Out My Window

Last week there was one afternoon where the weather in Vancouver was really strange. Within an hour the weather went from sunny, to grey and rainy, thunder, lightening, high wind gusts, wind blowing leaves up, wind blowing leaves sideways, more rain, sun showers, dark and then sunny again. I sat watching this out my living room window. When the weather cleared I was left with this really clear view where all the colours outside were intense and crisp. I spent the next hour or so sketching this view. Unfortunately I have been having problems with a virus my eyes and had to set my sketching aside. On Monday Nov 21st I was finally again able to pick up and complete the sketch. This is the result. I have to admit that from my nice comfy chair I did get a little crazy drawing a lot of detail.. but hey.. that's just my style.

"Out My Window"

[Click on image for larger view]

Roedde House & Museum

The Manager of the Roedde House & Museum has posted a Facebook  link to my Flickr site where I have a sketch of their building. Posted by Roedde House on Nov 17th, 2011/
:-)

Illustrated Vancouver

This morning November 14th. one of my sketches was posted on "Illustrated Vancouver" a site dedicated to documenting Vancouver through art.

Second sketch was posted on "Illustrated Vancouver" on November 17th.

November 6, 2011

A further sketch in the "Vancouver West-end Sketchbook". This one is of the English Bay Hotel on the corner of Denman Street at Pendrell Street. This appears to be a 1950's style concrete building (ugly and similar to construction to "The Residency" where I live). I do note that in the 12 or so years I have lived in the area, I do not recall ever seeing anyone enter or exit this building (strange because it is not only a Hotel in a high tourist area but also because it has appeared to be open that whole time).

"English Bay Hotel" - Denman at Pendrell

[Click on image for larger view]

November 03, 2011

This sketch is of Pendrell and Denman Streets looking at the Tanpopo Sushi Restaurant from outside the Care Point Clinic (Doctors Office). Finished and watercolour version of yesterday B/W unfinished one. This part of the Vancouver West-end Sketchbook and now marks the half-way point of the book. :-)

"Tanpopo Sushi Restaurant"

[Click on the image for larger view]

November 02, 2011

This sketch is of Pendrell and Denman Streets looking at the Tanpopo Sushi Restaurant from outside the Care Point Clinic (Doctors Office). It is another sketch in the Vancouver West-end Sketchbook. Currently unfinished and only black and white ink sketch so far.

"Tanpopo Sushi"

[Click on image for larger view]

West-End Sketchbook in Progress (more)

Here is the watercolour version of yesterdays sketch for the Vancouver West-end Sketchbook.

"Babylon Cafe and Others"

[Click on image for larger view]

Back To West-end Book Sketches

Hola!
It was about time to get the Vancouver West-End Sketches book moving again. So I have braved the wet and grey weather and sketched a section of Denman Street. At the moment I have been able to do most of the black and white ink sketch and have not got around to dabbing on the fall colours or those of the storefront awnings. In previous sketches that were panoramic (double page) I had drawn right through the fold where the pages join. In this case I wanted to avoid that and so I decided to sketch this as a diptych (two separate frames forming one scene). This took a little more planning and forced me to sketch from the inside fold part of each page outwards.

Sketching has been a bit of a strain as early last week I picked up a virus in the left eye. This has resulted in my left eyelid staying open and watering a lot and forcing my right eye to keep refocusing and blinking. Passers-by must think I am winking at them... I better watch out or I will have some guys following me home :-(  Anyway this is leading to eye strain and I cannot sketch long periods without a lot of breaks. The Doctor says wait a week and see it it clears up. Easy for him, he'll not be the guy with the broken nose if I wink at a girl with her boyfriend in tow :-)

Here it is unfinished, but gives me some proof I have made some progress again towards the book. :-)

"Babylon Cafe and Others"

[Click on image for larger view]

September 24, 2011 [more]

Saturday when I came back from my visit to Granville Island, I ran into Bob my neighbour. He was out raking leaves (yes.. it is that time of year already). Bob owns the Tudor house next door at 1995 Comox Street that I sketched as part of the "Vancouver West-end Sketches 2011" sketchbook I am working on. I showed Bob my West-end sketchbook and he was really interested. He said he would like to buy a copy when or if I publish it. Bob indicated that he used to own the English Bay Inn across the street but sold it and bought this house. I was asking a little about the existing house he is in and he told me that it is sub-divided into four suites. Bob lives in the upstairs, there are two suites on the ground level and one basement suite. The basement suite has a walk out, so is not totally below ground. The house is fairly large so actually has 3 distinct addresses. The basement suite has 1995 Comox Street address with an entrance onto Comox. The two ground-level suites have separate Chilco Street addresses. He tells me he is adding an extension at the back of the house too.

