Virtual Sketchcrawl #12 - Winter

Please join us for our twelfth virtual sketchcrawl on Saturday, January 16th.

This month, let's sketch a winter scene.  Maybe a bleak gray landscape, maybe a cheery fire - whatever winter means to you.  And if you'd like, let's this once put the pigments away and do it in black and white.

Sketch by Kay French, from the Fehrenbacher Hoff

If you decide on sketching an outdoor scene, then feel free to sketch any time between now and the 16th, to find agreeable weather.  In any case, please post on the 16th, by:

(1) posting to this blog

(2) emailing to our mailing list, or

(3) posting in our Facebook group

As always, this challenge is optional, and you can be as strict to the subject or as loose as you like. Your participation is welcome whether you choose this challenge or not-- just make sure to work from life and to include contextual information, so it stays in the realm of urban sketching!

PS. Is there interest in getting together virtually on the afternoon of the 16th?

Retro Tuesday - Tree dressed up for the holidays when I was, like, 4.

I've been doing a lot of painting from photographs lately.  The rain, the cold, and I've painted so many inside things that I don't feel like painting those anymore.  So maybe this doesn't count for urban sketching, but I did pick this photo because of the theme.  Fun times!  Thank you for organizing! - Andrea Matthews

Virtual sketchcrawl - Trees dressed up for the holidays

I did this one last Saturday, in an unexpected sunbreak.  

It's a tree in my neighbor's front yard, which he dolled up something special for the season.  I stood on his parking strip, and we had a long-distance conversation between the street and his porch.  (And then he waited patiently until I'd finished, so he could come out and rake up his leaves.)

While I was there a hummingbird - a male Anna's - came to investigate the tree, probing every single ornament, in hopes it was a flower or a feeder.  And then flew away in a huff.

Then, this morning I braved the iffy weather, dodging both rain and other people, and walked down to Pioneer Courthouse Square to sketch the tree. 

I haven't been downtown in ages.  The number of empty storefronts is scary.  And these colorful circles are painted in the square and on the surrounding sidewalks.  I assume that they're social distancing markers.

Virtual Sketchcrawl #11 - trees decorated for the holidays

Please join us for our eleventh virtual sketchcrawl on Saturday, December 19th.

This month, let's sketch trees and shrubs that are dressed up for the holidays.  Possibly the big tree in Pioneer Courthouse Square, or maybe whatever's been decorated in our own neighborhoods.  Even the tree standing up in our own living room.

Sketch by Ellie at Pioneer Courthouse Square

And this month, we'll try something a little different.  In the interests of avoiding both crowds and rain, we can do the sketches anytime between now and December 19th, indoors or out, day or (brrr!) night, and post on the morning of the 19th, by:

(1) posting to this blog

(2) emailing to our mailing list

(3) posting in our Facebook group

As always, this challenge is optional, and you can be as strict to the subject or as loose as you like. Your participation is welcome whether you choose this challenge or not-- just make sure to work from life and to include contextual information, so it stays in the realm of urban sketching!

There will be an optional zoom get-together at 1pm on the 19th, to share sketches, or to just see each others' faces again.  To forestall zoombombing, the details will be posted in this group's mailing list.

See you soon!

Blue Friday

While some folks might have been out walking off their turkey dinner, I took my little rowboat and sketchbook out to Swan Island and enjoyed a surprisingly warm morning. No gloves needed to hold the pen!

There is so much to see and sketch there, from a guy making chainsaw art on the beach, to industrial architecture, to the dry docks raising massive ships out of the water (pictured below). 

 

Virtual Sketchcrawl #10 - food prep or aftermath

I'm not cooking ahead for Thanksgiving, but I did have some parsnips and a carrot that needed to get eaten up.  So I decided to roast them.  I laid them out (artistically) and did a quick sketch while cooking some bacon in the preheating oven.

And then, while those were roasting, I opened and cleaned an acorn squash, to bake for later.

Virtual Sketchcrawl #10 - food prep or aftermath

Please join us for our tenth virtual sketchcrawl on Saturday, November 21st.

This month, the suggested theme is food preparation or its aftermath.  Thanksgiving is approaching, and even if we won't be having large gatherings this year, I'm sure that we'll still be cooking. 

Sketch by Vicky at Tabor Bread

As always, this challenge is optional, and you can be as strict to the subject or as loose as you like. Your participation is welcome whether you choose this challenge or not-- just make sure to work from life and to include contextual information, so it stays in the realm of urban sketching!

