The Hairdo

I spotted an unusual hairdo on MAX and stealthily sketched it to complete another challenge.



The Portland Streetcar is on the list but it whips by so fast, I sketched the inside rather than the outside.

Summer in the City

A couple of weeks ago, on a beautiful day, I was at the south waterfront and sketched the Hawthorne Bridge.

Then I tried to draw three dragon boats (color added at home) but the composition got pretty busy.

This is my entry for 'unusual hair', although it's really more 'unusual hair ornamentation', since her multicolored hair was twined up with yarn creations.

Hunt Total: 17--I crossed the midpoint!

Scavenger Hunt: Elephant's Deli

Did you know that there was a branch of the Elephant's Deli in the Portland Airport? I didn't realize this until I found myself waiting for a friend whose flight was delayed for an hour.

I had forgotten to bring my sketchbook, but luckily I did have some sketching pens with me...and the back of a paper bag works wonders to sketch on in a pinch! Delicious sandwich, here immortalized.

Scavenger Hunt - Keller Fountain

The Keller Fountain was a nice, cool place to sit and sketch on a hot Saturday.

Scavenger Hunt - Elk Statue

I joined the group on Saturday. Ended the day with this sketch of the Elk statue.

Scavenger Hunt: Someone with unusual hair

This is the Barista at Cooper's Coffee on Stark and 61st. Her hair is bushy and orange (Item # 25).

While there is no way I will catch up with Deb,Vicky or Katura---
I am enjoying some of the scavenger hunt items on the list.
Here are my few attempts which I have enjoyed.

It took me three attempts to get a sketch of the Heart Coffee roaster that I liked.

      

The "Sign".

I saw this fire hydrant on my morning walk and returned with my sketchbook.

I attempted to draw the Navy ships in port for the Rose festival but could not get near them.I wandered down the waterfront and decided this Coast Guard cutter was more colorful and accessible.

Item #'s 21,27,8 and 13.

#18, #12, #21, #30, #5....a good day!

I went out today to get the bike pile and on the way to Powells from the MAX I noticed a Benson bubbler that I eventually went back to draw. Already the day was looking pretty good. But then......

While in Powells I decided to give myself a little leeway with the 'coffee' on the list...it didn't say 'a cup of coffee' so this has coffee beans, coffee machine and coffee sign.

And then across Burnside was McMenamin's Zeus Cafe......another one down, and then...

food carts at SW 9th and SW Washington

  A very satisfying day of sketching. Nice.

Roses - From the Yard.

These are miniature roses, the little bottle/vase is only 4 inches tall.

Scavenger Hunt Item 19: Rose

OK, I bike through Ladd's Addition so often that I couldn't help amplifying the prompt of "a rose" into "a rose garden." The contrast between the rather battered traffic signs and the fresh vibrant flowers always makes me happy.

Weekend Scavenging

Saturday morning was perfect weather for sketching with the Urban Sketchers.

I sat down low by the Ira Keller Fountain, close enough to feel the cool air from 

the falling water. The last time I sketched this was with Tia at the 2010 Symposium 

and I was reminded of her saying, "Add brown to those greens in the trees."

 Here's my latest attempt.

There was a Benson Bubbler right across the street, so that sketch knocked off another

 scavenger hunt item. I wish I had been quick enough to sketch the crow that dunked

 his bread in the water.

I started drawing the elk after lunch, but he looked like a cartoon, so I'll need to

 revisit him another day.

On Sunday, my husband and I rode the aerial tram up to OHSU. (Sunday is a good day 

to go because it isn't very busy.) The ride was quick, but fun and the views were great, 

even on a cloudy day. Drawing the tram is very tricky, because it's only still for a matter

 of moments. I drew the dock first and then raced to get the tram in before it disappeared.

Here's another view of the tram dock.

"Pill Hill" would be a terrific place to practice perspective drawing because you 

can see so many different views of buildings and passageways. Here's a one-point 

view that I took from the skybridge to the Veteran's Hospital. I'm glad it's not on the 

scavenger hunt list!

Scavenger Hunt Tally: bubbler, tram 14

Scavenger Hunt- #7-fountain and #2- elk statue

Saturday was a great day to be out drawing. The Ira Keller Fountain (designed by Lawrence Halprin & Associates in the 1970's) is a favorite site to visit but this is the first time I have come to draw it. I love the massiveness of the structure and the water...so much water (13,000 gallons a minute). It makes such a noise that it completely blocks out the street traffic. In one of my landscape design books it says that Halprin's design intent was to create an "experiential equivalent of nature".

Sketchy friends...some of you may know that Shari Blaukopf is coming here to co lead a workshop with Marc Holmes this August.  Well, I follow Shari's blog and when she was in Strasbourg Fr last week, she posted a sketch that looked awfully familiar.  My wife and I were just there about 3 weeks ago, so I sent her a photo of me sitting where I thought she was sitting...and she was.  Gets better...she was sitting at the same cafe and at the same table!  

