Drink and Draw at NW Lucky Lab

Join us at  Lucky Labrador Beer Hall at 1945 NW Quimby St for a casual drink & draw on Monday, April 6 from 5-7 PM. They don't take reservations, so seating is first-come, first-serve. We're hoping to grab a long table in the middle of this cavernous space so we can all draw the building, the food, and each other.

The earlier start time is a bit of an experiment: Lucky Lab does fill up with groups of people playing games or doing their many interesting hobbies together. We hope that starting a bit earlier will let us get a table together, but we'll see how it goes.

No need to RSVP for this one, but we hope to see you there!

Cherry Blossoms!

We hit it at peak this year, and with not a drop of rain!  (Okay, so it was pretty cold in the morning.)

March 21st SketchCrawl - Japanese American Historical Plaza

Let's try for cherry blossoms on the waterfront again.  Perhaps we'll catch them in full bloom this year.  Weather permitting, we'll meet at the Japanese American Historical Plaza at the foot of NW Couch at Naito Parkway.   (If it's raining, under the awnings at the Oregon State University Building, directly across Naito)

sketch by George Schweser

For coffee and food, there's Floyd's Old Town Coffee, The Society Hotel at NW Davis & 3rd, and the Saturday Market.

• 9am - *OPTIONAL* headstart for people who want to start and leave early, in order to snatch  up tickets to sketcherfest
• 10:00 am - Gather and do intros in the central square of the Japanese American  Historical Plaza 
• 12:00 pm - Gather again at same location for optional sketchbook throwdown

NW Multnomah Library

It was fun to see everyone this morning for our first ever weekday outing.  It was sunny, but still pretty chilly to start out with, so some of us stayed inside the library, where it was warm, while others did outdoors scenes.

We had about a dozen people show up.  Which makes organizing these extra sketch outings pretty low-stress, for any of you who'd like more sketching opportunities in your own neighborhood.

Weekday sketchcrawl - Friday, February 27

It appears that there's a great desire for sketching opportunities on weekdays.  So let's try one this Friday and see how it goes.

I was going to do one at a park, but I'm having trouble believing that it's actually going to stop raining this week.  So, how bout we meet at the new NW branch of the county library from 10am to noon-ish on Friday, February 27.  (Edited to fix the date.)

The address is 2030 NW Pettygrove Street.  

If it actually is dry, there's a plaza across the street with views of old and new architecture.  There's street parking, and the NS streetcar and the 24, 77 and 15 buses all pass within a few blocks.  There are restrooms inside the library, and coffee shops at 21st and Lovejoy, 21st and Quimby, and 23rd and Pettygrove.

Architectural Heritage Center

I assumed that we'd have a small gathering today, cause who would want to come out on such a cold and wet day?  But people kept coming into the room, and we had to keep shifting around to make room for them.

Want to help us add more sketching events?

 Portland Urban Sketchers is growing! We're regularly seeing more than 50 people at our events. In other cities our size, there are often a few events each month in different parts of town.

We'd love to find a few people--especially in NE or SE Portland-- to organize sketchcrawls in your own neighborhood!  Weekends, weeknights, whatever. You could schedule something every month or a few times a year. It's completely flexible.

And it takes very little time! We spend an hour at most organizing our Saturday events.

• Check out the location to make sure it's workable
• Write up the date, time, & details, and we'll help you get it posted
• Show up at the event to welcome everybody, sketch, and enjoy the throwdown

We'd love to find 2-3 people in NE and 2-3 in SE to work together!

Talk to Amy or Ali at our next sketchcrawl and we'll share all the details, or just post a comment here and we'll get back to you with more info.

Februrary 21 Sketchcrawl - Architectural Heritage Center

The Architectural Heritage Center has generously offered to let us meet and sketch inside their beautiful space, or outside on the street, weather permitting.

The non-profit Literary Arts, with a bookstore and cafe, is across the street.  Mother Foucault's Bookstore is next door, and SCRAP has moved nearby, to SE 6th and Washington.  The whole area, known as the East Portland-Grand Avenue National Historic District, offers plenty of cool old buildings to draw. 

The 15 bus, 6 bus, and A line of the streetcar all stop nearby.

• 10 AM: Meet inside the Architectural Heritage Center (701 SE Grand Ave, Portland, OR 97214) for introductions
• 12 noon: Meet back at AHC for a sketchbook throwdown (optional!)

Union Station

It was great to see everyone today, on a surprisingly sunny and warm(ish) day.  We couldn't have hoped for better weather in January.

 

Rose City Book Pub

 Thanks to everyone who came out to Rose City Book Pub last night! Stay tuned to our email list for future pub drawing adventures.