Containing Our Enthusiasm

5th St. Market, Eugene, OR

AllHere we are – Sandy, Ken, Satoko, Erik, Penelope, Barb So, Tricia, Barb A, & Jane (behind the camera) trying to contain our enthusiasm for sketching what catches our eyes and memories.

BarbSo-1  Erik-2  Tricia-1Barb Sommers , Erik Johnson, & Tricia Clark-McDowell have sketches simply contained by space available.

Ken-1    Ken-2Ken starts sketching Erik, then frames the sketch (note his use of a fabulous 1.3 pencil, a gift from his granddaughter, Fiona). His choice may have been influenced by Sara Midda – http://parisbreakfasts.blogspot.com/2013/06/sara-midda-south-of-france.html

Satoko-1     Satoko-2     Satoko-4Satoko sketches the woman in the booth beyond Tricia & Ken, then only colors part of the sketch; she adds a small box of color to another sketch, and Jane tells her to check out Mary Lou Goertzen: http://www.deadwoodtradingpost.com/MaryLou-Goertzen.html http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=mary+lou+goertzen

Jane-daily fascinationsJane says she’s been missing doing daily sketches, and plays with a possible sketch layout (but not monochrome sketches) for 2016, influenced by an Urban Sketcher from Russia, Ruslan Gonchar:

Pen-1books      Pen-4Ken_edited-1Then Penelope breaks out her examples of hand made little books, full of tiny sketches and enticing quotes, which gets Barb A & Sandy & Ken busy writing them down. It’s hard to keep enthusiasm contained in our group!

Seasonal Snippets

5th St. Market, Eugene, OR

BarbSh-1     BarbSh-2 Barb Shirk showed her work from last time, including a mandala she designed of her dachshunds chasing their tails (can you tell?)

BarbSo-1   BarbSo-2Barb Sommers put her sketches in little boxes, which led us to talk about spaces between boxes, things extending out of boxes….

Jane-1    Jane-2    Jane-3Jane decided boxes were a good idea! And here’s her final page.

Erik-1     Erik-2Erik revealed his planning process for his sketches, testing out color combinations, doing a rough sketch before a final color version.

snow-1   snow-2   snow-3Then the snipping process was revealed – Barb Shirk had designed snowflakes based on people’s names! We were astounded!

snow-BarbSo     snow-Penelope     snow-Tricia

snowcut-1   Sicily   snowfold-1And in-between the cutting and folding, Penelope and Tricia got an email from Winnie Givot – they’re going on the trip to Siciliy in Sept.!

Poinsettia-1      Pointsettia-2Meanwhile, back at the sketchbooks, Tricia and Erik work on their sketches of the  poinsettia on the table.

Sharing sketching here and there

5th St. Market, Eugene, OR

IMG_8669     IMG_8670Nothing like sharing an exciting trip – here Joby shares information about the trip she & her husband just went on to Oaxaca, Mexico, while Barb Sh., Jan, & Sandy look on with interest…maybe we might want to go there, too!

IMG_8672    IMG_8679Among the treasures she brought back were handmade books, with handmade papers and block prints – Sandy & Ken were particularly interested.

IMG_8676    IMG_8677Of course there was a slide show, too, featuring landscape as well as charming designs. We were quite enchanted by her presentation.

IMG_8673   IMG_8674   IMG_8675But best of all were Joby’s sketches done while she was there.

IMG_8686      branch_20151210_0001When Joby was done, Barb Shirk had the opportunity to share her latest sketchbook page with Ken. And here’s the sketch Jane did today with artifacts gathered from the 5th St. Market stairs!

Yummy Explorations

Cafe Yumm, 18th St., Eugene, OR

groups-1Here are some of the usual suspects: Erik, Penelope, Sandy, “Barbwires” So & Sh, along with Jane’s sketchable poinsettia.

BarbSh-1      BarbSh-2Barb Shirk brought us up to date on the “snowflake” sketch she started last time at 5th St., & another sketch page of emergence.

BarbSo-1   BarbSo-2   BarbSo-3_edited-1Barb Sommers shared her “unfinished” orchid, a complicated wire sketch, and started in on the little poinsettia.

Jane-1        Jane-2Jane used her water soluble Pentel Stylo pen, and added QoR watercolors. Then she compared her little Altoids Smalls palettes of QoR & Daniel Smith watercolors…hmmm…..

Sandy-1    Sandy-2It was great to have Sandy back with us, making the transition from sculpture to sketching with ease! See her sculptures on the “Arting About” menu tab above.

Helga -1     Helga-2New to our group, but not new to hanging around with artists, is Helga Wood – welcome! Here she’s sketching what’s in front of her.

Erik-1      Erik-2Meanwhile, Erik is off on an entirely new bent, inspired by one of his favorite artists – Lori Ellison. Keep an eye on this development!

BarbSh-3     BarbSh-4_edited-1Oh, and Barb Sh’s sketchbook continues to evolve – here’s the poinsettia added to a sketch of her mom & puppy, and now she’s busy adding color. Tiring? But ever fascinating