Marsha’s yard, Eugene, OR

As we’re entering Phase 1 of safeguards for combatting Covid 19, we decided to try a limited gathering of the TDs – carefully keeping a 6 feet distance, deciding whether or not we need to wear a mask…

   Lona & Marsha, Marsha & Bitty; Jane behind the camera.

      Marsha is having fun playing with Caran d’Ache crayons on black paper, but always goes back to colored pencil on white. Lovely work.

      Lona starts with a line drawing in ink, goes to watercolor, then back to ink for definition. Marsha’s yard had lots of floral inspiration.

      Hair tied back, she’s ready to sketch. Bitty is having a great time with crayons on black paper, too – moves so smoothly, like butter!

      Jane took the opportunity to test drive all her fountain pens, making notes as she went. Then she made two quick sketches to show, too.

   Marsha & Bitty have very different styles, but same tools.

        Lona and Jane use ink lines very differently, too. Fun sketches.

Meanwhile, Bill was off sketching, too – he calls this one “Jerry and Dave’s I Scream.”

 Sandy was sketching in her own backyard!

While Hugh was reminiscing about a bike trip in France.

5th St. Market, Eugene, OR

This is a popular place, but we’re finding different views here – Sandy, Barb Sh, Laura, Jim, Erik, Bev, Hugh, Daisy, & Danita.

      Barb So, Laura; Erik & Hugh; Barb Sh checking things out with Erik.

      Bill challenged Barb Sh to sketch with her mouth last week, and this week she did it with her right foot! Then a sketch of people here.

       Barb So was sketching people here, too, but got frustrated with Hugh who kept changing positions. Finally, that leg is believable!

      It’s going to be hard for us to see Bev leave us, going back to Brookings. We’ve enjoyed her & her unique design style so much.

      No one was surprised to see Daisy sketching her pastry, but then she showed us her tool test palette on toned paper – what a clever idea!

      I think Danita has been watching Jim H, here taking on the cafe across from us in all its detail. She said, I added the blue backdrop.

      Hugh discovered that if he put a clear adhesive shelf paper on his iPad it gave him “tooth” to sketch on – and here’s the result today!

   Jane sketched her pastry, and then chairs, chairs, chairs. Doing the design in red, white, & black was fun to do, too.

      Jim H (remember Jim?) was doing the same scene Danita picked, but at a slightly different angle and style. Love the layered watercolors.

      Laura chose the chairs to sketch, too. They’re HARD to do, to get the angles right, the perspective. Who’d have thought. Nicely done!

      Sandy is having a wonderful time sketching people. What delightful grouping and lively color. Well done, Sandy. Don’t stop!

Along Came Trudy, Springfield, OR

We kind of filled the place up – Bill, Jim, Jude, Barb So., Lynda, Danita, Sandy, Daisy,  Bitty. But that’s not all!

  Danita, Daisy, Hugh, Bitty, Laura, Jude, Barb So., Jim, Bill, Lynda; Sandy, Erik, Marsha. And yet there’s more.

      Sandy was really concentrating on sketching Laura, who kept moving, she said! But she did a great sketch of her anyway.

      Marsha uses many mediums well – pencil, ink, and iPad! With the latter, she created a black page & then started erasing. Terrific!

    Erik used a watercolor wash for the dark sky, and doesn’t that tree just pop off the page! He keeps his tools sharp for tiny branches.

      Danita showed Erik some mesh drywall tape she brought to share. It’s repositionable on paper. Jane drew pencil guide lines with it, Barb Sh painted over it for the floor texture in her sketch.

      Oh look, Danita used it, too – perhaps these guidelines will be used for one of the quotes on the wall in the cafe.

   Barb Sh often sketches with her non-dominant hand, & Bill challenged her to draw with her mouth, so she did! What a fabulous spirited sketch of one of her dogs.  Here are Bill’s people sketches.

      Barb Sh found an old rusty water pump along with other items, sketched them with water soluble ink, took a wet brush to the lines.

   Daisy & Barb So discovered that Bev sneaked in, and they were eager to share sketches with her. Here’s Bev’s sketch.

     Daisy’s really getting good at sketching pastries! Then she did a charming sketch of a shelf display in the cafe.

    Barb So made great progress on her sketch, using a frame around part of it, then adding items from around the room. Interesting.

      Bitty is playing with some of the art tools she got for the toned paper workshop with Pat Southern-Pearce, surprised at color changes.

    Hugh’s getting to be an old hand at using toned paper. Here he used Caran d’Ache wax crayons, water soluble, but without water.

