Eugene, Oregon, USA
We are a group of artists who came together on a 2006 sketchbook tour of the hillside towns in Umbria, Italy. Ken O’Connell(center), art professor emeritus at the University of Oregon, initiated the tour, and led it again in 2008 (when three newcomers joined us.) Starting at high noon above: Barbara Epplett, Jane Harrison, Erik Johnson, Hugh Larkin, Sandy Larkin, Joby Patterson, Bill Sperling, Eshkie Zachai, Barbara Aten, Anne Bonine, Jan Brown, and Nancy Burdick.
Our backgrounds and experiences differ, but we enjoyed sketching together in Italy so much that we continued to meet weekly after we returned home to Eugene (new friends & visitors are welcome). We sketch together, go to art events together, take classes and workshops together, share techniques and tools, travel together, and generally cheer each other on in our artistic explorations.
We have collected some of our sketches in four books, which can be previewed and ordered at Blurb.Com:
Top Drawers on Tour: Italy
Top Drawers on Tour: France
Top Drawers on Tour: Near and Far
Top Drawers Sketching in the Time of Covid
I just saw your show at Emerald Art Center and loved it. It’s wonderful work. I’ve been keeping sketch journals for over fifty years. I would be delighted to know more about the group and perhaps joining. Thanks and I look forward ti hearing from you.
Hi, I’d love to join your group, but I thought you might also like to do some sketches of my horse. I’d have to get permission from the barn owner, but she’s a Norwegian Fjord, which means she’s rather striking and also quite prone to standing fairly still if there’s grass to be had.
Cheers,
Deb
Dear Eugene Sketchers,
We here in Ashland have a “problem” and maybe you have a suggestion. Our group of sketchers ,in the past 18 months, has grown from 10 or so to be over 50, and more keep coming! We are victims of our success! Do you folks in Eugene have similar issues, and how are you handling them?
We sketchers here in Ashland have a rapidly-growing group; so rapid that some are wondering how your group handles situations when sketchers saturate the designated location, or parking facility. We were about eight a year or so ago and are now about 50, and growing!
Do you have any means to limit your group’s size?
Thanks you for Urban Sketchers of Ashland; we’re on Facebook.