!?) 

So, I have been trying to get back into a regular practice of drawing... and... not doing... GREAT... but... I have been doing SOMETHING... sometimes...  

I drew the set of the last play we went to at the Persephone Theatre for the season. The set was pretty amazing - and the play was okay too! 

This was done in the same sketchbook I was using in Moose Jaw. 

I did try adding colour at home... and... kind of ruined it... Ah, well... 

Amanda watching Death of a Unicorn

This was done in a little 5"x5" I started in 2021 which contains only little sketches of Amanda. 

Waiting at the doctor's office a week or so ago. I was trying out a NEW sketchbook... Art Placement, where I buy almost all of my art supplies, no longer stocks the Handbook watercolour journals by Speedball... so I have been on a hunt for a NEW sketchbook. The have the 100% cotton fibres, 250gsm Hahnemüehle Watercolor Journals, which do look VERY nice... but they only have the landscape format (or squares) which I don't love... I found Opus had some of the 200gsm Hahnemüehle Watercolor Books (and some of them were half price!?) so I ordered a few of those to try out! I do like it much better than the one I'd been using - as it lays open much flatter!!

I hate it when I find a thing I like... and then the next time I go to get one, they've been discontinued or the place I get them from doesn't carry them any more... 

I rode the tandem over to the Royal University Hospital last week to pick up Amanda who'd been there all day with Morgan (who was in for "day surgery"... but ended up staying overnight...?). Amanda needed a lift to the school that she teaches yoga at on Thursday for one of the community associations. I thought I'd see if I could knock out a quick sketch by the bike racks where I was waiting for her... I was waiting and awfully long time and was going to text and see where she was at and realized I had missed nine phone calls!? Apparently where she was was at CITY HOSPITAL!? 

Whoopsie!! 

So I sprinted away and made my way through the labyrinthine maze of detours around all the roadwork going on around RUH and the University Bridge and met Amanda walking up the University Bridge (luckily the cycling and pedestrian pathway on ONE side of the bridge is still open!) and got her to her yoga class on time! Thank goodness it was City Hospital and not St. Pauls!! 

In my defence, NO ONE TOLD ME it was at City Hospital!? Most of our visits to the hospital have been to RUH and I HAD thought about confirming, but Amanda had texted earlier in the day and had mentioned using the uSask wifi... why would they have uSask wifi at any hospital other than the UNIVERSITY hospital!? 

So this got finished up at home later on... 

There has been a lot of TV watching over the last few days while Morgan is at home recovering and I did a couple sketches on Sunday while Amanda was watching with us... 

One in the new sketchbook... 

and one in the small sketchbook of just Amanda... (Although Morgan does appear in the background of a few of the drawings!) 

I've been messing around with using a combination of markers and watercolours to colour some of these... 

Sketches from Carcassonne

Amanda and I were in Europe for a good chunk of June and the first bit of July. 

I had hoped to do a lot of drawing there. I did some. Not as much as I'd hoped...

I took a lot of pictures and will probably do more drawing from those pictures now that we are home. Eventually I'll get around to sharing them here. Maybe. 

These are a few sketches I did in Carcassonne. 

(There are others I did in the castle I'll share at some point!) 

Both of these were on Pont Neuf where we were waiting for the Tour de France riders to roll by at the beginning of Stage Four of the 2026 Tour de France. We were there really early, as I had expected a lot of people might want to hang out here to take pictures.. so I had a lot of time to draw - while standing around in the +38°C heat!! 

THIS is the reason why - from Pont Neuf there was a pretty great view of the castle of Carcassonne! 

So I could end up with shots like...

This is one of my favourites. In that line in the foreground, on the left in yellow is the current race leader #1 Tadej Pogačar, who had won the tour the previous year and won it again this year! On the other end of the line is #32 Derek Gee-West - the sole Canadian riding in the Tour this year! 

If they look like they're out for a chill, casual ride... it's because they are. This was part of the Depart Fictif - where they rolled through town past all the crowds and sites... the ACTUAL start of the stage was a few kilometres outside of town. it was already +38°C when they rolled by and expected to be +40°C as the day went on, so there was no need to do more than what was necessary to get them to the start! 