We will start at 10am.  At noon, which is when we would normally be meeting up for lunch to share sketchbooks, we'd love to see your sketches online in whichever forum feels comfortable for you:

(1) posting to this blog

(2) emailing to our mailing list

(3) posting in our Facebook group

See you there!

Nature preparing for Winter- pdxusk challenge #9

 This coastal town (Bristol RI) has not seen a real change in leaf color yet. There have been a couple of high gusty wind events though earlier this month that have contributed to some leaf loss and maybe that is why the color is not very brilliant....there just aren't that many leaves.

I chose this scene because of the very extreme difference in scale between the very tall tree and the houses underneath it. I may revisit this scene sometime in the future to see if there are any color changes.

 

Nature preparing for winter at Farragut Park

 It was a mini sketch crawl between me and my friend Kristin.  We sat 6' apart at a picnic table, wearing masks, and did some art together.  Eventually we were covered in shadow, and it got a little too cold for us.  By that time 2 hours had passed.

Not sure why there was a lot of brush around - possibly it was fallen branches from recent windstorms.

 The other day I sketched while waiting for lunch at Sea and River, a newish Burmese Sushi place up NE Glisan and 69th.  

Yesterday,  I took a walk to RoseCity Golf Coarse and sketched. I was surprised how friendly and interested the golfers were.    

 

Virtual Sketchcrawl #9 - Nature preparing for winter

I walked up the street this morning to see if the cedar waxwings were still busily stuffing themselves on my neighbor's crabapple trees.  But no, they'd pretty much stripped the trees and moved on to greener pastures.  So I resorted to looking for tinges of fall color in the trees I can see from my backyard.  

And then, I sketched the tinges of orange creeping into my persimmons in the front yard.

End of the Season

I was lucky to spend a few days exploring the backcountry near the Breitenbush River, just north of Mt Jefferson this summer. Now much of that area has been scorched by the Beachie Creek Fire. I empathize with the people who lost their homes and livelihoods.

Being deep in the woods, away from most other people, I relaxed. I stared contentedly into the treetops, I strolled across wilderness meadows and took my time sketching little details in the long, long days of an Oregon summer.

As the lazy days of outdoor sketching come to a close, or at least require a more strategic approach to stay dry, I'm already looking forward to spring. I can't wait to see and draw how nature bounces back, and hoping that I can be resilient too.

 

Fall Sketching

The weather was so nice yesterday.  I did some value studies with a box of quince from my shrub.  In past years I made membrillo, but it is a lot of work. Not doing it this year, too much work.  If anyone want these quince let me know.

Virtual Sketchcrawl #9 - Nature preparing for winter

Please join us for our ninth virtual sketchcrawl on Saturday, October 17th.

This month, the suggested theme is nature getting ready for the coming winter.  Leaves turning, maybe leaves falling.  Birds migrating or squirrels gathering acorns.  Maybe your own activities, mulching the garden or pulling the comforters out of the closet.

Sketch by Kay French

As always, this challenge is optional, and you can be as strict to the subject or as loose as you like. Your participation is welcome whether you choose this challenge or not-- just make sure to work from life and to include contextual information, so it stays in the realm of urban sketching!

We will start at 10am.  At noon, which is when we would normally be meeting up for lunch to share sketchbooks, we'd love to see your sketches online in whichever forum feels comfortable for you:

(1) posting to this blog

(2) emailing to our mailing list

(3) posting in our Facebook group

See you there!

sketching in a grid

 Wasn't able to sketch in the allotted time on Saturday so I did my sketching in a small block of time on Sunday.

  The caption says it all....I used my standard pack of sketching materials and tried various combinations. As you can see I started small (about life size) and then tried to zoom in a little to get into some of the intricacies of this very broken specimen. 

Grid crawl

 I haven't sketched in dogs' years but I tried the grid sketchcrawl in my house.  You can tell the order of the sketches by how impatient they look 😂 

-- Kalina

Virtual Sketchcrawl - sketching in a grid.

 

Back in the spring, I sketched the view out my bedroom window, newly replanted after the oak disaster this winter.  I salvaged some chunks of the pine trunks to set up a seating area, thinking it would a good place to sit and have tea on summer afternoons.

But it turned out to be Aramis' most favorite spot in the yard, and he demand to go out to visit it several times each day.  I'd sit and read, while he lounged, basking his old bones in the the sun.  I transplanted one of his catmint plants there to make it smell good for him, and planted some oat grass to give him something to nibble on.

