By: Paula Becker,
on 4/12/2010
This was my view during the sermon Sunday morning as Peter Aitkens delivered the sermon. Peter’s an artist/painter and so narrated the story of Jesus appearing (post resurrection) to some of his disciples (Luke 24:13-35) through a series of fabulous drawings he did. They were displayed on the overhead as he walked us through the [...]
By: Paula Becker,
on 4/5/2010
A sketch from this past Easter Sunday morning. And I thought this might be of interest. A local church (Bay Area Fellowship) got a lot of press this week for their “Mega-Million Give-away”. I don’t know how much money they had tied up in prizes, as I see the numbers reported from 1-4 million. I did [...]
By: Paula Becker,
on 2/15/2010
Just some sketches from yesterday’s church service. I struggled this Sunday with feeling comfortable sketching with people around; feeling conspicuous. I did these while sitting in the far back. One positive thing is that I noticed that the sketching was getting to be more habitual…or automated. Not sure what word to use for this, but [...]
By: Paula Becker,
on 2/9/2010
But is there anything else in early February in Montreal? It’s a big church to warm up. There are large vents on each side of the sanctuary that put out heat. People will congregate there to warm themselves before sitting down. I spent a good part of the service in front of one myself. But when [...]
By: Paula Becker,
on 5/31/2009
(Just curious…Is that phrase redundant? Are there any “old” beginnings? Same-o same-o starts?) Anyway, these are sketches from today’s church service at St. Stephens. It was an emotional service as many of the congregants are leaving to start a new church. Other people I know are leaving for other churches, and some are just leaving. [...]
By: Paula Becker,
on 4/13/2009
Easter has come and gone and I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend, whatever you were doing. I had two church events to participate in this weekend–the Good Friday and the Easter morning services. I helped out at both, sitting behind the soundboard on Friday and then playing music (bass, percussion and vocals) on [...]
By: Paula Becker,
on 4/6/2009
Random notes, people and bunny doodles on Palm Sunday.
By: Paula Becker,
on 2/3/2009
I did a little sketching during church this past Sunday. I had brought a small batch of unusual colored pencils with me and experimented with them a bit. The pen is my preference, though.
By: Paula Becker,
on 12/8/2008
I FINALLY whipped up a Christmas card for myself. Yes, it only took until the second week of December to get it done, but I did pretty good to accomplish that! Some outfit in The States is printing a small batch up and I hope to have them in my hands by the end of [...]
By: Paula Becker,
on 10/14/2008
I decided to stream something from off the PBS NOVA site tonight while I was working, something a little different than the usual NPR or PRI programs (one can only take so much discussion about the economy, war, and election, etc.). The program entitled, “The Elegant Universe” looked appealing, and so I did in fact [...]
By: Paula Becker,
on 7/14/2008
(Larger version here.)
By: Paula Becker,
on 6/26/2008
Since my husband was out of town this past weekend, and I had no commitments to my usual church, I visited a church in the area I’d never been to–Renaissance Church in Kirkland, Quebec. Kirkland is on the western end of the Island of Montreal, which is where we live so I was finally visiting [...]
By: Paula Becker,
on 4/23/2008
(More sketches from the weekend. The below done during church.) So I say if someone sits down in front of me while I’m sketching, they’re fair game to make it into my sketch, yes? As was the case with a couple of kids (Teens? Young people?) who came in towards the end of [...]
By: Paula Becker,
on 2/18/2008
Here’s another good example of the advantage to having a small sketchbook with you where ever you are. I was playing incidental percussion at the church I attended this weekend, and while there was a lull between rehearsing the songs, I took my sketchpad and did a fairly quick drawing of the drummer while he, too, waited. This was done during several different lulls, which were no more than a minute or two at the most.
Then, of course, there`s much more time during the sermon to sketch. I did a lot of doodling of faces, etc., but managed to also draw this scene from my view from the far side of the auditorium of the pastor giving the sermon.
By: Paula Becker,
on 2/11/2008
I visited my old church (Church Of The King) Sunday morning. It’s been two years since I’ve seen some of these old friends. And wow, how the children have grown! They get taller, we get wider!
Then, in the evening, I was enticed by the idea of music and free dessert over at Christ Point Church (sketched last week). I used my blue Prismacolor ink pen to sketch people enjoying the music. That’s my friend, Steve, there on the right side of the page…the one who was nodding off in church last week. He can’t do that if he’s standing up, though I wouldn’t put it past him.
By: Paula Becker,
on 2/3/2008
I’ve kind of sluffed off on sketching as of late, but I’m working at getting back into doing it on a regular basis. That includes my sketching at church, which I rather forced myself to do this morning.
