Canada

106-3158 – Goodbye Calgary

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Here is my last sketch in Canada – and the first sketch in a new Sketchbook (still using Umae hot press paper). I missed sketching the day before this as we were too busy with shopping, visiting the Esker Gallery and packing. With a midday flight it was an easy start to the day, but WestJet still insist that each bag weighs 23k or less, despite us having far less weight overall…so again we were those unfortunate people you see frantically repackaging in front of the check-in desk! That grey blob on the plane, splashed onto my painting from another sketch!

Sat-14-Jun-2025

105-3157 – Barrier Lake

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Here is my last lake sketch…some people who look at my sketches, may be relieved! On this day we did a hike to Grassi Lakes, but it was raining so I didn’t sketch there. We then ended up at Barrier Lake (which is actually a manmade reservoir) having been turned away from one spot because of the G7 meeting which was being held in Kananaskis starting on the 15th. We had our packed lunch here and then went for a short walk.

Thu-12-Jun-2025

105-3156 – Snow coach, Columbia Icefields

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On this day we took a long drive up to Jasper National Park (seeing three bears – but not Goldilocks – and a deer on the roadside on the way up) to go on the Ice-field Experience where we got to walk on the Athabasca glacier, driven there in huge snow coaches. This vintage yellow snow coach was sketched at lunch and was one of the first used to take tourists onto the glacier. We then went on the Skywalk (a glass floored observation platform) and visited Sunwapta and Athabasca falls.

Wed-11-Jun-2025

105-3155 – Lake Louise

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I did this sketch after our walk back down from Lake Agnes, I had stiff legs and sat in an awkward position which I don’t think helped me sketch well. And then I thought maybe I have sketched too many lakes in one day? As I was sketching this, the light changed the colour of the water, going from bright turquoise/cobalt green when the sun was shining, to dark viridian/blue green when the sun went in.

Tue-10-Jun-2025

105-3154 – Lake Agnes

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After Moraine Lake we drove to Lake Louise and luckily found a parking space. We then walked from Lake Louise up to Lake Agnes, going past Mirror Lake. There were all types of walkers on the trail – some with very serious looking hiking gear, and some out for a stroll and completely unprepared! That day I did 22,000 steps – the hike had easy gentle slopes but it was a long one.

Tue-10-Jun-2025

105-3153 – Moraine Lake

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This day we made an early start to get to the Lake Louise Ski Resort where took the shuttle to Moraine lake (they don’t allow private cars any more because it gets so crowded – and yes it was heaving with people). There we climbed up the “rock pile” first, then walked around the lake. I stopped part way going round the lake to sketch this and take in the fantastic view more thoroughly. After this we had (our own packed) lunch in the ski resort…though we did buy a coffee so they wouldn’t throw us out!

Tue-10-Jun-2025

105-3152 – Upper falls

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After visiting Bow Lake, we walked through Johnston Canyon – which was quite busy and popular. It was an easy going walk with paved pathways, steps and handrails all the way. We had to queue to go into the cave at the lower falls (where you get to be face-to-face with the water fall) and then walked to the upper falls, which was a lot less busy. My sketch of the upper falls was aided by my white Posca pen exploding onto the paper! Afterwards we drove back to our Airbnb in Canmore and had an early night after a long day (because we had also stopped at the “Cascades of Time Gardens” and Bow falls!).

Mon-9-Jun-2025

105-3151 – Bow lake

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The next few posts are going to include sketches of lakes and mountains as for the next part of our holiday in Alberta, we did lots of hikes and walks mostly centred around the beautiful lakes in Banff National Park. If you don’t like sketches of lakes…look away! On our first day in the area we made an early start, loading up the car with tonnes of food for our stay in Canmore. We began with a stop at Bow Lake, where I did this brief sketch…a person passing noted that the trick to sketching in the wind is the clips I use to hold the pages down! We then went on to Peyto Lake, which is a stunning green colour and then drove on to Johnston Canyon for our packed lunch and a hike.

Mon-9-Jun-2025

105-3150 – Horse-thief canyon

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On this day we went out for a hike with my sister-in-law (in Drumheller Valley – known as the Dinosaur Capital of the World) aiming to arrive early to miss the crowds …but then found that there was no one there and no trail either! However, we enjoyed the spectacular scenery, walked for a bit (it was super windy) and then turned round to avoid getting lost. We then spent many enjoyable hours in the Royal Tyrell Museum (@royaltyrell) looking at dino fossils.

Sat-7-Jun-2025