This veiw is looking the other way down the street, where we would first see the cyclists approaching from. 

Like so...

Both of the sketches were drawn on location, but the colouring with watercolours was done later. 

At some point I'll post some more pics of drawings I've done (and will do...).

AND at some point, I'll probably do a post on the Bike Blog about the carnival that was the depart for the fourth stage of the 2026 Tour de France! (and maybe something about bicycles in Amsterdam and Paris...?). We shall see... 

Old Peugeot

 I've been telling myself I need to get out and do more drawing/painting. I told myself, starting in June, I'd get out EVERY DAY and go for a walk or a bike ride and stop and draw something I saw... That didn't happen. (Well I did get out and do that a couple of times... but nothing I felt like sharing here...)

So I told myself I'd do it through July. I did get out for a bike ride on the first of July... but it was SO HOT... and there were SO MANY PEOPLE all over the place - at least where I was riding (for Canada Day!) I didn't end up stopping and doing anything. 

Yesterday, the second of July, I did go for a bike ride AND I did stop and draw an old Peugeot bicycle that I spotted locked up by the arts building on campus. 

Old Peugeot in my sketchbook! 

Of course I've been carrying around pens and small watercolour kits everywhere for the last month... actually I've generally carried a sketchbook and pens everywhere I've gone for DECADES... I just haven't made much use of them for the last few years... So when I sat down to draw, I found that all of my rapidographs were either empty or clogged and the first few staedler pens I tried were dried up... nevertheless... I found ONE that still had ink and I drew a quick sketch with that. 

I had neither pencils nor a thin liner pen that I might use to sketch out the general shape first... so I just started with the brake levers and went from there... things got a little screwy out towards the wheels - especially the rear one... but I did the thing. 

I didn't end up adding the colour until the next day (today), at home...

Will I get out for a walk or ride today and do another drawing...? I don't know. It's more of an intention than a MUST DO RULE. The kind of black and white thinking which says I MUST DO THIS EVERYDAY is the sort of thinking that leads to deciding I've failed if I don't do it one day, and just give up on the whole idea... and I'm trying to NOT do that!

Hopefully there will be more stuff posted here over the next few weeks...?

It's Been a Minute...

 I have not been doing a lot of drawing for the last little bit... 

So here's a thing... 

Amanda looking at some social media site and drinking some tea the other evening.

This was done in a little sketchbook I started in 2021 that I have not finished. It is all sketches of Amanda. Maybe this year...?

I did another sketch on Friday as well... but I was even less happy with how that one turned out... Maybe the next one. The plan is to get out and ride or walk to places and do more drawing.

Waiting...

I should clarify, this has nothing to do with the previous post. Just a regular waiting room for a regular appointment!

Of all the places I have to wait for appointments of people, this is my favourite. It is usually very quite and comfortable... (Today the radio was on and I had to listen to commercial radio...) 

Monday, 19 February 2024

 Royal University Hospital ER

My mom is in hospital. She hasn't had a great year. It's a long story...

Vacation in Ontario

 I went on vacation in Ontario and all I drew was a few lousy sketches... 

Seriously, I went there thinking that's all I'd do - sit around and draw stuff all day. There wasn't much of a plan and I'm not super into doing all the regular touristy things... and I hauled SO MUCH ART SUPPLIES....

The trip came about because Amanda had a conference to go to in Niagara Falls - the 12th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences - in Niagara Falls, Canada! She's been to a few - they've generally held them every 3 years and alternate between somewhere in North America, and... somewhere else - Usually Europe. 

Amanda's often met up with her mom when she's travelled to these (or other conferences) and I've stayed home with the kids... It's been a while since she last went to one (the last one was cancelled due to the pandemic - and then they held one online...). Our kids are older now, though... One of them is technically an ADULT (I know, WTF!?), so... I asked if maybe I could tag along... 

Short version of what ended up being a long and ridiculous story, It was decided that I'd go along, and we'd tack on a few days in Toronto on either side. 

