Night Sketching in Old Montreal.

I haven't gone night sketching in quite a while - but I'm using every moment of good weather before my sketching trip to Portland next week. (The workshop, by the way, has maybe one or two spaces left. [info here])

This is our city hall, Hôtel de ville de Montréal as seen from The Place Jacques Cartier. The square is a bustling tourist destination in the summer. Packed with artists sketching your portrait for a few dollars, kids getting neon light sabers from the vendors, rocker dudes with mini amps playing for change - all that family oriented activity.

But the real attraction is the city itself. The buildings are all dramatically lit making a romantic backdrop for strolling along the river. Even with the crowds of visitors, a summer night on the quay can seem like a holiday in Paris.





This sketch was about a half hour or so, done by faint streetlight. It's a challenge, not being able to see your colors.  You never know what you have until you get home. Have to go by memory of what's on the palette and trust your washes will be fine. As long as you get value right, color doesn't matter that much in this kind of scene.

For all that though, the night lighting is a great pleasure. Everything is dramatically lit. Shapes are reduced to the strongest forms, detail is erased. You find yourself making powerful drawings!

Bikes, revisited

OK, I know that I already crossed of the "bike" from my scavenger hunt list; but I can't resist sharing this doodle of an amazing bike that was parked outside of the museum this week.

Keeping Portland Weird with every pedal-stroke!

Tacoma: City of Destiny

Four of us Portland sketchers took the train north to Tacoma, Washington last weekend to meet up with sketchers from all over Washtington state. It was a blast.

I used my water-soluble felt-tip brush pen to whip out a few fast postcards on the train ride north:

Train to Tacoma

    We met with about thirty other sketchers in Tacoma around the Museum of Glass this past weekend. The site was awash with architectural gems to draw....heaven!   

small color sketch of Tacoma skyline

                                     

 I found myself a nice open plaza with a great view of all of these interesting architectural shapes. The contrast of modern bold shapes with reflective surfaces and old bold shapes with arches and architectural details and patinated surfaces was a visual delight.


 

a panorama of the architectural structures around the Museum of Glass in Tacoma

There was so much that was visually stimulating that this panorama just moved from one great shape to the next.

A view of Chihuly Bridge of Glass

After a full day out sketching in Tacoma there was only a little bit of energy to do some sketching on the train.

Tacoma Sketchcrawl

Four of us rode up to Tacoma on the train to join other NW Urban Sketchers in Tacoma. It was a fun trip: hearing about the symposium, sketching, talking with other sketchers and perusing the sketchbooks. I'm definitely a little fish in a big pond (or in this case, a big bay), but it was inspirational seeing the works of so many terrific sketchers, including our own! Here are my attempts, but be sure to check out the other Portland sketchers' works as well as posts on the Seattle blog.

Sitting on a bench in the shade of the glass bridge, I sketched the Museum of Glass. After seeing the dramatic contrasts others had, I tried to darken my darks at home, although I'm not sure it made much of an improvement.

These giant glass sculptures, near the entrance to the glass bridge, were really beautiful in the light. If I were to try these again, I'd place them in their setting.

My attention span for drawing buildings is about three windows, and that held for this sketch.

The light on the Museum of Glass was gorgeous at the end of the day, so I decided to just focus on that.

It was a very enjoyable day and I got a lot ideas to try to work on, but mostly it was just a pleasure to sketch and visit with our friendly sketchers to the north. I'm looking forward to when we host them next in Portland. In the meantime, I'll keep working on some of the things I'm learning from others. Thanks, everyone!

Tram & William Temple House

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to Tacoma Saturday, but I do have a couple of scavenger hunt sketches. Here's a distant view of the OHSU tram from a walk through the south waterfront neighborhood.

And here's my sketch of the William Temple House from our recent group trip there.

Northwest Regional Sketchcrawl: Tacoma!

 This Saturday, 7/21, we've been invited to join in on a Pacific Northwest Regional Sketchcrawl in the Museum District of Tacoma, Washington. Six major museums! Nifty historic architecture! Meet fellow sketchers from Portland to Vancouver, BC and east to the Tri Cities! What fun.

The official meeting time for the whole sketching team will be at 11:30 am at the big brick archway at the main entrance of the Washington State History Museum: 1911 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, WA. The whole group will then reconvene at 1:00 at the amphitheater by the Washington State Historical Museum for lunch and to share sketches, then launch into an afternoon sketching session.

How to get there? A team of us will be taking the Amtrak train up so we can sketch in comfort and luxury on the commute. You're welcome to drive up in a car, of course, if the train doesn't work for your schedule. (See more travel details on our calendar.)

 

If you're thinking of going on this sketching adventure (by train or by car), do drop a note so we'll know to look for you!

Bastille Day and striped shirt

 Bastille Day was a great day to be out and about seeing and drawing people...and umbrellas! This one is my contribution to the striped shirt on the scavenger hunt list. There were many striped shirts in evidence on this day. Most with a decidedly French Flair...including our own Linda D's outfit. Tres Bon Linda!

 I did these thumbnails with the idea of trying to capture the site with all of it's busyness, people and umbrellas.

And again another attempt with some color.....

Scavenger Hunt: Pigs in NW Portland

Here is my version of the pigs (#24) in front of Nobby's. I felt especially lucky to get the plum parking spot, directly in front of the restaurant. 

Scavenger Hunt Item 24: Pigs!

I have been slowly developing a theory that sketching metal sculptures (and we do have a handful of those on the scavenger hunt list!) might be easier to do with white pencils on black paper. Busted out my black-paper sketchbook this weekend to try this theory out on the pigs sculptures in NW Portland.

I hadn't ever seen these sculptures before, and it was really fun getting to know their crazy rough-hewn angles and pitted, raspy textures by drawing them. It was also fascinating to watch the pedestrians interact with the pigs--they're a very popular climbing-spot for children, and few adults can pass without making a comment, taking a picture, or patting them on the ears or snouts. Hooray for public art that people really respond to and interact with.