Bob also indicated to me the harp I saw being pushed along the seawall was not his. A young guy used to store his harp in Bobs basement suite until someone moved in. The young guy plays the harp often in Stanley Park.

I did not want to hold Bob up from his chores (leaf raking), so I left him with the promise to talk again soon and get some details about the house and the English Bay Inn.

West-end Sketchbook in Progress

As indicated earlier, I have been accumulating sketches of the Vancouver West-end with the intent of publishing a limited copy run. This is to chronicle my view of places and things in the West-end during 2011. Below are photo's of the West-end Sketchbook as it sits today. At this time there are 12 sketches in the book with facing pages ready to receive notes about each sketch.  I definitely need to get out and do more sketches in the book and keep the process moving before 2011 ends .. LOL. In the next few days I will also be interviewing some of the building owners to get more specifics with the intent to write the facing page notes. Shown below are 5 of the sketch pages and the sketchbook cover.
[Click on each image for larger view]

Sketchbook Covers 
For those interested, the cover of the West-end 
sketchbook was done using a photo printed image
of one of the sketches, applied to the front with
double-sided transfer tape, then clear laminating
film was applied to protect the image. The other
smaller sketchbooks had origami paper applied
to each cover using double-sided transfer tape. 
This was done to make each sketchbook unique
and readily identified in my bag. Not sure yet 
whether I will apply laminating film for protection.
All 5 of the sketchbooks shown are "Moleskine"
Watercolour sketchbooks.

West-end Sketchbook Cover
I decided to add the photo to the front of the sketch
book and applied laminating film to make it more 
durable when "out in the field".

First Sketch page - English Bay Inn

Second Sketch page - Hirshfield House

Third Sketch page - 1995 Comox Street

Laughing Statues

Roedde House

August 31, 2011

Sketch for August 31, 2011 is of the Diamond Centre For Living (formerly the Weeks House). This building is part of Barclay Heritage Square in Vancouver's West-end. The Diamond Centre For Living, formerly known as the Weeks House, was originally built for a prominent Vancouver pioneer family.
When George W. Weeks - the builder of Weeks House arrived in the newly incorporated City of Vancouver to open it's first Hudson's Bay Company Store, the city had just 1,000 inhabitants. The year was 1886. Weeks later told a newspaper reporter that he could see the place had a wonderful future.
Weeks lived at Weeks House with his wife, Hannah, their two daughters, Hilda and Rhoda, and two sons, Campbell and Hubert. George Weeks lived in the house until his death in 1948. After George's death, the Weeks family continued living in the house. An unmarried daughter, Hilda, remained there until the late 1950s, when she sold it to the McClintock family. The Parks Board purchased the house in the mid-1960s, and Bernard Kelly stayed on as caretaker until 1994.
The exterior of the house was refurbished by the Iredale Partnership in 1990 at a cost of $120,000. In 1994, the house was leased to The Vancouver Friends For Life Society for $1 a year for 10 years, with a provisio that the necessary funds would be raised to refurbish the inside.
On December 1, 1995, the beautiful renovated home was renamed The Diamond Centre For Living. in honour of the Diamond family of Vancouver, recognizing their important role as philanthropists and leaders in renovating the wellness centre.
Today, the Diamond Centre For Living houses Friends For Life, a wellness centre providing holistic health therapies to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. Offering a warm, supportive "home-like" environment, the house has provided a safe-haven for the nearly two decades for over 3000 individuals living with life-threatening illnesses.