I took lots of pictures... but I'm only sharing this one... at least in this post. (maybe I'll do another one with more pictures). These are the newish shoes I had that I wore on vacation, along with the two bags I took. the more colourful one was brand new and my "carry on" that had clothes and stuff. The purple and black Timbuk2 bag (with the fancy new patch from Spencer Hawkes/Nomad Patches)had all my art supplies.... and a few other things... 

Our flight to Toronto left at 6AM!? So we had to be there at 5AM... and up even earlier than that to get a cab to the airport... and then wait... Amanda, being Amanda, decided it was "technically" a "work day" (ie she was getting paid to travel) so she opened up the laptop and started doing work emails for an hour while we waited. 

And I drew a picture... 

I'm not a fan of flying. So I tried to busy myself with drawing while flying there. 

I was so crazy tired... but once I'm up, I just can't go back to sleep... so... drawing... 

And that was it... until we got to Niagara. 

We stayed two nights in Toronto and had a full day and a half of wandering around...

I brought my Rapidograph pens to use, as they are my favourites to draw with. But the ink kind of exploded out of them and all over the case I'd put them in... I cleaned them all out, but didn't have extra ink. I knew there was an art supply store in Toronto that had rapidograph ink, but I forgot to write down which one, and we didn't end up going to any those first days there and so all the drawing I did was with Staedler and Sakura pigment liners (my "back up" drawing utensils). 

(As it turns out, the are supply store that had the ink was the closest one - like, two blocks from our hotel... but in the end we didn't go there until the second last day of our vacation... and... by that point I'd kind of given up on the idea...) 

Again, the trip to Niagara meant getting up in darkness and walking back down to Union Station to catch an early morning train to Niagara Falls. I was too damed tired to do any drawing on the train... When we got there we were able to drop our bags off at the hotel and then wandered down to look at the falls... and took a circuitous path back up towards the convention centre to get Amanda registered. During our wanderings, we found a place to sit down and eat and, while we waited for our food, I drew another picture of Amanda... (above) 

The view from our hotel room... 

a view OF our hotel room... 

Amanda doing MORE work emails IN our hotel room one evening after getting back from the conference... which she did EVERY evening... 

I didn't do ANY drawing in Toronto on the way back 

One final drawing on the plane ride home - which I didn't finish colouring until the next day... 

And that was it... 

The lack of drawing was a bit disappointing. I think I need to PLAN things in advance ("I will go HERE and DRAW THINGS for the afternoon"). There was no real plan most days... and while some people find that freeing, I find I fall into an indecision loop for the ENTIRE DAY and DO NOTHING?! 

I guess I did learn a few things about what to take and what not to take... and what to take it in!? Which will be handy if I ever go on another vacation!? 

One thing I definitely won't be taking again is the Timbuck2 courier bag. I use it all the time, in town. But, generally speaking, when in town, I'm riding a bike to get around. I thrown be bag into a basket and ride to where I'm going and then I just carry the bag from my bike into where ever I was going and there ususally isn't much walking around. While it id VERY handy for organizing stuff and carrying it around... it SUCKS to carry, especially when FULL of sketchbooks and art supplies and anything else I think I MIGHT need for the day, when walking around ALL DAY.... Definitely better to use a small backpack! 

Empty Rapidograph pens of ink, before getting on planes. Bring ink with me to fill up when we arrive. Teh pressure changes when taking off is what caused the inks to explode out of the pens... it was a MESS. (so, still want to bring "back up" drawing utensils for the plane!) 

I'm not sure about colouring stuff... I brought Derwent inktense watercolour pencils... and Derwent inktense watercolour pans... I did use both... I ended up using the pencils more - because I'm more used to using those and there are more colour options, and on the plane they were more convenient, sort of... but in other ways they were a little less convenient - unravelling the giant roll that I have them all in. I think I might try a book-like pencil organizer...? or just learn to USE THE PANS and paint like a regular watercolourist!?

New Shoes

 I got some new shoes. 

While waiting for Keiran on Saturday, I tried to draw them... not my best work... but, it's something!?

