No September Sketchcrawl

As we were expecting might be the case, Oregon's COVID cases are spiking right now and hospitals are full, so we're doing our part to keep our community safe and will not be scheduling a September sketchcrawl.  It pains us to skip it when we were all so excited to be gathering in person after the long hiatus, but we have every hope and expectation of sketching together again in October. We'll be announcing that sketchcrawl soon!

We welcome you to sketch on your own and post your drawings to share -- on the blog, in the email list, or in the Facebook group.  You are also completely welcome to use our group to arrange meetups with other sketchers to whatever degree you feel comfortable with, or share any resources or ideas you find inspiring!

See you in October!

Reduction Sauce

 I like going out in boats a lot. And I like sketching a lot. Therefore I like going sketching in boats a lot.

Drawing from a boat presents multiple interesting challenges. For starters, you are always moving even when your sails are down and your oars are stowed. Your subjects are often in motion too.

Second, your eye picks up so much that is hard to translate to a pad of paper quickly, if at all. Observing details from far away while bobbing up and down is hard, but fun to do.

So earlier this summer when I went on a cruise from Olympia to Port Townsend, I decided not to use my paints and tried to capture the essence of each scene in pen and ink alone. Sort of like cooking, I created a reduction sauce on paper.

 

 

And for the record, no clams were harmed in the production of these sketches! ;)

August Sketchcrawl - Cornell Farm Nursery

Let's try something further afield this month - Cornell Farm Nursery, at 8212 SW Barnes Rd.

Saturday, August 21, 10am to noon-ish
We'll meet at 10am in front of the cafe (the big yellow house) and then again at noon, somewhere, for a throwdown. Here's a map of the nursery.

Sketch by Amy Stewart

For people driving, it looks like they have on-site parking.  For people busing, the 20 has a stop nearby, at Barnes and Leahy.  The nursery is on the south side of Barnes, a bit west of the intersection.

July sketches

I wasn't able to join in virtually for the 13th Street sketchcrawl on the 18th but I did want to do something to post. These are 2 more sketches of Bristol; A local Seafood store that takes in catches from local fisherman (our neighbor in the apartment above goes out to rake in Quahogs and clams, which according to many is a hard and messy job, he then delivers his catch to this shop). In the other sketch I am still working on finding a good blue for shadows.....try, try again!

July Sketchcrawl - Pearl District / NW 13th

Let's sketch on NW 13th Ave this month.  The city has closed off a number of blocks to car traffic, to allow restaurants to serve people outside.  So there should be plenty of people to sketch, along with the interesting architecture of the industrial Pearl.

Sketch by Gregg 1991

Saturday, July 17, 10am to noon

Meet outside Barista Coffee (539 NW 13th Ave).

There are restrooms (I think) in the  lobby of Barista's building, and at Starbucks, at 1039 NW Couch St.

We can meet again at noon, somewhere in there, for a throw-down.

And maybe even lunch? Outside, probably, if people are ready for it.

Sketch by Gregg 2008

Bristol RI- 4th of July Parade...on the 5th!

This parade is known as the longest running 4th of July parade in the nation. It has been running since 1785 and well attended by the neighboring towns and beyond. Because the 4th was on a Sunday it was held today on the 5th. I sat around the yard in various places and on a balcony to try to get a view. Of course, it was not possible to get it all, people and vehicles moved, bands marched and pipers played too. There were minute-men and Fife and Drum units, everything patriotic....very colorful and exciting. The spectators were apporpriately garbed in red, white, and blue as well. Here are some vignette sketches of the offerings....sadly I am way out of practice on sketching people (I desperately need a refresher course from Rita Stabler!) but I did my best. Here are a couple of warm-up sketches

Then some attempts to get the flavor of the day.

June Sketchcrawl at Portland's International Rose Test Garden

We had a great turnout - everyone seemed very ready to be out among people and the weather was perfect.  

I focused on roses for most of the allotted time. Briefly I tried to capture some of the crowd but everyone besides the sketchers was moving fairly quickly. We sketchers did a good job of it, though; people need to remember to stop and smell the roses, even at the rose garden, and we sketchers set a good example.

Shoutout to everyone that joined us for their first time this month. A couple people mentioned having gotten interested in sketching during the pandemic year and waiting for the chance to get out and do it in a social context. Several sketchers had favorite artists that I had never heard of, and there was enthusiasm about new supplies that hadn't been tested yet.  I'm looking forward to getting to know more of these new Urban Sketchers over the coming months!

Get-together in the Rose Garden

Only our second in-person sketchcrawl since last February, and a bunch of people showed up.  Except for the mass vaccination site at the convention center, more people than I've seen in one place in over a year.  A lot of old friends, but a lot of new faces too.  Some were long-time artists, out to be sociable after a year of isolation, while other were newbies, who'd taken up sketching as a covid project.

June 2021sketchcrawl- my remote sketch and others of my temporary new home.

Bristol is a pretty typical small New England town. Here I am at the weekly farmers market held year round at Mount Hope Farm.

Since Curtis has joined me here we have been living in an apartment on tiny Cottage St. These are some sketches of the local color.

This town is known for its Fourth of July celebration and Parade....as a matter of fact it claims to be the longest running 4th of July parade in the US. And the residents take this seriously by putting out flags and bunting on almost every house and town building. This last sketch is a view out of our kitchen window showing some of the many Victorian homes here. The architecture is mostly 19th C. with a couple of 18th C. homes still in existence. The town of Bristol was incorporated in in 1681. Of course the area was well inhabited by the native tribes; Narragansett on the west shore and Wampanoag on the east shore.

June Sketchcrawl - International Rose Test Garden - Saturday, June 19

It was great to see everyone in person again at our May sketchcrawl. We're looking forward to doing it again in June-- this time at the International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park!

Saturday, June 19 (Juneteenth!)
10:15am: Meet at rose garden gift shop/restrooms (see map below)

12:15pm: Gather at garden entrance to find an open spot for sharing sketchbooks

If I'm not mistaken, the last time we sketched there as a group was July 2010, a couple weeks before Portland hosted the first ever Urban Sketchers Symposium.

PANDEMIC PROVISO: At this stage in the pandemic, we recommend joining the group only if you have been fully vaccinated. Masks are required on shuttles and buses, and we'll be wearing them outside at our own discretion when we can't maintain comfortable social distance. 

NOTE ABOUT START TIME: I'm starting this crawl 15 minutes later than usual due to limited public transit options in the area; see transit/parking options, below.

Nearest MAX stop would be King's Hill, not the Zoo; from King's Hill it's a ~14 minute walk uphill to the park entrance at SW Park Place; from there continue another 10 minutes uphill or wait for the free shuttle which runs every 15-30 minutes starting at 9:30.

Parking is in demand in Washington Park; there may or may not be spaces available near the Rose Garden.

The Rose Garden is NOT near the zoo, for walking or shuttle ride purposes. I say that for people like myself who tend to underestimated the size of Washington Park!

Unfortunately Trimet Line 63 doesn't start up until 10:25 but you might choose to utilize it on your return trip.

Transit/Planning resources:
Washington Park Map
Free Shuttle
TriMet Line 63