Sketching at home, together

Our regular monthly sketchcrawl, all done separately.

This is the view from my bedroom window.  The new dogwood, now dressed in a watering bag, is leaving out nicely. Behind that, the remnant of my neighbor's camellia is blooming like anything.  I'm hoping that it survives.

And here is Aramis, my 22-year-old, sleeping with his stuffed rabbit.

And Pippin, the 'kitten', who just turned 11.

It is nice to draw with you, even if we are not together. I sat in my husband's mediation space.

The forest and the trees

Took a walk in Mt Tabor where everyone was very considerate about social distancing. I tucked myself into some trees and had a lovely time.

April 18th Sketchcrawl Together Apart!

Dear Sketchers,

On Saturday, April 18th, between 10:00am and noon, let's all draw together even though we will be apart.

We can draw in our own homes and neighborhoods and then post them to the group. Let us see your kitchens and basements. We all know that rooms that are too tidy don't make interesting drawings so you don't even have to clean up.  Or show us your back yards, driveways, the cars on your street, people walking by, your pets or your neighbors pets that keep getting into your yard!

We draw the world around us, we draw on location and if that's your house that's okay with us.

If you draw individual objects, plants, animals or people please include the some of the environment around it. We love to see the context surrounding your main focus. It gives your drawing that sense of place that drives the spirit of Urban Sketching.

You may feel comfortable doing a Walk and Draw in your neighborhood, with proper social distancing of course. If you do, try drawing a grid on your sketch page or working in a very small sketchbook. Then pause on your walk for a very short time and do a speed sketch before you continue your walk and pause again.

Look, here's Jason Roberts sketching his backyard.

Whatever you do we want you to keep drawing and continue to share them with us. So I am looking forward to seeing all the drawings we create while sketching apart on April 18th.

Be well and get drawing!
The Portland Urban Sketchers

SAHJ new entries

There is a woman in my neighborhood that is giving away bouquets of flowers from her yard. I made the top picture as a gift to pay her back for the kindness.
The tree is a redo from the urban sketchers sketch hunt last year of the Heritage Tree in my neighborhood. Please enjoy.

SAHJ: Thinking about Food

I realized that I've been thinking a lot about how little I used to think about food. Now I search for Pasta like I'm Indiana Jones. So today I drew a clementine to really look at something I've always taken for granted.

More carpenters

Half the city is shut down, but workers are still coming round to work on my neighbor's house.  For which she's extremely grateful, hoping to be able to get back into it soon.

New Stuck at Home Journal Entries:

Well, wrapping up my my second week stuck at home and here are some of my observations. Hope everyone else is doing well.

Change is the Only Constant

I've been looking through old sketch books and asked myself, how has my drawing style changed over time?

Below you'll find three pages, each spaced about four years apart.

Although I'd been drawing for years, during a 2012 family trip to New York, I started sketching in earnest. And I sketched everything; at times to the chagrin of my family. What we ate, what we saw, who we met all got captured in pencil by day and with color come evening. In those days I was using the sketchbook as a journal as well.

My wife says this is her favorite of all my sketchbooks. She loves reading, so maybe that tells you something.



























By 2016 I found myself saying less, trying to tell the story with drawings, but when I used words, I used bigger text. Back then, motion and feeling seemed more important to me than detail.



In late 2019, I took a sabbatical, traveling alone by boat in British Columbia. Since I didn't talk to anyone most of the time, I drew like a madman. Looking back through that sketchbook, there was a combination of bold pages, then pages with small drawings and text, much like 2012. I realize now that I was trying to capture and understand what I saw, all by myself.

I was frequently overwhelmed by the scale of the landscape and drew several pages similar to the one below. I see now that these big spreads were raw emotion.



A colleague at work only sees my books a few times a year. She says I'm getting "better."

I agree my sketching has changed and if it is for the better, it's because I'm learning to show how I see and that makes me happy.

How has your sketching changed over time?

-Bruce

The Stuck at Home Sketch Journal: Making the most of a rough situation

During my stuck at home times, I decided to start a sketch journal of Indoor sketches. I'm really hoping this will keep up my creativity. Hope everyone is staying safe and creative.