Professors: Ricardo L. Castro and David Covo
Place: Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Dates: The dates of the course are Saturday, August 25, to Friday, August 31, 2018. The course begins with a workshop at 9 am on Saturday, August 25, and ends at 6 pm on Friday, August 31. Travel days are Friday, August 24, and Saturday, September 1.
ARCH 325, Architectural Sketching:
Seven days of supervised field sketching in selected locations outside Montreal. The course develops traditional skills in architectural sketching in pencil, ink and watercolour. Sketching is explored as a process that frames the student’s encounter with the environment and as a strategy for acquiring knowledge and understanding of the world.
ARCH 680, Field Sketching:
Seven days of supervised field sketching in selected locations outside Montreal. The course reinforces traditional skills in observation, notebook recording and architectural sketching. Students are encouraged to approach the subject critically and thematically, and to treat sketching as a mechanism for documenting experience and expressing their knowledge of the environment.
Accommodation
A wide range of hotels, motels and inns are available and students are expected to arrange their own accommodation. Google will provide you with a full list of inns, hotels, motels, B & B, chalet rentals and campgrounds. Website: http://www.novascotia.com/flipbook/.
Transportation
A variety of travel choices are available to students. The School has looked into the best economical way to travel; it is by car or van. However, some of you may wish to travel by Via Rail, and local transportation will be used to connect to Lunenburg. You may also consider travelling by airplane.
Health Insurance
Please remember to bring with you the Quebec Medicare Card, and proof of any other supplementary health insurance you have to cover your stay in the Quebec.
Required Equipment
Watercolours, watercolour paper, brushes, pencils, pen and ink, conte crayon, sketchbooks (including the standard 13 x 21cm Moleskine with heavy-weight paper) and drawing paper of varying size and type. Sketch pads, sheet material and watercolour blocks should range from 9" x 12" to 18" x 24".
If you need to buy a set of watercolours, you could consider a set with ‘cakes’, or you could purchase separate tubes of pigment. If you decide to buy the separate tubes, you will need to develop a versatile palette. Below is one suggestion for a 12-colour palette – please note that the palette does NOT include black or white, which are unnecessary.
Reds: Alizarin Crimson, Indian Red
Blues: French Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue
Yellows (difficult): Cadmium Yellow Pale, Yellow Ochre
Greens: Hooker’s Green, Olive Green
Browns: Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber
Other: Payne’s Grey
Our first experiments in watercolour will be based only on French Ultramarine and Burnt Umber, which produce a surprising range of values and colours.
As for sketchbooks and pads, we recommend, in addition to the list above, a small pocket notebook or sketchpad for thumbnail sketches and experiments with wash and watercolour. A few good sable hair or synthetic brushes will also be required: a small and medium round, with a medium to large (1/2 inch or ¾ inch) flat are always useful.
Bicycles have always been valuable additions to the standard "kit" and are highly recommended. We have also found that a folding camp stool or small foam pad can make 2 - 3 hours on the cold ground much more endurable.
Please click here for additional notes on media and equipment: 
Media and equipment notes.
Schedule
The dates of the course are Saturday, August 25, to Friday, August 31, 2018. The course begins with a workshop at 9 am on Saturday, August 25, and ends with a final discussion of the work in the late afternoon/early evening of Friday, August 31. For most of us, Friday, August 24, and Saturday, September 1, will be travel days.
We will meet formally as a group 7 times: there will be 3 morning (9 am-12 pm) workshops and 4 evening (6 pm-8 pm) crits/discussions. The location of the workshops will vary, but all of the crits will take place in the Parish Hall of St. John’s Anglican Church.
St. John’s Anglican Church is located at 81 Cumberland Street. The Parish Hall is a separate building that faces the main façade of the Church from across the park, and its main entrance is at the corner of Townsend and Cornwallis Streets.
Here is the schedule of workshops and evening crits:
- First workshop: 9 am, Saturday, August 25, in the park in front of St. John’s Church
First crit: 6 pm, Saturday, August 25, St. John’s Parish Hall
- Second workshop: 9 am, Monday, August 27, Bluenose dock
Second crit: 6 pm, Monday, August 27, St. John’s Parish Hall
- Third workshop: 9 am, Tuesday, August 28, the Dory Shop dock (to be confirmed)
Third crit: 6 pm, Wednesday, August 29, St. John’s Parish Hall
Final crit: 6 pm, Friday, August 31, St. John’s Parish Hall
Evaluation
During the course, students are expected to explore both townscape and landscape and to make sketches that describe what they find. Final evaluation is based on a portfolio of at least twenty pieces, the majority of which must be substantially worked. The meaning of "substantially worked" is one of the topics that will be discussed during the course.
REGISTRATION NOTE:
Students currently registered in the B.Sc.(Arch.) program are required to attend ARCH 325 Architectural Sketching. Students currently entering U2 or U3 in Fall 2018 will register for ARCH 325 with the remaining Fall 2018 courses. Early Registration is open.
Students in the M.Arch. (Prof.) program are required to take ARCH 680 Field Sketching.
If registration (including withdrawals) is problematic, please contact Mary Lanni-Campoli by e-mail: mary.lanni [at] mcgill.ca or by telephone at (514) 398-6702, before the commencement of Sketching School / Field Sketching.