All posts by Marsha McCloskey

Jolly Time at Jiffy

Jiffy, Eugene, Oregon

    Looked who showed up at the new venue! Hugh, Ken, Tricia, Barb Sh, & Erik, then Penny, Hugh, & Ken (deja vu all over again).

   But who’s that beyond Erik? Danita Reynolds, new to our group, having fun, too. Glad you found us.

    While it is true that we talk and laugh a lot, we do sketch, too!

Sketch, Ken, sketch! (admiringly witnessed by Tricia, Barb Sh, & Erik)

   Sandy (mostly having been behind the camera), Hugh, & Ken. And here’s a sample of what Sandy’s been doing in her black paper book.

Look what the sun brought out!

New Day Bakery (in their lovely redesigned courtyard), Eugene, OR

    And they just kept coming! Jean, Erik, Hugh, Ken, Sandy, Barb Sh at first, then from the other end are Barb Sh, Tricia, Penelope, Sandy, Lealan, Jean, Erik, Hugh, Jan, Ken, & Satoko (Jane behind camera).

      Barb Sh needed a hat in all this sun, so she sketched Erik in his! Oh, that water soluble ink – love the effect of it!

       Erik & Sandy appreciated having their hats – can you tell what this is, Erik says….oh, a seagull! Of course.

        Sandy experimented with woodless colored pencils on black paper – it was dramatic, but she didn’t care for the light paper weight.

       Jean came prepared for the bright sun, and tried a simpler focus than the garden she did last time – with water brush exploration, too.

      Hugh was undaunted by the garden, however – see how fast it “grew” in his sketchbook, clear across two pages!

      Jane tried to capture a customer waiting for delivery of her order at  a nearby table. A friend asked, will you sell that to the cafe? Uh, no.

     Tricia chats a bit with Sandy, then tackles a loose approach to flowers in the courtyard, a different style than she usually does.

      Ken enjoyed deepening the colors for the iris in the garden, but then he also enjoyed recapping his presentation of Erik’s art show for Jan.

      “This is the last piece of art I did,” said Jan, who has been busy with distracting tasks. Then she went about testing her marker viability.

       Lealan and Satoko have both been out of town for awhile, but quickly got back into the spirit of sketching. Welcome back!

        Penelope was about to leave town to meet her new grandbaby, but stopped by to share her sketchbook & online course idea provoker.

Photos, Food, Flowers, Fellows – Fun!

New Day Bakery, Eugene, OR

       Jane and Sandy take turns trying to get the whole gang in the photo.

We enjoyed being outside on the patio – Jean, Ken, Barb Sh, Hugh, Bev, Penny, Barb So, Heather, Sandy, & Erik.

        What’s Barb Sh showing Ken? One of her marvelous folding 3D visual collages taken from photos she took!

      Hugh’s photo was a little more mundane – a dryer hooked up in an alley – now there’s a surprise! Ah, the eye of the artist.

      Penny’s on a bird blitz – look how this one is going from a simple sketch to layers of color. Check back to see this one finished.

                  Barb So picked an ever popular subject – food!

     Ah shucks, Sandy just had to do it, too. (Notice the empty plate.)

      Heather took a break from the Whitaker Printmakers, and joined us to sketch with charcoal – what? A vanilla cheesecake! YUM>

   Erik invited his friend Jean to join us. She worked on flowers, he on the view across the courtyard (yes, that’s Heather!).

       Jean slowly builds up depth in her sketch with colored pencils.

    Ken explains his multi-media approach to Jean, much to Erik’s approval – whatever works! Pencil, marker, pens, watercolor…

   Bev had her eye on the fellows for models – first the guy on his computer, then gestural studies of the workers laying pavers. Wow.

    Jane and Ken captured the workers, too, and decided we definitely have to come back to admire their finished work. Great patio!

 

 

Do You All Draw the Same Thing?

Friendly St. Market, Eugene, OR

Does this look like a group who does everything the same? No. Lealan, Hugh, Sandy, Phyllis, Penelope, Ken, Jane, Tricia, Barb Sh.

         “I’m not late, am I?” Barb A. brought down the house.

       Jane brought copies of some artwork by French artist Marie Stricher who used watercolor wash swashes of color before she sketched.

   Here’s Jane’s previous attempt to use color wash blocks, all in tidy frames. Ken had some air brushed colored spots which he uses.

    
Tricia tries Marie’s color wash swashes, and discovers that it’s  a lot of fun to play with. Lealan admits she just plain loves color!

        Penelope shares her work from a recent class on using cross-hatching. Ken showed her how to connect images with it . Ta dah!

    Meanwhile, Hugh is busy with opposite effects – trees in black ink on white paper, white ink on black paper. (Hope I don’t have to choose!)

     Sandy & Helga are doing a still-life sketch – of Sandy’s gloves!

    Nice renditions, gals! Sandy adds some color to hers to tempt Helga.

    Lealan takes on Bev’s usual subject – portrait sketches.  Anyone at the table is fair game for modeling purposes! Smile!

      Barb Sh starts adding a complimentary image to a previous sketch – a portrait with an elaborate headdress now! What a clever mind.

      And of course there is the ever popular botanical sketch – here done by Barb So, Jane, and Barb A just getting started with hers.

      Ken finds another spray of color in his sketchbook, and joins in with a flower sketch, too, with ink, watercolor, and colored pencil.

Drawing Dianthus & Other Delights

Friendly St. Market, Eugene,OR

      We enjoy sketching on the covered patio here. Around the tables: Erik, Barb So, Betsy, Barb Sh, Sandy; Barb Sh, Sandy, Tricia, Betsy, Bev, and Erik. And even more, as you will see!

        Barb A has such a nice loose approach to watercolor sketching, and the pots of dianthus on the tables are just the right subject matter.

    Jane, on the other hand, always starts with an ink drawing, then adds watercolor (& she likes doing selective close-ups).

    Erik has his own images in the file in his mind, and cracks the group up with his wit. It’s such a pleasure to have him with us.

     Barb Sh is off in another world, fascinated by an ancient arch.

  But back to the dianthus – Barb So with a delicate watercolor, and Sandy with an pen & ink version.

     Bev was intrigued by the dianthus, too, & plans to add some narrative words at the top of her finished sketch page.

     Helga is enjoying the definition she’s getting in her pencil sketches. Maybe she’ll try ink sometime in the future, she says.

        Tricia enjoys not only doing loose watercolor, but also incorporating her observations in her sketch – including the carrot soup she had!

      Phyllis lives in the neighborhood, so stopped by for breakfast and a quick sketch (of the dianthus, of course – see next week for it).

Penelope asked if someone had taking Jane’s photo for the blog, and so Jane & Penelope posed with sketches from their sketchbooks.

      Then Penelope succumbed to the lure of the dianthus, too!