"The Diamond Centre For Living"

 formerly the Weeks House

[Click on image for larger view]

August 30, 2011

Sketch for Tuesday August 30, 2011 is of Barclay Manor, part of the Barclay Square Heritage Park at Barclay and Broughton in Vancouver's West-end. The house sits on Barclay Street between Roedde House and the Weeks House. Barclay Manor has 6 rooms available to rent for functions. The house has changed considerably since its construction in 1890 by Lucy and Charles Tetley. It began as a small "L" shaped structure which was moved 15 feet to its current location. Various additions occurred, and in 1909 architect R. J. MacDonald designed a conversion of the house into a private Hospital. From 1919 to 1926 it was known as Rosary Hall, a residence for Catholic working girls, and in 1926 it became a boarding house. The Iredale partnership designed the renovation of the building into a seniors community centre in 1990.

"Barclay Manor"

[Click on image for larger view]

August 29, 2011

Sketch for Monday August 29, 2011 is of the Nicola Dry Cleaners building in Vancouver's West-end. This building is located at 996 Nicola Street (corner of Nelson and Nicola streets). Nestled between high-rise apartments and heritage buildings, this dry cleaner is a neighbourhood favourite. On the corner and hard to miss, the store has been there at least 15 years, if not more. They do one hour dry cleaning and shirt laundry for reasonable cost. If you don't feel like walking to Denman Street and dropping off a load there, this is the next best thing. That is if you don't want to haul the load to Fletcher's Fabricare (Dry Cleaning) at West Broadway and Arbutus :-) ... okay.. not related .. just teasing.

"Nicola Dry Cleaning"

[Click on image for larger view]

August 28, 2011

Sketch for Sunday August 28, 2011 is of Fire Hall #6 in Vancouver's West-end. Fire Hall # 6 was opened March 1, 1908 and is located at the corner of Nelson and Nicola streets. Fire Hall #6 is still a fully functional fire station serving the West-end neighbourhood. When the Fire Hall was built in 1908, it was thought to be the first in North America to be built for motorized fire engines.

"Fire Hall #6"

[Click on image for larger view]

August 27, 2011

Sketch for Saturday August 27, 2011 is of Roedde House and Museum located at Barclay and Broughton streets in Vancouver's West-end. Roedde House was built for Gustav and Matilda Roedde in 1893. The style of house is "Queen Anne Revival". Gustav Roedde was born in 1860 in Grossbodungen, Thuringen, Germany and trained as a bookbinder in Leipzig. He immigrated to Cleveland Ohio USA in 1881 and married Matilda Cassebohm. The couple moved to San Francisco then Victoria, British Columbia and finally Vancouver. In 1886, Gustav opened the city's first bookbindery. By 1893, the Roeddes were able to afford to have a new house built at 1415 Barclay Street (now labelled "the Roedde House". In 1976, Roedde House was designated a heritage building and in 1984 the house was painstakingly restored and filled with authentic furnishings.

"Roedde House and Museum"

[Click on image for larger view]

August 20, 2011

Today's sketch is of the Haywood Bandstand that sits in Alexandra Park in the West-end of Vancouver. This bandstand is used during the spring and summer to hold free concerts. The concerts usually take place on Sunday afternoons from 1:00pm to 3:00pm, with the following Saturday as the scheduled date should it rain on the Sunday. The bandstand built in 1915 is controlled and serviced by the Vancouver Parks office and sits in the park triangle formed by Beach Ave / Bidwell St / Burnaby St.  Please excuse the photo of the sketch, I just could not get the contrast and details to show that are in the actual drawing.

"Haywood Bandstand" - Alexandra Park

[Click on image for larger view]

August 17, 2011

Todays sketch is of a building at the corner of Comox and Denman streets. Denman Street buildings were created when the Robson / Denman / Davie tram cars were installed in the early 1900's to carry residents of the West-end into downtown. Originally the West-end held the rich Vancouver elite, but as they gradually moved to the Shaunassey area up Granville, the West-end became a home for the middle class. The West-end soon began to fill with transient workers and new arrivals. This meant that the houses were sub-divided to house the extra people. The stores were created at street level to service the area, and the owners and tenants lived above or behind the stores. This happens today, for example the owner of the Central Bistro lives above the Legendary Noodle Restaurant. Note the balconies and terraces created in the upper levels to replace the lack of garden space.

