Sketchcrawl: Lloyd Center Ice Skaters, February 15

Join us at Lloyd Center on Saturday, February 15, to sketch the morning ice skating lessons. It will be challenging but hopefully have enough repetitive movement to make it possible. If constant movement is not your thing there is always the food court and other sketchers and shoppers who may stay motionless for longer periods of time.

Saturday, February 15

10:00 Meet at Starbucks Coffee, 925 Lloyd Center #C114Inside Lloyd Center near the skating rink) Portland OR

10:30  Begin Drawing
12:00 Throwdown TBD
12:30  Optional Lunch and sketchbook sharing in the Lloyd Center Foodcourt.
How to get there: Lloyd Center is easily accessible by bus and MAX.  There is also free parking at Lloyd Center.

Sea and Shore

One of the things I liked best about sketching by boat was the chance to draw things on land or in the water. There was so much life out there that I didn't have to look far for things to capture.

Here I sat in a little cove watching dolphins pick off schools of fish while lion's mane jellies (Cynea capillata) pulsed gently below. They were about a nine inches in diameter and maybe two feet long.

Other days I got off the boat and wandered through forests and streams sketching huge trees or the intricate patterns of mushrooms.

My favorite living subjects were the invertebrates. The more I stared at the lacy tentacles of a sea cucumber or the tiny suction cups on a sea star, the more amazed I became.

Sketching the Inside Passage

I was lucky enough to have a three month sabbatical from work August through October. I took my little sail and oar boat to British Columbia where I quietly rowed, sailed, and sketched my way from the north end of Vancouver Island south to the Seattle area.

I kept a journal/sketchbook. Here's what a raw page looks like.

I wrote every day. I sketched most days, sometimes multiple pages. Some days I was so overwhelmed with the vastness of the scenery or the awesomeness of nature, that I didn't draw it all. I just soaked it in.

-Bruce