Inside and Outside Urban Sketching

After days of rain, Monday in Portland was mostly sunny. My husband and I took advantage of the weather to walk over our newest bridge, Tilikum Crossing. (This is the one bridge that might escape destruction should the predicted huge earthquake occur.) As it was Martin Luther King day, many people were out enjoying their walks in the sunshine. After taking in the view from both sides, we finished up with a coffee and snacks from Elephants Cafe on the west side. There was just enough time to get in a sketch.

On Saturday, the Urban Sketchers of Portland met at Union Station for a sketch crawl. Again, with the holiday weekend, there were sudden arrivals and excited greetings of travelers.

This sketch was made at f & b cafe inside Rejuvenation Hardware, but if you know the barista, you won't recognize him here. I changed his mutton chop sideburns to a full beard (among other things) and the poor customer is made of parts of at least two different women.

Urban Sketching

There's a relatively new food cart pod in SE Portland: Tidbit. Besides having good food and seating, there are some very charming carts, nice plants, and friendly vendors.

Here's a sketch of Dog Bone Coffee and John, the vendor. Unfortunately, the dog, Talon was out of my view.

Here's a corner of the eating area.

This is a sketch from the park blocks in front of the Portland Art Museum and another from Directors Square.  Lots of people were out enjoying the sunny day, but unfortunately, none stayed for long on the bench I was drawing.

West Coast Sketchcrawl

Portland was host to the 2nd Annual West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl this weekend and it was a blast! It started with a portrait party at Ringlers, where we quickly sketched each other as met each other.

 

 

The next day, we met in front of the Portland Art Museum for some sketching along the park blocks.

I started with the patio of the Oregon Historical Society and then I sketched some fellow sketchers.

I unintentionally slimmed down the statue outside of the art museum...

In the afternoon, from our base camp, I got in a partial sketch of Roy Lichtenstein's Brushstrokes sculpture.

As the afternoon got hotter, I took shelter inside, sketching sculptures in  The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden exhibit. I had a hard time with the face of this goddess, but I got some friendly help from Dominique, a sketcher and teacher from San Diego. 

There wasn't time to finish the fawn, because it was out to the patio for a final group sketchbook sharing and saying goodbyes.

It was great to get together with about 100 other sketchers who came not only from the west coast, but the east coast as well. There were new faces as well as old friends. The enthusiasm for sketching and the marvelous results were truly inspirational.

A Hodge Podge of Summer Sketches

Portland State

Winchester Inn Gazebo, Ashland

Ashland 

Jamison Square

Outdoor table

Portland State University, Smith Center

Winter Trees

It was a beautiful cold, sunny day in Portland today, so I decided to sketch some winter trees.

This view was from the cozy cafe, Behind the Museum, where I sketched while drinking a latte and nibbling on fruit cake.

Then I did a quick sketch of the same tree seen from the plaza between the two buildings of the art museum.

Sitting on a bench in the park blocks, this view between the buildings caught my eye.

Bridgetown

Summer is ending and the trees along the Portland waterfront are starting to change colors. One day last week, I got a little sunburn drawing the Marquam Bridge...

and the next day, the blue sky was obscured by some very unusual clouds...

If I had painted those clouds, it would have just looked like I had no idea how to paint clouds--which is basically true.

Luckily, the sky cleared somewhat when I added the paint to my sketch of the Hawthorne Bridge...

and by the time I left, even the geese were enjoying the day.

Summer in the City

We've been in several cities this summer: Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, and home in Portland. These sketches are from Portland, hopefully showing some of the looser style I practiced at the Urban Sketching Symposium.

On this quick car sketch, I started in the middle of the page and worked outward. The advantage to this approach (rather than starting at a side and working across the page) is that whenever you have to quit, the sketch still has a main focus and looks relatively complete. It's also good when the focus of your sketch is likely to move or gets blocked by something else.

The next sketches were made on a sketchcrawl with the Urban Sketchers from Portland. It was a cool, cloudy morning and it took quite awhile before there were some children brave enough to go in the Salmon Springs fountain.

In Inma Serrano's workshop at the Symposium, I learned to draw buildings very quickly, without worrying about straight lines, perspective or local color.  I've got to admit, this is way more fun than my usual, slower, controlled way or drawing buildings...

especially when the building is one like the Simon Benson House which can be overwhelming with all its detail.

Lastly, here are a couple vignettes from last Saturday when we went to the Farmers' Market in the Park Blocks by PSU.

Train Day

Today, the Urban Sketchers gathered at Union Station to record the festivities of National Train Day.

I started with a quick sketch of a fellow sketcher.

Next, I tried to capture the crowd waiting in line for a close up look at an old steam engine. There were people of all ages, lots of little kids, train buffs, and several clowns.

watercolor and ink on toned paper

 After a while, I escaped the crowds and sketched in the garden outside the station.This napper had a dog that watched over her. There was really only the one dog, but I liked it in both positions. Later, another young woman switched places with this one and brought another dog! I felt like my sketch of two dogs made it happen:) I decided I'll draw a large pile of money to test this theory.

I went back for another quick sketch of this engine and added the gel pen and marker at home.

ink, marker, and gel pen on toned paper

As always, it was fun and inspiring to sketch with the Urban Sketchers of Portland.

Cinco de Mayo

I went to the Cinco de Mayo festival with another sketcher on Friday. We got there as it opened and families started wandering in. Everything looked organized and polished and ready to go. Some of the delicious smells of food cooking were already being carried in the breeze.

The ferris wheel towers over all the tents and other rides. I always like looking at the riders when I cross the Morrison Bridge.

I stole this composition idea from Deb. Her's is better http://reason2draw.blogspot.com

 We sketched the Artisan Village to the accompaniment of children playing their newly purchased bird whistles.

We were in the main tent for the Naturalization Ceremony where many new citizens were sworn in. Proud family members and friends snapped photos.

Later, we sketched Caesar, a musician who played several different flutes, pipes and rattles.

It was my first time going to the Cinco de Mayo festival, but I'll definitely return again. It was a lovely way to spend a gorgeous day.

Portland Streetcorner

Yesterday, it was chilly and rainy so I was sketching from inside the Starbucks across from Powell's.

Powell's from the corner of NW 11th and NW Couch

When a car pulled away, a much more human story was revealed...

Homeless Man and Dog under Plastic, Streetroots Seller