Moods of My Neighbourhood

This winter I’ve enjoyed sketching the various moods of my neighbourhood - the early gloom of evening, brilliant sunrises in a sky still black from the long night.

Here the approach of freezing rain...

and a snow storm.

Snow storms and Snow Ploughs

It’s been a “mild” winter with only 3 short periods of frigid temperatures and snow so far. Windchill dipped to a low of minus 24 degrees Centigrade last Friday afternoon while I was sketching this scene. The roads were very icy. My spouse saw 2 people in front of him fall flat during his short walk home. A fall could be serious if you’re a senior and he was glad to get home safely. 

Earlier in the day a parade of snowploughs went down the street which gave me a chance to sketch 2 of them as they went by. The drivers must have been heading back to base after a long night’s work clearing up from the snowstorm the preceding day. Interestingly each plough was a little different. 

Calgary

My first trip to Calgary and I liked the city. It's hilly with views of the Rockies and has a big city feel which Edmonton doesn't. 

Early morning sketch looking north across the Bow River from the International Hotel. 

The Fourth Avenue Bar at the International Hotel served excellent (though expensive) fish and chips. The chips were spicy hot! Must have been their Chef Naidu's specialty. 

(Due to the presence of the Downtown Airport in Edmonton, there was a restriction to the height of buildings in the city. It's only now, many years since the closure of that airport and the demise of any plans to revive it, that taller buildings are beginning to appear on the Edmonton skyline).

Quick Trip to Calgary

In early January I had to make a quick trip to Calgary. These sketches were done at Edmonton Airport. A delay due to a snow storm gave me an extra hour to sketch. What luck!

Watching diners at an airport restaurant.

These two ladies were both chewing their straws!

People in the Olive Clinic where I spent a whole day attending to immigration medicals. With three Chinese doctors, the all Chinese staff and mostly Chinese patients, the bustling clinic could have been somewhere in Singapore or Hong Kong. The receptionist had a perfect command of English, Cantonese and Mandarin.