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!

March 2018

When the view on the counter is more interesting than the view out the window...

A new book and lilies...

One out of a row of three Episcopal doors....

A row of pots of cyclamen from the opening of the shop...

Quince from the garden....

Sitting at a wobbly picnic table, making crooked lines and a crooked tree...

What I saw from the front steps....

St. Honore and a birthday, and mouse that K knit for P.

Little lambs and ivy (and other vegetation)...

That's it for the Cherry Trees This Year

This is my final cherry tree sketch for 2017, done in an accordion book. I sketched this while there was lots of action in the park: people practicing Qigong. dog walkers, bicyclers, families with toddlers and strollers, lots of people taking pictures, a drunken man sleeping behind me, and even a drone over the Steel Bridge. It took me several days to finish painting it. It seemed like too much time was spent waiting for paint to dry!

This one I tweaked by adding some shadows. The people seemed to be floating more in the previous version.

Those Elusive Cherry Trees

Every year, I sketch Portland's cherry trees and I always try to somehow capture the color, or the delicacy or a tiny bit of the beauty of the trees. I keep trying and trying!

This year, I was so eager, that I was down at Tom McCall Waterfront Park before the blossoms opened. I wasn't alone, as several people came out to enjoy a rare sunny day under the cherry tree branches.

As Portlanders know, we've had many rainy days this year.  On those days that it didn't rain, I dashed to waterfront park. Often, the gray clouds loomed overhead, but I was lucky to have avoided most of the showers.

With the start of spring break, the park was full of people taking photos, posing for photos, shaking branches and just enjoying the beauty and delight of a (mostly) rain-free day.

Finally, I decided to focus on a close-up of a tree with its graceful branches and delicate flowers. 

I'm hoping to get in at least one more day under the cherry trees, but if not, I notice that the magnolias and plum trees are looking inviting.

March Branches and Blossoms