Sketch from Saturday

Here's my sketch from last Saturday, looking out at SW 10th from the Case Study Cafe.
Had enough time to add some color to this one.

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!)

11-11-11 sketching

Veteran's day fell on 11-11-11, and the Japanese garden offered free admission. The day was cold, but it wasn't raining! We warmed up with a delicious lunch at elephant deli.

At the Zoo

The session at the Oregon Zoo was very challenging for me. I have never had much practice and of course the animals almost never stood still! The Colobus Monkeys were spectacular with their striking contrast of white and black.....they seemed to be a little shy however and stayed in the far corner of the area.
The sketches of the Zebra and Gerenuk went reasonably well because they were relatively still during the whole time we were there. The Giraffe although pretty still while eating from the high wall was incredibly difficult because of it's strange head structure...or at least I thought so. I'll have to study up on this one!
Not so with the lions and elephants...the only one to stay put was the male lion and he was a pretty good distance from me.

The day ended with the Penguins. We got there right before feeding time and then they were pretty active! All told the day was fun and challenging.

Riversplace Sketces

I thought I might get back to Riverplace on another sunny day to add some color to my sketches, but it hasn't happened yet. On this first sketch, part way through, I realized that I was drawing two boats instead of one, so I added the little one in front to make it three. The boat in the foreground really wasn't that short, but if it were, I think I'd like to zip around in it.

Here are a few of the others sketchers. My apologies to those included.

Hat not yet red.

It was a great day to be out sketching with the Portland US. Now, I'd like to see Kalina's boat with laundry, so I know what colors to paint mine.

Multnomah Village Sketchcrawl

Portland Urban Sketchers went to Multnomah Village to sketch.
I copied Mike and tried sketching some of the signs

I love eating at Marco's Cafe, so I figured I should try to sketch it.

I don't usually draw hydrants, but I thought I'd give it a shot:

This is one of my favorite sketches....I find that I love to draw people, and especiall trying to draw someone I know! Here's Mike Porter sketching in the Lucky Lab

street scenes

sacrificed drawing, but I figured I'd post it anyway. It was about sitting there, in the sun, pen to paper, definitely not about the end result!

Sketching at Riverplace

Portland Urban Sketchers met at The Riverplace.

Riverplace was developed at the south part of the Tom McCall Waterfront Park after the Harbor Freeway was replaced by the park in the 1970's. It's got a little marina, some restaurants, and some shops as well as apartments and condos and the Riverplace Hotel. The greenway extends north through Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park up to Steel Bridge and, eventually, south through the South Waterfront.  You can watch the Dragonboat races from here during the Rose Festival (or watch the teams practice during the year).  Riverplace is connected to downtown and the South Waterfront development by the Portland Streetcar.The Streetcar is in Fareless Square - pretty handy. (source: portland-neighborhoods

I realized that sketching these fancy boats are as much fun as sketching cars.


I did get a good likeness of Carrie, sketching happily in the sun.

 I'm always tempted to draw these darn  bridges we've got everywhere, but every time I curse their complicatedness.

 I finished a sketchbook while out, so I started a Flexi Sketch. With its 300 pages, I should be working in it for a while!

 I tried to capture kalina in that great hat of hers.

 I also tried to capture the sail boat with laundry handing out and man in hammock, a dragon boat, and dogs...

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.