I visited the church of some good friends today. As usual, I sat in an area where I could get an unobstructed view (this time in the back) and with no one sitting to my immediate right so I’d have plenty of elbow room. My friend, Steve, was sitting two chairs away and when I glanced at him at one point during the sermon, there he was, nodding off. I poked him and added the “ZZZZs” to my sketch (below). In his defense, it was his second service to attend of the day. His wife plays bass on the worship team and so they’re one of those who are first to come and last to leave.
Below: Some of the individuals around me. I was fond of drawing the lady sitting across the aisle, 2 rows up from me. She had on this loud polka-dot blouse and was taking sermon notes.
Below: I drew this fellow last. He was sitting behind Polka-dot Lady. By that time I had warmed up but the sermon had ended and so had my sketch session.
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So, yes, I took my leave of Canada Land this past week and I’m now in Studio South on the Texas coast. It took me longer to set up than I planned as I had some difficulties configuring my work space. I couldn’t get my email to work properly for several days, though I still don’t know how it got fixed. The older computer here is, as I figured, not going to be dependable, but it is running. I don’t know how to network the laptop to it but I can bounce back and forth between the computers via my portable hard drive. And so, five days after arriving, I think I’m good to go.
By: Paula Becker,
on 8/12/2007
If you weren’t aware of this already, church-goers are a pretty ragamuffin bunch. And we often act like a dysfunctional family, in the sense that we mutter and complain about each other, the building, the service, the music, the sermon–you name it, we complain. So with that said, I have a complaint: Children running amok in the church building like it’s their playgound. And I’ll tag on: children touching and playing with church equipment (e.g. microphones, musical instruments, etc.). Oh, what am I saying? My complaint isn’t with the children, it’s with their parents, who think this is a perfectly acceptable way for a child to act. I don’t understand this mentality really. I don’t understand how allowing your children to chase each other around inside the church building, stomping, high-pitched screeching, etc.–DURING the service, no less!–makes sense to people. This is not normative behavior to me. And it’s not normative parental over-sight, either. I could keep venting but I’m just trying to give a little background behind the sketches below. I was frazzled by the time my initial part of church participation was over and I had to get out of there. I sat outside on the stoop and sketched the corner of Dorchester & Atwater (not pictured) as well as the street sign in the middle of the boulevard (below).
Once back in, I sat in the back and just kept doodling/sketching (below). Sketching certainly takes the edge off of things. Yay for right-brain activities.
By: Paula Becker,
on 8/5/2007
We went back to that Mexican restaurant after church again. That’ll be my last time to go, I tell ya. I hate going to buffets and by the time I get to the food table, all the food is gone. The plus’ are the lovely terrace they have, and the waiter was very good and always pleasant. Okay, well, the food is okay too. When it was there. We had a heck of a time trying to find the place again (relying on our collective memories to remember the area, street, etc.,). We ended up parking on St. Denis and walking east for about 8 block on de Maisonneuve East (Les Francofolies were on and streets were blocked). But that’s Montreal in the summer. Lots of outdoor events in the midst of the city, usually drawing large crowds. I’m sounding like a old biddy–trolling buffets and annoyed by downtown events and crowds. Oh, now I’ve gone and insulted older (than me) people. I better quit before I dig myself deeper. Signing off. : )
By: Paula Becker,
on 7/29/2007
I was bonking out during the sermon this morning. I haven’t been sleeping well the last few nights, and Paul and I were up at 5:30 to try to get to the church by 7 a.m. to set up for music, but Sam-Dog was staying with us and she wouldn’t poop before we dropped her off at the in-laws to stay while we were gone for 6 hours. I had a brief but small meltdown over her lack of a bowl movement but what could I do. No amount of walking, talking to her, ignoring her, or pleading with her helped so I had to leave her as she was. I worried all morning. I worried during lunch. When we returned in the early afternoon, she was asleep and I found no mess. She still wouldn’t poop when I took her out and then took her back to our place. and she didn’t until later in the afternoon after she went back to the in-laws.
Now wan’t that story blog-worthy? : ) What I meant to say was how sketching can keep me alert and awake in some situations where I might otherwise be miserably fighting the urge to fall asleep, such as lectures and sermons, business meetings and things like that. And I like my new Prismacolor pens–a lot. Per Doug’s suggesting in the comment area of my last posting, I’m going to pick up some other sizes as well as colors.
By: Paula Becker,
on 5/7/2007
When in Montreal, that means I’m back at St. Stephen’s Anglican in Westmount for church. First time back since last late October, actually. Never seems like I left. I was involved with music today, playing my bass (very rusty since I played very little down south). I sat in the second row and sketched the many folks who stood at the podium to either pray, do readings, or speak. These had to be done rapidly as most people were up there for only a few minutes, if that. Images of other people singing, sitting, etc. are included.
