Old foundry building

Beautiful light. Good turnout. Impressive machinery. Peace, silence, serenity.

Lines

I was inspired by Andrea's beautiful line drawings to use mostly line when I sketched at the art museum today. I bypassed the Body Beautiful exhibit and sketched in the Native American wing, where it was pretty peaceful and quiet, even with the Friday field trips. The sketches are of clay sculptures by Glenn La'Fontaine.  I added the color at home.

The next sketches are leftovers from our sketchcrawl at Stumptown Annex. The first I drew from the window, looking out at Jane, who was more adventurous than I was on that rainy day. 

And the last was done at Sunnyside Piazza, in one of the happiest neighborhoods in Portland.

 I painted on site, but went over the pencil lines and colors at home, in the comfort of my dry house.

Lone Fir Cemetery

In black and grey.... kind of 'Addams Family-ish'. Do you think?

 A small group of five made it to Lone Fir Cemetery on Saturday. The day was perfect for sitting under the trees and sketching.

trying to capture the overall light and shadow.

 I am pretty fascinated by this Macleay mausoleum and wanted to make another attempt at it (first was on 7/24/2010). In comparison the previous sketch shows more of the structure but this one is closer in feeling, I think.

The awesome structure of the Macleay mausoleum

sketch from 7/2010

Passing The Time In Portland

On a drizzly Tuesday afternoon I cozied up in a coffee joint, with a friend, in SE Portland for some tea, pastries, and a little light sketching. I caught this girl lazily sipping her coffee (scavenger hunt item... score!) and paying me no mind, so it was easy to get a quick sketch of her. I've been really digging the light blue Pitt pen. I like how soft it looks and how it's a little moody.

Fountain pen, with Blue Pitt Pen in Moleskine Sketchbook

The next Saturday in stark contrast was a wonderfully warm morning and as usual, after my Saturday run (10 miles on this particular day) with Portland fit, my running buddy and I got our post run bagels and coffee on 23rd and Glisan. Just enjoying the sunshine and chilling. Fortunately we were posted up right next to this paint chipped old fire hydrant and I was able to check another scavenger hunt item off the list.

Fountain pen with assorted Pitt Pens in Moleskine Sketchbook

Sun!!!

Pitt pen, fountain pen, and watercolor in Moleskine sketchbook

Relaxing on a sunny Portland day in Laurelhurst park. Got a scavenger hunt item off the list, got a tan, and got all relaxey. Nice way to spend the afternoon and clear the old noggin. I like all the modifications Portlanders are always doing to their bikes. This girl's bike had a milk crate fastened to her back fender. Perfect bike trunk.

SE Street Painting

Word on the street (SE 33rd and Yamhill) is that tomorrow the neighbors will put some finishing touches on their sunflower in the intersection. I really encourage you to go take a look and maybe make a sketch. If nothing else, you'll get a blast of color and a sense of joy in this community. Thanks, Kalina, for letting us know about this.

I made some quick sketches. You'll have to imagine the bright colored paintbrushes and feet.

There are more photos of the street painting on my blog, if you're interested.

A Night At Body Worlds

Sometimes I lost site of the fact that I was drawing actual humans but it was an interesting learning experience. It was a great opportunity to really see and draw the muscles that lie beneath the skin. Well worth the time. I've been really into the versatility and ease of Pitt Pens lately so that's what these are done with.

Body worlds sketch night

OMSI's Body World exhibit had a sketch night. Here are my attempts...

Ladd's Addition

I admit I never left the warmth of the cafe....but I did sketch!

Ladd's Addition Sketchcrawl

At last week's sketchcrawl, I didn't have my watercolors with me, so yesterday I went back to Palio and added the color. My notes helped, but I faked it a bit since a lot of the leaves had dropped this past week.

This may have been better left in b/w, but it's really hard to resist trying to record the fall colors.

I can see spending more Saturday mornings at Palio, recording the changing view, and then crawling out for a street sketch--weather permitting, of course.

Time for a New Sketch

Hey, Portland Urban Sketchers, have you noticed that our local blog is now shown on the sidebar to the Urban Sketchers blog? I have been very flattered to have my last post there for a week, but I think it's time for a new one. I think someone else should post, so to get you started, I'm putting this up. This is a sketch of a young woman in Laurelhurst Park who had her keyboard attached to her bike. She was practicing her music in the shade of the trees the other day, and it was lovely. I bet someone else has a nice summer sketch to post now. (Hint, hint.)

Mt. Tabor

A little watercolor sketch that I did up at Mt. Tabor yesterday. Marta and I

met at Cooper's Coffee and then headed up to the park to do some sketching.

