5th St. Market, Eugene, OR

   Lynda, Katie, Penny & Barb So behind her, Erik, Hugh, Sandy, Marsha (& Jane). Marnie, Bev, Helga, Barb Sh.  Lealan came in a bit later.

Barb Sh caught us up on her recently finalized sketch pages.

      Katie was finishing up some pages in her sketchbook – lovely!

        Jane didn’t stop with one little sketch for once, but inspired by some of the other sketchers, she completed a whole page!

       Barb So sketched her muffin, while Penny added color to her bird.

       Lynda chose a city scape; Lealan chose an inside scape.

        Here you can see Erik’s technique of using layers of color to build up a landscape. Then he was on to a new sketch – check back to see this.

     Hugh did a record time sketch of his Danish so he could eat it, then moved on to his current favorite – wax crayons on black – so vivid!

      Marsha likes using colored pencil on a paper with some tooth, because it allows her to do a build up of color. Nicely done.

        Marnie was intrigued by an industrial photo, doing a line sketch first.

        Bev’s eye was caught by the display of colorful clothing, then she went on to work on the view Lealan did above.

    Helga was adding a lichen covered tree to her sketchbook.

Meanwhile, Barb Sh was sketching  yard art on a fence from a photo.

5th St. Market, Eugene, OR

    Ken operates on the fabulous cake, while the birthday girl, Lealan, supervises. She brought her own cake, too – what a great idea!

Seventeen of us showed up! Was it the promise of the cake? Or…

        The celebration didn’t interfere with Lealan’s sketching, either!

    Judy Densky, our sketch friend from New York whom we met in Italy way back when, was in town for the event, too.

    Katie captured the moment, and went on to design.

     And speaking of design, here’s Lona leading the pack!

    Danita had a photo to inspire her sketching today – layers & layers.

      Bev summed it up  – “Today’s group is better than any party!”

      Daisy did a great sketch of the cake, then of her tools.

    Penny picked up on Lona’s design, then was awed at looking at the travel sketchbook Barb Sh did of her Baltic cruise – it was a doozy!

      Here’s Ken appreciating Barb Sh’s book (it has a folding cover, then accordions out, sketches on one side, text on the other). Then she went on today to sketch some of our fellow sketchers.

    Marnie was sitting next to Ken, and got a quick review of his last sketch trip to Italy. Then she was back adding color to her sketch.

     Ken did a master quick sketch of a slice of Lealan’s cake – yummy.

      Hugh did a terrific job of sketching the challenging architecture.

        Marsha showed us how she utilized one of her pre-designed pages. Her sketch today was of cake, coffee, and Hugh. Nicely done.

      Erik has a thing about trees and crows – you can hear those birds!

      Barb So had fun sketching over some watercolor washes – the tree outside, the people inside – which made for  lively sketches.

      Jane sketched the tree outside, too, while Heidi sketched her coffee cup and the cake (of course)!  Full circle – and here we are:

1st Annual Top Drawers Workshop, Eugene, OR

We started the new year out with a lot of enthusiasm, new sketchbooks and blank pages to do pre-sketching preparation (which was new to a lot of us). What sketches will come of this?

   Sketchers eagerly gathered around tables to explore tools and techniques – blocks of watercolor wash, rubber stamping for borders, airbrush colored backgrounds, and spray using stencils. We had SO much fun, we decided it should be an annual event.

      Barb So started with a watercolor wash on a blank page, Marsha used tape to form a edge for hers, and Tricia snuck a stamp into her watercolor sketch of our feet!

      Daisy got us right into using rubber stamps to form page borders and to title our sketchbooks. Lealan loved the stamp variety.

      Lona and Marnie used a  stamp repeatedly to form a pattern, and Jane used a torn stick-it note stencil to spray her first page & added a stamp, then wrote the number of this sketchbook (35!).

      And speaking of using sprays, here are examples using a stencil, and using stick-it notes to create white spaces.  Another effect was created by re-spritzing. Hugh stencil was so juicy he used it to stamp it onto another page.

      Ken was the master teacher in how to use the airbrush setup with Copic Markers to give background to the page, and then do a sketch on top of it (even if you hadn’t planned what you were going to do).

       He had a very attentive group who were then eager to try it out.

      OK, here goes! Penny did airbrush on top of rubber stamps, Sandy made a border with hers much to Ken’s approval.

     Airbrush on top of rubber stamp, using a stencil, and finally using watercolor on top of the airbrushed background. Zow.

We had a blast!

Mes Amis Cafe, Eugene, OR

It was the day after Christmas, but 11 of us showed up anyway to sketch at this delightful little coffee shop: Daisy, Bev, Lona, BarbS, Erik, Marsha, Ken, Hugh, Sandy, (Jane with camera, Lealan later).

        Daisy was sitting directly across from this charming snowman display, but she wasn’t the only one to sketch it!

        Bev saw it at nearly the same angle, but she added some designs of her own and went on to sketch what was outside the south window.

   And speaking of windows, here’s Erik’s beginning sketch of a window in his mind’s eye. More to come with this one!

     Lona was preoccupied with sketching a favorite cup from a photo, but did it with her signature colorful background.

          Barb So had her back to the snowman display, so she sketch what was in front of her – a lovely little bouquet, and Bev’s cookie!

    Daisy’s friend Lynda came to see what we did when we got together, and was intrigued by the different sketching styles, including Hugh’s.

     Hugh seems to be enjoying the contrast of sketching on black paper, as well as on white with his markers & vibrant wax crayons.

       Marsha is really immersing herself in color, doing a study where she utilized a quilting pattern for background texture, and color chart.

               Jane was at the end of the table, and this is the angle she saw of the snowman display, with all the detail she just couldn’t omit.

      Sandy was seated further around the end of the table, and this was her perspective on the snowman display.

    Lealan sat next to Hugh, so her chosen sketch view was of the condos out the north windows – love that color block & line sketch.

      Then Sandy started sketching a painting on the wall – what a cutie! We really enjoyed being here, and look forward to coming back.

Allan Bros. Beanery, 5th St., Eugene, OR

We really spread out all over the place today! Nearly all of us can be seen here starting left: Barb So (with Barb Sh beyond her), Daisy, Sandy, Marnie, Helga, Lona, Katie, Hugh, Erik, Bev & Ken.

      Sandy, Barb So, Satoko, Barb Sh, Daisy, Marnie; Helga, Lona, Katie, Hugh, Erik; Satoko, Bev, Ken.

        Barb So starts her sketch with an inked line drawing, Sandy with a new sketchbook and inspirational sticker, and Erik reminisces.

       Barb Sh explains about her signature style, ink then watercolor brush to bring out the tones, and proceeds to demonstrate.

     Daisy adds more detail before she will go on to add color.

      Marnie wondered how to fix some perspective issues – more ink, add color! Wow, did that ever do the job! Nice work.

   Jane was sitting across from Marnie, looking through the windows of the store next door. One light led to another, then color & tone.

        Helga started with a simple plant, then moved on to add the challenging architecture, then added tones & shadow. That did it!

      Lona must be the queen of color – she made this sketch sing!

      Katie wondered why she picked the building architecture to do, but see how adding the shadow tones made it all come together!

      Hugh started out with white jelly roll pen, added the wax oil crayons, and look how that sketch of arches pops! He says it’s Erik’s fault.

      Bev dove right into the interesting angles of the beams, then couldn’t resist sketching the bear in it’s charming pose.

Satoko’s attention was captured by the ceiling fans and lights framed by the windows. The hatch marks bring depth and perspective.