Sketchbook Pages

Last Friday was a beautiful springlike day and some friends and I headed for SW Portland for sketching. We started with coffee at The Hof, a friendly and cozy cafe in Goose Hollow.

When the sun warmed up, we moved outside to sketch the flower shop. Here, the proprietor treated us to Valentine's Day chocolates while we sketched. What could be more perfect for a sketching outing than sunshine and chocolate?

A delightful young woman on roller blades posed for us while sitting in the sun....

Saturday, the Urban Sketchers Portland group met in NW Portland. The day was chilly and turned rainy, so I preferred to sketch in Kiva Tea shop.

Fellow sketchers are always fair game for sketching...

Another day this week, the shadows on the Greek Orthodox Church caught my eye, while I was driving home.  I stopped to make a quick sketch and  realized how hard it is (for me) to make straight lines in a tiny hand-held sketchbook, even if the car was parked.

Like most Portlanders, I'm really hoping for some more sunshine. With all our rain, we are especially appreciative of sunny weather.

Urban Sketching

Today Portland's Urban Sketchers sketched in the Goose Hollow neighborhood. We met at The Hof, which is a "symbiotic companion" to the Goose Hollow Inn. It was a very friendly place with excellent hosts and tasty food. There were lots of interesting decorative objects (old toasters, egg beaters, and more) that will be fun to draw sometime when the weather isn't as nice at it was today. Today, there seemed to be lots of neighborhood regulars, as well as a mayoral candidate meeting upstairs.

A block away, I sat outside of a little park and drew this Victorian...

and later I drew this florist shop that is full of autumnal offerings. I'm not happy with the crosshatching that I did, but there's no going back when you use ink.

It was a beautiful day to be out sketching and it was fun to be with the group. I'll definitely be going back to this neighborhood, and the Hof again.