Sketching Willamette Falls from the McLoughlin Promenade

We took the public elevator that goes to the top of the bluff in Oregon City.  Along the bluff, a beautiful park, the McLaughlin Promenade, overlooks Willamette Falls and a huge complex of abandoned industrial buildings that sit below the falls.  Native maple and oak trees cling to the bluff, among massive basalt boulders.  It's a perfect place for sketching and picnicking on s sunny spring day.

Ross Island Bridge

This past Saturday morning, I loaded up my bike basket with art supplies and rode over the Tilikum Crossing down to the South Waterfront where we met for this month's sketchcrawl. A short ride from our meeting place was a sunny viewpoint showing the full expanse of the Ross Island Bridge. The steel structure is going to be repainted this year and in real life, it is faded. I took some liberties with color and decided to show how nice it will look in bright green. 

As I finished up the ink for this painting, the sun was warm and I was even able to take off my coat. A sail boat floated by with 4 pirates on deck singing,"What will we do with a drunken sailor, early in the morning?” By then, it was a bit late to be considered early in the morning, but at the sounds of it, they had the drunken sailor part just right.

Lake Oswego Railroad bridge and Bird's Foot Trefoil

Here's a little sketch I did during a break on a kayaking trip.  I wanted to try to combine the botanical with the urban.  The challenge was to keep the ink sketch simple and open enough so as to not overwhelm the little plant painted on the left.  Although I drew the plant on site, I added the watercolor later.