Sadly, I lost him in August, and buried him under his catmint.  He'd lived with me for over 21 years and was an extraordinary cat, so I've got no complaints.  But I do miss him.

Grid

 Good morning everyone. Since I am unable to sketch with you this morning, did so last night.  I sketched on old waterproof ink jet labels.

Virtual Sketchcrawl #8

 

Virtual Sketchcrawl #8- Sketching in a Grid

For the time being we are back to our regular sketchcrawls of once a month.

Please join us for our eighth virtual sketchcrawl on Saturday, September 19th

 For this sketchcrawl we suggest you use the device of a grid on your page.

Your grid can be regular or irregular, whichever you prefer. The subject is open as well. You might try; selecting objects within a room (as Vicky Porter did in the illustration); select objects that have some connection to each other; or how about use the grid as frames like in a comic book and tell a story?

Other grid ideas from Barbara Weeks post on the Urbansketchers Chicago blog https://urbansketchers-chicago.blogspot.com/2015/03/off-grid-designing-page.html 

In this sketch page, Vicky Porter first taped off and painted in the grid spaces, then drew objects in a room.

As always, this challenge is optional, and you can be as strict to the subject or as loose as you like. Your participation is welcome whether you choose this challenge or not-- just make sure to work from life and to include contextual information, so it stays in the realm of urban sketching!

We will start at 10am.  At noon, which is when we would normally be meeting up for lunch to share sketchbooks, we'd love to see your sketches online in whichever forum feels comfortable for you:

(1) posting to this blog
(2) emailing to our mailing list
(3) posting in our Facebook group

See you there!

Postcards from the Industrial Refuge

I managed to find my old sketching kit yesterday, and measured off some 4x6 rectangles in the sketchbook (last used in 2014).  Then I wandered off into the Industrial Refuge this morning.  There's hardly anyone there on a Saturday morning, just a few runners and bikers, and people camping in their vehicles.  It wasn't too awfully hot yet, but hot enough that I only sketched from spots in the shade.

First off, I did a water tower on top of a building near Montgomery Park.  I've gazed at in for years while waiting for a bus, but never had time to sketch it.  Because, well, buses.

Then I walked down to the ESCO office building and did a bit of 'art' in their parking lot.  It could pretend to be sculpture, but I suspect what it really is is an old rusted drill bit.

And then, just a bit further to capture the last remaining bit of ESCO's old No. 1 foundry.

Postcard sketching

 I got to Wallace Park in NW a little early to try to beat the crowd and heat. There were still loads of people there at 9:15  but the park is large enough to handle us all. 

Here are my postcard sketches all done in or around Wallace Park (in front of the Chapman School) at NW 25th and NW Raleigh.

I used my usual watersoluble inks and Lexington Grey ink in a waterbrush....added some white Gouache too!

Virtual Sketchcrawl #7- August 15th

Virtual Sketchcrawl #7- Sketching a Postcard

For the time being we are back to our regular sketchcrawls of once a month.

Please join us for our seventh virtual sketchcrawl on Saturday, August 15th!

This time we suggest sketching a postcard.

Postcards are approximately 4"x6".....some I've measured at 4 1/4" x 6" and some older postcards are

3 1/2" x 5 1/2".

I suggest that you pick a size and then mark out that size on your sketchbook page. You might have room for two or even three on a page.

If you want to make your own to send out to a friend or fellow sketcher use cardstock or you can purchase watercolor postcards at your favorite art supply place.

• Sending a postcard is an extremely affordable way to communicate when you’re using the U.S Postal Service—regular postcards cost only $0.35 to mail! To qualify for postcard pricing, your mailer must be at least 3 ½” high, 5” long and 0.007” thick (approximately the thickness of an index card), but no more than 4 ¼” high, 6” long.

 

Because of this smaller size format it might be an opportunity to change up something else in your art practice........you will be working smaller so why not make it a quick sketch, say 10-15 minutes instead of your usual? And with several postcards to do you can work on a variety of subjects too!

Andrea Matthews organized a postcard activity at the Manchester usk symposium in 2016. This is a postcard that she did in Paris.

As always, this challenge is optional, and you can be as strict to the subject or as loose as you like. Your participation is welcome whether you choose this challenge or not-- just make sure to work from life and to include contextual information, so it stays in the realm of urban sketching!

