SketchCrawl - Trains and Roller Coasters

Saturday, July 21

11:30 am

Oregon Rail Heritage Museum
 2730 NW 31st Avenue, Portland


This sketchcrawl takes in two destinations - the Oregon Rail Heritage Museum and Oaks Amusement Park! This includes an optional ($10 round trip) ride on the Oregon Pacific Railroad, from the Oregon Rail Heritage Museum near OMSI to Oaks Amusement Park. If you prefer not to ride the train, you can drive between the two locations or join us for just one segment of the sketchcrawl.

Both the rail museum and the amusement park have free entry. We can also take in Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge which is immediately adjacent to Oaks Amusement Park.

Since we'll be moving around a lot, this will be a great day to work small or loose or both!

 By Tedder - Own work, CC BY 3.0

Our starting location is near the OMSI MAX Station on the Orange line. Parking is available under the 99E viaduct, off SE Caruthers.

Since the rail museum doesn't open until noon and there aren't any cafes in the area for a leisurely meetup, we will be starting a little later than usual.

See the train schedule for alternate departure/arrival times if you'd like to customize your sketching day.

By Steve Morgan, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Schedule:

• 11:30am: Meet in front of the Oregon Rail Heritage Museum, 2250 SE Water Avenue (see map below). We'll start by sketching this interesting area of crossing rail lines and freeways.  Since we aren't starting at a cafe, please take care of your urgent food, caffeine, and bathroom needs before we meet!
• 12:00pm: The Oregon Rail Heritage Museum opens, at which point we can buy tickets for the 12:30 train
• 12:30pm: Take the train to Oaks Amusement Park (~20 minutes)
  
• 12:50pm: Sketching at Oaks Park
• 1:50pm: Gather for the train
• 2:00pm: Take the train back to the Oregon Rail Heritage Museum

We'll share sketchbooks along the way, perhaps on the return train.

Hope to see you there!

Sketchcrawl on Interstate

I started out doing a large chunk of the firehouse from a bit of a distance behind it.

And then wandered around till I was near the front, and noticed one tiny plant clinging to a toehold on a window sill.

And finally, I tried a small chunk of the water tower behind the firehouse, blocking in the forms and shading.  But the sun kept wandering in and out of the clouds, and the shadows kept changing.

Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center

It was a fun day with the Portland Urban Sketchers - and a nice number of new people.  Welcome to you all! The weather cooperated with us.  I enjoyed seeing everybody spread out at the site.  See you next time.

JUNE 16, 2018 Sketch Crawl - Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center

The area around the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center has several interesting things to sketch. There is the Firehouse itself, the water tower, and the MAX. There is also a little cob structure next door. 

• 10:00am - Meet at Red E Cafe (1006 N Killingsworth St, Portland, OR 97217) for coffee, snacks, and socializing.
• 10:30am - Walk over to the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (5340 N Interstate Ave, Portland, OR 97217) and sketch around there.
• 12:00noon - Optional lunch at Lucky Lab (1700 N Killingsworth St, Portland, OR 97217).

USk 10K+10K Matching Fund Campaign

Help us bring Urban Sketchers workshops to everyone, everywhere! The Urban Sketchers 10k+10K Matching Fund Campaign will bring urban sketching to schools, organizations and communities that have not had the opportunity to enjoy on-location drawing. With you help we hope to raise $20,000 by June 8th. For more information and to donate visit http://www.urbansketchers.org/p/donate.html

Sunny Daze.....

These sunny days have been a boon to get out and sketch the new spring colors.

Irving Park, loved this concrete structure....still trying to figure out how it is used??

Lauralhurst Park, large knobby tree trunks

Lauralhurst Park, Lager view of paths....with busy sketcher.

Lauralhurst Park sculpture

Mother's Day picnic

Chapman School park

And some street scenes from NE Alberta

NEW!!! PDXUSK Business Time

I enjoy organizing for this group more when I do it with other people. So I wanted to invite y'all to my house once a month to join me in this.

For now it will be on the 2nd Sunday of the month, from 3-5pm. Our google calendar has the deets at: http://urbansketchers-portland.blogspot.com/p/about-urban-sketchers-in-portland.html.

This is time to gather and work on Portland Urban Sketchers business. Examples of things you may want to do during this time:

* Blogging of personal urban sketches
* Social media posting of personal urban sketches.
* Creating a post about that Portland Urban Sketchers event you've always dreamed of.
* Furthering a personal urban sketching goal - like teaching a class, getting an exhibit at a coffee shop, taking an art class.

Bring your laptop.

There will be snacks.

Hope to see you there! It's so much more fun to do this in the presence of other people. Your cheerful faces are energizing!

Relaxing Urban Sketching at Irving Park

As Kalina said, it was perfect sketching weather.  Just right temps and slight breeze.  And as always, wonderful company.

You all just looked so beautiful out there in the sun.

I love the trees in this park so I put a lot of attention in to one of them.  Plus I sat with my back against the one in this picture and enjoyed the tactile experience too.

Special Sunday Sketchcrawl - Pug Crawl!

Sunday, May 20

12:00 pm

Portland Brewing Company Taproom
2730 NW 31st Avenue, Portland

If you're willing and able to spend $10-30 on a benefit for the Oregon Humane Society and like the idea of sketching pugs in top hats, join me for a special Sunday sketchcrawl on May 20, 2018, for the 2018 Pug Crawl: "Blast to the Past"! 

Courtesy of http://spotmagazine.net

Entry is $10 if you purchase in advance or $15 at the door. Online ticket sales are open now. 

My intent is to take brush pens for quick, impressionistic sketches, and an Altoids-tin palette for light touches of color. Will you join me?

We'll meet outside the main entrance just before noon and go inside to sketch the pugs as they gather before the actual parade, which starts at 2pm.

This event is in NW Portland, reachable on Trimet with the 15 line. Portland Brewing has a parking lot and there should also be sufficient street parking in the area.

Saturday May 12 - Irving Park Sketch Crawl

Let's sketch Irving Park!  I can't make it on the 19th, so I'm moving this month's sketch crawl to the 2nd Saturday.  Don't forget there's also the Pug Crawl on Sunday, May 20th.

Schedule:

• 10:00am: Meet at Whole Foods Market, 3535 NE 15th Ave, Portland, OR 97212, for introductions / coffee / snacks.
• 10:30am: Sketch around Irving Park, at NE Fremont and NE 9th Ave.
• 12:00pm: Sketchbook Throwndown in the park, exact location tbd when we get there.
• 12:15pm: Optional - Meet back at Whole Foods, for sketchbook passing /  lunch.

Hope to see you there!

Here is some information about the beautiful trees at Irving Park:

http://www.tinyurl.com/irvingparktrees