Looking Back on June 2019

A Paris show came to the Portland Art Museum!

Several jazz musicians gave a benefit for Sisters of the Road at Augusta Church. It was wonderful!

This might look like a stature, but it was a very still man. the other man, accidentally (I think!) squirted us with his water hose as he cleaned the fountain. 

People at Tabor Space. The women are not actually having a seance.

Wildflowers at PSU, Walk of Heroines

                         One of our roses, from a housewarming gift from my parents 32 years ago.

Rainier Cherries: good to paint, good to eat!

Looking Back on May

Iris bed at PSU, Walk of Heroines

Ladd's Addition with a messy sky.

I think most of the above sketches are self-explanatory. This next one, the grid, is my attempt at sketching a very large and extremely colorful set of paintings by David Hockney on display at the Portland Art Museum. Matching up the lines from rectangle to rectangle was something like doing a jigsaw puzzle. My brain got a workout.

Looking Back on April 2019

Portland's Urban Sketchers had a Scavenger Hunt (the sketching kind where you don't have to knock on people's doors). These are some of the things that I sketched for it. I didn't win, but Kay very nicely gave me a participation award: art supplies! She knows what we like!

Here's the Hollywood Library sign and "ensemble", as seen from the Bitter Rose Coffee shop, on a rainy day.

Spring Blossoms: I love it when the tulips get wild.

The story on the coffee table: Tulips in a special vase, trip planning (i.e. guide books and a magnifying glass to read them, laptop, and wallet with credit card), New Yorker showing the newly changed shape of Notre Dame, coffee in a mug from a previous Ceramic Showcase, on coasters from John when he lived in NYC.

More blooms and an Easter chick at PW's home...

and things I resisted (except for two mugs) buying at this year's Ceramic Showcase. MG bought the bowl. The black and white piece with the red tulip is actually a lamp!

This is a view of Tanner Springs Park...

...and some very reflective buildings nearby.

The Urban Sketchers drew from the vicinity of OMSI on a chilly and cloudy day. I popped into OMSI to warm up my hands midway.

There was also a worldwide challenge to sketch 100 people in one week. I did it (well, at least the heads of 100 people). There was no prize for this except for the satisfaction of actually finishing it.

Then is was May at HL's home with the French tradition of giving Muguet (Lily of the Valley) for good luck. The fragrance always takes me right back to spring in junior high.

>>>*<<<

February/March 2019

February was a good month for drawing flowers indoors...

...and visiting the art museum.

Calder Mobile

March arrived and more flowers started blooming.

It was still pretty chilly for sketching outside. I sketched a church from the Historical Society lobby...

and NW Portland houses from a coffee shop window....

A truck pulled up and hid my view, so I sketched the signage on the truck (with some editorializing).

Once, I sketched some NW Victorian rooftops from a car with friends....

 

When the weather warmed up, the Urban Sketchers went looking for cherry blossoms. We were early (or they were late) so I sketched some of my fellow sketchers.

The next week, the trees were turning pink....

                                     and the following week, they were in FULL BLOOM!