We will start at 10am.  At noon, which is when we would normally be meeting up for lunch to share sketchbooks, we'd love to see your sketches online in whichever forum feels comfortable for you:

(1) posting to this blog
(2) emailing to our mailing list
(3) posting in our Facebook group

See you there!

Virtual Sketch Crawl #6 - Favorite Green Space

It's hard to pick a favorite because it's easy to love a lot of Portland's green spaces.  It's also easy for me to walk to this tree, lie down underneath it, and be transported by the pleasure of the warm sun on my skin and the complex pattern of leaves and light.  I call this tree the Symphony Director - it reminds me of Mickey Mouse as the wizard in Fantasia.

Virtual Sketch Craw #6 Green space.

I enjoyed spending time by my friend's grave, Rose City Cemetery. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather and shade under a gnarly cherry tree.  I brought a variety of tools, but used pen and ink...Oops, i got my dates mixed up.... I really sketched this today 7/18, not 7/17.

Virtual sketcrawl #6 - your favorite green space.

At first, I'd read this as 'your favorite park'.  And I spent some time in trying to figure out which park was my favorite.  Well, no, there's no debate at all, it's Forest Park.  But I'm not heading up the narrow trails anymore, and don't feel safe lingering in one spot, even on Leif Erickson.  Then I re-read the post, and realized that it said 'your favorite green space'.  And my favorite is, hands down, my own yard, where I often hang out with a cat or a dog.  And lately, my favorite activity has been the daily berry hunt. 

So I sat down in my backyard and sketched some of my cane raspberries (almost done), strawberries (only the ever-bearing ones are left, coming ripe in ones and twos) and blueberries (about a week into the season)

There are others that I didn't get to.  Thimbleberries are tiny and hardly worth picking, but they're pretty.  My creeping raspberries were planted as a ground cover.  But I found that I liked the fruit.  My huckleberries are likewise small and hardly worth picking.  Moreover, I don't think they're ready yet.  The salal is full of seeds and not very sweet, so I usually leave it for the birds.  And, finally, my oregon grape got wiped out by the oak tree.  It's coming back up from the roots though, so I'll have it again.  I found one stalk that somehow survived the desolation, and produced a half a dozen berries.

Challenge #6- your favorite park or green space

Couch Park is near my apartment.  It is a park that I have walked by and through while doing errands etc. (more so in pre Covid times)

I like the new play area just recently completed and the rolling grassy hills with many big trees. People hang out there...resting, watching their kids, picnicking and walking or playing with their dogs.

Virtual Sketchcrawl #6- July 18, 2020

Virtual Sketchcrawl #6- Sketching in your favorite green space - Saturday, July 18, 2020

For the time being we are back to our regular sketchcrawls of once a month.

Please join us for our sixth virtual sketchcrawl on Saturday,July 18th!

Since we are still limited to sketching in safe places and with the weather being more conducive to outdoor sketching, why not do some sketching in your favorite green space. It could be a park, or parking strip, or your own yard. You choose whatever space feels comfortable to you.

This could work nicely with Rita's 10x10 workshop on July 11th- drawing trees. Details at http://www.portlandsketcher.com/p/workshops.html

this is a sketch I did at Laurelhurst Park, but since it is not in my neighborhood, I will probably choose someplace closer to home for sketching this time- deb

As always, this challenge is optional, and you can be as strict to the subject or as loose as you like. Your participation is welcome whether you choose this challenge or not-- just make sure to work from life and to include contextual information (You could even say a bit about why you like this green space on your sketch), so it stays in the realm of "urban sketching"!

We will start at 10am.  At noon, which is when we would normally be meeting up for lunch to share sketchbooks, we'd love to see your sketches online in whichever forum feels comfortable for you:

(1) posting to this blog
(2) emailing to our mailing list
(3) posting in our Facebook group

See you there!

Virtual sketchcrawl #5- Change your process

I haven't really done work on toned paper since charcoal drawing in art school but I have admired the work of some of our Portland sketchers who have used it in their drawings.
For this challenge I painted a couple of pages in watercolor sketchbooks with a medium gray that I mixed up in Gouache.
Each of these sketches has used various mediums foe mark making and I have identified them in the captions below each.

It was fun to experiment and I found a couple of tools that I will be using again!

