Last weekend I went to Visit my old pal Kev to do some sailing. We had a fast crossing to the south side of Lake Ontario from Toronto and spent a couple of nights holed up in Niagara-on-the-Lake. It rained so I didn't manage to do much drawing. The region has become a hotbed of small wineries, most of which give tours and offer tasting.
We rented bikes and visited a few of the local companies, including lunch at Jackson-Triggs, in their impressive new building.
This sketch was done on the inside of the menu with a borrowed ballpoint pen but added the paint back on the boat. Arriving in wet clothes on bikes was not the best way to fit in with the silver-haired Mercedes and Lexus crowd, but the servers were gracious and gave us good explanations of their various varieties and blends.
Our next stop was Port Dalhousie where the Welland Canal links through to Lake Erie. There was an original, narrower canal which is filled in and abandoned in places. The port has a very well protected harbour and a lively entertainment district (code for bars).
Nicely improvised with the back of the menu. Great little sketches.
ReplyDeleteI am familiar with the area as I used to do contract IT work in the 1980's through that region including Welland, St Catherines, Niagara on the Lake and further up the escarpment. I became quite aquainted with the wineries :-) For a quaint sketching spot, there used to be a village called Font Hill. I almost moved there, and probably would have if I had decided to take a permanent job in Welland, but it didn't happen.
Sorry to hear that you got soaked by the rain.
I guess they will start hauling out boats from Lake Ontario on Oct 15th for winterization.. That used to be a pain every year.
Cheers
CyberDave
Vancouver, BC