Sunday, March 27, 2016

April 23 Sketch Crawl - the Zipper

APRIL 23, 2016

Let's check out the Zipper on NE Sandy.  This building was just finished in September.  It has:
* a place to gather indoors
* a firepit outdoors (maybe only lit at night though)
* a variety of eating/coffee/drinking establishments to choose from
* nearby interesting architecture and neighborhoods
  • 10:00am - Meet at Kerns Kitchen (2935 NE Glisan St) for coffee, snacks, and socializing.
  • 10:30am - Sketch buildings, people, or tuck into the neighborhood and draw some residential gardens from 10:30-noon. 
  • 12:00noon - Optional lunch and sketchbook sharing at the Zipper, 2705 NE Sandy.
If you know a better nearby coffee shop for a meetup, let me know in the comments.  Kerns Kitchen seems kind of like a sit-down restaurant but at least it has a lot of tables outside.

MAY 21, 2016

Let's sketch some spectacular views of industrial areas at inner North Portland.  This spot is easily accesible via the Yellow Line MAX - Albina/Mississippi station.
  • 10:00am - Meet at Broder Nord (2240 N Interstate #160) for coffee, snacks, and socializing.
  • 10:30am - Sketch those panoramic views from 10:30-noon. 
  • 12:00noon - Optional lunch and sketchbook sharing at the Widmer Brothers Pub, 955 N Russell Street.

 

Monday, March 21, 2016

Japanese Memorial garden and cherry blossoms

A wonderful sketching day materialized last Saturday at the Japanese Memorial. The Cherry blossoms were not at their peak so the color was duller but you could still glimpse that distinctive pinkish tinge.




After our sketching morning we elected to stay outside for our sharing. The fountain at Saturday Market was the perfect spot and I (and others) got another sketch in for the day.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Cherry Trees and Sunshine

When we started sketching, I set up under a cherry tree because there were a few sprinkles. As the day warmed up, more and more people arrived and each direction I looked, I could see sketchers tucked among the trees or out in the sunshine. We were so lucky to have our one sunny day the day of our sketch crawl!



More Bridges and Blossoms

Spring is definitely here and it felt like everybody was outside with us. We weren't the only sketchers out there. Another group was painting there as well and several of us had to go and check out their travel easels.

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Cherry Blossoms and the Steel Bridge


Two great sketchcrawl weather days in a row! What luck! I know I probably just jinxed us and we're doomed for rain next time, but today was just a lovely day. The cherry blossoms fluttered all around and everybody was outside. Despite the only once-a-year tree show I couldn't help but sketch another bridge. I did get a couple cherry trees in there, though.

I did all the ink outside and finished up with color at home. 



Japanese plaza on the waterfront


It seemed to me that the cherry blossoms were a touch past their peak.  I did the rocks in the center of the plaza, and a fragment of one of the columns, and then a quick pass of one of the other sketchers.
I did these same rocks the last time we were here.  When I showed the sketch to a friend later, he asked why I'd drawn paper bags.  This time I hope that they don't look like paper bags.



Cherry Blossoms & kids at the fountain

We were so lucky with the weather today.  Almost all the people of Portland joined us at the waterfront.  They made great subjects for sketching.



Sunday, March 13, 2016

3rd Saturday Sketch Crawl - Cherry Blossoms on the Waterfront

MARCH 19

This is a re-run of last year's Cherry Blossom sketching at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Hopefully the cherry blossoms won't be already gone by then, but even if they are, we will still have Ankeny Fountain, Saturday Market, and Old Town/Chinatown nearby.
  • 10:00am - Meet at Floyd's Coffee (118 NW Couch St.) for coffee, snacks, and socializing.
  • 10:30am - Sketch along the waterfront around the Japanese American Historical Plaza (near the intersection of Couch and Naito) from 10-noon. 
  • 12:00noon - Optional lunch at Old Town Pizza (226 NW Davis St.) If it's warm and dry enough we can grab food from the Saturday Market, and meet/eat outside by the Japanese American Historical Plaza.
APRIL 16

Let's check out the Zipper on NE Sandy.  This building was just finished in September.  It has:
* a place to gather indoors
* a firepit outdoors (maybe only lit at night though)
* a variety of eating/coffee/drinking establishments to choose from
* a nail salon
* nearby interesting architecture and neighborhoods
  • 10:00am - Meet at Kerns Kitchen (2935 NE Glisan St) for coffee, snacks, and socializing.
  • 10:30am - Sketch buildings, people, or tuck into the neighborhood and draw some residential gardens from 10:30-noon. 
  • 12:00noon - Optional lunch and sketchbook sharing at the Zipper, 2705 NE Sandy.
 If you know a better nearby coffee shop, let me know.  Kerns Kitchen seems kind of like a sit-down restaurant but at least it has a lot of tables outside.

Monday, March 7, 2016

Lan Su Chinese Garden in the Spring

In spring in Portland, we have beautiful trees bursting 
 with new leaves and fragile blossoms of pink or white.  There's so much potential for sketching, but there is often accompanying wind, rain, chilly temperatures, and sometimes hail. Luckily, the tearoom at the Chinese Garden offers shelter and views out the window, along with  fragrant pots of exotic 
tea and delicate, tasty snacks. I think I could spend days there, watching the sky change, drinking tea and  never running out of things to draw.