Urban Sketchers Winnipeg: Skipping out to Transcona

Weather: Bright, sunny day approximately -15 degrees c.

Today, I was supposed to be at Art Group where I would be watching a DVD of portrait drawing. When faced with the decision of whether I should sketch out somewhere or sit inside watching a DVD, it was an easy choice to make. I chose to go to Transcona for a few reasons. One is that I've been attracted to a few scenes there; one of a Barley processing plant on Dugald Rd and the CN shops entrance plus my middle Artist daughter Jackie had the day off and lives in Transcona. She had suggested that I might like the cemetery on Dugald just past Ravenshurst.

Jackie had wanted to sleep in so I chose to go to the cemetery first. I missed it going down Dugald so I went down the perimeter highway to an access road and found that taking this road took me in the back way to the cemetery. I spent 10 minutes sketching a cut path of snow which had some nice bare mature trees, dark tombstones in the middleground and the perimeter high way with a nice line of grass in the background. I had my down filled gloves on but your fingers get pretty cold after a very short time. Once my fingers started to get cold, I sat in the passenger seat of my car and sketched the old door on a small brick building on the grounds.

The next stop was to Jackie's to have a washroom and coffee break. Jackie was game to come with me so we sketched together in old Transcona. We stood outside to sketch the Transcona Historical Museum and then sketched the CN Transcona Shops entrance from inside the car. This was my favorite. It is so interesting with the old railway style entrance building and the massive yellow steel structure that cuts sharply and diagonally through the shop yard. The sign for the yard contrasts sharply with the pale blue sky behind.

Today I chose to work with a Faber Castell Pitt pen and graphite pencils. I liked the combination. Using only pen would have made the drawings too busy plus using pen and pencil automatically created value contrasts. I also found that although it was too cold to spend more than 10 minutes outside at one time, it was quite warm in the car. The heat gain from the sun shining in through the windows was enough to keep you comfortable and warm. I will definitely do this again. Next time I would like to create some pastel sketches.