Scavenger hunt #7 & #8

I have been trying to use my Pentel pocket brush more. It is a challenge to reduce the line work to more simple strokes. But I think it works for the scavenger hunt sketches. Who knows, I may continue the effort for the duration of the hunt!

#7 Conversation

#8 meal...or remains

View from a Window

I decided to work on one of the scavenger hunt items yesterday. Here's a view from an upstairs, urban window.

Worldwide Sketchcrawl

Here are some photos of our sketching group when we were introducing ourselves and getting in some sketching in the cafe at Powell's. It was great to have such a good turn-out.

 Here are a couple of my sketches, the first in the cafe...

and the next, a sketch of sketchbooks on the art floor...

I wasn't thrilled with what I drew yesterday, but I felt very inspired by what I saw of other's work. It was fun to see the familiar people and to meet so many new sketchers, too. It was too bad that we missed some folks due to sickness, or travel, or slick streets, but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at some of our upcoming events. 

Scavenger Hunt - coffee drinker

For this scavenger hunt item, I expected to be out to breakfast or hanging at one of Portland's many coffee shops. Alas, that was not the case. While awaiting a flu shot at a Kaiser facility I noticed this woman casually sipping her coffee. Busted out a quick sketch while I could. Got the gist of it down just in time and once again I'm reminded, it's always a good idea to travel with a sketchbook by your side.

Scavenger Hunt: Final Results

I'm sure you've all been waiting with bated breath to see the grand tally of our Scavenger Hunt Sketching Challenge! The graph is below, with highlights of the data called out after that.

 

Most-Sketched Items: 

• Coffee (8 sketches)
• Fountain, Fire Hydrant, and Bridge (7 sketches each)
• Unusual Hair, Rose, Watercraft, and Stripes (6 sketches each)

Least-Sketched Items:

• Three Groins in a Fountain (1 sketch)
• Mount Hood and Hung Far Low Sign (2 sketches each)
• Streetcar, Umbrella Man, Food Cart, Bird on It, Pigs in NW (3 sketches each) (I suspect we have more streetcar sketches out there, but they didn't get posted yet, rats!)

People With Most Sketches: 

• Katura, 30 items
• Vicky, 23 items
• Katharine, 20 items
• Deb, 12 items

That was a lot of fun! If we were to do it again in the winter, I'd be curious to hear if there are suggestions about how to structure the challenge. Longer (or shorter) length of time to work with? Fewer (or greater) number of items? Do share your thoughts!

Bike Pile and Portlandia

I'm going on vacation for a bit. Camping on the coast, with no internet, no computer. Whoops--that made tonight my last chance to finish up the scavenger hunt! I hopped on my bike and sped to the Bike Pile after work. * Voy de vacaciones por un rato, acampando en la costa, sin computadora, sin internet. Hííjole—esta noche es mi última oportunidad de cumplir la búsqueda de tesoro! Monté mi bicicleta y fui al montón de bicicletas después de trabajo.

 

Then, with the sunlight already slipping away, I knelt once more in front of Portlandia. * Y después, cuando la luz del sol ya estaba escapándome, me arrodillé frente a Portlandia otra vez.

Done! * Ya!

Scavenger Hunt: Bridge

I've been dragging my feet on choosing what bridge to draw for our artistic scavenger hunt. Portland's bridges are so darned iconic that it's hard to chose! But yesterday I found myself waiting on the Hawthorne bridge, as the drawbridge section was just starting to rise...and I realized that this was be the perfect moment to capture in a sketch. I scratched it out in ballpoint pen and then added watercolor at home. * He tardado mucho en escojer un puente para la búsqueda de tesoro artístico. Los puentes de Portland son tan icónicos que ha side difícil escojer! Pero ayer me encontré en la puente Hawthorne, esperando porque el mecanísmo de levadizo estaba empezando a trabajar…y me dí cuenta que era el momento perfecto para capturar en un bosquejo. Lo dibujé con bolígrafo, y anadí la acuarela al regresar a mi casa.

Scavenger Hunt: Food Cart and Portland Sign (sorta)

Tonight I finished off the watercolor sketchbook that I've been carrying around since October of 2012! This painting is a combination of different scenes from various neighborhoods in Portland. Hopefully it captures something of the creative, humorous element of our city. * Esta noche terminé el libro de dibujo con papel para acuarela que he llevado conmigo desde octubre de 2010! Esta pintura es una combinación de escenas en distinctos vecindarios de Portland. Ojalá que capture la eséncia del lado creativo y chistoso de la ciudad.

I painted this with a kind of watercolor that comes applied in a dry layer on sheets of paper, a interesting invention by the "Peerless" company. The colors are super-bright and intense. Normally my instinct is not to go for such a vivid look, but it works so well for this composition. This side of Portland isn't meant to be subtle. * Lo pinté con un tipo acuarela que viene aplicado en una capa seca al superfície de a una hoja de papel; es una novedad hecho por la companía “Peerless.” Los colores son muy intensos y vibrantes. No es mi insinto natural escojer colores tan vivos, pero es perfecto para esta composición—este lado de Portland no es nada sútil.

For the scavenger hunt, this one scratches the food cart off the list. The Cambodian food cart here is so pretty, look for it at SE Clay near 11th, my sketch doesn't do it justice! I've also decided that the "Keep Portland Weird" mural should count for the "Portland Sign" component. (Isn't it fun to creatively interpret the rules of this game?) * Para nuestra búsqueda de tesoro por la ciudad, esta pintura tiene una restaurante móvil (la más bonita que he encontrado ya; mi bosquejo no captura la elegáncia de veras). Y he decidio que la muralla “Keep Portland Weird” merece cualificar como una version del rótulo de Portland tambien. (Es divertido interpretar las reglas en maneras creativas, no?)

