Inside and Outside Urban Sketching

After days of rain, Monday in Portland was mostly sunny. My husband and I took advantage of the weather to walk over our newest bridge, Tilikum Crossing. (This is the one bridge that might escape destruction should the predicted huge earthquake occur.) As it was Martin Luther King day, many people were out enjoying their walks in the sunshine. After taking in the view from both sides, we finished up with a coffee and snacks from Elephants Cafe on the west side. There was just enough time to get in a sketch.

On Saturday, the Urban Sketchers of Portland met at Union Station for a sketch crawl. Again, with the holiday weekend, there were sudden arrivals and excited greetings of travelers.

This sketch was made at f & b cafe inside Rejuvenation Hardware, but if you know the barista, you won't recognize him here. I changed his mutton chop sideburns to a full beard (among other things) and the poor customer is made of parts of at least two different women.

West Coast Sketchcrawl

Portland was host to the 2nd Annual West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl this weekend and it was a blast! It started with a portrait party at Ringlers, where we quickly sketched each other as met each other.

 

 

The next day, we met in front of the Portland Art Museum for some sketching along the park blocks.

I started with the patio of the Oregon Historical Society and then I sketched some fellow sketchers.

I unintentionally slimmed down the statue outside of the art museum...

In the afternoon, from our base camp, I got in a partial sketch of Roy Lichtenstein's Brushstrokes sculpture.

As the afternoon got hotter, I took shelter inside, sketching sculptures in  The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden exhibit. I had a hard time with the face of this goddess, but I got some friendly help from Dominique, a sketcher and teacher from San Diego. 

There wasn't time to finish the fawn, because it was out to the patio for a final group sketchbook sharing and saying goodbyes.

It was great to get together with about 100 other sketchers who came not only from the west coast, but the east coast as well. There were new faces as well as old friends. The enthusiasm for sketching and the marvelous results were truly inspirational.