Friendly St. Market, Eugene, OR

The decor set the mood at Friendly Street Market – fall is here!

      Penelope spread out an array of leaves she’d picked up on her walk, much to Ken’s and Tricia’s appreciation!

       Penelope’s workshop share had Ken clicking away to save a sample; then Barb Sommers got some advice about carousel animals.

         Then someone noticed the sun was glowing outside, so off we went – here’s Tricia, Barb So, Barb A, Penelope, & Barb Sh (getting those leaves into her preexisting journal page).

      Penelope & Tricia were enthralled with the autumn leaves.

      Barb So tackled the plant on the table – what a challenge! She did it!

    Barb A brought a little basket of tiny persimmons to paint – how charming is that! And here’s Jane’s sketch of the market decor, finished at home (because she had to leave early).

Outside Market of Choice, 29th & Willamette, Eugene, OR

It was a lovely fall day to gather on the patio under the trees, but several things twisted our minds…

    To begin with, Barb Shirk showed a recent “blue” ink sketch where the ink turned purple, and Barb Aten surprised us with windmill sketches from her recent travel to Sicily. (They have windmills ?!)

    Then Barb Shirk had us turning over and around with her cubed art (more on that later – stay tuned!), and Tricia brought out twisted gourds from her garden that had her & Jan immediately sketching!

    While Jane couldn’t resist the gourds, Ardas Calhoun (new to the group from the last trip to LaRomita in Italy) had already started sketching a tree, using little pencils purchased at Tarquinia, Italy.

   While Barb A sketched the gourds, Penelope perused Barb’s sketchbook from Sicily, then started sketching a map of Sicily which we all agreed was an omen that she would certainly go there, too!

Market of Choice, 29th & Willamette, Eugene, OR

We’d announced our meeting was a gelato tasting at MOC…and there it was, alright. But it’s too early to eat gelato at 9:30 a.m., we decided.

     So the “Barb-wires” (Barb Shirk & Barb Sommers) started us off artistically by showing work they’d done recently.

Ken, as usual, had a book he just had to share – this on letters from famous people. Jan, Barb Shirk, Penelope were fascinated. Tricia and Barb Sommers were otherwise occupied.

      Then Ken & Penelope joined in with work they’d been doing.

     Penelope also shared her page of people, which was also the current focus of sketching for Jan and Barb Shirk.

     Here’s the view of what they were doing – Barb building on a background sketch, and Jan trying to find the perfect shocking pink.

      Meanwhile, Barb Sommers was sketching the autumn decorations, as was Tricia (along with a hint of what goodies got consumed).

       Jane (wearing her Susan Detroy design t-shirt) dutifully sketched the decorations, too, as well as a woman across the room, eating…

You guessed it! GELATO!

Oddly enough, only Tricia (above) and Jane ate any gelato, caught up in reminiscing about being in Italy (where it was ever so good!).

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.