Limbering up in Montreal

I haven't sketched or painted for a while, but broke out the sketchbook a bit during last week's business trip to Montreal.  It was my first time there and I was enchanted by the old part of the city and the lovely people.  Here are my slightly rusty but honest attempts at capturing some of what I saw!  (I would have sketched more but it was -11 Celsius on my free day!)

In the "amazingly small world" department, I love reading the Urban Sketchers blog and when planning my trip to Montreal thought, hey, I should ask that Urban Sketchers blogger in Montreal (Marc Holmes) if he wants to meet up and sketch or something.  But then I got too shy and ditched the idea.  So on Sunday, I went to mass at the gorgeous old Notre Dame Cathedral and walked around the old Montreal district, ending up at this Museum of Archaeology so I could warm up.  I decided to sketch some of the Samurai exhibit after seeing someone there who was sketching already.  (Somehow, it's so much easier to whip out the sketchbook if you're not the only one.) Well, I spotted this post on Urban Sketchers today and realized that the man I saw sketching must have been Marc Holmes after all.  I should have said hello!

Samurai exhibit at Montreal's Museum of Archaeology

The museum had a buzzing cafe on the top level - so fun to hear French conversation.

Another Samurai on exhibit.

Old firehouse across from the breakfast restaurant of my hotel, where I stayed warm!