Director Park

On Saturday approximately 20 sketchers (old timers, newcomers, and everything in between) showed up at Case Study cafe in downtown Portland, which happens to be one of my favorite cafes.  Kay filled us in regarding her great experiences participating in Sketchbook Skool and I showed off the sample Arm-adillo pencil cuff I'd received from Muse Art + Design. After fortifying ourselves with beverages we ambled down to Director Park.

The forecast was sunny skies and warm temperatures but when we arrived it was grey and slightly chilly, which - in the context of an urban park that is mostly made up of gray concrete to start with - was not very inspiring. Anyway, I'd been wanting to sketch the Guild Theatre for a long time; my first attempts years before had gone terribly awry.

The Guild Theatre opened in 1927 as Taylor Street Theatre, acquiring its current name in 1947, and it's the last single-screen theatre in downtown Portland. Unfortunately, it's been closed for years. It's another of those lovely older buildings that doesn't have any obvious way forward, since redeveloping it and adding bathrooms (its old bathrooms got reassigned to the pasta restaurant next door) would cost so much that the owners haven't been able to cut a good deal on the space yet.  I expect one day as the economy picks up and space becomes more valuable a deal will be made, and inevitably this lovely old signage will disappear from the face of Portland.  I'm glad to have had an opportunity to sketch it while we still have it.

After taking a break to visit the farmer's market for fresh berries and basil, I came back to find the sun had come out and many of the sketchers were lined up on benches near the giant chess board.

I sketched a few of them very quickly before we were to gather for lunch...

I'm really pleased with the participation we've been getting lately.  I've met quite a few wonderful people through Portland Urban Sketchers in the last year alone, have browsed many an inspiring sketchbook, and have shared tips and tricks and joys and woes with a lot of kindred artists. Thanks everyone!

Scavenger Hunt: Portland Sign, Inside Elephant's Deli, Umbrella Man

Since the weather is beautiful, it's been great to get out to draw things on the Scavenger Hunt list. I drew the Portland sign on Sunday and then tried it again on Wednesday with Katharine and Linda (who will post their sketches soon).

I still haven't got it right, but that's enough looking up for a while.

We started the day by having our coffee and sketching inside Elephant's Deli by Director's Square. Drawing a drawing is a good way to warm up.

Color added at home.

We finished by drawing the Umbrella Man in Pioneer Square, the only one who was prepared for rain.

I agree with Katura, who said that this helps us see our city anew. Besides the scavenger hunt items, I've been seeing lots of other views and cityscapes that I wouldn't otherwise have noticed. It's fun!

Portlandia

Portland Urban Sketchers met downtown at SW 2nd and SW Taylor at a Starbucks. Downtown on a Saturday morning is a quiet place-- great for focusing on urban landscape without the distraction of traffic and pedestrians.

Twelve sketchers showed up on this cold, damp day. The sun kept teasing us, but the rain still fell.

I did some warm up drawings of my fellow sketchers & pasted in a map of the area,



we did venture outside, under a sheltered area that also had tables. I managed to mostly avoid drawing buildings. I just wasn't feeling in the mood to work on perspective. In the background, you can see something with the letter E on it. Electric cars can park in two parking spots for as long as they want, as long as they are charging up their vehicles.



I attempted to figure out the lines of a bicycle locked to a bike rack. Not only is a bike difficult to draw, but the bike rack it self, had odd curved metal that confused my eye and my pen.

Huddled back in the warmth of the cafe, I couldn't resist trying to draw this mural on the side of a building.





Our next stop was supposed to be Steamer's for lunch, but since it was closed, we went to Seattle's Best. We had lunch there and tried to sketch the Portlandia statue from the window. I couldn't get a good view without taking over someone else's chair, so I decided I'd draw the sketchers sketching the Portlandia statue. You can see below, on Kalina's sketchbook the trident that Portlandia is holding.

One of these days, I will attempt to draw the Portlandia statue.

We shared our sketchbooks and then parted ways.

Pioneer place sketching

I found that sketching at the mall was over stimulating, but I enjoyed the challenge. I liked having an excuse to try out my sparkly watercolors.

