All posts by Marsha McCloskey

Sketchers Revert to Childhood with Great Joy!

The Dancing Weasel Toy Shop, Eugene, OR

        Danita invited us to sketch in her toy store – here she is showing a recent watercolor sketch, and chortling at Ken immediately at work.

          Ken said he only brought a yellow marker, so his sketch choice was dictated by something yellow – a fun choice, as it turned out!

We fit right into the space – in front are Sandy, Hugh, & Ken.

        Ken checks with the group in back – Barb Sh, Barb So, Danita & Bev; & Hugh welcomed Erik to the event – where to begin to sketch!

   Sandy & Barb A enjoyed the scones Danita provided for us, then Barb A chose a gorilla costume arm for her sketching subject.

      Sandy focused in on two darling little dolls – turned out well!

      Hugh’s enjoying the drama of white on black for his sketches.

     Erik found a little doll house scene to sketch.

        Barb Sh was intrigued by the articulated wooden dragon.

    Jane sketched a smaller dragon, then tried some new metallic pencils with a sketch of some of the large lego blocks on the table.

        Barb So found the little alligator to her liking – nice sketch!

        Bev, never one to shirk a challenge, took on the hanging wall display, and did it ever turn out well.

        Lealan saw the little cookstove, and that was all it took to get going.

      Daisy couldn’t just do one item, they were all too tempting!

      Finally Danita gave herself a break from hostessing to sketch the row of large stuffed toys – she wanted to do the pineapple, she said.

And did I mention music? The wheels on the bus go round and round. The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout. OK, so we sang along!

Sketching and Sharing – things we do well!

Café Yumm, 18th St., Eugene, OR

     Marsha, Lona, Daisy, Penny, Erik, Bev, Hugh, Katy, Barb Sh, Ken; Katy, Ken, Marsha, Lona, Penny, Erik, Bev.

     Erik, Bev, Hugh; Katy, Ke, Barb Sh, Barb So, Marsha, Lona.

Then Annie and Judith stopped by on their world travels to say “Hi!”

      Bev came in costume! The Barbs show each other their sketches.

Barb Sh finished her sketch of a recent concert at the mausoleum.

    Penny quickly did an inside sketch, and Bev sketched the outside of the cafe. Nice!

     Daisy sketched the counter, and a pig toy in a nearby store window.

       Erik was working on a moonlight picture, while Hugh captured the new planting box outside the cafe.

     Sandy was working on a loose watercolor sketch of birds on a rail.

     Katy was baffled about how to finish her page – Ken suggested she add some words, and so she did!

    Marsha started working on a colored pencil drawing – see what she did in a recent class. What a wonderful autumn leaf rendition!

       Lona used her pencil lid to get some straight lines, and Tricia continued her exploration of loose watercolor.

         And what Jane did was share an interesting sketch done by Urban Sketcher Tarek Souissi from Tunisia. Here are the tools he used.

There’s Always Something to Sketch Around Us!

5th St. Market, Eugene, OR

    We love the tables in the window – Hugh, Sandy, Barb Sh, Daisy, Katie, Erik, Bev, Penny & Hugh again (with Jane behind the camera).

        Hugh was busy sketching the whole time! First the outside structure, then the memory of a neighbor’s tree, and the last page!

        Jane said she bought the fruit Danish purely for modeling purposes (but it also gave her an incentive to finish the sketch!).

      Sandy did the same with a great looking Bear Claw.

        Barb Sh found elegance in the mundane, as she added cafe chairs to her existing sketch. Look how they came to life with color!

        Daisy took the conversation about Urban Sketchers to heart and started sketching the heating vent above us – wow.

          Katie had a colorful page to show us, then went on to add a sketch from outside the window and started adding color there, too. Nice.

          Bev had pre-stamped her page, added the corn, and then the little toy Erik brought. “It’s not a squid! It’s an octopus,” he said. Oh.

              And on closer examination…Erik’s sketch starts to emerge, too.

     Penny started by finishing a sketch from home, then couldn’t resist the octopus, too, and the fascinating reflection on the table.

But wait, there are more! Satoko, Tricia, and Penelope (in constant movement) commandeered a table for sketching, too.

        Penelope brought her sketches from the forest fire in Central Oregon (the black was from burnt wood in her yard), then set to.

        Tricia caught us up on past sketches (including the twisty glass jar from Perugino), and then began an autumn watercolor sketch.

          Satoko showed Barb Sh photos of her Tuscany workshop site (next fall), then started sketching nearby people at the tables.

Then Barb Sh wowed us with the design she created to show off postage stamps that were just too interesting to throw away.

Packed in at Perugino’s

Perugino’s, Eugene, OR

Eventually, there were actually 14 people who showed up to sketch today, and heard Ken hold forth on interesting topics.

      Lona doesn’t believe in “sketch first, eat later,” but her sketch didn’t appear to suffer from it – vibrant and juicy!

           Jane was sitting next to Barb So, Bev, & Danita – her sketch.

     Barb So sketched her house, & Bev another Perugino scene.

    Danita dutifully completed her sketch before she ate her quiche!

       Ken is checking out the blue cords on the doorway, while Lealan looks and a finished sketch, & then does the “Easter” pumpkins.

     Hugh and Erik are into landscapes and trees.

     Erik’s friend Jean did a nice sketch of the gals at the table!

     And at the far table were Katie, Sandy, Daisy, & Tricia, but the photographer only caught Sandy trying to catch a moving model.

 

Sketching from Italy with Love

Perugino’s, Eugene, Oregon

First, the report from Italy:

This is Lealan’s accordion book summary – colorful and wonderful, just like the sketch trip with Ken to Umbria, Sept. 15 – Oct. 5, 2017.

And here we are with a little bit of Italy at Perugino’s: Hugh, Sandy, Lealan, Bev, Ken, Daisey, Erik (who had to leave early, & Jane behind the camera).

     Bev carefully laid out her sketch to a very nice effect.

    I I thought maybe Lealan was channeling Picasso when she picked up the brush pen, but wait, there’s more!

        Daisey chose the design on the table at first, and then went to a display on a nearby shelf – a bit more of a challenge.

        Ken often works out of several sketchbooks at a time, and this one had a background color application which he really made work.

Here’s what Sandy and Hugh had been doing when Jane walked in the door.

      

Then Hugh split off to do a sketch of what caught his eye when traveling in Europe.

        Sandy was eager to try out Jane’s new colored pencils – Caran d’Ache Museum Quality watercolors. Wow!

Between jet lag and the Italy group cold, Jane was barely comatose, so we’ll forgive her for only managing to do an almost readable color chart of her new colored pencils.