At the Fields in NW Portland

A very nice group of urban sketchers arrived at the Fields to sketch today. The park was filled with activity; like the Ciderfest, children in the play area and people with their dogs. But typically I ignored all that and instead looked out toward the buildings and construction!

The morning sky started out blue with white wispy clouds and then progressed to darker grey clouds with just a bit of wispy white. I tried to capture some of that in this last sketch as it started to rain.

Scavenger Hunt: Item 28, "Hung Far Low" sign

Quick-ish watercolor squeezed into a gap in the day. Not quick enough to be loose and free, but not long enough to have all the detail that I was dreaming of putting into it...

The clouds were messing with the light, I think I would like the result better if I had been able to really count on some cast shadows to give things more form. But it was certainly fun looking at all the colors of the old buildings.

If I were to start this one again, I'd do a super-close-up of just the top blue & gold section of the sign against a background of stormy gray clouds. That's the part of the scene that appealed to me most, the vivid colors and interesting geometric shapes superimposed on gray washy chaos.

PS: In the spirit of egging everyone on, I just noticed that I've posted 14 of the 30 scavenger hunt items. Almost halfway there! How y'all doing on your lists?