Wednesday, June 26, 2013

A few minutes stolen from work:
I spotted the West Linn Paper mill framed in leafy branches, and tried to capture that view. It turns out there is a lot of shrubbery around the mill itself, and I had to choose how to distinguish foreground greens from background ones.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Bike & Sketch


Here's my offering - bridges, goats, and a weeping willow at the Pioneer Cemetery.  Good times!  What an ideal kind of a day.  2 favorite activities together.


Hawthorne Bridge











Goats in a field

Sorrowful tree


Sunday, June 23, 2013

Yesterday at the Carnegie Library event in Oregon City. The weather was lovely and the fountain was running. So were the kids. I was trying to capture their physical attitudes, which was not always successful.

Tanner Springs Park

It was nice to meet up with Deb Linda, Vicky, and Emily on Thursday evening to sketch at Tanner Springs Park. The one tricky thing about this scheme was that my brain was pretty fried after work, so it was hard to focus on drawing...but whatever, they are just sketches after all.

We batted around some fun ideas about upcoming places to sketch. I'll sift through the list and circulate those ideas via the email list, and then we'll see what sounds fun!

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Away in Pennsylvania.

Thought to send some of the images that I have done while visiting with my 
Some street scenes in Ardmore.

Dad's exercise class...a challenge for me!

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Just a few minutes at the Farmer's Market in Oregon City. And then it started to rain so I folded up.


Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Thurs, June 20: Impromptu Sketchcrawl and Brainstorming!

Join us this Thursday, June 20 for an informal gathering to brainstorm about where to go sketching this coming summer and fall, followed by some early evening sketching in the Pearl District.

  • 5:30 to 6 pm: Brainstorming session at Sisters Coffee Company, 1235 NW Marshall St. (near 12th Ave). We'll bat around ideas on where to sketch over the next few months. If you know of any neat events or scenic spots in the area, be prepared to share! And it's always great to strategically move around through different sections of the city, so be thinking in terms of NW, NE, SW, SE, North Portland, Downtown, as well as local suburbs...
  • 6 pm: We'll mosey over to Tanner Springs Park, on NW Marshall between 10th and 11th Ave. This fascinating public park re-creates a historic wetland in the middle of the city, and has creatively re-used all sorts of materials that allude to the complex history of the area in the design of the park. (Giant wall made of rail-road tracks, anyone?) Stay as long as you like--sun should set around 9 pm, but you might get hungry before that...

Tanner Springs Park

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Successful Bike and Sketch ride for Pedalpalooza!

Katura made a fantastic map for the route we planned out.
We gathered first in Ladd's circle and 23 people introduced themselves.
The bike part was quite pleasant.
Next stop, eastbank esplanade (for safety, wear helmet while sketching)


Next stop, goats in the city! We were so lucky to get to go in and meet the goats...who loved checking out our supplies.


This is cooper.
Next step, Lone Fir cemetery.

Ad then, back to palio's where we met up with the non biking sketchers and shared our work.

I'm hoping to show off my sketching attempts soon, as I have been out of practice lately.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Festival of Flowers

Last Monday,inspired by Vicky's sketch and the gorgeous weather,I decided to sketch the Festival of Flowers before it ended.
I sat outside at Starbucks and enjoyed sketching the tattoo flower display. 
At noon a loud trumpet sound went off and was followed by a wonderful steel drum band who played
For an hour. Lots of folks were dancing and enjoying the sun and gentle zephyrs.
I grabbed some lunch from a cart and felt as if I was on vacation in my own city!



Esplanade biking and sketching

 
 Being a 'country mouse' I don't normally ride my bike down in Portland, but I did so Saturday so I could meet the others on the Esplanade for some sketching. I decided to stay along the river and out of the traffic, and had some fun biking. It was great to see so many sketchers turn out on their bikes for this event!( and I love all the great sketches I've seen...especially the goats!) So much was going on near the riverfront it was hard to know what to sketch, so I would up staying! The bridges won out but I took a bunch of photos for some future sketching.

 
Also experimented with some new toned paper and white gel pen. To try and sketch faster I used a Pitt grey, drawing in the main lines and shadows and then following up with a micron and the white pen for details. Added watercolor to the one sketch at home using my photos for a guide....and am thinking I may add color just a bit to the others as well. Plan on another sketching trip downtown soon!



Sunday, June 16, 2013

Bike and Sketch sans bike

I,too, enjoyed the bike and sketch though I stayed at Ladd's circle.
Vicky and I found these interesting alleys and sketched them from opposite sides.
It was a lovely day,light breezes and only the sound of the birds----until 'insect man' came barreling
down the alley without warning.Luckily he will remain anonymous due to a Palio business card!

I am trying to focus on composition this summer.
Both sketches in a Stillman and Birn Beta sketchbook.


Bagdad Theater

Not much to show from yesterday's bike-n-sketch, but here's one from a couple of weeks ago.  Sketched from the coffee shop across the street from the theater.



