Seattle 10 x 10 classes

""I had a great time learning perspective tips from Stephanie Bower in Seattle this past Saturday.

I visited artist friends on Friday and the workshop was conveniently located in King Street Station.

The three hours flew by and Stephanie stayed longer to give us all feedback. I grabbed some lunch nearby and hopped the train home.

She a wonderful instructor and I recommend her workshops!

Upcoming Sketch Events!

MARCH 11

It's Cherry Blossom time again Tom McCall Waterfront Park. We may catch the cherry blossoms in full bloom, if we go a week earlier in the month. Blooms or no, we still have Ankeny Fountain, Saturday Market, and Old Town/Chinatown nearby.  Then another cool opportunity at the Lan Su Chinese Garden!

• 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. 
• 1:00pm - 3:00pm - Lan Su Classical Chinese Garden: Optional "Meet the Artist" event with our own Janene Walkky!  Kalina will bring a bunch of guest passes for the Garden to share with us. 

MARCH 18

Let's send off Katura Reynolds in sketching style.  We already miss our former organizer now that she is moving to Seattle. Many hugs and well-wishing for our darling Katura.

• 10:00am - Meet at Tabor Bread (5051 SE Hawthorne Blvd) for coffee, snacks, and socializing.
• 10:30am - Sketch at the Mt. Tabor playground. We'll walk over together. We'll sketch the kiddos, the trees, the playground.
• 12:00noon - Optional lunch and sketchbook sharing.  BYO.

APRIL 22

With so many critical things happening politically right now, it is good to know where government functions are, and to sketch them. There are a lot of government buildings clustered around this spot. We will sketch around Lownsdale Square, at SW 3rd and Main, near the Elk Statue.  If there is a protest that day, we can sketch that too.

• 10:00am - Meet at Good Earth Cafe (1136 SW 3rd Ave) for coffee, snacks, and socializing.
• 10:30am - Sketch government buildings, statues, cars, and possible protesters.
• 12:00noon - Optional lunch and sketchbook sharing at Gandhi Indian Restaurant (710 SW 2nd Ave).

N Williams

I met up for coffee and conversation, and then went out to scout out locations.  I ended up flattened against a wall in the courtyard of One North, across the street from New Seasons, and  captured a jumble - one corner of the curvy building, the church across the street from that, and a new apartment building beyond that.  (There was an old house and a rundown trailer around the corner that I couldn't get into the composition.)

Then a quick sketch (I was starting to get cold) of the sign above the building's bike repair station.  Showing the same corner of the curvy building from a different angle.

It was wonderful to sketch with everyone today!!!!

Nice turnout today for a rainy day.  I stayed inside the whole time, enjoying the relaxing vibe and conversation.

Another tree lost

After the catastrophic failure of the last catalpa, the city came out to look at my two remaining 90 year old trees.  The decision was that one still might make 100.  But the other one had to come down before spring.

So, on Sunday afternoon I sat down in the sun (on the stump of the downed tree actually) and did a farewell sketch.

Since the tree passes close to the power lines, PGE had to be involved.  They showed up yesterday and cut down about a third of the tree.

Then my own arborist showed up this morning to deal with the rest of it.

The rot that had condemned the tree didn't show up until the trunk was finally felled.  The cavity was so large that the man who made the last cut put down his chainsaw and was able to sit down inside the tree.

The Fields again

On an unexpected sunny and mild day, Deb decided to go sketching at the Fields again, and invited anyone who would like to come.  I was already downtown when I got the message and decided to come, even though I only had my small tablet with me.

First off, I sat down on a bench in the sun to do one of the bronze snails.


By the time I'd finished the sun had snuck behind a building, leaving me in the cold.  I walked around to the other side, which was still in the sun, and sat down beside Deb.  And noticed that yet another building in the mill complex was in the process of being torn down.  So I decided to make a record of it before it went.



Halfway through I paused to greet a small dog.  And her person stopped to chat.  And then realized that we were both sketching.  She used to, and is wanting to get into it again.  And has been following Deb on this blog.

La Paz, Mexico

With the cold,  icy January weather here in Portland, we were lucky enough to to embark on a short escape to LA Paz México on the Baja peninsula.

Of course the sketchbook went with me and I captured a few scenes along the way.

Map and images of La Paz.

Cabo Hostel 

La Paz harbor.

La Paz panorama.

Vienna-St.Stephansdom

I hope it is alright to post from other cities?

I was very fortunate to be invited to join my husband on a business trip to this most beautiful city.

It was my first trip to Vienna and Ron was given a long weekend for us to be tourists. ( He works for a VERY nice company!) Vienna is having record cold, in fact, the Danube is frozen. Sort of like Portland!

I sketched this from a 7th floor hotel bar directly across from the cathedral as I sipped a wonderful coffee, an Einspanner.