Vancouver, BC

I had to take a trip to Vancouver, BC for my visa application this week. My visa appointment was only 1-hour long and after that I just had to wait till I heard from the Consulate. Therefore I had plenty of time wandering around the city.

It wasn't the best time to visit Vancouver, I guess. It was pretty wet the whole time I was there. I was however determined to sketch as I thought I wouldn't be participating in the West Coast Sketch Crawl in August (now it's been cancelled!). I was lucky to get some breaks between showers on the first day so I went to Granville Island Public Market by ferry. A few sketches were done in and around the market, where many buskers were performing.

Looking at English Bay Beach

The rest of sketches were all done indoors due to the wet weather. I was quite happy with the sketch done at a comedy club. It was my first time watching a stand-up comedy show and most of the drawing was done in the dark till the spotlight hit the stage.

Art supply shops were also fun to explore on a rainy day. I bought a small bottle of Koh-i-noor brown ink just to experiment. I was told by the staff that the ink is mostly used in technical pens but should work fine in a fountain pen. So far it seems OK and I do like the warm brown colour.

My last sketch was done at a Starbucks. I just wanted to draw a place with a Canadian flag. As usual, I didn't wait long enough for the ink to dry before applying watercolours. Smudges everywhere. That's OK. My Platinum Carbon Ink just arrived and I can't wait to play with it.