Back to Marysville

I'm have no real idea why I'm filling my sketchbook with Marysville, but have the sense that it will lead to something.  So in the spirit of "just do the work"  I'll keep going and see where it leads me.

Wolfe Island North Shore

If you turn right leaving the Marysville Summer Ferry Docks, Main Street continues west as Highway 96 and follows the north shore of Wolfe Island.  There are views of the water and Kingston beyond across what is technically the head of the St. Laurence River, as Wolfe Island is the point at which map makers differentiate between Lake Ontario and the River.

This boat house may have tried to be boat house during the high water springs of the last two years as it sits down low.

A Bruiser of a Cruiser

As you might expect, boats of all description are stored on Wolfe Island.  Most are simply out for the winter, but I suspect that many may never swim again.

 This steel cruiser keeps a couple of old transport trailers company in an old field overlooking the Lake.  I'm sure they console each other in their retirement , as they quietly rust, with recollections of their travels and harrowing tales of bad weather on road and lake.  The cruiser is heavily built of steel and I can imagine it pushing aside flows of rotten ice or even breaking through an early fall crust.

Eliza and Centre St.s Marysville

I managed to get back over to Wolfe Island last week to scratch my sketching itch.  I've been realizing that there the open space and overlapping forms of buildings offer interesting views, which is different from streetscapes or glimpses into rear yards that are typical of denser cityscapes.

With the lack of traffic, its  also easier to position the car to do a sketch, in freezing weather.  I sat at a stop sign to do this one, in deepest darkest Marysville and when a friend pulled up we talked out the car windows for a good 10 minutes blocking the intersection...a normal part of life in Marysville.

Back to the Boneyard

I'm inextricably attracted to boats - in the water or maybe even more alluring on the hard.

So, once again, I felt compelled to trespass onto the boat workshop grounds on the edge of Marysville, and snoop around a bit.

Oh, yes, I am a sailor, but here's a wee confession, I  love anything that floats, but real working boats ...deep seaworthy  steel hulls, purposeful vessels that earn their way, have particular appeal.

Rainy Day Sketching

Default sketching locations in poor weather are coffee shops and museums.  The choice is a no brainer, as museums won't allow coffee in the display areas!

The top sketch was done in Habit Coffee downtown Victoria and while I didn't get the circular perspective right, the people add character.   The lower sketch is in James Bay Coffee and Books and while the curved perspective is better,  the drawing would be more interesting if had there been some other people there to animate the composition.  Serves me right to show up at 7 am, I guess.

Choral Evensong

I spent a few days in Victoria BC last week and was able to slide into Christ Church Cathedral for their Coral Evensong.  I always enjoy the simplicity and serenity of evensong and, no surprise, the building's acoustics served admirably. And better yet, there were enough people attending, that I could sing without exposing my vocal ineptitude.

Normally, I'm not much for Cathedrals by way of places of worship , but the varied choices of the seventeen services per week intrigued me and I will return, should I have the chance.

On a more technical note, I wanted to emphasise the height of the columns by exaggerating the taper, but didn't get it quite right, in terms of their relationship to each other. If I could, I'd deek in and play with that concept some quite afternoon and find a way to avoid alarming any structural engineers looking at the drawing.