Summer Travel: Toronto. Small sketches and notes.

While in Toronto, I walked every day and fell in love with the city that I saw. I took some photos, and drew some things with a tiny set of tools that fits in my waist pack together with other essentials (see photo at the bottom of this post). 

My favorite things:
- little parks, many on little hills
- streets that curve so that you do not see the other end
- apples and sunflowers in the middle of the city
- an amazing cemetery that is actually a huge park
- so many Ukrainian flags
- almost in every window - Canadian flag - and how many versions! Large and small, stickers, made out of flowers, with lights, kids' drawings etc.

Summer Travel: Toronto: Urban Sketching Breaks!

I visited Toronto for almost a week, and on some of the days, I got to paint this beautiful city. I was super lucky with the weather and enjoyed the company of the kind people of Toronto a lot! 

The first three sketches were done with ink, and then I added color with my gouache and watercolor palette. In the first sketch, I was afraid that it might rain, and in both the second and third sketches, I was not sure how much time I had, so I wanted to capture the scene with ink before deciding on adding paint and details. 

The last sketch - of one of the many library branches I had more time and painted it without using lines or ink - directly with the watercolor and gouache paint in my horizontal fabriano watercolor sketchbook. It was a wonderful day to be outside and after sketching I got a soft serve from an ice cream truck and did a little people watching by the tennis court (hands were busy holding sketchbook and eating ice cream so no sketches from the match but it was entertaining!). 

Sketchbook #99: Trip to Banff - Part IV

Sketchbook #99: Trip to Banff - Part III

On the of the hikes (not too far from the crowds of Lake Louise) I found these amazing moss- and lichen- covered rocks that looked like tiny worlds and spent quite a bit of time just looking and trying to find patterns, count how many times on the rock you see each living thing and if the four color theorem can be illustrated with them :)

Sketchbook #99: Trip to Banff - Part II

Mountains. Water in all it's forms all around. Wild berries, amazing array of mostly green colors all around me. And mesmerizing turquoise of the lakes and rivers in Banff.

Sketchbook #99: Trip to Banff

People at the airport, my first treasures of the trip and waterfalls, ricers, canyons and clouds!