Marcus Wild’s Vancouver
Our second tour of Vancouver comes to us courtesy of artist, Marcus Wild. Last summer, Wild challenged himself to draw one picture of Vancouver a day. “I’d ride around on my bike, find a nice spot to draw and sit there for three hours. The seawall is great. I could park my bike and look and see Siwash rock, Lions Gate Bridge. Whichever way you look, there were great things to draw.”
Wild would do his initial sketches in black fineliner pen. He would bring them back home, upload them to the computer, clean them up, then add colour. He assembled the Vancouver pieces in a book and sells the prints at local fairs.
“My love for this city runs just as deep as anyone born and bred here. With that in mind, I knew that sooner or later I would have to document a few of my favourite places in the only way I know how.”
Wild was inspired to start his daily Vancouver drawing ritual after being inspired by a jazz festival concert on July the 1st.
“After a ride around the seawall I found myself staring at the Burrard Street Bridge from Sunset Beach and there I plonked myself, took out my long sketch pad and 15 black pens. The drawing itself took a couple of hours and I was pleased with it. My dad always tells me he likes my ‘line drawing stuff’ the best!”
When Wild got home, he was curious to learn more about the history of the Burrard Street Bridge. How strange to learn that the bridge opened 83 years ago to the day: July 1st, 1932.
How does Marcus find inspiration for his daily Vancouver drawings? “To be honest, finding perfect places to draw in this city is a very easy creative problem to have. Couple with my love for cycling, I found it invigorating every day to say to myself: ‘right then, where next?’ And once you are 3 or 4 drawings in, the need to finish the month drives itself!”
“Of course I wanted to get a nice cross section of places around the city,” adds Wild,” but for the most part being in and around Stanley Park was all the inspiration I could ever need.”
For many of us, the daily Vancouver drawing schedule would be intimidating. Not so for Wild. “A three hour drawing of a Vancouver vista is my yoga, my massage, my gym, and my health food shop all rolled up into a simple black line moment that constantly reminds me why I love this city.”
For a full profile on Marcus Wild, see: https://creatorsvancouver.com/marcus-wild/
www.creatorsvancouver.com
