London Plane Tree on Reed Campus

We had a fun meet-up on the Reed College campus, which holds many memories for me since I grew up nearby and spent many childhood hours exploring the campus and nature preserve.  Today, I was taken with this old London Plane tree that stretches out it limbs in front of the library.  I was about halfway done with my sketch when we met for the throw-down, but went back afterwards and finished up.

Swan Island sketchcrawl

Another lovely sketching day that started out cold and foggy but then moved to sunny and warm.
We explored a little part of a new walkway/path and its views of the river. This spot is worth another visit. Thanks Andrea, for scoping this out.

My warm-up sketch tried to capture some of the fogginess of the morning...not exactly!

I then switched to doing a series of vignettes using my two non-waterproof pens and Lexington Grey filled water brush.

This last group I added some color with Watercolor Pencils.

On Monday, I and a couple of other sketchers visited Reed College. The combination of architecture and big, gorgeous trees in color was too stunning to pass.

Watercolor pencils and ink

Trying to capture some of the color!

Sketching Inside

The tree shapes against a dramatic sky enticed me to draw from our landing.

There was a jungle of bare branches at Reed College, easily visible from inside our heated, parked car.

The Governor Hotel is a nice warm place to eat and sketch on a chilly day, too.

Last of 2015 Sketches

I had several opportunities to sketch this week, which was a great way to end the year.  Here's to many more sketches in the new year with all of you in our sketching community!  Btw, we welcome visiting sketchers as well, so if you travel to Portland in 2016 be sure and join us if you can.

Four windows across from a downtown coffee shop, each with its own story to tell.

One of those charming craftsman style doors at Timberline Lodge.

John's sketch of the architecture at Timberline Lodge.

John's sketch of the fascinating 'transformer' cornices on the Hotel Governor, now newly named the Sentinel Hotel after these robotic figures

Another sketching day in a different coffee shop presented a view of this glorious tree...I can't get enough of Portland's mature Elms.

Brrrr! Adventures at Mount Scott Park

I was a little less social at the sketchcrawl today than normal; my friend Katy and I had established a rambunctious toddler kingdom in the corner with all the books and toys and had our hands full with steamed milk, cookies, and Fox in Socks. So my apologies for not chiming in on the formal introductions! The sketching I did manage to do in the cafe included the assistance of a very dedicated 2-year-old colorist.

When we moved outside to the park, it was crazy cold but also there were a lot of things for the littles to do in the playground, so some unassisted sketches managed to sneak onto the page. Nothing very fancy, but a nice reminder of how beautiful fall is, how decadent it can be to erase lines drawn in pencil, and how warm gloves are totally crucial part of the sketching kit this time of year.

A very happy Thanksgiving to you all! I am so thankful to be a part of this group, even when life gets nutty and I don't always attend.

Urban Trees

 With the hot days we've been having, it's wonderful to have so many trees.

A brother and sister were playing cards under the trees in Lithia Park in Ashland last week.

More Lithia Park Trees...

Today, sitting under the trees in Laurelhurst Park, it seemed about ten degrees cooler than the surrounding neighborhood.

I hope you all find some shady trees and maybe a pond to cool your feet.

Recent sketch outings

Today we had another amazing turnout in the Beaumont neighborhood.  A big hearty welcome to all of you new people!  Let's not leave anybody out though - lots of love to everyone in the group, newcomers, regulars, and returning faces.

I managed to draw one thing today in a brand new sketchbook.  I learned a few things about my markers.  Like, it's better to start with the light colors.

In the past month or so, I've gone to the Fields park a few times with some other sketchers.  I mostly sketched from inside Ovation.  Lots of people, quick sketching, trying to fill up the sketchbook.

A few weeks ago, I went with Drink and Draw to ^H, a new hacker space at 7600 N. Interstate. After drawing some people, I started drawing the fun geeky stuff they have there.

Mission accomplished - that sketchbook is full!

Sunshine and Cemetery Landscaping

A lovely sketchcrawl on a sunny February day! I strolled down to the Rose City Cemetery with a small team of sketching pals and we settled into the lovely, peaceful green space to sketch. My toddler was very keen on having me help her with the walking practice on the lawn, so I only got off a few quick impressions of the meticulously-sculpted holly trees that lined the entry drive.

Brown chalk on white paper--you'll notice that I had some kiddo help on that one...

And borrowed oil pastels for a splash of color appropriate to the sunny day! My tiny helper was so kind as to color in the blue on the lower part of the page. We then had to act fast to keep her from coloring on any of the headstones, but she did at least add some oil pastel bling to her shoes to top off the adventure.

Big thanks to the friendly staff of the Rose City Cemetery who made us feel very at home (and who are eager to see what other people drew via the blog posts.) The urgency of naptime kept us from attending the sketchbook sharing at lunch, so I'm eager to see folks post what they drew around the neighborhood as well!

