December 16 Sketchcrawl - Lloyd Center again

 

sketch by Amy Stewart

We started the year at Lloyd Center.  Let's end it there as well.

There will be skaters, and Christmas decorations, and possibly a pop-up market. With Santa scheduled to show up at 11am.

sketch by Andrea Matthews

There's a coffee shop/cafe in Barnes and Noble.  It's supposed to open at 10:30, but was already serving before that when I visited last Saturday.  There's also a coffee kiosk on the third floor, near the center of the mall.

• 10am - Meet in the middle of the hall on the second floor near the north entrance, between Barnes and Noble and Forever 21 for introductions.
• Noon - Meet again at a spot TBD, for an optional sketchbook  throwdown.

A Different Kind of Sketch Crawl

I’m usually the guy who is (happily) carrying too much stuff. A full-size palette, a 100-page, 8x10 sketchbook, a puffy pillow, and so much more all somehow found its way into my backpack. 

My friend Bill is always faster and packs lighter than me. I do my best to keep up. Still, when he invited me to go on an overnight backpacking trip on Mt Hood and said, bring your sketch book, we’ll hang out and just draw, I couldn’t resist, even though I’m not normally a backpacker. 

During the first couple of hours of hiking, we ascended nearly 2,000 feet, but I didn’t dare take out my sketchbook. I was mostly focused on keeping up with Bill. There were peekaboo views of the mountain, a few scenic stream crossings, and more fascinating mushrooms than I could count (and desired to sketch), but Bill continued along.

We eventually rounded the edge of a steep hillside and there the scene opened up. A stand of skeletal, fire-killed trees stood amid a meadow of wildflowers, mostly gone to seed. In the distance, the dark conifers gave way to the rocky alpine and early fall snow on the top of Mt. Hood. Nearby, the ocher, orange, red, and auburn of huckleberry and rowan shrubs lit up the hillside. Bill stopped: there was no doubt that we were in the right place to take off our packs and draw.

A jumble of downed trees acted as a table in my outdoor studio. Out came all those art supplies that I’d hauled up and up and up. Bill, being his normal nimble self, wasted no time in producing a miniature watercolor set, balanced it on his knee and began dabbing at a watercolor pad that fit in the palm of his hand. 

After leisurely completing our sketches, we wandered further down the trail, found a campsite in a flat spot higher up the mountain. Out came the sketchbooks again. Our challenge now was deciding the best way to capture the scene as a deep shadow ran across the mountainside. 

Come morning, we climbed again, our footsteps reaching the crest we’d drawn from our campsite. Now the air felt thinner, the scene more dramatic. The trees were all beneath us. My sketchbook beckoned, but keeping up with Bill and not getting lost in this strange environment seemed like the priority. 

A seed was planted; to draw from the heights, to go on a different kind of sketch crawl.

PSU Farmers Market

We lucked out on the weather again, and most of us sketched outside in the sun.  Although the sun did disappear after a bit, and it did turn pretty chilly.

November 18 Sketchcrawl - PSU Farmers' Market

Rain or shine, we have a plan for a pre-Thanksgiving sketchcrawl! 

sketch by Deb Rossi

If the weather cooperates, we can sketch outdoors around the farmers market. If it's too cold or wet, we can pick up some pumpkins, apples, or other still life-worthy subjects at the market, and draw together indoors.

We'll meet just outside the west entrance to Fariborz Maseeh Hall, which is always open during the farmer's market. The building offers bathrooms, a Case Study coffee shop, and a lovely area downstairs where we can sit and sketch a still life, the building's interior, or each other. 

Also, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at PSU, in the same building, has a stunning exhibit of portraits by Hung Liu right now.

• 10 AM: Meet in front of Fariborz Maseeh Hall on the farmers market side, 1855 SW Broadway, for introductions
• Sketch indoors or out, depending on weather
• 12 noon:  Meet back at the front of the building (or indoors if it's raining) to share our sketches in a (totally optional!) throw-down.

NW 23rd

We had nice weather (not too cold, and not raining) and a good turnout.  We missed peak fall color by a mile, but people found other things to concentrate on.

October 21 Sketchcrawl - NW 23rd

Sketch by Amy Stewart

With the hopes of catching some fall color on the tree-lined streets, let's meet on NW 23rd. There's plenty of lovely old architecture, lots of people out and about, and (with any luck, trees are hard to predict), some bright autumn leaves.

• 10 AM: Meet at the NW corner of Kearney and 23rd, either in the parking lot or under the awning over Manor and Mud Puddle Toys, depending on the weather.  (The nearest spots for coffee are Barista, 823 NW 23rd, and Spielman Bagels, 2314 NW Lovejoy.)
• Noon: Sketchbook throwdown at the same place. (This is totally optional, but even if you're not ready to share, come and look at everyone else's sketchbooks!) 

Sketch by Ali Corbin

This is two blocks from the west end of the NS streetcar line, and the 15 and 77 are also close.

Hope to see you there!