Jane’s Backyard, Eugene, Oregon

It all started out in the light – a lovely sunny day in the backyard, with Barb Shirk, Ken, Erik, Heidi, Barb A, Tricia, Patti McNutt, Sandy, Jan, Barb Sommers (& Jane behind the camera, of course).

Then Ken got out the free tools – what’s that, what’s that, how does that work – oh my gosh! Patti, Tricia, Barb A, & Sandy gather around Ken who’s sharing his bounty.

     And then the sketching began – Ken sketching with a purple ink pen because that’s what he had; Heidi with wax crayons, Barb A with watercolor, and Patti with pastel pencils (like Conté).

    Jan caught our hostess Jane & Qi in a quiet moment; Jane actually did manage to do a quick sketch of the pink strawberry blossom.

   After Ken took a look at his own work, he started circulating, and that ‘s when things started going dark.  Well, darker. Here with Barb Sommers, encouraging her to get darker values.

    He gave Tricia the extra tip of working other colors into the darker values to give more integration & life to the sketch – OH! she said.

    Barb Shirk gets darker line definition going, while Barb Aten & Patti add darker values to their sketches.

    Barb Sommers and Jan also added darker values into their work.

      Sandy, Erik, and Heidi getting serious – Erik’s sketch of Barb Shirk.

      Then it was time for the sketch sprawl – spread out your sketchbook, Ken said, and we did. After we all got a chance to look and make comments (see below), Ken said, this doesn’t mean you’re done. And he grabbed up a damp cloth someone had used with their watercolor and dabbed it on his own sketch, adding darker values around his original sketch. Ken’s ever the teacher, and we appreciate it!

Jane Harrison’s, Eugene, OR

Sitting on the back deck in Jane’s yard, slightly stunned by the lovely spring morning.

      Erik & Barb Shirk looking, looking; Sandy & Barb Aten focusing;
Tricia getting right into it, of course!

   And Erik is off!  Off on a memory of him & his Dad eating ice cream back in 1987.  What a great memory!

    Barb Shirk finished her sketch of the shooting star wild flowers, and added a stylized version from a book Heidi brought last week.  Then she started sketching a pine cone from Jane’s yard.

        Sandy and Barb Aten focused on the frog in the fountain, from slightly different angles but you could almost hear him croaking!

     Jane was intrigued with a montage format used by Ros Jenke (one of the Artist’s Journal Workshop artists on Facebook), so she printed out Ros’ sketch, and started playing around with the same style.    It was fun to see how the approach presented her back yard!

        Tricia had her own vignette montage twist with images in the yard.

Coffee Plant Roasters, Eugene, OR

We always enjoy picking up tips from one another – a chilly day, so it was good to be inside with good coffee, too! Sandy, Ken, Barb Shirk (with her back to us) Jan, & Barb Sommers (Jane behind camera).

      Sandy was busy replicating noted paintings from the calendar she got from Barb Shirk (a lot be learned in that activity!), while Heidi and Jan exchanged ideas about architecture & building projects.

      Barb Shirk had her finished snail to show, as well as her keep busy sketch from her day on jury duty.  Well, waiting to be on jury duty…

      When Jane took the picture of Barb sketching a wildflower in her sketchbook, she realized that she kept getting just slices of Barb’s face in photos, so here she is laughing – more than just a nose!

       Heidi was just testing out a new art tool, she said (the colored pencils by Staedler), turning out a lovely landscape in the process.

       Here’s what we were seeing out the window.  Sandy & Heidi were interested in the watercolor loaded brush pen Ken was using.

      Here’s the way Ken’s sketch of the tree started to develop.

      And here’s how Jan’s sketch of the tree developed.

      When Ken & Jan started comparing their approaches to sketching the tree, Ken said he’d been inspired by Jan’s sketch last week. Then Jan looked at her current sketch and was baffled about what to do to complete it.  Add a car, Ken said! So she did, and so did he:

At Barbara Sommers’ in Eugene, OR

   Barbara Sommers invited us to her home, and quite a crowd showed up! Sandy, Jan, Barb Sommers, Penelope, Barb Shirk, Jane, Erik; Ken, Barb Sommers & Barb Aten. She supplied home cooked biscotti!

   Barb Sommers showed us her version of the clothing store with ribbons from last week (remember Tricia’s?), and Penelope showed us her journal entries from her gardening & doctor visit last week.

     Barb Shirk had finished the lawn ornament she started, and then began to sketch from a photo of a wonderful snail – wonder how this will all work together…keep coming back to see!

        Erik had been talking about putting together the perfect combination of spring blooming plants in an imaginary yard:

      Jan was looking out the dining room window, and slowly the arbor-vitae appeared, and then the cars (which she said became Fiats!).

      Jane was enchanted with the images on her coffee cup – done first with pen, then markers, then water soluble ink.

       
Sandy started sketching Ken’s biscotti, then his sketch of the same.So then Ken drew a replica of his sketch in the space she’d blocked out for it on her page.

    Now, how to draw the hand drawing while holding the pen… Ta dah!

           Penelope drew both Ken & Sandy drawing the biscotti.  Barb Sommers drew not only the biscotti, but also the art tools.

      Meanwhile, folks couldn’t resist trying the various white pens Jane had brought – Penelope tried the Signo Uni-Ball, Barb Shirk the Sharpie oil based, and Jan the Sharpie water based.  Have to wait to see the results of using the Faber-Castell Pitt white pen, & the Bistro Chalk Marker by Marvy Uchida in our unending search for the perfect white for the perfect occasion.

5th St. Market, Eugene, OR

First, the catching up….

       Remember Erik’s from the last session? Here’s where the trial went!

      Ken had a perfectly good sketch, but gave in to water brush effects.

      Jane couldn’t resist playing with Jan’s tree model from last week.

       Here’s what Erik & Tricia did since last meeting.

Ken shared photos of charming sculptures done by his high school art teacher, Larry Goldade. Watch for a show at Watershed soon!

       Barb Shirk showed us her long hair dachshund sketch, and then the secret of her watercolor pencils – licking her water brush!

     Ken’s concentration on steadying his watercolor brush quickly got trumped by being able to share breakfast with Erik & Amy Gibson.

     Jan found her sketch models across from us – look what she chose to include and what to exclude, then check out Barb Sommers’ below:

     Sandy started with sketching people, but got distracted by a postcard Ken brought with a Geisha – how enchanting is that!

     Meanwhile, Tricia’s eye was caught by the colorful clothes outside the window, but what to do with all the space on the page? So she selected a portion of the ribbon display, and let some ends loose.