New Day Bakery, Eugene, OR

We got so involved looking at each other’s sketchbooks the editor forgot to take pictures for awhile! So you’re missing Barb Stevens-Newcomb’s Rogue River sketchbook (done with hints from the OAS class from Penelope Youngfeather), and Jane’s & Tricia’s Italy sketchbooks. Sorry. And then Barb S-N had to leave early, too.

Here’s the stalwart crowd: Erik, Jan, Tricia, Penelope, & Jane behind the camera.

    Jan said she was in an Italy mood, and tried to apply that notion to her sketch of the nearby geraniums – love the red frame!

      Erik started with a simple contour line, then borrowed an black brush pen to add a dramatic negative space to his sketch – wow!

          First Penelope got out her water brush, but then quickly began sketching the people at the table – even got color on them.

     Meanwhile, Jane messed about with a sketch in her Italy sketches.

    And so did Tricia!Just can’t leave those olives alone!

And this just in by text from Sandy, who’s taking a sculpting class at LCC – this is her first class! Stay tuned for more.

New Day Bakery, Eugene, OR

Getting everybody from this group to be in town at the same time is improbable. But Ken & Jane are back from the sketchbook trip in the Umbrian hills of Italy!

Ken O’Connell, Barbara Sommers, Jane Harrison, & Erik Johnson – all happy to be back together again (Sandy Larkin at the camera).

   And speaking of Sandy, here she is smiling to have sketched her blueberry scone before she ate it!  Hooray! A tasty triumph!

       Erik sketched his tiramisu cupcake (!), and Barb sketched what was right in front of her – those rounded-square plates are a challenge.

Ken shared his sketchbook from Italy, and showed how a sketch isn’t finished until you decide you’ve added enough dark – more dark!

   Jane looks perfectly composed, but her sketch from out the window is a little…ah…tweaked in terms of being totally on the level.  Ah, well, it was a loooonnngggg trip home. Welcome back.

Jan and Barbara were off to a quick start; setting to their respective drawings immediately.Barbara showed us her drawing of a visit to a giant sculpture head.Jan started working on some trees and foliage around the Market sign in front of us.Sandy arrived on her bike Friday to take a picture of two TDs hard at work, and one of them relaxing!She started drawing the table lamp in front of us, and was frustrated by perspective.Erik did a couple of short sketches illustrating the basics of one and two point perspective, but we all pretty much decided that since Cezanne’s time, there wasn’t much to be gained from slavishly using rules of that sort.  Just draw what you see!

 It was an incredibly beautiful morning at the Hideaway bakery on Tuesday.  Sandy and I were the only Top Drawers to show up; we were speculating that it might have been the fault of the beautiful weather.  But the two of us had a very nice conversation on our own.Sandy worked on a nice little drawing of the jade plant on the our table.  She was talking about adding color later.  Erik was a little remiss as usual in getting decent pictures of our work.

Sandy took a nice picture of me!

And embarrassingly, my photo of my own work turned out pretty well.

To start the story in the middle of the  morning’s drawing session: our work was interrupted by wailing sirens coming down Oak Street and stopping right in front of our cafe.  Evidently the coffee was too strong for an elderly  woman who fainted.  Her companions called the ambulance but thankfully, she seemed to be in fairly good condition, since the emts were quite calm after measuring her blood pressure.  They nevertheless took her away in the ambulance.

Our attention was not much distracted it seems.

The morning began with Erik Johnson and Barbara Shirk and Barbara Summers occupying a new spot on the veranda for a different view of The cafe and the neighborhood.  This shot was taken by Penelope who arrived a little later–but before the ambulance!Barbara Shirk was working on a beautiful drawing she started the week before of a woman and her dog.  She added some people in the windows behind them.

Barbara Summers was busy at an interesting drawing which was unfortunately way too light to show up in the photos we took…..

Erik worked on a drawing that showed up a little better in a photo, but not much.

Penelope bought a chocolate cream cheese cupcake, which she cut in half, planning to draw half and eat half.  Unfortunately, she started drawing both with only a small bite out of one of the pieces, and ended up taking most of the whole thing home.  It was one of the most amorphous subjects ever attempted by our little group….

When Sandy arrived she didn’t have time to do any drawing, But had a very pleasant (and exciting!) visit.

And to show what the Top Drawers in Italy are up to, here is a page from Jane’s sketchbook:
And here is Ken sketching at Carsulae: