Washington Bank of Columbia River

Hi, all. I haven't checked in for a while. It's been a year of changes for me, but I am emerging from the distance now. A friend and I made a road day of the Columbia Gorge and stopped at Cascade Locks to bring out our paintboxes. Here is mine of the view across the river from Thunder Island:

Susan in Beavercreek.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all! With luck, I will see more of you in 2016!

-- SusanLayne!

Transit Gala -- Orange Line Is Open and Views to the South

My efforts from Orange Line Day yesterday:

The trains preparing to leave the Park Place station on their first run to City Center. Hundreds were waiting in line to board! Happy applause when the first one pulled out. Tri Met booth, giant oak leaf sculpture, and 2 of the 3 trains waiting. Artistic license left out the third one.

Then later, on the bluff in Oregon City, a shabby view of the West Linn Paper Mill:

One weary cyclist, I headed home around 4-ish. Thanks for sharing a day, Sketchers!

Pompeii

We made the run up to Seattle for a quick over-nighter, to see the Pompeii Exhibit. Here is a little sketch, but much larger than real life, from the handle of a bronze jug. The tiny face is at the base of the handle, beautifully worked.

I haven't done much in just-pencil for a while. Should try it more.

I thought the items in the exhibit were wonderful -- I am especially taken with the household things. But, honestly, I didn't think too much of the presentation. Some items were labeled in puzzling ways, some items were displayed so that you could not see the details of the work, and some of the video screens weren't operating. It's unfortunate. Most folks will never have another look at these things.

Bicycles in Lyon

Deb -- Your wet day in Multnomah Village reminded me to look for this one I did in Lyon last fall, when I was trying to get 'wetness,' too. I need to study up on how other folks succeed. (Also, bicycles are hard.)

Je suis Charlie

After an absence...

Well, fellow sketchers, it's a while since I put anything up here. I feel a little bit out of the loop, being up here in the hills and getting into Town so seldom. And months since I shared a sketching date with you all. Maybe this newly born year will bring me together with town and a sketching Saturday.

In the meantime, here's a little sample of my world. Not urban, but one sketch at a time anyhow.

It's hard to make 'em hold still for portraits.

Oregon City's Carnegie Library

Oregon City's Carnegie Library:

 This is from last week. I thought I should wait for somebody else to post before I put up another one!

This is a beautiful building, still in use as a library. It was constructed with a $12,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie. As for all the Carnegie libraries, the host city was required to match the construction costs and demonstrate it could fund operations. Last year the library celebrated its 100th anniversary with a delightful civic event involving the Mayor in period dress and a reference librarian who could have passed for the venerable Andrew himself. Next year the library is beginning an expansion project. The original building will remain as the front entrance to the new facility which will wing into the hillside behind.

Vegetables All over the Place!

I am a little shy to post again when no one else has filled up this space. But here I am anyway.

These are a couple of quick ones done last week. I am trying to train myself to be quicker, looser, and to evoke a sense of the thing without dwelling in fussiness. Next month we will be in Europe for a couple of weeks, and I know the sketches I do will have to be made on a time budget. I'm hoping to be competent enough to feel some pleasure in the drawings I bring back.

This is Spicer's produce market in Oregon City:

 And this one (inspired perhaps by the wonders of a produce market) is the gathering basket from the kitchen garden at home.

Both: ink and watercolor. (I love my little Micron pen!)

The View from KQAC

Here is one more, just to prove I do get into Portland now and then. We did the tour of the new KQAC studios in the building they now share with the Portland Opera. They have fantastic views of the river, and of the new Tillicum Bridge, still under construction. I did a quick view of a man in a little wheeled cart suspended next to one of the large concrete things (pylons?).

Sepia micron (that was actually a mistake; I grabbed a pen from the box when I left the house, and it turned out to be sepia), watercolor, and a little white ink.

SusanLayne

Historic Homes in Oregon City

It's been quite a while since I've been able to join you on a Saturday. I've so enjoyed seeing the posts of your work, though. Thought I would share a couple of things I've been doing, even though I haven't been with you all.

These are two of the historic houses in Oregon City, Dr. John McLoughlin's house on the bottom, and the Dr. Forbes Barclay house above. Both are managed by the Park Service now, as part of the Fort Vancouver interpretive site, and are open for tours:

These are Micron pen and colored pencil, with some white Signo pigment ink.

Being on a toot for historical houses, I stopped outside the Ermatinger House one afternoon. I was short on time and didn't have a sketchbook with me, but did have a Micron, so did these loose ones on a piece of manila envelope. Ermatinger is undergoing restoration, and is presently up in the air awaiting installation of a new foundation.

 

At its original location near the waterfront in Oregon City, this is the house where, in 1845, Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygrove tossed the fabled coin that decided the name of Portland, Oregon. Several moves over the generations have left the house unstable, hence its current surgeries. When it's put back together, I imagine it will have its flat-roofed front porch, columns and railings restored.

SusanLayne

Catch 'em while you can!

For some reason, this image wants to post sideways, but given the subject and my note on the page, I don't suppose it matters.

Working in colored pencils yesterday.

Autumn Moon

I'm about a month late sharing this one, but it still seems seasonal. Spooky nights are coming up, after all.

If anyone is interested (and I hope this isn't a violation of protocols here), I just posted a new entry on my own blog last night. It's not a sketching blog, but follows the seasons on our farm and in the woods: https://skepweaver.wordpress.com/

Hope to join you all at the next Sketchcrawl!

SusanLayne Nielsen

A few minutes stolen from work:

I spotted the West Linn Paper mill framed in leafy branches, and tried to capture that view. It turns out there is a lot of shrubbery around the mill itself, and I had to choose how to distinguish foreground greens from background ones.

Yesterday at the Carnegie Library event in Oregon City. The weather was lovely and the fountain was running. So were the kids. I was trying to capture their physical attitudes, which was not always successful.

Just a few minutes at the Farmer's Market in Oregon City. And then it started to rain so I folded up.

Bike & Sketch: My Challenges

I had a wonderful time meeting you all and rolling around town. There were some challenges for me, aside from taking the leap to join a new group: I'm not so good at creating scenes; I usually find I look at detail and small vignettes, so putting together a view is a thing I can work on. And, drawing in 20-minute slots -- that's something I haven't done except in art classes and I didn't feel exactly adequate to the matter.

For this one, begun on the Esplanade, I finished up the background city-scape after I got home, but making myself add only about 5 minutes to the exercise. I'm thinking that doesn't violate the principles of urban sketching too much?

You all did a terrific job of organizing the event, and keeping your flock in order. Thanks!