A Soggy Saturday Sketch Crawl

Saturday's sketch crawl with the Portland Urban Sketchers turned out to be more of a sketch sit and sketch other sketchers kind of happening. That's good news for me though, I like sketching people, and with a number of willing and able subjects on hand I managed to get off a few quick ones.

 I took a break from Floyd's for a bit and wandered over to the Saturday Market and did a very very quick and very rare sketch of some kind of scenery, market stalls, and the like. I never feel comfortable drawing out in the open like that, so these quick and little sketches are all I ever end up with. At least I did something different.

It was fun to meet the intrepid urban sketcher Pete Scully and have a chance to hang with a big group of sketchers. Look forward to doing it again soon.

Rain and Sketching

Saturday, Portland's Urban Sketchers got together to sketch because Pete Scully was in town. It was a rainy day and most of us stayed inside and drew eachother. Usually, I don't write names by my sketches, but I did this time, so please excuse me for pictures that don't look like you. I just need a lot more practice!

By lunchtime, we had moved on to Old Town Pizza and since, by this time, I had drawn most of the sketchers, I decided to draw some of the other customers...

like the little boy in red who was wearing a fancy folded napkin as a birthday hat.

(I wasn't quick enough to capture a sketch of the zombie eating at the bar.)

It was great to have such a good turnout and it was fun to spend a few hours sketching and chatting...and of course, it was a special pleasure having Pete Scully with us.

 Sunday afternoon I was out again and there was another downpour. Still it didn't keep this woman from wearing her flipflops...

Name change

I got married this month and along with marriage, I decide to take my husband's last name. The consequence of that decision is the need to change my name on everything. The first step, once a copy of the marriage license is in hand, is to change your name on your social security record. I sketched while I waited briefly.

Apple tasting festival, now married

I have been away from the monthly meetups to draw our city, but I am married now and have time free to sketch again! I enjoyed 'getting back in the saddle' as they say, but I felt like I was out of practice. I stuck with Vicky as I wasn't sure what I wanted to sketch. I am glad I did! I enjoyed the conversation and the sketching. Next time, I'll wear gloves!

My sketches, the wooden cow, Marta sketching in fingerless dog hair gloves, the line, the band Petty Cash, and a new sketcher, Andrea.

More Apple Tasting Celebration

Here are some of my sketches from this week's sketchcrawl.
The line to go into the tasting tent....

 Near the rhododendrons where Alanna and I stood out of the way, hoping to sketch the crowd...

The band, Petty Cash played while we sat on hay bales to sketch...

And here is the sound guy, who by his sign, appeared to have a sense of humor.

It was a good morning of sketching, drinking cider, and eating roasted chestnuts. Best of all, was meeting up with the other sketchers. 

Apple Festival

The several of us sketchers who showed up at the Portland Nursery's Apple Tasting Festival this morning kind of lucked out on the weather while we were there. A good crowd of people were busy buying, tasting, eating streudel & toffee apples and otherwise partaking of the activities offered.

I tried to set myself up and out of the way but it was hard to find that sweet spot!

Had a good time though with so many options to sketch. After a good sharing session I headed home to rain and hail!

Apple-tastic Sketchcrawl on Saturday, October 20

Join us for our 3rd Saturday Sketchcrawl! We're heading to the Apple Tasting Festival at Portland Nursery. It should be a treat for eyes, ears, and mouths alike--great apples (and other food too: Hotlips Pizza, Staccato Gelato...), music, hula-hooping, and all those other ingredients that make a wonderful party.

Meet at 10 am at Portland Nursery, 5050 SE Stark. (Map!)

Bring canned or non-perishable foods to the Impact NW table, help them get a head start on filling their pantry for the cold winter months to come.

 

Sketch until you have to go!

 

Oaks Park, off season

Hi everyone! This is Kalina. I haven't posted to this shared Portland Urban Sketchers blog for awhile, but have finally set up the scanner at my new house and am starting to get back in the sketching game. Thanks to everyone for keeping the ball rolling, especially during these last months when I really couldn't help much with group organizing yet appreciated being able to join in when others made plans.

My first sketch during the Oaks Park sketchcrawl was an attempt to catch the wonderful curvy lines of the little roller coaster...


I stepped into the roller rink to catch some action shots...



The larger roller coasters had more complicated shapes than I felt able to face that day so this became an experiment with watercolor...



Only then, maybe 10 minutes before our meet-up time, I discovered this little corner where all the signage for the park was collected together during the off season and really fell in love with the scene. This sketch was a quick grab before we met up and new participant Andrea kindly took our picture together as we stood among the color posts.

Thanks for a fun afternoon, everyone!

The Most Colorful Corner of Oaks Park

As we gathered together to look at each other's sketches yesterday, Kalina called out," You guys have GOT to see this! It's so colorful and amazing!"

Only in the off-season would we have all of the stanchions and other colorful signage in one big pile like that. We couldn't resist a group photo. Big thanks to Andrea for taking the shot!

Empty Amusement Park

Nice group met up in Sellwood for the Worldwide Sketchcrawl on Saturday. Kalina and myself were very happy to welcome Andrea, Jen, and Evan (a fourth-grader!) to their very first Urban Sketchers adventures. (Oh, and Marta met us at the park, too! But she had to leave a little early.)

I had imagined spending a lot of time drawing the roller-coaster. But man, those things are complicated!  

Even though the colors of the autumn leaves and the bright paint of the park rides were very vivid, all my brain really wanted to contemplate was the beautiful texture of the cloudy sky.

I finally settled on a combination of black and white pens with just occasional touches of colored pencil. I feel like that captured the quiet, historic beauty of Oaks Park in the off-season (as well as the calm contentment in my own head) fairly well.

Worldwide Sketchcrawl: Saturday, Oct. 13

Yes indeed, the 37th Worldwide Sketchcrawl is happening this Saturday, October 13! Join us in the afternoon to enjoy the challenge of sketching rollercoasters and autumn leaves...We're heading for Oaks Park.

Disclaimer: the rides won't be open this time of year, but the roller rink will.

Meet 1:00 pm at Grand Central Bakery in Sellwood: 7987 SE 13th Avenue.
At 1:30, stroll about 20 min (or drive, I suppose) to the Oaks Amusement Park: 7805 SE Oaks Park Way.
(Map showing how those two dots connect: http://goo.gl/maps/Snx9o)

Don't forget to pack your raincoats; we might get a little rain...

The British are coming! The British are coming!

Actually,just one Brit, Pete Scully, from Davis,CA.
Many of you know him from his blog and posts on USK.
He is hoping some of us will want to join him on a sketchcrawl
on Sat.,Oct.27. He has chosen the Sat.market in the morning and a 'bridge'
in the afternoon. He is open to other sketching ideas as he will be visiting for a few days. I will be recovering from my second cataract surgery but can hope fully show up for a quick sketch. I hope there are others to show Pete a nice welcome!

Portland - Milwaukie Bridge construction

I haven't had much time to sketch lately but I recently spent a couple hours studying the new bridge construction from the Esplanade.

8 1/2" x 11" watercolor with black and white ink

Taylor Electric

I really enjoyed drawing this place and would like to go back. The rust and blue sky caught my interest.