Tram and Streetcar

Aerial Tram and Streetcar from Saturday's sketchcrawl in the South Waterfront neighborhood. I'm not used to drawing shiny metal things! You can see a few tiny raindrops on the page. Autumn is on its way. * Dibujos del teleférico y el tranvía, dibujado en la adventura en el districto del South Waterfront el sábado pasado. ¡No estoy acostumbrada a dibujar tantas máquinas! Algunas gotas de lluvia mancharon el papel; ya viene el otoño.    

Umbrella Man, 3 Groins, and some monkeys

I went to the zoo today, and the colubus monkeys caught my eye. On my way back, I paused downtown to finally sketch the Umbrella Man. Seeing the two pages side by side makes me giggle. * Visité el parque zoológico hoy, y los monos colubus me agarraron la atención. Al regresar al centro de la ciudad, finalmente dibujé la estatua del hombre con el paraguas. La yuxtaposición de las dos páginas en mi libro me hace reir. 

I also took a minute to sketch "The Quest," aka "Three Groins in a Fountain." Can you tell that I like the street tree better than the statue? * También aproveché la oportunidad de dibujar la estatua "The Quest" (que tambien se conoce como "tres entrepiernas"). Es obvio que me gustaba más el árbol que la estatua, ¿no?

Scavenger Hunt: Elk Statue

I really enjoy passing by the elk statue when I go downtown. I finally found time to flop on the grass in the park and spend some time drawing this week. There's a real dignity and elegance to this animal. (Although the strange little water-squirting heads around the base —are they mountain lions, or bears, or something else entirely? —are quite silly by comparison.)
*

Gozo de admirar la estatua del ciervo canadiense cada vez que entro al centro de la ciudad. Esta semana, yo finalmente encontré el tiempo de relajarme en el parque y pasar un poco de tiempo dibujándolo. Hay un sentido verdadero de gracia y dignidad en este animal. (Aunque los estraños cabecitas que echan agua en el base del fuente—¿son osos, o leones de montaña, o otra cosa? —son muy chistosos comparado con el wapití.)

Bikes, revisited

OK, I know that I already crossed of the "bike" from my scavenger hunt list; but I can't resist sharing this doodle of an amazing bike that was parked outside of the museum this week.

Keeping Portland Weird with every pedal-stroke!

Scavenger Hunt: Pigs in NW Portland

Here is my version of the pigs (#24) in front of Nobby's. I felt especially lucky to get the plum parking spot, directly in front of the restaurant. 

Scavenger Hunt Item 24: Pigs!

I have been slowly developing a theory that sketching metal sculptures (and we do have a handful of those on the scavenger hunt list!) might be easier to do with white pencils on black paper. Busted out my black-paper sketchbook this weekend to try this theory out on the pigs sculptures in NW Portland.

I hadn't ever seen these sculptures before, and it was really fun getting to know their crazy rough-hewn angles and pitted, raspy textures by drawing them. It was also fascinating to watch the pedestrians interact with the pigs--they're a very popular climbing-spot for children, and few adults can pass without making a comment, taking a picture, or patting them on the ears or snouts. Hooray for public art that people really respond to and interact with.

This and That

I thought I'd better post some of these before we load up a bunch of Bastille Day sketches tomorrow.
This is my William Temple House from a couple of weeks ago.

Here are a few more scavenger hunt items:

The Farmer's Market at PSU, last weekend...

  a foodcart (not nearly as lovely as Linda's in our banner)...

another sketcher, in stripes...

and if you look very closely, you'll see a couple of little brown birds on the sunflower leaves, sketched at Edgefield last week....

That is that, for now.

#21

Room 4 -2 in NW and Portlandia

I had a bloody mary inside the Nobby while sketching this. There was room in my sketch book for two of them - couldn't see the third from the window.  Also used the little houses up the street on Johnson for my background.

This is from a couple Saturdays ago when everyone was at Keller fountain and then headed up to Portland Farmers Market.  I went up the escalator but the guard saw me.  She was very nice and I left in short order.  added color later.

Carrie

Scavenger Hunt: Elephant's Deli

Did you know that there was a branch of the Elephant's Deli in the Portland Airport? I didn't realize this until I found myself waiting for a friend whose flight was delayed for an hour.

I had forgotten to bring my sketchbook, but luckily I did have some sketching pens with me...and the back of a paper bag works wonders to sketch on in a pinch! Delicious sandwich, here immortalized.

Roses - From the Yard.

These are miniature roses, the little bottle/vase is only 4 inches tall.

Scavenger Hunt Item 19: Rose

OK, I bike through Ladd's Addition so often that I couldn't help amplifying the prompt of "a rose" into "a rose garden." The contrast between the rather battered traffic signs and the fresh vibrant flowers always makes me happy.

Scavenger Hunt Item 29: Farmer's Market

After our adventure at the fountain today, many of us wandered over to the big farmer's market in the Park Blocks on the PSU campus. I sketched this while in the extra-long line for tamales. Very busy day--combo of sunny day, and end of school year with lots of the students' families in town? It was clearly easier to focus on the pop-up canopies than the bustling crowd scene!