Various graphite, General's Carbon Sketch 595, and Stablio Aquarelle White

Various graphite, General's Carbon Sketch 595, Multi colored pencil, and Stablio Aquarelle White

Various graphite, General's Carbon Sketch 595, Stablio Aquarelle White, and Multi colored pencil

Pentel Pocket Brush, Uni-POSCA White marker, and General's Carbon Sketch 595

Virtual sketchcrawl #5- Change your process

I used my 2018  Hobonichi Techo Calendar book. It was full of my illegible dates, notes and times of when I took medicines. The paper is thin but there was no bleed through.  I drew with a pen in each hand, one water-soluble ink, one waterproof.  I added a bit of watercolor and a few swipes with a water brush. They are many more pages to experiment with.

Virtual sketchcrawl - change up your process

I decided to do random color, with marker pen and airbrush. 

And it came out virtually unrecognizable.  That's my TV, surrounded by piles of books and DVDs that are waiting to go back to the library, streaming a virtual version of this year's Bach Festival in Leipzig.  

Some performances are still happening in Leipzig, while the groups that intended to come taped performances and sent them in to be broadcast.

The different groups used different ways to record their pieces.  Some did solo works.  Some had all the musicians record themselves at home, and stitched the parts together.  One used a church, with the string section on one side, all wearing masks, and the soprano way over across on the other side.  In Germany, things seemed to be the loosest, with an actual live audience (albeit 2 meters apart and masked).  The musicians were unmasked, and keeping a 2 meter separation.  Even the singers.  Which was a bit unnerving.  (At Trinity Cathedral, singers must keep a 15' separation.)

And this is my (gray) cat, who came to sit on my lap.

Challenge #5: Changing my process

I usually always start with white paper. The idea of starting with a strong color has always intimidated me so that meant I had to at least give it a try. I actually prepared six boxes of color, yellow, orange, red, violet, blue, and green. Only got to the first two. I used FW Acrylic inks and sometimes had pens and brushes in both hands. I got lost. It kind of looks like night and day but it was just a cloudy morning with occasional sprinkles.

Virtual Sketchcrawl

Today, I decided to sketch on a a grid of colored backgrounds. (I was inspired by Virginia Hein's sketches this week.) I thought I'd do thumbnails, but that's not quite what happened. Lately, I've been sketching a lot of botanicals, but today I stayed in the same room and tried to draw different things that I saw from that contained space. I listened to 'Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me' to try to fill in for some of the social aspect that I miss with our virtual sketch crawls. It's not the same, but there were a few laughs. Thanks for another fun challenge.

Virtual Sketchcrawl Challenge #5 Change your process Saturday June 13

Join us for our Fifth Virtual Sketch crawl on
Saturday June 13

Habits are a blessing and a curse. It keeps good routines going but can also put you into a bit of a rut. There is wisdom in the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” On the other had, as Chris Bianco, a brilliant pizza maker and fine baker, said “I can tell you, you learn things when you burn things.”

So let’s throw caution to the winds and try our best to work outside our comfort zone by changing up our process.

If you normally work very slowing and detailed, try working very fast. loose and more abstractly with big shapes.

Same with the reverse, if you start with a quick gesture  and build up a loose drawing from there, then go immediately to great detail drawn slowly and then spiral the drawing out from where you started.

If you normally work on white paper then start with a colored ground, and instead of the usual grey or black, try a bright bold color as the base of your drawing. Monochrome or loads of color?  Do the opposite.

Work small? Try big. Right handed? Use your left, left handed use your right. Use both. You get the idea.

We invite you to experiment some more in and around your homes during our stay safe isolation.

As always, this challenge is optional and you can be a strict or as loose as you like, including ignoring us completely. Just make sure to work from life and include your surroundings to give your focus context.

We will start at 10:00am. At noon, which is when we normally meet up to share our drawings, please post your sketches so we can all see them on whatever platform you are comfortable with:

Posting to this blog

Emailing to our mailing list

Posting on our Facebook page

Looking forward to seeing what you all do with this one! We want to see both brilliant successes and total train wrecks!!!

Embody the Art You Love - Art Nouveau

Inspired by Art Nouveau, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh: Queen of Spades. This may not quite be considered Urban Sketching. It is my mom's face from a zoom call, and roses sketched on location. Acrylic paint. Next I want to get some sparkly metallic gold and silver paint.
Spending a lot of time on zoom calls, I see my own face and I judge it harshly. I realize I am comparing myself to older female relatives. I want to give love to them and to myself. It's sad not to see the beauty in my older relatives and it's sad not to see my own beauty. We are all beautiful. I accept and love all of you - you all look gorgeous to me. This is my beautiful mom, the queen of spades, doing her best, creating a sustainable home, garden, business, life, and legacy.