Looking Back on May

Iris bed at PSU, Walk of Heroines

Ladd's Addition with a messy sky.

I think most of the above sketches are self-explanatory. This next one, the grid, is my attempt at sketching a very large and extremely colorful set of paintings by David Hockney on display at the Portland Art Museum. Matching up the lines from rectangle to rectangle was something like doing a jigsaw puzzle. My brain got a workout.

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!

A Week of Random Sketches

Crosshatching: Some people love to do it. They find it meditative, like knitting. I knit, but I don't much like to crosshatch. Still, I keep thinking there must be something to it, so I try again.

It's January, it's raining and I look around the house without much inspiration. I drew the bathroom sink...

the pillows on the dresser top....

corners of the living room....

until just playing with a grid was the most satisfying.

I went to an exhibit of Japanese prints at the Portland Art Museum. I've always loved them, but this time I noticed that they don't have very accurate perspective and they don't usually have shadow, but the composition, line, shape and pattern are wonderful. I was thinking about the prints when I drew my favorite drawing of the week, without shadows and with very little regard for size and dimension. I enjoyed drawing the patterns and going over the lines and crossing them...but not really crosshatching:)

Shoe Grid

Cute Shoes...Monday, I went out with friends and we went shoe shopping (or at least looking and trying them on). They were real  shoe connoisseurs compared to me  and I tried things that I normally wouldn't look at. Tuesday, I went shopping again and this time I found a fairly practical pair and bought them.

I remember as a kid, I usually had just a few pairs of shoes at a time: oxfords (groan), red ball Keds (fun), patent leather Mary Janes (for dress-up like recitals), and flipflops (called thongs, then). I loved trying on my mom's fancy high heels. Now, I just want something comfortable...and kinda cute.

Jazz faces, Coffee Heads, Small Objects and Another Grid

As part of the Portland Jazz Festival, Duo Chronicles was playing at the Benson Hotel.

The Portland Urban Sketchers had a sketchcrawl that never left Stumptown Coffee Roasters since it was, once again, very cold outside. These are my sketches of a few of the people out for coffee this weekend.

 At home, I added a couple more pictures to my sketchbook of grids and small objects. Some of these shells were from the Caribbean. I think I need to go back there to get some more. Sun...warm ocean...walking in the sand...it all sounds very enticing right now.

Old Grids, New Year

                       

                 Sometimes, it's fun to draw little pictures in a grid. (These are from quite awhile back.) 

This one was inspired by a commercial card 

of faces in black, white, and gold.

This grid was filled while watching Poirot on t.v. 

(I think he was actually a detective rather than an inspector.)

Most of his expressions were conveyed via his terrific eyebrows.

       And this grid was drawn while watching Lawrence of Arabia.

Maybe I'll make a calendar grid and add one little picture to represent each day ( A minimalist approach to drawing or keeping a journal. Sounds doable. )This could be the right day to start a project like that.

     Happy New Year!