Hamilton Sketches
I try to get into the studio every day; usually before the family gets up.
At the moment, I am on vacation so I have more time to work on projects.
With the buildings, I prefer to draw them in direct sunlight. This helps remove the shadows and makes the features on the buildings nice and crisp.
I usually do one outdoor drawing session per day, weather permitting. Whether it is morning or afternoon depends on the orientation of the building. For example, the Central Public School faces north-west, hence mornings are best. Dundurn Castle, on the other hand, faces south-east, so afternoon sessions are preferred.
This project involves sketching buildings: first as small sketches on paper and then larger versions on canvass. The goal is to keep it simple and direct rather than a finished acrylics or oil painting.
With the sketches on canvasses, I will use my outdoor sketches and photographs taken during the outdoor sessions to create a fuller version of the buildings.
Eventually, some of these sketches may form the foundation for a lino or woodblock prints.
The goal of this project is to sketch historical important buildings from the downtown core.
My understanding is that there are over 7,000 historical worthy buildings in Hamilton, so I guess this project may take some time.
FCSD Studio 