Summer isn’t summer without a road trip of some sort in our household.

So, last week my husband and I drove from Toronto to the Gaspé region of Québec to explore and sketch. Our ultimate destination was the Percé Rock, a natural wonder that was in all our school geography books growing up.

In 6 days, we packed in over 3,000 kilometres and saw so many beautiful sights. Since we were on a tight schedule, I got in a few detailed drawings and a bunch of quickie sketches in my sketchbook, but I also played with “art-ifying” my phone photography using the photo app, Snapseed.

First stop, Québec City. I love this city because it’s like going to Europe without the jet lag. It’s one of Canada’s oldest cities and reflects its French ancestry in the architecture. So many buildings to draw! But the hot sun (and having to stand while I drew) kept my drawings to a minimum and they were done fairly loosely with all the sun-soaked and sketchbook-balancing wonky-ness I’ve come to expect.

Rue de la Montagne, Québec City

Rue des Jardins, Québec City

While waiting for our car to come from the parking garage at our hotel in Québec City, I was compelled to draw this iron gate and some of the courtyard behind it. Turned out to be of my favourite sketches of the trip.

College Court on Rue Sainte-Anne, Québec City

Next stop, Montmorency Falls – taller than Niagara Falls and just as drenching! No drawing here but I took a photo of my husband posing in front of the falls that accidentally had this girl in the background. The girl turned out to be more interesting to me than hubbie (sorry, hon), and I played around with the exposure to add some drama.

Girl at Montmorency

And one last drawing: I have a thing for the stained glass rose windows of churches. At the magnificent basilica of Sainte-Anne de Beaupré, I had just enough time before a rainstorm hit to sketch the rose window from the park.

Sainte-Anne de Beaupré Rose Window

Back in a few days with Part 2 of our trip! Thanks for coming along!