Here and There in Portland

 Waiting for the Climate March...

After the Climate March....

Jamison Square

Drinking coffee and sketching...

Listening to music and sketching audiences...

and always, flowers...

Plein Air

Last week, in a friend's backyard, we had a model for our sketching group to draw or paint.

Every time I drew the model, I unintentionally made her look different. Not her fault at all, since she was a terrific model. 

It's really a pleasure to sketch outside on a lovely day with friends.

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.

Autumn around Portland

The circus, Cavalia, set up their giant tent in NW Portland last week. According to the Oregonian, the tent weighs 5,000 pounds, is 100 feet high, has 71,000 square feet of canvas, and has seating for 2,000. When I was drawing it, I noticed that there are rope ladders hanging from each of the tent tops. Yikes!

This week, the Compagnons des Esquisse went to Cornell Farms to sketch their fall displays. This is a terrific nursery with a very friendly and knowledgable staff. They have wonderful arrangements of flowers, scarecrows, pumpkins, statuary, stunning trees and everything related to the garden. They were very inviting and let us spend a chilly, but sunny morning sketching.

I really liked this skeletal flamigo in his burlap basket of plants and gourds.

Lots of pumpkins....

This yoga frog seemed very serene in a bent branch chair.

If you find yourself in NW Portland on Barnes Road, check out Cornell Farms.