It was fun!!! I'd like to do more sketching during the weekdays!

In looking at this sketch I notice how all the buildings are slanted to the right,

as if they're sliding...I have a tendency to tilt to the right!

Karlene

Belmont

Some of us met up on SE Belmont at the Red Square Cafe for a rainy day sketchcrawl.

I didn't realize it until I got there that I was at the last page of my sketchbook! So, my sketches were all crammed together.

From Red Square, we checked out Movie Madness...where I drew a costume

Movie Madness At 33,000 DVD titles and 27,000 VHS titles, if Movie Madness isn’t the largest video store in the world, then it’s certainly a contender. Officially recognized by the Southern California Motion Picture Council for its outstanding contribution to the entertainment industry, Movie Madness is to movies what Powell’s is to books. And then there’s the museum. Yup, museum. In addition to the rental side of the business, owner Mike Clark – let’s just say a character in himself – has accumulated prop and wardrobe memorabilia from some of the biggest blockbusters ever to come out of the ‘wood. What this means is that, in the very same store that you’re renting your Hitchcock, the knife from “Psycho” awaits you. Or maybe you’re more interested in the alien head from “Aliens” or the time machine from “H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine.” Costumes worn by Barbra Streisand to Diane Keaton to Mike Myers are displayed as are all the lead actors’ wardrobes from “West Side Story.”

From there, we headed over to Horse Brass Pub, a traditional English pub. It was dark and full of items on the walls and bar. "it's going to be sketchy" said Deb, and she's right...I very sketchily sketched the pub.

 I sketched these on the end paper of the sketchbook...
...a black and white photo of Winston Churchill on the wall

Vicky and I headed over to Tabor Space

where i experimented with a new sketchbook and a water soluble graphite pencil that i wasn't used to. Result was that i didn't like the sketch, so i sketched right on top of it with a bold black pen....

and then the best part of the day was asking if it was alright if we could draw during a drum circle. What fun! I really enjoyed sketching while these folks kept the rhythm!

Drawing in the Dark and to the beat of Drums

Today, some of the Portland Urban Sketchers sketched at the Horse Brass Pub. Here is my contribution, which is really an example of not knowing when to quit. My first mistake was putting a column almost dead-center in the sketch. I used pen and ink, then added watercolor, and when I got home, I decided to try to add a brown wash to everything except the kitchen window (center) to try to convey the dark interior. Didn't really work, so I added more ink (both black and white) until finally, I decided to stop. If you want to see a good example of dark pub drawing, look at Pete Scully's work instead. Still, I tried lots of things and I know I got some new knowledge from the experience.

Next, Alanna and I carried on to TaborSpace and I drew some comfy chairs.

And then, the best part: Alanna asked if we could draw the drum circle that was practicing there. That was fantastic! With the pounding drums, it's easy to just get into the rhythm of gesture drawing and somehow the ink just flows. They were very a very welcoming group and it was a great way to end the day's sketching.

Thanks to my sketching buddies for another fun day!

Worldwide Sketchcrawl

The Portland Urban Sketchers met at (A) Tabor Space coffeehouse  before walking up to Mt. Tabor (B)

where we found this gorgeous view

According to Wikipedia, Before becoming part of Portland in 1905, Mount Tabor was a rural farming community dating back to the 1850s. It became a city-recognized neighborhood (encompassing a far smaller area than its historical boundaries) in 1974. Mt. Tabor is a volcanic cinder cone.

 I attempted to draw that view...

and then compiled a few more sketches.

According to Mt. Tabor neighborhood association:  Mt. Tabor Park is a special park in many ways.  It has views identified as some of the most scenic in the City, due to its elevation of 643 feet, as well as the beautiful open reservoirs.  It was the largest park in Portland for nearly half a century, until Forest Park was finally created in 1947.  Mt. Tabor Park is a hard-working park that earns its keep.  It even generates it's own electricity to light the lovely historic lampposts that follow the original roads and paths in the park.

 Five reservoirs, two large open reservoirs and one small tank, were built on Mt. Tabor in a striking romanesque style that dates to the era of the City Beautiful movement.   All but one of these reservoirs have continued to serve Portland for more than a hundred years.  Reservoir 2, along SE Division St. was taken offline and sold for development, in the 1990's.  The remaining three open reservoirs are currently under threat of demolition. 

We walked up to Caldera Public House  (C) for lunch and some sharing of our sketches. I did a quick sketch of the Urban Sketchers.. 

Then, Deb, Kalina and I went to the Oregon convention Center for the Stumptown Comics Fest. We participated in a Dr. Sketchy's Anti-art school and drew some costumed models.

A great day and a great sketchcrawl!