KOIN Tower from SE Salmon

I'm disappointed that I can't make it to the next sketchcrawl but since I could see my shadow outside today, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some drawing in. I didn't want to jockey for or pay for parking in Old Town so I went to a favorite spot of mine in close in SE. It was cold outside but comfortable sitting in my truck. In fact it got pretty toasty in there with the sun streaming into the cab.

I'm hoping to make it to the next meet up.

MAX Line

I always like riding the MAX. I enjoy looking at the different people that choose to, or have to ride the public transit system. It's not often that I draw the people I see on the train, but sometimes I just feel the urge and let it rip. Have to work quickly, and quietly. Sometimes the sketches turn out to be something decent. This was on a particularly cold evening recently, had just gone and walked all about enjoying the holiday lights, and warmed myself with a couple cocktails. Spent the train ride showing a friend the way you can put together a sketch quickly using reference points in your line of sight. Good stuff.
Even Sketchier

Floyd's coffee shop

Here's a recent piece that I did while enjoying a cup of tea at

Floyd's coffee shop in Old Town. I couldn't help but overhear

the conversations that these ladies were having. I think this

coffee house is located within the old Norton building? Wondering

if the beautiful old brick on the wall is original.

-Karlene

Sneak Peek at the Dill Pickle Club lecture series. Our invovlement is highlighted in yellow... 

Being a newcomer to this city, I wander around to acquaint myself with it's many wonders. So may nice coffee shops and delis and while sketching at the Chinese Garden, I see that Portland has had the audacity to erect a PINK skyscraper. Such chutzpah!

Fingers got too cold so I repaired to one of the aforementioned Establishments for Pizza and Porter.

Therein are all the nutrients required to establish robust health and a positive dissposition.

Vivo Espresso

Here's my sketch of fellow Portland Urban Sketchers at the Vivo Espresso coffee shop, Dec. 4, 2010. This group is so fun! It's interesting sketching other sketchers!

Snow berries done in tombows and white chacoal

on dark paper

An old hotel on the ocean that serves really good breakfasts

Pen and Tombows

I do believe that I am getting the hang of this blog business....I think

One of my favoite spots...done with Tombow brush pens

'A fellow sudent

Berry bush in ink and watercolor

Moreton Bay fig tree at the music conservatory in Santa Barbara

done with Tombo brush pens

Daydreamer......pencil

The courtyard in El Paseo, Santa Barbara

wooden bracket ...again

Hope you will all bear with me ...I wanted to see if this image from a photo was any better than the scanned one in the previous post. Thanks!

SketchCrawl - Architectural Heritage Center

Cross-posted to my blog, www.geminica.com.

I have been wanting to visit the Architectural Heritage Center all summer, so was glad to finally manage a visit on  Saturday along with the Portland Urban Sketchers.  We had a large group, including a couple of new people!  The AHC was very welcoming, and we were also lucky to discover that admission is free during the month of December.

I started off drawing these wooden shapes which turned out to be much trickier than they looked, and very good practice.  Not sure what building they are from. (Drawn with Lamy Safari loaded with Noodler's Antietam, touched up with blue watercolors, in a small Moleskine sketchbook)



Then I moved on to this hefty item. The challenge here was that the piece was quite weather-worn. I had to look closely in order to figure out the shape of the piece past the unevenness and flaking paint of the surfaces. (Pigma Micron 05 in Sepia with watercolors on account ledger paper)



The AHC has a "Hardware Room" for doorknobs and a few knockers. (Zebra Sarasa)



After lunch, Tony and I tried to draw outside but it was cold and we rejoined the others. I was too impatient to actually plan a composition, despite having wanted to draw this building for years. (Copic brush pen in gray and some other stuff in small Moleskine)



Finally, we settled into tables at the Side Door cafe, which kept us entertained for hours. (Lamy Safari with Noodler's Antietam ink and other tools)



For a review that touches upon a couple of these pens, see my latest review for Pen Addict - Brown Pen Battle.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love doing sketchcrawls with the other urban sketchers?  Meeting up with all these dedicated sketchers gets me out of the house when I otherwise wouldn't make it.  It's great to have a community with whom you can get totally lost in your own head for awhile as you draw, and then balance that out by socializing as we pass around the sketchbooks and talk about materials, styles, problems, and breakthroughs.  It's grand.

December Sketchcrawl

Here are a couple of my sketches from this weekend's sketchcrawl. It was really fun, even if I didn't last as long as some of you. There are a couple of others sketches on my blog, if you're interested. You may see an attempted likeness of yourself, but I left the names off to protect the innocent. Thanks again to Alanna and Kalina for organizing this.

Copper Lantern

My first contribution to the urban sketchers Portland blog!

Here is the ink and watercolor drawing that I did on our sketchcrawl

on Saturday, Dec. 4th at the Architectural Heritage Center.

This lovely copper lantern was salvaged from the original

Civic Auditorium. I'm still searching for the name of the designer.

Building artifacts

This was one of four carved wooden brackets hanging on the wall at the center....not sure what building they came off of. They were quite large (probably 40-48" in length) and in a natural 'wood' state with no evidence of having been painted before. All together an interesting puzzle.

The Architectural Heritage Center is a place that I have wanted to explore for some time and I was very happy to be given the opportunity on Saturday's sketchcrawl.

These are some 'typical' door and window facades from a Victorian building. Besides the design of these artifacts it was interesting to see them as fragments of buildings within a building. The sheet metal ornaments had very boldly sculpted and quite wimsical too.

Building Ornament

Sitting in the corner of the Architectural Heritage Center, this big pink gnarly hunk of ornament called my novice skills to the challenge.

The sketch is 3x4.5" in a homemade journal of the same size on 24# linen paper with a black Pilot VBall, brown Slicci and Tombo and Pitt brush pens.

Saturday Sketch Crawl

Went out with the group for the first time and really had a good time. These two drawings were done at the Architectural Heritage Center. On the left is a stone entry ornament and on the right is an original light fixture from the Convention Center.

The drawing on the bottom is a sketch from inside The Side Door, the bar where we had lunch. It was nice to meet everyone and check out all the sketchbooks.

January 22, 2010-- Next Worldwide Sketchcrawl!

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01.22.11

Cast Stone Building Ornament

On our sketchcrawl at the Architectural Heritage Center I found someone to sketch who was guaranteed not to fidget or become embarrassed at my staring. She sat patiently while I studied her to my heart's content. I've been working mostly in pen and ink and watercolor recently, but graphite is hard to beat for a satisfying values study.

I had a most enjoyable time with my fellow sketchers today not only sketching but drinking tea and chatting while passing our sketchbooks around.