USk 10K+10K Matching Fund Campaign

Help us bring Urban Sketchers workshops to everyone, everywhere! The Urban Sketchers 10k+10K Matching Fund Campaign will bring urban sketching to schools, organizations and communities that have not had the opportunity to enjoy on-location drawing. With you help we hope to raise $20,000 by June 8th. For more information and to donate visit http://www.urbansketchers.org/p/donate.html

Sunny Daze.....

These sunny days have been a boon to get out and sketch the new spring colors.

Irving Park, loved this concrete structure....still trying to figure out how it is used??

Lauralhurst Park, large knobby tree trunks

Lauralhurst Park, Lager view of paths....with busy sketcher.

Lauralhurst Park sculpture

Mother's Day picnic

Chapman School park

And some street scenes from NE Alberta

NEW!!! PDXUSK Business Time

I enjoy organizing for this group more when I do it with other people. So I wanted to invite y'all to my house once a month to join me in this.

For now it will be on the 2nd Sunday of the month, from 3-5pm. Our google calendar has the deets at: http://urbansketchers-portland.blogspot.com/p/about-urban-sketchers-in-portland.html.

This is time to gather and work on Portland Urban Sketchers business. Examples of things you may want to do during this time:

* Blogging of personal urban sketches
* Social media posting of personal urban sketches.
* Creating a post about that Portland Urban Sketchers event you've always dreamed of.
* Furthering a personal urban sketching goal - like teaching a class, getting an exhibit at a coffee shop, taking an art class.

Bring your laptop.

There will be snacks.

Hope to see you there! It's so much more fun to do this in the presence of other people. Your cheerful faces are energizing!

Relaxing Urban Sketching at Irving Park

As Kalina said, it was perfect sketching weather.  Just right temps and slight breeze.  And as always, wonderful company.

You all just looked so beautiful out there in the sun.

I love the trees in this park so I put a lot of attention in to one of them.  Plus I sat with my back against the one in this picture and enjoyed the tactile experience too.

Special Sunday Sketchcrawl - Pug Crawl!

Sunday, May 20

12:00 pm

Portland Brewing Company Taproom
2730 NW 31st Avenue, Portland

If you're willing and able to spend $10-30 on a benefit for the Oregon Humane Society and like the idea of sketching pugs in top hats, join me for a special Sunday sketchcrawl on May 20, 2018, for the 2018 Pug Crawl: "Blast to the Past"! 

Courtesy of http://spotmagazine.net

Entry is $10 if you purchase in advance or $15 at the door. Online ticket sales are open now. 

My intent is to take brush pens for quick, impressionistic sketches, and an Altoids-tin palette for light touches of color. Will you join me?

We'll meet outside the main entrance just before noon and go inside to sketch the pugs as they gather before the actual parade, which starts at 2pm.

This event is in NW Portland, reachable on Trimet with the 15 line. Portland Brewing has a parking lot and there should also be sufficient street parking in the area.

Saturday May 12 - Irving Park Sketch Crawl

Let's sketch Irving Park!  I can't make it on the 19th, so I'm moving this month's sketch crawl to the 2nd Saturday.  Don't forget there's also the Pug Crawl on Sunday, May 20th.

Schedule:

• 10:00am: Meet at Whole Foods Market, 3535 NE 15th Ave, Portland, OR 97212, for introductions / coffee / snacks.
• 10:30am: Sketch around Irving Park, at NE Fremont and NE 9th Ave.
• 12:00pm: Sketchbook Throwndown in the park, exact location tbd when we get there.
• 12:15pm: Optional - Meet back at Whole Foods, for sketchbook passing /  lunch.

Hope to see you there!

Here is some information about the beautiful trees at Irving Park:

http://www.tinyurl.com/irvingparktrees

Woodlawn Sketch Crawl

It was another nice turnout and a beautiful day for a sketch crawl.

I sketched the swings, trees, and bridge at Woodlawn Park.  Thanks for coming, everyone!

Sketchcrawl in Woodlawn

I headed north from the meeting point, starting out by wandering through Woodlawn Park.  I sat down on the bridge and did a quick (of necessity) sketch of a mother and child on the slides.  They were gone before I'd finished, so half of the sketch was done from memory.

On to Woodlawn school, where I did a giant pottery urn, collecting rain-water for the adjoining gardens.

I'd been hearing trains to the north, so I headed to the edge of the school grounds to take a peek down the hill.  And saw looming over the industrial buildings on the flats, the OHS.  I hadn't realized that you could get to it from here.

Well, you can sort of get to it.  I headed down the hill and got across Lombard at a light.  But I'm way too old to try sprinting across Columbia.  So I leaned against a fence on the corner and sketched, first a massive old cherry tree on the grounds, and then the building itself.

First Hill in Seattle

I was up for a concert on Thursday, and stuck around for a sketchcrawl on Friday morning.  It was raining lightly for most of the morning, so I wandered around looking for places that were out of the rain and had a view of something interesting.  I circled the area for a bit until I ended up at the top of First Hill, tucked into the entrance of the Polyclinic, and sketching First Baptist (where the concert had been).  It's actually even more baroque than this.  I left out about half of the twiddly bits.

Then I headed back down to Pike and found a spot where I could see the dome of First Covenant (the body was hidden behind a building with a parking lot on its roof) with the buildings of downtown rising behind it.

By this time the rain had finally stopped, so I walked down to do the Plymouth Columns, which were still dark with the morning's rain.  The trees in the park have grown significantly since I left town.

Update on 10x10 Urban Sketching Workshops

We are off to great start with this year's 10x10 Workshops. The first three is the series are now completely sold out. There are still a few spaces left in some workshops starting with June 2nd's It’s All a Matter of Perspective: Step by Step Guide to Drawing Believable Cities. Don't miss you chance to be part of this exciting educational opportunity. For more information and to register...