The Paddock, Eugene, OR

What are we doing in a bar? Well, other than consuming good coffee and food, I mean. Turns out we found things to sketch, of course.

You might have known we’d head for the light! Barb Sh, Ellen, Penny, Laura, Marsha, Bev, Sandy, Serge, Erik, Hugh, Lealan, Wanda, Zoe.

        Wanda was mesmerized by a photo of reflections in glass. Zoe had a sketch she’d done of her dog. Wanda’s glass sketch is at the bottom.

        Marsha decided the only way she’d get her “model” to hold still was to take a photo! Don’t you like the way she framed her sketch?

        Meanwhile, here’s what the “model” (Erik) was doing – trying to capture the morning fog! OH MY GOSH.

         Lealan has an intense look of concentration, and does it ever pay off in her vivid sketch of Bev & Erik – love that wonderful background.

     Jane sketched the condiment tray when she wasn’t taking photos. She colored it later with Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle pencils.

        Bev sketched the little box of candies that Laura brought, then added sketches of what she saw around her. She has a great style.

        Penny sketched the candy box, too, along with the teapot, etc. She used a water brush on the calligraphy marker lines to pull out color!

          Speaking of color, Serge continues his discipline of practicing watercolor techniques – put a line down in water, then drop color!

        Hugh’s a color fan, too – first acrylic markers on black, then pen and watercolor – interesting landscape contrasts between them.

        Sandy started drawing people, then the Duck poster on the wall with watercolor & white marker. Here’s her finished watercolor sketch.

         Laura was looking outside at the lighted patio area – she picked a perfect pre-stamped page for her sketch, bringing on the light.

        Ellen’s on a special mission, sketching each of her sons tipping their dad’s hat in a tribute to him. What a wonderful keepsake to create.

        Barb Sh did a sketch with text about her ink bottle holder, chose her next subject, and started in with dip pen and ink. She’s so clever.

        Daisy did the coffee in front of her, then the 3′ metal rooster on display. Her watercolor treatment really is delightful. Nice work!

Hugh said, “Let’s do a gallery walk!” So we commandeered the billiard table & put out our sketchbooks for all of us to see!

Tradewinds @ Jiffy, Eugene, OR

It was a little cooler here this week, so all 18 of us sketched inside!

      Wanda, Marsha, Bev; Jim, Laura, Hugh, Ken; Penny, Barb So, Sandy, Satoko, Barb Sh, Laura. (Missing: Ken, Lealan, Serge, Jane, Daisy.)

        Wanda is new to our group, and came with photos to draw. She may be new to us, but she clearly has developed skills!

      Marsha is really branching out in her sketching – this is not a simple object.  Her sketch of Jim and Hugh within the context is alive!

      Speaking of alive, Bev’s succulent sketch is sure alive, nicely complemented by her sketch of the people beyond Jim’s back.

        Daisy is having such fun with continuous line sketching. She also brought an “add a page” book for travel sketching – neato!

      Jim astonished us with his quickly done sketch of the refrigerated case in front of him, then on to a landscape sketch from a magazine.

     Hugh’s still askew, doing an interior sketch at a diagonal slant – wow!

    Jane borrowed Katie’s squares format to do little vignettes of what she saw around her, then a background of the logo. Does it work?

        Serge did two very different sketches of the scenes at Tradewinds, borrowing the squares idea for window frames. Yes, it works here!

       Barb So resorts to a favorite sketch topic – the people around her!

        Barb Sh had an Elegant Writer sketch, then a folded two-way sketch. Then she began a delightful sketch of another sketcher – Sandy!

       Penny took the opportunity to sketch the items on the table in front of her, including Lealan’s hat and sketchbook. Love that hat.

      Laura sketched what was on the table in front of her, and then began a mystery sketch…you’ll have to come back to see what it was!

         Sandy did a sketch of Laura behind plants at the table, and then of Hugh and Erik. Did I say we frequently sketch each other? Oh yes.