Scavenger Hunt: Fountain

Keller Fountain, as visited with the sketchers during Saturday's sketchcrawl. I focused on trying to emphasize the square shapes and the light hitting the water.  Drawing this made me think about how it would be nice to spend some time with good drawings of trees, and maybe try out some new approaches.  These trees could have been portrayed in a much simpler style, but I flailed a bit and made them very complicated.

It was great seeing the sketchers in the sunshine, instead of huddled against the wind and rain, or hiding out in cafes!

:-

Passing The Time In Portland

On a drizzly Tuesday afternoon I cozied up in a coffee joint, with a friend, in SE Portland for some tea, pastries, and a little light sketching. I caught this girl lazily sipping her coffee (scavenger hunt item... score!) and paying me no mind, so it was easy to get a quick sketch of her. I've been really digging the light blue Pitt pen. I like how soft it looks and how it's a little moody.

Fountain pen, with Blue Pitt Pen in Moleskine Sketchbook

The next Saturday in stark contrast was a wonderfully warm morning and as usual, after my Saturday run (10 miles on this particular day) with Portland fit, my running buddy and I got our post run bagels and coffee on 23rd and Glisan. Just enjoying the sunshine and chilling. Fortunately we were posted up right next to this paint chipped old fire hydrant and I was able to check another scavenger hunt item off the list.

Fountain pen with assorted Pitt Pens in Moleskine Sketchbook

Scavenger Hunt Item 29: Farmer's Market

After our adventure at the fountain today, many of us wandered over to the big farmer's market in the Park Blocks on the PSU campus. I sketched this while in the extra-long line for tamales. Very busy day--combo of sunny day, and end of school year with lots of the students' families in town? It was clearly easier to focus on the pop-up canopies than the bustling crowd scene!

Keller Fountain

Biked downtown this morning to join the Urban Sketchers group. We met up at a cafe, talked travel and showed off new pens, then headed out into the city to draw.

Deb lead us to the Ira Keller Fountain--a spot that I had never been to, and it positively blew my mind!

The giant monolithic slabs of concrete had, on one hand, a strong feel of late 1960's architecture. But on the other hand, though clearly a man-made structure, it also worked as an astoundingly convincing representation of a roaring waterfall out in nature. The park ends up being this amazing maze of slabs and cliffs and water, which were almost as fun to explore as genuine boulder-hopping in the wilderness.

And then, there's the color. Yes, we should be seeing boring gray concrete here, but instead the monolithic masses are an amazing rusty orange color. I can only presume this is thanks to the work of algae and other critters--all the water-free bits of concrete still are gray around the park. It's pretty astounding to see. Not to mention noise and the movement...And oh man, water falls in so many ways, in so many patterns, it was fascinating and quite difficult to try to draw all the textures and light effects.

But when I had done as much as I could with the cascade, I rotated slightly to the right and was delighted in a totally different way by the interaction of the huge rectangular concrete "lily pads" that are perched low over the shallow and still parts of the water feature. Loved the contrast of the right angles against the sinuous fractal of the pine tree branches especially.

Again, the water color is astonishing and weird here. We're seeing the colors of the concrete and its funky imbedded cobblestones clearly through the clear, shallow pool. It felt so delightfully rebellious to be painting water with so much yellow ochre! 

Very satisfied with this adventure, thanks to Deb for organizing it. (And that's Scavenger Hunt Item #7, Any Fountain.)

Scavenger Hunt - Haircut

Once again, most of my recent sketching has been on the bus during the daily commute so I haven't made progress on the scavenger hunt items... until now :-)  This guy on the bus had a cool haircut.

Scavenger Hunt: Fire Hydrant, Bike Pile, Musician, (and a little shoe distraction)

I drew several fire hydrants, thinking I would get a better one, but I think I just got more fire hydrants.

The most challenging item so far, has been the bike pile.

The best thing about the bike pile is it's near Fluevog shoes and they were gracious enough to let a few of us sketch inside. Their shoes, in all the different shapes and colors were really fun to draw.

This next shoe, was designed by Urban Sketcher Correspondent,  Zaza . You, too, can enter their Open Source shoe design contest and maybe get a prize and a shoe named after you. I'm already imagining 'The Vicky', winning enough to buy a gorgeous pair of sandals that I have my eyes on.

We go out to hear a lot of live music, so I sketch musicians often, but I thought I'd post a slightly different one, and test the rules to this hunt.  I'm trying to learn how to use Brushes on my iphone and this is an early attempt. What do you think, is iphone sketching legit?

By my count, that was 12 for me, narrowing the gap to Katura:)

Scavenger Hunt: Mt. Hood

I sketched Mt. Hood (item #20) in the distance from the grounds at Pittock Mansion.

Scavenger sketching

The bike pile was really a challenge. Such a jumble of ellipses.




This is a Hybrid tea rose from my garden. It is one with lots of petals and is very fragrant.



Last week I stayed at an inn in Ashland. One of the welcome signs had a bird on it so I sketched it and crossed off #23.