New Day Bakery, Eugene

Here’s the gang, looking one way down the table, then the other, and then in the other room altogether! Many people, different tools, too.

      Helga is using simple graphite pencil, although she tells us she has actually ordered some paint supplies and looks forward to them!

            Sandy is using pencil, too, to work on the concepts behind perspective, with her husband Hugh giving her some pointers.

        Here you can see the results of Barb Sh using water soluble graphite, which becomes permanent when you put water on it – no smearing!

     Marnie was working on a portrait of Katie, using graphite, which delighted Katie so much she had to take a photo of it!

        Katie put masking tape down for borders, anticipating watercolor, but began her sketch with pencil first.

        Pencil first for Barb So, too, then watercolor to capture the color in her model’s sweater (Barb Sh was the unwitting model – thanks!).

         Laura does pencil first (good idea on a challenging perspective topic) then moves on to watercolor (see her little “makeup” palette).

        Danita is using watercolor “sticks” for the first time, trying different approaches and wishing at last for a sumi stick grinding stone!

      Marsha has a watercolor wash background all ready to go, and did her sketch of Jean (sitting across from her) in colored pencil. Nice!

    Jane, in a moment of rashness, went straight to ink, then watercolor.

      Hugh started out with wax crayons (ala Erik) on black, then on to ink.

      Erik’s mastery of the wax crayons is evident – look at that detail, too!

        Jean says she’s emulating Erik, but she does another technique, too, adding watercolor to her soluble wax crayons to blend & brighten.

     And then there’s Ken, noted for using whatever art tool is near at hand – pens, markers, watercolor backgrounds – WOW.

New Day Bakery, Eugene, OR

This is almost everyone who showed up today – two long tables worth! Barb Sh, Barb So, Marnie, Bev, Ken, Lee, Laura, Hugh, Bev, & Erik.  Not shown are Helga, Jane, Sandy, & Lealan.

       Barb So shared what she’d done in her sketchbook since last time, then went on to add little vignettes of what was around her here.

Bev had been to the Chinese Gardens – lovely pages! And she did lovely pages of the surroundings at New Day Bakery today, too.

     Ken sketched some of the group, while Jane caught a worker in action loading the display shelves – the gold coins? See below*

     Marsha found the scene beyond the window interesting, and then added the people inside around the window frame, too.

        Hugh was a window sketcher, too, adding people and then going on to sketch a dramatic photo on black paper – see results next week!

       Marnie did a table top still life, then the display of bakery goods across the room.

       Laura tried drawing a picnic table outside (ack! the angles!), and then focused on the table top items, too.

    Helga started out drawing a chair on the patio (now there’s a perspective challenge for you), then added from her imagination.    Not all were sketching the bakery – Barb Sh brought a series of 3 tiny sea urchins – look, the larger one shows how they’re in rectangles!

      Erik’s visual memory never lets him down – incredible scenes!

      And the gold foil covered coins* were courtesy of Lealan, in honor of Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras, and good luck coins for Chinese New Year coming up on Feb. 16.   Don’t you just love her celebration page?

Maude Kerns Art Center, Eugene, OR – http://www.mkartcenter.org

    There were 22 of us who gathered at Maude Kerns today to sketch their fabulous show – quilts, metal work, paintings, ceramics. There were lots of elements, for sure, including us!

        As you can see, there was a lot going on to sketch !

        Ken quickly sketched the sketchers. Satoko came in to share her recent paintings from her travels, then started sketching people, too.

      Lealan and Barb So got there early – here’s Barb’s sketch. The metal work sculptures were a real challenge, and she did them so well.

       Lealan was intrigued with the decorated table and chairs – so unique.

       Here’s Daisy’s take on one of the chairs and the table edge, with ceramic sculpture on beyond it.

            Laura, new to the group, dove right in, and when she was apologetic for her portrait sketches, Bev shared the sketch she’d done of Laura!

        Bev also did a series of quick vignettes, including a sketch of the people across the room sketching – recognize anybody?

        Katie filled her page with bits of what she saw: copper sculpture, ceramics, quilts, and even the lighting!

        Barb Sh’s technique with water-soluble ink really adapted itself well to the sculptures around the room. What a super effect.

        Hugh focused on scenes in the corners of the rooms – sculpture, and then quilts. Very different effects for very different kinds of art.

      Erik, a master with wax crayons, had a vision in his mind to sketch – Canada geese. This is going to be fascinating to see finished!

     Lona really brought the sculpture to life with vivid watercolors.

        Marnie loved doing a sketch of the organic metal sculpture.

        Sandy did a watercolor sketch of metal sculptures, then went on to capture the “standing stones” ceramic sculpture, too. Lovely!

    A combination of a metal sculptured basket, and two ceramic sculptures caught Marsha’s eye – wonderful colored pencil work.

      Jane was sketching the same items, different perspective & tools.

        Penny was quite productive – look how many sketches she got done, including a Native American doll sculpture from yet another room.

        Just down from Penny were Tomomi with her three children and her mother, all of them busy sketching. It was a joy to have them with us.

We had fun talking to them about different art tools – Barb Sh about her ink technique with a water brush, and Marsha about how you can use 3 colored pencils to do a whole color wheel (which one of the boys promptly did – way to go!).

Vistra Framing & Gallery, Eugene, OR

There was enough interest in looking at different lettering/font forms, that we set aside a whole meeting to explore.

Penny, Ken, Lona, Marsha, Katie, Bev, Marnie, & Barb Sh.   Jane was behind the camera, Erik had to leave early, & Lealan came late.

      Jane and Katie brought handouts of lettering styles, and Jane had a bunch of felt-tip calligraphy pens people were eager to try.

          Barb Sh started out exploring  Italic Cursive, then tried different embellishments, too. She’s going to have a lot of fun with this.

        Marnie marks off pen widths for making guidelines (5 pen widths for italic). She was a great example of how people got into the task!

      Katie demonstrated good lettering style – paper straight in from of her, model sheet to refer to, light lettering in pencil, then ink.

     Marsha immediately applied the lesson to her sketchbook.

Ken took a tip from the have fun idea of adding embellishments.

      Lona put in her typical vivid background, & shared her sketchbook she’s sending to the sketchbook library (wow!) with Penny.

     Barb Sh catches Lealan up on the lettering process – a great friend.

       Jane had taken calligraphy classes before, so she tried doing a new script, first with brush pen (oops, the slant was SO inconsistent!), then pencil, and finally with a small calligraphy pen with red ink.

        It was easy to see that Bev has had prior training and lots of practice, because look at how she applied all the options in her lettering!

Hideaway Bakery, Eugene, OR

        There’s a reason why we don’t qualify as official “Urban Sketchers.”  Part of their credo is to sketch from direct observation, not photos.

        I’ve totally forgotten where Barb Sh took this photo, but the modern art depicted was too tempting for her to pass up!

        Lona fell in love with this photo of tropical fish, and demonstrated her special technique to replicate coral at the bottom of the tank.

      Even Barb So used her photo as a resource for her sketch.

       Katie, too, used a photo of amaryllis blooms for her sketch (along with a font guide – more on that next week!).

     Helga had a photo of persimmons and passion flowers for sketching.

      Marnie continued her industrial sketching – yes, from photos.

     Hugh wondered why he took on the challenge of sketching this photo of an elaborate knotted cord. Wow.

      Finally! Daisy, Danita, and Jane sketched what was in front of them!

        Bev elaborated with her observations of people and things.

      What’s Sandy doing? Sketches of the group, of course!

        Marsha took a pre-stamped page and did a sketch of Lona.

         Lealan was busy sketching some of the group, when Danita brought over a demonstration of how to use dry wall tape – WHAT?!?!?

          Cut a page size strip, put it sticky side down, then with a pencil go across one of the line, skip down and repeat – voila! dotted lines.

        Danita generously demonstrated for others, and then they were off! Lona used watercolor, and Bev made all kinds of patterns with tools.

Stick with us – we’ll lead you astray (with sketching).