      Satoko is fast at capturing a bit of a scene around her, and includes values hints, too. We love having her sketch with us.

        And here’s what Erik, Ken, and Lealan were sketching. Clever folks.

Tradewinds @ Jiffy, Eugene, OR,

“Outside” sketching (with the heat blowing on us): Bill, Ellen, Jim, Ken, Erik, Barb Sh., & Jane behind the camera. Wonderful sun on us.

Inside sketching: Marsha, Katie, Bev, Jude (& Daisy later).

          Ellen is new to the group. When asked if she usually works with pencil/graphite, she replied, “No. I’m a potter!” Great job, however.

          Bill had the perfect pre-stamped page to sketch a music conductor (wow, look at those hands!), then back to his favorite: portraits.

        Jim’s imagination took off on his fence stamped page! He showed us a trick to painting without dragging your hand through wet paint.

        Jane said, “I’m done!” “Oh, no you’re not,” said Ken. “Give me that thing.” And he proceeded to add trees in the negative space. Wow.

          “Here, you work on mine,” Ken said to Jane. So she added the logo and name to his chair sketch while he worked on hers. Fun time.

       It takes a lot of pressure to get the rich wax crayon coverage Erik likes. Why does he keep doing it? Because he’s terrific at it!

          Barb Sh wanted to use a dip pen, and found this gizmo to hold her ink bottle. Subjects: Erik & Ken. “Yep, that’s me,” Ken said.

         Marsha brought a doll in a Japanese kimono which she’d had for a long time, cautious about trying to do a drawing of it – ta dah!

        Bev drew the potted succulent on the table, the the Japanese doll from a different angle with her head turned. Delightful pages!

        Katie keeps adding little vignettes to her page of frames. The one today was the delicious scone she had. Next the store logo?

        Jude was mesmerized by the wine bottles in the shelf display.  The questions: do them all? what about the bottoms? Pure whimsy wins!

        Daisy started out doing a “blind” drawing (not looking at her page), then another looking, a loose watercolor, and the store logo. Yes!

Jane’s place, Eugene, OR

It’s become an annual event – bring your sketchbook and put stamps or spray swatches or patterns on pages ahead of your sketching! Here’s a view of the stamping table with the sprayers in the mirror.

         Ken was the master demonstrator with the compressed air sprayer using Copic markers for pigment. Yes, we’re all fascinated!

        Most of the rubber stamps were background texture, with some patterned stamps to add for page decoration. Oh, what to do!

      Daisy brought some stamps, too, and the curiosity  stamping was on!

        Jane closed her book after spraying a stencil using a Tsukineko spray bottle – oops, easy to get too wet, as Erik saw, too. Penny did better.

       Penny also tried the pressurized sprayer, as did Barb So after tips from Ken.  Tricky to get the right distance & keep the stencil on.

        There was a whole lot of action going on – Hugh & Sandy did teamwork on one, then Lona did one on a postcard. How clever.

       Marnie had a previous sketch done which she decided was just right for stamp action – nice design going there! Hugh tried that, too.

        Jim and Lona took their stamped/sprayed pages and utilized them for background and framing for  a sketch – so unusual and fresh.

          Then Sandy discovered a new use of marking pens and stencil – wow! Barb Sh showed Erik her dimensional paper journal, and Penny J reverted to (gasp!) plain old sketching. What a morning.

We had been assured that Tradewinds was going to be open on January 1st, but when folks arrived they found it wasn’t so. Did that stop them from sketching? No! “Begin the year as you wish to continue,” Marsha said!

     Daisy and Marsha headed for Market of Choice. Daisy wants everyone to note that she started the year eating vegetables: spinach and kale pastry! Marsha faced “fear of the blank page” with admirable accomplishment – sketch what’s in front of you! Great!

      When Jude and her friend Wanda showed up, they solved the problem by going to Hideaway Bakery, and sketched an antique store item Wanda brought with her. Nicely done!

Sketchers like these are clearly resilient and determined. Way to go!