Friday, April 17, 2015

The Guild Inn and Guild Park

191 Guildwood Parkway - Former hotel and Depression-era artist colony
Such a lovely day! I did this sketch today at Guild Park.

This place, where has many architectural buildings, worths visiting. In 1999, the park was designated a heritage property by the Heritage Canada Foundation. The building was a historic hotel and Depression-era artist colony. It was proposed to be torn down for a redevelopment of the area.
Guild Park is a sculpture garden consisting of the rescued facades and ruins. The hotel was closed by 2001.

In front of this building, there are architectural fragments and sculptures in the gardens. We sat under the shade and sketched this abandoned building. Some neighbours came to the parks and a dog ran to us, seems she was also interested in what we were sketching. The fence was built around the building, but I skipped it.

Another day I came again for sketching another side of the inn. There are so much to draw such as the beautiful garden, the sculptures and the view of Lake Ontario. When I walked around to find a spot to sketch, I had found that the soil was all wet. It didn't rain. I was wondering if this was because Lake Ontario is right in front of the gardens.

Another side of the building
A Roman style arch



On April 28, I sketched one of the arches which is in Roman style. You will feel you are in another place when you are in this park. It seems that you have endless scene to draw.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Swan Parade Celebrations


Swan Parade



I ordered this at Features. The coffee is nice too!
Shakespearean Garden



This tea shop has a beautiful entrance.

Avon River
A kid was asked to be a guest on the stage

























The parade starts at 2 pm. We arrived at Stratford around 10 am and found a restaurant to have our breakfast at Features Restaurant. It is a warm and friendly restaurant. After we finished our breakfast, Monica suggested that we could go to Shakespearean Gardens and I did a sketch. The gardens will be full of flowers in coming summer.
Along the road we were walking to the riverbank. The sky was so blue and the view was so great. We enjoyed the breeze and warm weather. However, we didn't see any swan swimming. The festival was near Tom Patterson Theatre. Outside was the stage and food trucks. I love one of those with the tin. 


We hanged around, got a pop and checked the schedule. Paper swan hats were everywhere.  I did a sketch too. The Swan Parade would start at 2pm. I saw the show on the stage, a girl was picked by the performer to be a guest. A funny show. Next was the puppet show inside the theatre. I sat for a while to watch the show, some kids laughed hard but some kept crying when they heard anything. 

We walked along York Street where some local small shops are. They hadn't opened yet because it was still early. When we checked on an ice-cream shop, a car stopped and the driver told us the shop would open at 12pm. We wondered if he is the owner. 
Here came 2:00pm, the Stratford Police Pipes and Drums Band came and played few songs. Then they went back and came out again to lead the team of swans on their annual parade to the Avon River.  It was only one swan following the Band, others followed that swan after few seconds. We were wondering how they trained the swans that they really walked steps by steps. They didn't fly at all. We were following the crowed to the riverside. The flock finally swam on the river and we decided to go back to the ice-cream store for the cones.

Funny looking truck
Sketch near Avon River




Schedule

Stratford Police Pipes and Drums Band


Swan Parade



Monday, April 6, 2015

Starbucks

Bayview x High Tech Road
This was about Spring. Three women were sitting at the bar table and chatting. The middle one kept listening the other two's conservation. They kept laughing and seemed lots of fun. This Starbucks is a small one. It was not easy to find a seat. We had done our grocery shopping and it was time for coffee.


This is our favorite location - in Indigo. This place is always full. Not like those in other starbucks,custom here talk less but  reading magazine and "wifi-ing"!