River

Every summer, I try to draw the big rock in the river by our family cabin. I never get close to it, but I'll keep trying.

Upstream from our part of the river is the Opal Creek Wilderness Area. This year, we hiked up to Sawmill Falls where I did a quick sketch that later resulted in a wonderful meeting with the couple perched on the top of the rock.

A sketch is always especially challenging when the landscape is breathtaking:)

Stone, Plants, and Water

Last Friday, a beautiful day in Portland, I visited the Japanese Garden with friends. As I sketched in the 'Dry Garden', I overheard two different tour groups. One of the tour guides said that a Zen garden always has the three elements of stone, plants, and water. Here the water was represented by the raked stones that formed concentric circles around the larger stones.

Paints aren't allowed at our Japanese Garden, so that may have been what drew my eye to the more monochromatic  and linear stone patterns in the pathways.

On Sunday, I went to our family cabin and saw those same elements of stone, plants, and water repeated in the natural setting.

From my spot on the bank of the river, I could see at least three kinds of stone...

the smooth faced, broken rocks,

worn, rounded rocks,

and rough, gravelly rocks.

..........

The summer is ending and the leaves are especially dry.

I tried something I don't usually do: I attempted a sketch of underwater rocks with six larger stones peeking above the waterline. Clearly, this needs more study next summer.

Stones, plants, and water

Elements of a Zen garden

And also, of here.

Rocks

This summer, I went to our family cabin, where I drew the big rock in the river. I draw this every year and I never capture its essence. This year, it looks like a resting mammoth.

I also drew on some rocks..

I drew a little Native American design and then decided to draw some things that I would like to have with me on the beach...

We took a day trip to the Oregon Garden...

and I drew some more rocks...this time Columnar Basalt...

Summer Sketches

 For the last several weeks we've had real summer weather here in the northwest, and I've spent quite a bit of it floating in an inner tube on a river. Needless to say, that's not conducive to sketching, but I have done a bit in the last month.

I experimented with shiny surfaces...

and painted art supplies...

I drew in a doctor's waiting room...

I went downtown and drew with sketching friends...

Portlandia sculpture

People watching an outdoor ballet rehearsal

I drew an Italian still life on a friend's patio...

 And I drew a little at our cabin on a river....

 Now, there's a chill in the air, so I think there'll be no more tube time for me this summer...but there should be more time for sketching--both are good.

Unfinished Summer Dilemna

I don't know if it's just me or if other people have lots of unfinished pages in their sketchbooks, too. I buy pretty nice sketchbooks that are light and easy to carry and that take watercolor, ink, or pencils well.  When I don't finish a page, I feel like I'm wasting the good paper. Still, there are many pages that I don't finish.

Portland Farmers Market, South Park Blocks

Lots of things can get in the way of a finished sketch: a car parks and blocks the view, I see someone I know and we get into a good conversation, the weather changes and I flee the scene, or most often, my subjects just walk away or I run out of time. In one case, the person who was going to receive the bouquet we had for her arrived before I was done with the sketch of her flowers.

My dilemna is deciding what to do with the unfinished pages.

on the cabin deck with an i-pad

Sometimes at home, I'll add color to them...

Elizabethan Theater, Lithia Park, Ashland

or words...

Portland Urban Sketchers

Portland Farmers Market, South Park Blocks

or I'll glue things on to fill the page.

Hood River Hotel from Celilo restaurant

Sometimes I have no desire to work on a sketch anymore.

North Park Lofts

Other times, I'm really stumped about how to finish a sketch later...What did the dappled sunlight look like? What was in the background? What colors were those flowers?

 Cabin

Beach by the river

Probably taking a picture would help, but usually  when I draw or paint from a photo, it just feels like I'm finishing a job, or doing work. For me, the spontaneity is gone along with my connection to it or my interest in it.

Lunch at Celilo, Hood River

Sometimes the solution is to return to the scene at the same time of day and hope for similar weather and light.

Laurelhurst Park over two days

 Looking at my sketchbook, I'd need to return to most of the places I've been this summer...and the light is fading and the leaves are turning and the records of the moments that passed will remain incomplete.  I'm sure there's some metaphor for life here.

Well, here are some sketches that I did finish--or at least, I stopped.

Paul Bunyan statue, Kenton Neighborhood, Portland

Room at the Winchester Inn, Ashland

Fatigued Shopper at Farmers Market

Lilies from the yard

Does anyone else have a solution to the dilemna of many unfinished sketches...or better yet, to an unfinished summer?