Westport Marina

westport

My wife and I recently moved to Westport, a village in Eastern Ontario. It’s a great little spot and we have a nice studio to work out of behind our house. It’s pretty ideal for my illustration studio and my wife’s letterpress studio. I’ll be posting some photos of that as it starts to come together (or if you’re so inclined, I post occasional photos of it on Instagram).

Our first sketch outing together was to the Westport marina where this old gas station caught our eye. We brought our dog Peanut along and he lay in the shade while we were drawing. A man came by and asked us to draw his boat, but it was a pretty boring speedboat and not as interesting as this old shanty. A few people came and went to fill up their tanks, forcing us to take a break for a few minutes until they moved their boats out of the scene.

There are a lot of interesting places to sketch around here, so hopefully I’ll be able to get out and do more sketching throughout the summer.

Copper Cliff

Pat's Barber Shop

Two years ago Chantal and I headed to Copper Cliff to do some sketching (check it out here). Last weekend we headed there again and set up across the street from this barber shop and chiropractor office for some more sketching. That’s the Super Stack looming overhead, visible from just about anywhere in Sudbury. Copper Cliff is easily one of the most interesting places to sketch in Sudbury.

Abbey Ruins – Mackenzie King Estate

Abbey Ruins

Here’s a sketch I made over Canada Day weekend of some ruins on the Mackenzie King Estate. William Lyon Mackenzie King (for my readers outside of Canada) was Canada’s 10th Prime Minister and was Prime Minister for 22 years (his image is on the 50 dollar bill).

Chantal and I headed to the Estates with Peanut and came across these ruins, which were actually moved there by King as a place for reflection. He took fire-ravaged remains from the Parliament Buildings and other damaged elements and facades from Ottawa to create this arrangement.

You can blame Peanut for all the dirt on the page. I stood up to stretch my legs and he stretched his, dirty paws and all, over my drawing.

Stonington, Maine

Stonington, Maine

Stonington was great, it was just what we were waiting to see. It is a small fishing village and seaport on Penobscot Bay. We walked around one evening to check it out, took a bunch of pictures, and stopped at the Fisherman’s Friend restaurant for dinner. We loved the town so much that we came back in the morning to do a quick sketch. I wish we had more time there as there are so many good spots to sit and sketch the piers, boats and houses.