"Legendary Noodle"

[Click on image for larger view]

August 13, 2011

Saturday's sketch of the "Laughing Statues" in Morton Park. The statues, called “A-Maze-in Laughter”, depict a series of laughing men sculpted in the image of Beijing-based artist Yue Minjun, a leading figure in China’s ‘Cynical Realism’ movement, which began in the 1990s. The movement grew out of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, in which emphasis on individual expression broke away from the dominant collective mindset of the era. 14 figures each standing roughly 8' tall sculpted in 7 different positions, with bared teeth and squinty eyes. The piece made its Canadian debut as part of the Vancouver Biennale, a citywide public art exhibit that will feature Minjun’s work and those of 30 other artists until June 2011. The “A-Maze-in Laughter” exhibit also served as the site of the Biennale’s official launch on October 27, 2009. Although initially the sculptures were to be in Morton Park (junction of Beach Ave. / Denman St. / Davie St.) until June 2011, they are still here being enjoyed by all.

"Laughing Statues"

[Click mage for larger view]

The photo does not show the sketch well as the subtle pencil marks do not come through well. The photo also does not pick up the colours as clearly as I expected. It looks much better in my "Vancouver West-end Sketchbook".


For me this was a tough sketch to do.. so many people wandering around in the way, and it was hot in the afternoon. I ended up sketching the statues first in pencil because the did not move. I was going to sketch them as separate groups of sculptures, but then quickly decided to show all 14 statutes as a double page view. After sketching the statues, I then added the people overtop as they arrived one-by-one. Ha! People certainly like to play with them, hanging all sorts of stuff from the hands. Not just kids but adults too. Finally I added the foliage in the background and the far background. The colour was added last.

August 10, 2011

Todays sketch - "The Residency" at 1049 Chilco Street isn't the prettiest building in the West-end, just one ugly oblong block of concrete but it has been my home since April 2000.   The Residency located at Chilco and Comox, was built in 1956 as a low cost development project. The building has 4 claims to fame: Firstly, it was built on the site of some really steamy celebrity party's in the early 1950's. Secondly the building has huge almost floor-to-ceiling and room-width windows. Thirdly, Chilco is blocked off to vehicular traffic at that point and so the building looks onto a beautiful parkette. Lastly it was built and designed by the famous Vancouver Architect Arthur Erickson (his first building) with his partner Geoffrey Massey. The Residency has been described as a white concrete six-storey Modernist shoebox with large letterbox windows. Erikson was quoted as saying "I'm sure we didn't want to repeat it, or even own up to it," and "I guess the challenges were technical, not artistic.". "It had to fit the rectangular site and the six storey maximum zoning by-laws (which were amended to allow even higher structures in the same year that The Residency was completed). There wasn't much we could do. Make the façade as simple as possible, have as many windows and as much floor space as possible."

"The Residency"

[Click on image for larger view]

Other Arthur Erickson buildings include the following: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada; Government of Canada pavilion, Expo '70, Osaka; University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada;  Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Eglinton West Subway Station, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Yorkdale Subway Station, Toronto; Robson Square, Provincial Law Courts, and Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver;  Bank of Canada Building addition, Ottawa, Canada (with Marani Rounthwaite & Dick); Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto; Napp Laboratories, Cambridge, England; King's Landing, Toronto; One California Plaza, Los Angeles, California;  Canadian Chancery, Washington, DC;  Markham Civic Centre, Markham, Ontario (with Richard Stevens Architects Limited); Convention Center, San Diego, California; The Kingbridge Centre, King City, Ontario; Fresno City Hall, Fresno, California; McGaugh Hall, University of California, Irvine, California;  Two California Plaza, Los Angeles, California; Walter C. Koerner Library, University of British Columbia;  Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington, USA;  Waterfall building, Vancouver;  RCMP Heritage Centre, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada; Ritz-Carlton Vancouver, Vancouver (cancelled); and  The Erickson, Vancouver.

August 9, 2011

Today's sketch is of the Tudor style house at 1995 Comox Street in the Vancouver West-end.

"1995 Comox Street"

[Click image for larger view]