Ladd's Addition

I didn't bring a bike to yesterday's sketchcrawl, so I stayed in Ladd's Addition and sketched in a couple of alleys. In the first one, I tried going right to watercolor, without lines, but I found that I got lost in all the shrubbery and buildings, so I went back to my trusty pen. Feeling a bit too confident, I tried to sketch a man who rode by on a recumbent bike, but he ended up out of proportion and looked like an insect. Luckily, the Palio card hides the evidence.


For the second sketch, I started with pen, went to watercolor and then added more ink. I think I may still add some darker ink fenceposts since it doesn't have much contrast.


It was a lovely day, tucked away in the alleys, sketching with Linda. Then it was a treat to have everyone return and show their sketches of goats and bikes and all kinds of things. Thanks to our organizers and to all the sketchers who showed up to make this another fun sketchcrawl.



By Rail, By Sail, By Bike

I'm catching up on posting sketches from the last several crawls, and find a transport theme has accidentally emerged.

We celebrated National Train Day at Union Station...

SketchCrawl - Union Station, National Train Day
SketchCrawl - Union Station, National Train Day SketchCrawl - Union Station, National Train Day

We sketched the tall ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain while they were docked in Vancouver over Memorial Day weekend. I started with a thumbnail in which I worked out some problems of ratio, but still had a lot of trouble in the final drawing. And then the Hawaiian Chieftain sailed away...

Lady Washington & Hawaiian Chieftain docked in Vancouver, WA

Katura and Alanna and their spouses teamed up to provide an organized sketchride as part of Pedalpalooza.

Sketchcrawl/Pedalpalooza - Portland from Eastside Esplanade

Sketchcrawl/Pedalpalooza - Urban Goats Sketchcrawl/Pedalpalooza - Lone Fir Cemetery 

Many thanks to Katura and Chris and Alanna and Tad for their work to make the sketchride a success! It was also great to meet new sketchers and to get return visits from sketchers we haven't often seen.

Here's hoping this summer treats us all gently and we can have many beautiful sunny days of sketching together.

Bike & Sketch: My Challenges

I had a wonderful time meeting you all and rolling around town. There were some challenges for me, aside from taking the leap to join a new group: I'm not so good at creating scenes; I usually find I look at detail and small vignettes, so putting together a view is a thing I can work on. And, drawing in 20-minute slots -- that's something I haven't done except in art classes and I didn't feel exactly adequate to the matter.

For this one, begun on the Esplanade, I finished up the background city-scape after I got home, but making myself add only about 5 minutes to the exercise. I'm thinking that doesn't violate the principles of urban sketching too much?

You all did a terrific job of organizing the event, and keeping your flock in order. Thanks!

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Bike & Sketch!

Got to Ladd Circle a bit early this morning to meet folks rolling in for the Bike and Sketch ride. This pair was tidying up the intersection as I settled in to draw. * Llegé temprano a Ladd Circle esta mañana para reunirme con la gente que quería participar en paseo de dibujar en bicicletas. Estas dos personas estaban limpiando la calle mientras yo dibujaba.


More than 20 people came out for the adventure, and about 17 of us were getting around by bike. Our stop along the riverfront had lots of shady seating, but Tad made a great model as he stood to draw in his tiny sketchbook. * Más que 20 personas vinieron en la aventura, con alrededor de 17 viajando por bicicleta. Nuestra parada al lado del rio tuvo muchos lugares para sentarnos en la sombra, pero Tad era un modelo fantástico al pararse para dibujar en su libro diminuto.



My husband Chris did this sketch of the Hawthorne Bridge. I am impressed with his ability to make sense of the complex steel struts! * Mi esposo Chris hizo este dibujo del Hawthorne Bridge. ¡Su capacidad de entender el logico de los puntales complejos es tan impresionante!

Next stop--urban goats! We were super luck to arrive just as one of the caretakers was wrapping up his morning goat feedings. The goats, in the meantime, had a great time exploring all the sketching supplies with their curious mouths. * Proxima parada--¡las cabras urbanas! Tuvimos la gran suerte de llegar justo cuando uno de los cuidadores de las cabras estaba terminando sus tareas de la manana. Y las cabras tuvieron la gran suerte de explorar nuestros heramientas de arte con sus bocas curiosas. 





Last stop--Lone Fir Cemetery. It's easy to settle in to this quiet, shady, historic place...was hard to tear ourselves away after just 30 minutes. * Ultima parada: el cementario Lone Fir. Es tan fácil instalarse comodamente en este lugar tan quieto, sombreado, y historico...fue difícil irnos despues de solamente 30 minutos.


It was great to see old friends as well as to meet so many new people! Very glad that so many folks could join us on this ride. * Que divertido, ¡ver a los amigos establecidos y conocer a la gente nueva! Me alegra que tanta gente podía participar en este paseo.