Watercolor: a tree in autumn

I have not been sketching much lately, but I thought this older watercolor from 2010 set the tone nicely! Happy fall to all.

White on Brown: Sellwood Park Sketches

My favorite fast sketches from the recent Sellwood Park expedition. Experiments in white tempera paint on brown paper.

I feel like I was a little hit and miss about getting a good balance of light and dark in this technique of white paint on brown paper. The ones that were fun but a little more erratic in the balance are over at katura-art.com, if you'd like to see more.

Milwaukie fun!

What a lovely day to get out and explore the charming town of Milwaukie! It was great to meet so many people at the gathering, and an extra bonus to get sketching insights from folks who knew the ins and out of the town. Probably wouldn't have found the pond behind the library if it hadn't been for that insider tip at breakfast!

Plus, there was a nice mossy lawn for the kiddo to roll around on...

...and baby geese just around the corner!

Portland Blossoms

Since it's raining out, I thought you might like a little spring color... 

I wasn't thrilled with my first sketch of the cherry blossoms when the Urban Sketchers were out...

but last weekend, it was so hectic on the waterfront, I fled to some quieter corners of Portland...

I'm still hoping for another trip to the waterfront: this Thursday afternoon for those who can join us and if the weather cooperates.

Fall Trees

The wonder is that we can see these trees and not wonder more.-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well, I've been wondering a lot about trees lately-- specifically how to draw and paint them.  Saturday's focus really helped me understand how others did this, even if I haven't got it all down myself. Thanks to everyone for your contributions and especially to Deb for agreeing to lend assistance. I appreciate having all the  examples and even tracing paper to use.

Here are my sketches from the morning.

(I made this extra large so that you can see Kalina sketching:)

If you care to see a summary of what I gleaned from Saturday, it's on my blog http://draw2c.blogspot.com.

Again, the turn out was great. It's so fun to sketch and talk with everyone and share all our wonderful, diverse results.

Bird Song and Bricks

The sketchcrawl at the University of Portland today was just lovely. Nice weather, good group (at least a dozen folks if not more?), and such a tranquil setting to wander and draw.

My friend Clare came along for her first Urban Sketching adventure. She was busy disassembling a bike wheel at the start of the meetup, and it was fun to try to capture the crazy angles of all the spokes.

We moved from the posh interior of the dining commons to the bluff overlooking the docks. I was intimidated by the profusion of cranes and other industrial equipment, but the color scheme of the Overseas Martinez did remind me that I had a brick-colored pencil in my kit...

Which came in very handy when I shifted my attention to bell towers and madrone bark.

By this point I was getting rather distracted by the profusion of bird songs, wanting to identify the second species of hummingbird that I had spotted among the madrone flowers, and wondering if I could fit into the hollow space in this maple tree's trunk. (I totally did go stand inside it, and it was so great.) So the composition here is a little scatterbrained, but only because I was enjoying the day so much!

Had to leave a little early but was really thrilled to see how absorbed folks were in the fountain pen discussions. Hope we keep that momentum on discussing materials and techniques going in future events.

The View from Pill Hill

Another big group of urban sketchers this month--13, 14 people? Wonderful.  * Otra vez, un grupo grande para dibujar esta mes--¿13, 14 personas? Que maravilloso.

The Rilassi Coffee House on the south waterfront is an excellent place to admire people's dogs. Chops the bulldog puppy was perhaps the biggest hit in the puppy parade. * El café Rilassi, en el sur de la orilla oeste del rio, es un lugar excelente para admirar perros. El perrito "Chops" tal vez fue la superestrella del desfile de perros. 

Fast sketch as we rode up the aerial tram to the OHSU campus. Had to stop and admire the historic photo of the student rugby team from 1894. * Hice este dibijo rapidamente al subir a OHSU por el teleférico. Despúes, admiré a lost chavos del equipo estudiantíl de rugby de 1894.

From the balcony where the tram lets you off, the view down over the city is pretty fancy. My attempts to paint the Ross Island Bridge and the Marquham Bridge from above would have been better if Wayne Thiebaud had been there to give me advice. * Al salir del teleférico, hay un balcón con una vista excelente de la ciudad. Mis pinturas del puente Marquham y del puente Ross Island habrían sido mejores con la ayuda de Wayne Thiebaud.

The lovely blue-green building tiles and the bright yellow flowers made this corner of campus a lovely little scenic surprise. * Los azulejos verdes y azules en el edificio historico con las flores amarillas trayeron color sorprendente al gris del día.

And finally, before we went back down the tram to share sketchbooks and eat pho, I tried tackling the skybridge. My grasp of the architecture is so-so, but I like how the contrast between the trees and the buildings turned out. * Antes de regresar al fondo de la colina para compartir dibujos y comer pho, traté de pintar el puente de vidrio que conecta dos edificios de la universidad. No entiendo bien la arquitectura, pero me gusta el contraste entre los edicifios y el bosque.