5 Days in St. Paul’s Hospital

Every year I try to convince myself to make a resolution to draw a page-a-day in my sketchbook (and weekly post highlights on the blog!). It rarely lasts all that long… or even gets started. Well I’m off to an okay start this week (two weeks late) I managed at least a page-a-day for the last week. Of course five of those days I was in St. Paul’s Hospital… and it’s easy to find time to draw when you have to lie in a bed and do nothing else all day…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

Waiting room at the dentist.

It actually all started at the dentist. I was there to get a crown and they usually give me a sedative because I’m super gaggy… They used to just give me a $10 sedative and that was that… but now they got this whole protocol involving hooking me up to a blood pressure thing…? I think it’s just an excuse to charge MORE money… Anyway, they hooked me up and my blood pressure was “ a bit high” (190-something over 98…? I knew little about what those numbers meant at the time).

They decided the machine wasn’t working.

They tried another one.

210/105.

They suggested they might not be able to work on me… Then decided to give me another dose of sedative and “see what that does”. After 20 minutes it had dropped to 176/96 so they decided to go ahead with the crown and filling – but suggested I might want to check with my family physician about my blood pressure.

Didn’t sound all that urgent… So I didn’t think too much on it.

Then I got home and got busy with other things and later I looked up those numbers… It suddenly seemed a bit more urgent than they made it out to be! I borrowed a blood pressure from my folks (190+/90+).

Getting an appointment with my family physician is always a bit of a hassle – usually a 3-4 week wait (by which time I’m usually over whatever it is I wanted to see her about) so I wandered down the street to a local physician I hadn’t seen before. He took my blood pressure. Twice. (200+/100+)

He suggested I should really be in Emergency…

Friday Night – ER waiting room. 3 hour wait.

Friday night In ER – view of the Nurses Station from my bed.

I did not sleep Friday night. Hourly blood pressure checks and periodic doses of meds to try and bring it down. Wheeled out at some point in the evening for a chest x-ray.

Nurses station at Observation 5A

Ended up in observation Saturday morning. I had hoped I’d be in and out (with a prescription for some drugs) and maybe even make it to my friend’s game day on Saturday. This apparently was not in the cards. More regular blood pressure checks and more doses of stuff to drop blood pressure.

The doctor that ended up overseeing me was awesome - and a total comic geek! 

One of my neighbors in OBS 5A. Still waiting for pressure to come down and took some more tests

Another neighbor in OBS 5A.Still waiting for pressure to come down…

 After supper I was not to eat any more solid food until my kidney ultrasound.. on WEDNESDAY!?

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning I was moved to another room (501). Blood pressure finally coming down a bit – mostly waiting on one more test.

My bed in 501…. Blood pressure a bit better… final test and released in the afternoon.

I walked home. Probably wasn’t the best idea considering I hadn’t eaten any food for 60+ hours and then had a tiny white bread and hummus hospital sandwich for lunch…

Lacking access to the internet or a phone (am I the last person on earth over the age of 10 without a smartphone…?) I had no way of really letting people know I was there – but one of Amanda’s co-workers is married to a guy that plays games with a couple of my friends… so Gary and Rick stopped by for a visit today – which was nice.

This is the reason why I didn’t do MORE drawing (and part of the reason why these aren’t the best drawing I ever did) I had an IV thingie in my right hand and it was irritating to try and write or draw.

September Sketching

I didn't really do much through the summer... so I thought to get myself going again this fall I'd challenge myself to a 30-day drawing challenge: Fill one page in my sketchbook EVERY DAY this month. So far, so good - just over half way through. Mind you there are a lot of pages filled with utter rubbish. but a couple of the sketches have turned out... well... not-SO-bad...



The Girl reading "Shadow over Innsmouth"



A young woman I saw on campus today. She had fabulous purple hair. I don't much use colour in my sketch book, but have been feeling I should try a bit more - and it just happened that I had a purple ballpoint pen in my pocket with all my other drawing stuff. So I experimented a little. It was fun.

I should do more. Maybe not "should"... I feel like I'd LIKE to do more colour work in my sketchbook. but how? Carry more coloured ballpoint pens? (more crap to carry, run out of ink and have to throw out, limited pallet). Pencil crayons? That micro watercolour kit I picked up? (seems a hassle... water can be messy...).