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.

>>>*<<<

Summer into Fall

Some of the best sketching days are now when the air is cool in the morning and the sun is shining. 

Architecture and some Chairs

With a sketching trip in England coming up, I've been preparing by drawing some architecture.

On the Bishop's Close sketch, I practiced grays (ultramarine blue and Quinacridone Sienna) and discovered that I love Arches Watercolor Paper (several grades above my usual paper).

The Firehouse Restaurant is the first of a series of firehouses that some other sketchers and I are beginning.

These are some quick pen sketches made after going to the Farmers Market by PSU.

Parts of the Winchester Inn in Ashland were under construction when we stayed there last week.

It was wonderful to sit under an umbrella or on the porch sketching, until the heat got to be too intense. Then we headed for the plays, movies, or the air-conditioned shops.

Here's a final sketch with no architecture, but some yummy cherries and bright snapdragons.

Crow Magic

Saturday, after our shopping at the PSU Farmer's Market, I sat on a shady bench and drew part of the very complex, Simon Benson House.  When I was downtown the next day, I decided to add the nearby Benson Bubbler to the facing page. As I was drawing, a crow landed on the fountain and started drinking from it. I sketched it in quickly, but then another one arrived. The first crow fed water to the second crow! I'd never seen anything like this and watched in rapt attention. Then I decided to try to get a photo, but it was too late. A large group of cyclists came and I watched the crows fly off. Luckily, I had enough of an image in my mind to add what I remembered of the second crow.

The bicyclists in the tour group parked their bikes around the fountain and got drinks. They didn't notice me and hadn't noticed the crows, but they heard various facts about Simon Benson and the Benson Bubblers. About half the information was accurate. (I was reminded of a fellow sketcher who used to make up information when he was a tour guide in another well-known city.)

It was another moment to be glad to be a sketcher who plants herself down for half an hour at a time and carefully looks at something. It's always revealing of something new and sometimes, like this day, it's just magical.