More Santa Line Sketches

Here are my sketches from Pioneer Place the other night. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and lots of good sketching in 2012. (And I hope Santa puts some art supplies in your stockings!)

deb rossi, Santa scene, people studies

Several of us gathered at the Pioneer Place rotunda to sketch people waiting to 'see' Santa.
You will see these subjects repeated in the other sketchers drawings as we pretty much had a similar view. The most amazing part of the evening for me was that in addition to the children wanting to visit Santa there were adults and even whole families that wanted their picture taken with Santa! And hence the very large 'Santa chair' shown on the right in the larger overall scene below.

Seattle Sketchcrawl

Here are my sketches from the wonderful sketchcrawl in Seattle last weekend. Since Alanna and I sketched in the same places, you'll see some repeating scenes.

On the train ride north, we talked and sketched eachother, (as well as an agreeable young woman who offered to model for us). I think by about an hour into the trip, Kalina had convinced her to become an urban sketcher.:)

After the warm welcome from the Seattle Sketchers, I joined the group going to Pioneer Square.

The first sketch I did was of Merchants Cafe, Seattle's oldest restaurant. It still seems to be pretty busy.

Then I sketched in the park. Lots of tour groups left from here. There was an artist who was displaying his work in hopes of sales. In drawing the group, I was trying to put into practice Veronica Lawlor's symposium advice of seeing the group as one whole, rather than as individual people.

Windows and signs... It's pretty hard to imagine that rooms were once that cheap.

After the group sharing of sketchbooks, Gabi took us down by the ferries which were unloading huge numbers of soccer fans. I sketched the ivy covered viaduct. I'm hoping that Gabi will post his sketches, since some of us were lucky enough to have been sketched by him.

This man, all in purple head to toe, was smoking near the garbage can.

This family seemed to be waiting silently for a ferry to come in. Maybe they were entranced by the gorgeous bay and mountains.

It was a beautiful fall day in Seattle and it was very fun to meet the other sketchers and to sketch in their city. I'm looking forward to another group sketchcrawl together.

July 23 Sketchcrawl in North Portland

I joined a group of Portland Urban Sketches to take advantage of a rare sunny day and revisit the neighborhood near the White Eagle Saloon.



This neighborhood is sort of being gentrified but it's adjacent to freeway overpasses and rail yards that make it noisy and a brewery, which makes it smelly.





It was fun to see everyone and enjoy a day drawing in the sun.

Portland

Sticking with our Balloon Theme: Portland's 'Up' House

Today I went downtown to sketch Portland's 'Up' House. According to the Oregonian newspaper http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/06/in_downtown_portland_a_lawyer.html, this 1894 Victorian was threatened by our public transportation agency with possession by eminent domain so that a new lightrail turnaround could be built. The lawyer who works in the house had refused to sell. Eventually, the surrounding property was purchased by Portland State University and a new residence hall is now being built around the house. The relationship between the attorney and the construction company is good and this week the company helped to anchor 400 helium balloons to a cord that runs through the chimney. As I was sketching, a few other people came by for photos. I heard one young woman say, "This is the kind of thing that makes me so glad I live in Portland." I have to agree.

I did the sketch quickly while standing and it's kind of wonky, but I'm glad I was there to record it before the balloons deflate. Portland Urban Sketchers, you might want to get down to capture this--especially if you're an architect!

River Place Marina in Downtown Portland

(click image to enlarge)

We all met in front of the Little River Cafe right in front of all kinds of river worthy craft just waiting for some warm weather and today we had it.  I saw Alanna and Kalina at a large table scanning the view. Deb showed up right after me then Vicky and Linda.  There was just so much going on and so much to draw, we all thought we could sketch here for a month.  I got a few I'm happy with. Thanks for looking.

Carrie

I saw Deb was sketching me so I did a quick one of her!

Turned out Vicky new this couple that had leaned their bikes against the tree so I added their names under their sketch.  Pretty soon the rest of our group will add their sketches and drawings so come back soon.

Riding and Sketching the Yellow Line

  Portland Urban Sketchers went on a sketchcrawl inspired by the Seattle Sketchers who sketched public art at Light Rail stations around Seatlle. We took TriMet's MAX (Metropolitan Area Express) Light Rail

yellow line from downtown up to North Portland.


We met on PSU's campus and boarded the first train at 9:45am

We got off at select stops to sketch at, giving ourselves only the approximately 15 minutes to sketch before boarding the next train.

 This would have been even more enjoyable if it hadn't bee so cold, although it did warm up after our lunch.

All in all, a great way to explore the city and practice fast sketching. We'll definitely do this again!

more of my sketches from the day: