Trinity Episcopal Church Doors

Trinity Episcopal Church, at the corner of 19th and Everett,
across from where the NW Outdoor Market is often held has lovely red doors.  
The three doors around the side are amazing, shocking high-gloss bright red.
I can imagine these doors glow in the dark, if you are visiting the church at night, with their bright happy color illuminated by the overhead lanterns.

Colors used, above, mixed on the page:
Stone is Tigereye, Shungite, and Hematite;
Doors are undercoat with Quin Coral and overbushed with Perylene Red.
Undercoats done in field; overcoats in studio.

Native American Student Center PSU

Last week I had an hour to kill some time near PSU.  I am not fond of much of the modern architecture in Portland because it is boring, not adventurous, but this building is complicated and evokes the Native American traditions beautifully.  I knew what it was before I heard the name. 
It is both modest and strong, reflecting the tradition it houses.

Above, a quick sketch (with Diamine Ancient Copper ink in a Lamy Al-star) of
the Native American Student Center at the south end of the PSU campus, off the park. 
Watercolor wash moved the inks: three colors were used: Yavapei, Lapis, and Shungite, with a bit of leftover mixed green for the tree which was overshadowed by the Ancient Copper ink, which runs like crazy.... Below, pushing my comfort zones, using watercolor pencils, no inked lines (absolutely out of my comfort zone), and light watercolor washes on site.  Back in studio added to the washes a bit, and may have overworked it.  All a learning.  Watercolors are SO in the moment, unforgiving!

Sketchcrawl, no Sketchsit!

I haven’t had much time to paint anything this week but found moments in the car.
Being back in a city is overwhelming in terms of the cacophony of lines and layers, rhythms and patterns.   (Yes I spelled that wrong — I always forget that extra “h.”)
It really annoys me when I find myself avoiding scenes, and the areas near Swan Island
(an industrial area whose name should be changed as there are NO longer swans)
are so rich with activity and also so layered and busy.  Busy is hard to convey,
especially without the structure of a language of lines, example shown below,
an architectural rendering of Arco Towers Long Beach.  I could do these in my sleep.
Moving from highly structured to free-wheeling is difficult!It is especially difficult when my brain is translating the scene as a thing that should be drawn structured!

 Annoyed, I finally decided to try layering the cacophony all at once without thought to shapes to see how that would work, and gave myself 15 minutes.  No what’s in front and what’s in back; no set-up and figuring.  Just draw a giant gesture of the crazy jumble of lines.  I started with the gentle arch of the bridge and then the tall arches, then moved to anchor each side of the page.  It totally worked to loosen me up and relax me.  Getting even one of these complicated scenes down was a coup.

I think I am on to something.  Got me over the hump, anyhow.