All posts by Marsha McCloskey

No Wincing at Sketching the Quince!

Barry’s Southtowne, Eugene, OR

AllWe couldn’t resist coming back here (for the THIRD time in a row!): Erik, Judy Carter, the Barbs (Barb S-N, Barb So, Barb Sh), Ken, Jan.

Judy-1            Judy-2Barb S-N welcomes Judy Carter to our gathering, encouraging her to sketch the quince blossom Jane brought, but Judy already had something in mind – a colorful interpretation of a photo she had.

Barb N_S-1          Barb N-S-2So Barb S-N painted her own vision of the quince blossoms.

Barbs-1        Barbs-2Barbs So and Sh were catching up on their previous sketches, and discovered their cyclamen sketches done at a previously meeting.

E-1     E-2Erik got in a quick sketch of the quince before doing his signature color treatment with Crayon d’Arche tools. Always so rich.

Jane-1      Jane-2Jane tested how the Derwent Graphitint pencils blend (see patches at top of page, colors over Meadow) before doing her quince sketch.

Ken & Jan      Ken-2Ken and Jan are seen intently sketching – Ken’s secret to success: he borrows Jan’s tools (which she just now discovered!)

Jan-1     Jan-2Jan says she just sketches with whatever she has on hand – wow!

BarbSo-1         BarbSo-2Barb So is sketching a different quince, using her travel palette.

BarbSH    SandyBarb Sh adds to her page from last week, and Sandy sneaks in for a quick preliminary sketch before going off to sculpture class.

BArbA    PenSHAREBarb A stopped by before her stint at New Zone Gallery.  Penelope shows us her latest Jane LaFazio project page (fabulous!).

P-1            P-2Penelope brought her own model – blossoms from her apple tree.

Focused Sketch Fun

Barry’s, Southtowne, Eugene, OR

1It takes coordination to get us all in the picture – & we probably need time lapse photography…  Above: Erik, the hands of Tricia, Barb S-N, Penelope, Barb Sh, Jane, & Sandy. Below: Tricia, Barb S-N, Penelope, Barb Sh, Jan, Sandy, and Erik (the brave). But wait, there’s more!2

Erik-1   erik-2   erik-3Erik, of course,  took advantage of the fabulous eating options at Barry’s, but he also did some sketching…of sketchers at the table!

barbSh-2   barbSh-1   barbSh-3We were curious to see how Barb Shirk’s oxalis sketch turned out (here with Erik, & with Jan), but let her do some sketching today, too.

jane-1   Jane-2   jane-3Jane had brought the yellow orchid, which she thoroughly enjoyed sketching – here’s how her sketch developed.

jane-Sandy    sandy-1Jane and Sandy were really intent on their sketching, but take a look at what Sandy was sketching (who can spell that yummy treat?).

barbSN-1   BarbSN-2   BarbSN-3Barbara S-N was focused on the orchid, too, capturing Penelope’s attention with what she was doing with watercolor.

BarbA-penThen Barb A sneaked in the door and was making up for lost time.

Jan    jan-pen1    jan-pen2Meanwhile, Jan was already on her 2nd sketch trying to get loose in this version, while across the table Penelope was sketching Jan!

Tricia-1    tricia-2   tricia-3The orchid caught Tricia’s eye, too, and here’s her final sketch of it.
     ken-2Ken finally takes a breather from looking at everyone’s work, commenting and encouraging, before he turns back to his own – he’s working on borders for his accordion style sketchbook in a sort of Celtic design (note the swan sketch on the right).

ken-3  ken-swans

Art process is always … uh … in process!

Barry’s at Southtowne, Eugene, OR

1Barb Shirk was eager to show us her latest artistic development using paper clay – dimensional plaques, quite delightful!

BarbSh-1   BarbSh-2   BarbSh-3But then, Barb is always open to sharing – here with Tricia talking about her most recently completed sketchbook – the page on the left is why the dog looked so alarmed: an alligator.  On the right she pulls out the sketchbook folding table of contents, alphabetized!

Erik-1           Erik-2Erik started right in with an image in his mind and look how it developed! He calls it “Sky Window.”

Erik-3       Erik-skywindow

Jane-1     Jane-2    Jane-3Jane brought a purple oxallis to sketch – her sketch stages here.

Sandy-1     Sandy-2Sandy’s sketch came from a different perspective, colorful pot, too.

oxalis-BarbSh-1   oxalis-BarbSh-2    oxalis-BarbSh-3Barb Sh started off small, but the sketch quickly expanded across to page two – now the color addition!

BarbSN-1     BarbSN-2     BarbSN-3Barb S-N began a simple single watercolor leaf, got distracted showing us her inexpensive water markers, then started playing with water and on across the page!

Tricia-1         Tricia-2And then there was Tricia, totally immersed with replicating her kid’s kitchen …agh!  look at all the details!

Never At A Loss for Something to Sketch

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

1-H       2-HIt was such a pleasure to have Heidi join us today – what has she been doing? Oh just a little bit of this and that – wow!

3-muffinThen we got down to sketching – Erik doing Sandy’s cup, Heidi sketching Jane’s incredible multi-nut muffin.

4-Sandy     5-Heidi     6-JaneSandy took on the muffin challenge, too, while Heidi’s sketch is developing. Here’s Jane’s sketch done in brown Copic multi-liner.

7-Ecup     8-S&BSoErik’s version of the cup included drools down the side. Then Sandy started in on the mug while Barb So looked on.

9-S-cup       10-H-cupFirst Sandy’s muffin & mug, then Heidi couldn’t resist the cup, either.

11-BarbSo   11-BS-N,Ken   12-BAWhile Barb So was busy sketching people’s heads, Barb S-N showed Ken photos of her paintings at Springfield City Council, and then Barb A showed up for an artistic presentation – look at those boots!

J-1    j-2Lane Co. Jail    kMeanwhile, across the street is the Lane County Jail – Jane took a simple linear approach, while Ken laid in rich colored pencil strokes.

Come and Sketch When You Can!

5th St. Market, Eugene, OR

We’ve always been a little loose about our sketching schedule – we start at about “9-ish” we say. But people come when they can, late or early due to conflicting schedules, and we’re happy they’re here!

1     1.5     2Today started with a reminder of Barb Sh’s giant sloth sketch from the Museum of Natural History and Culture – remember? We all wondered how she’d resolve running out of paper – ta dah!

3    4Then the five of us in the first “shift” started sketching the red cyclamen Jane brought along – here’s Jane’s preliminary sketch with Barb So and Erik, and Barb Sh and Sandy getting color down.

BarbSo-1    BarbSo-2Barb So finished her ink sketch and added her signature light watercolor, much to everyone’s satisfaction.

Erik-1        Erik-2Erik borrowed Barb Sh’s Derwent Inktense pencil, then experimented with using Jane’s waterbrush pen to bring out color.

BarbSh-1    BarbSh-2Barb Sh demonstrates her technique with the Inktense pencils, using a waterbrush with just the right amount of water – from her tongue!

Jane-red cyclamenJane gave up on putting her cyclamen in a pot. Here it is.

Penelope-1     Peneope-2Then the next shift arrived – Penelope with her late breakfast, which she dutifully began to sketch. Fast on her heels came Barb A and Ken, who claimed they came just in time for the critique!