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!

Grab Bag

This post is made up of some sketches from the last month or so.

Our son got married recently. I sketched my very comfortable wedding shoes and a bag full of last minute supplies to take to the wedding: bandaids, safety pins, needle and thread, medicine, handywipes, extra pantyhose, and even more, including duct tape. Luckily, very few of the things were needed.

The Urban Sketchers Portland group had a sketchcrawl at Powell's recently. I sketched the sketchbook display on the top floor, ...

along with a few sketchers.

 

In the semi-darkness of Jimmy Mak's, I sketched some of the listeners...

and some of the Mel Brown Septet...

On a chilly day, sitting in the car, I sketched The Bakery Bar and colored it with markers.

And finally, today, I sketched a view from a window...

Portland SketchCrawl

Saturday morning was perfect weather for sketching with the Urban Sketchers.

I sat down low by the Ira Keller Fountain, close enough to feel the cool air from the falling water.

There was a Benson Bubbler Benson Bubbler right across the street, so that sketch knocked off another scavenger hunt item. I wish I had been quick enough to sketch the crow that dunked his bread in the water.

On Sunday, my husband and I rode the aerial tram up to OHSU. (Sunday is a good day to go because it isn't very busy.) The ride was quick, but fun and the views were great, even on a cloudy day. Drawing the aerial tram is very tricky, because it's only still for a matter of moments. I drew the dock first and then raced to get the tram in before it disappeared.

Here's another view of the tram dock.

"Pill Hill" would be a terrific place to practice perspective drawing because you can see so many different views of buildings and passageways. Here's a one-point view that I took from the skybridge to the Veteran's Hospital. I'm glad it's not on the scavenger hunt list!

Scavenger Hunt Challenge

The Portland Urban Sketchers have a Scavenger Hunt Challenge going on. The idea is to sketch the Portland places, people and  things on the list and post them to the blog before September. There's a prize, but the fun part is trying to sketch everything.

I was downtown today and had some time to wait, so I pulled out my sketchbook and scavenger list and decided to go for the fountain. As a retired teacher, it seemed appropriate to sketch the Teachers' Fountain in Director Square. I don't know that I've ever actually seen any teachers in the fountain.

The sun came out and I got a quick glance at some shadows before leaving. I added the color at home. 

That's one Urban Sketcher Challenge down and several more sketches to go!

             

Sketching in Sellwood

The Portland Urban Sketchers had a sketchcrawl in Sellwood last Saturday. We met in Tea Chai Te, and sat in the converted red caboose for tea and sketching. My cup of vanilla chai macadamia nut tea made a wonderful aroma in the cozy room.

Eventually most of us wandered out to the street for more sketching. These sketches were made at Share-It Square (SE 9th and Sherrett), an intersection that has been decorated and refurbished to further a sense of community in the neighborhood. The cob structure below sheltered me while I sat on the bench out of the rain.

This T-Station is on the same corner as the bench. It holds mugs and tea and some days has hot water so visitors can enjoy a cup of tea.

The square has a playhouse corner, another one for sharing books and other items for recycling, a cob hive with  a cupboard for newspapers, and a bulletin board area. The center of the intersection is painted with designs and words of wisdom or welcome. The drivers who came through knew to slow down for people enjoying the square. It's definitely worth another visit for sketching or maybe having a cup of tea.

More Randomness

Wishful Thinking Grid

After several days of heavy rain, I stayed in and made another grid. It was pleasant to focus on warm colors and the thought of sunshine. It must have worked. The rain has stopped!

The Portland Urban Sketchers went out sketching on Saturday. I stayed inside the whole time, but did  a few quick drawings of some of my fellow sketchers.

To see their sketches, including some really nice ones of Portlandia, go to http://urbansketchers-portland.blogspot.com/

I'm still trying to make glass look like glass. What I have learned is:1) stems appear to break when they touch the water and when they're seen through the neck of the bottle  2) there is a bright white reflection in several places on the bottles 3) the color of the stem looks brighter when it's under water. These things aren't shown in this sketch, but now I know that they should be.

I also learned that I'm going to have to start paying attention to windows and what they really look like. I know they didn't really look like these that I put on the barber shop.  I painted this when we got home. The building is actually yellow, too,  but my paints seemed too bright. Also, I'm sure the windows didn't look like this, but I don't really know what they looked like.

When you draw something, you really see it, but if you're not looking at it, you really find out what you don't know. All my life I've been around windows, and now I realize that I don't really know what they look like!

More ODAD Sketches

The stockings are hung, the cookies are baked, the presents are wrapped...it's too late to start practicing Christmas carols on the piano, so I might as well post some sketches.

We used to light this at my parents'  house, now we light it  at ours

GlitterFest 2011 at Linda's, Plum Pudding ornament from Heather

Fun book with great pictures and then a magical movie

Some tiny blooms from the yard

Making omiyage (fabric origami)

Omiyage gifts, stuffed with lavendar

The other night, a few of the Portland Urban Sketchers went to Pioneer Square and sketched the line for Santa.

My fellow sketchers

                                                           Happy Holidays to all!!