Rainy Sketchcrawl

My first sketchcrawl with the Portland Urban Sketchers;  I've crawled around a lot by myself
urban sketching!  My husband Mitchell was the bravest, being new to sketching and
braving today as well. It wasn't raining, it was POURING -- not a monsoon but hard rain. 
Never let up.  Non sketchers, and shoppers were all trying to stay dry,
and everyone wanted coffee, so no window spots in cafe's either.

Mitchell dipped into Annie Bloom Books, and I was able to sketch a very
fast sketch with tons of kids running all around and my floppy book on my knee.
10 minutes, and my normally free-flowing Preppie pens both clogged!

 

We tried to find a dry place to sketch outside but finally gave up,

and ended up at Village Coffee.   I managed to knock out another fast sketch.
Today, the best part was meeting Deb and Tony and Colleen and Ellie and Kay!

Drawn in an Strathmore Mixed Media journal with graphite watercolor pencil,
Noodler’s Polar Brown and Lexington Grey ink, and Daniel Smith watercolors.
Note: Normally those inks do not run, but they bleed a bit in this journal.

A wet day in Multnomah Village

A surprisingly great number of sketchers turned out on Saturday sketching in Multnomah Village despite the forecast for heavy rain.

I was lucky to find the perfect spot on a very convenient bench that I had to share...(but more of that later) and under an awning.
In this first I am looking across the street and to the left at the SW Capitol Highway bridge. I tried to get the feeling of wet but it dried out just looking like shadow.....which there was not! I will have to study some of the Paraty (Brazil USK Symposium 2014) wet street sketches to get some pointers.

Watercolor and non waterproof ink

After, I switched to an opposite view looking down SW Capitol Highway at the street cars and shops.

Non waterproof ink

And then finally I just had to sketch my bench companion. He ( I am guessing?) was a perfect gentleman and didn't flinch or hesitate when I asked that he pose for me.

watercolor and non waterproof ink

So despite the weather it was a pretty good sketching day! Yea, Portland Urban Setchers.

Multnomah Village Sketchcrawl

Portland Urban Sketchers went to Multnomah Village to sketch.
I copied Mike and tried sketching some of the signs

I love eating at Marco's Cafe, so I figured I should try to sketch it.

I don't usually draw hydrants, but I thought I'd give it a shot:

This is one of my favorite sketches....I find that I love to draw people, and especiall trying to draw someone I know! Here's Mike Porter sketching in the Lucky Lab

street scenes

sacrificed drawing, but I figured I'd post it anyway. It was about sitting there, in the sun, pen to paper, definitely not about the end result!