By: Paula Becker,
on 4/10/2007
It was a low-key Easter for me. I spent the morning working and then caught that last show–I mean, service–at Bay Area Fellowship. I figured my last Sunday here should be at the grand-opening of their new mega-facility since that’s basically the only place I went during my stay down here. It’s quite the building they have there on the outskirts of town. It seats just over 4,000 people, and the late service I went to was packed. I sat in the middle part of the second tier of seats, just behind the sound guy and a camera man.
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As I’ve been saying in my last two postings, I’ve been busy getting my client work done ahead of schedule so I could clean and straighten up the place here as well as pack. I’m pleased that I’ve been able to stick to my schedule and so my leaving Texas and heading to Montreal won’t be frantic. Even when I make lists of things-to-do/get, etc. before I leave, something always seems to get forgotten but presently I feel things are under control. Yay. The most difficult aspect of going north will be leaving the cat. I hate the idea that, from his perspective, I’ll suddenly be gone. I don’t want him to feel abandoned or suffer in any way in my leaving, but I have no good solution. I’m glad that the the weather is warm as he prefers to be outside rather than in. That will help some. Dearest BobbyCat…Please don’t hate me for leaving you….
By: Paula Becker,
on 3/26/2007
What’s nice about frequenting a church that has four back-to-back Sunday morning services is that I can choose whichever one I want to attend, depending on what’s going on with my schedule or how I’m feeling. I was up early enough to go to services three and four, but I opted to work for a while instead and take in the last one, like I did last week. I wonder…Are these people doing lunch and THEN come to church? It’s been my churching ‘custom’ to do the service and then go out for a long lunch, usually with a group of people. Anyway, as far as the sketching goes, I tried to draw the pastor’s face from off the big screen, primarily for some relief from drawing the backs of heads. Btw, next week is the last week for this church to be in their present location. Bay Area Fellowship’s moving Easter weekend into a megaplex they built on the outskirts of town. Fun. A new environment to sketch in!
By: Paula Becker,
on 3/18/2007
Well, now I can say I’ve been to all of Bay Area Fellowship’s four Sunday morning services at one time or another. I got up very late Sunday morning and opted for the 1 p.m. service. And I figured it would be the least attended of the bunch as, well, how many people go to church at that time? I was wrong and very surprised to see what I’d guess to be about 150-200 people. Anyway, a good time was had sketching as I sat just behind the camera guy on the platform. There were no chairs or people directly in front of me to obstruct my view. And a new sermon theme started this week. Something about Rocks, or “The Rock”. There were big boulders on the stage and a pile of rocks out in front of the church. During the sermon message, we were told to each pick up a rock, take it home and put a particular Bible verse on. We could also decorate it, take a pic of it and send it the church to put on the church website. In my hurry to get home, I forgot to get a rock. : (
Oh…Before I left for church, I remembered that the big St. Patrick’s Day parade was taking place in down town Montreal around 12:30 or 1 p.m, so I went to the Montrealcam to see if I could see. Not the best seat in the house, but from 5 or 6 stories above St. Catherine and Peel, it looked to be a good turn out. Not bad, eh?
There are a few other cams placed around the city so I looked to see how things looked at the Old Port and Old Montreal. Yikes. Still LOTS of snow (I’m heading back in 3 weeks). I’ve managed to avoid winter this year so I’m not complaining, though I hope all the snow will be melted by the time I get back.
By: Paula Becker,
on 3/7/2007
I had hoped to post these sooner, but, alas, work, time, and life in general seemed to get in the way. Anyway, I had done some sketches this past Sunday at Bay Area Fellowship. I keep saying I’m going to visit around but it’s just easy to pop over there for one of four services they offer on Sunday morning. I don’t have to dress up, I know their routine and, I guess it’s now become MY routine. Still no doughnuts on the table for snacks so I guess they were serious about promoting good health. Poor Krispy Kreme, though; losing an account of donuts for 4,000.
Another thing I’ve thought about as I’ve been going to these church services: Hey…If a person is considering attending seminars by motivational speakers to help them with their life-issues and what-not, why shell out good money when you can just go listen to a sermon like the ones Pastor Bil delivers here each Sunday? This church (and there are many others out there like it) delivers well on inspiring people to be better people in general. The atmosphere is welcoming and easy-going, with just the right amount of “be the best that you can be” kind of talk that I think would inspire anyone, even a non-Christian. And, of course, the music is rockin’ too.
I love your sketches and the church sketches are my favourites. I love churches. Is that strange for an atheist?
And I never thought about that phrase - new beginnings… it’s totally redundant.
As for the Montreal weather, yesterday I was seriously ready to become someone’s illegal alien maid somewhere in the southern US. Anywhere warm… It’s June 1 and I still haven’t pulled out my summer chothes. I’m sick of wearing the three pairs of pants I have that are neither linen nor wool. These days I hate Montreal… *sigh* I’m having trouble finding the silver lining.
I always enjoy seeing your sketches and reading your thoughts. I need to do the same. Hope you get a break in the nasty weather soon….