      Jane was using the frame template, laid it on top of the page & Bitty said “Leave it!” She liked the abstract peek-a-boo effect!

      Jim took a hint from Ken O and went back to a previously done sketch to add color. He’s not a clean palette believer, can you tell?

   Jude likes the soft effect she can get with colored pencils, and adapted the frame template for a rectangle page shape.

       Laura cleverly incorporated the leaf design from the cafe plates in her sketch along with shelf artifacts – lovely whimsical touch!

      Lynda did some nice pencils sketches of items, and said “I think I’m ready for ink.” We think so, too. She’s taking a class next week!

Along Came Trudy, Springfield, OR

Mostly all of us: Bitty, Daisy; Danita, Erik behind Hugh, Marsha, Katie; Peggy, Sandy, Jim H., Barb Sh, Bill.

      Daisy was really at task sketching everything that was in front of her, including the leaf design on her plate! Nice collection of sketches.

      Danita zeroed in on a part of a shelf display – wonderful job on those complicated cones!

      Jim H. took a little wider view of a shelf display – delightful in black & white, but it really comes to life in color.

      A display in the corner caught Sandy’s eye, and again though the jink sketch was wonderful, the color makes it sing.

         Jane sketched the same corner, then added things from other shelf displays. That dressmaker’s dummy was a challenge for lots of us.

      Lynda came a little late, so she didn’t get a lot of her sketch done, but paid attention to details and shading on the edges of things.

      Peggy is having fun playing with colored paper –  here sketching cotton bolls stuck in a metal container. What fun, indeed.

      Hugh consults with Marsha who has done digital sketching before, discovering the various tools, and here’s his finished sketch!

      Meanwhile, Marsha plays with water soluble crayons for an upcoming class in toned paper, then a portrait sketch in pencil.

   Bill got a little sidetracked by all the quotes on the walls before he was back doing portraits in ink. He’s so good at this!

      And Barb Sh. had a great time sketching her hand in various angles to play with the pre-stamped shells on her page. So delightful!

.      Helga finished her sketch from last week, then went on to sketch another woman on her Japanese scarf. Nice graphic touch.

      Bitty continued to work on sketches of the orchids which caught her eye in a photo. Very elegantly done!

         Katie & Erik crack up. She says she was busy copying the wall quotes in another sketch book, so only added two items to this one.

When Erik got through his chocolate cake, he went on to work on some landscape sketches from the files in his mind. Whatta guy.

Theo’s Coffee House/Whirled Pies, Eugene, OR

This time we came early enough to grab tables by the windows for the light! Katie, Marsha, Laura talking to friend, Peggy, Jude, Bev; Jim, Bill, Hugh, Carol.  A few more drifted in later.

      Bev, Peggy, Helga, Katie, Marsha,Laura, Jude; Bill, Jim, Daisy, Carol; Sandy & Hugh (who was getting ready to sketch with his iPad).

         Jim did another big view on his page from a different angle – here you can see how he framed the space, gradually adding detail to it.

        Jane went small on a big page – artifacts of the place in the frame format (you can see her inking the frames), then watercolor.

       Jude focused on some of the unique chairs in the cafe, a real challenge, using pencil & water soluble colored pencil.

         Katie, a former elementary school teacher, just had to sketch the colored abacus – she’s a master at controlling watercolor!

       Laura had a pre-stamped page to work with, and tremendous restraint as she sketched her cookie, water glass & coffee cup.

        Daisy did a knock-out job on her blueberry danish (she earned that bite!), then sketched a person nearby – ink and watercolor.

        Bev likes sketching people in context, so you get the whole shebang. Here she’s chosen to leave the people without color – nice touch.

      Bill, on the other hand, enjoys paying particular attention to people’s faces and expressions – he uses ink and watercolor.

     Carol is drawn to drawing people, too, and had a new breakthrough using the suggestion of continuous line on the paper.

      Marsha is another portrait sketcher. Her next project is using a photo of herself as the inspiration for a graphic design.

   Hugh tried sketching using an iPad. He chose my favorite people perspective, the rear view with no noses! Fun capture, Hugh.

        Peggy brought her own source of inspiration – a magazine photo of a scene she’s very familiar with (but couldn’t find her own photo).

       Sandy brought her own prop, a quince branch in blossom! After a quick pencil sketch, She finished the sketch with watercolor – nice!

       Helga brought her own prop, but forgot her reading glasses! Go for the big shapes, people said, and she did a terrific job!

     Lealan, a woman of many projects (she has a book to be published), dropped by to show us her latest sketch & plan for making a print.