Owen Rose Garden, Eugene, OR

At last, a warm sunny day on a Tuesday! We were beginning to think we were hexed on our scheduled sketch day.

Jane & Erik happily enjoyed sketching there, Jan shaded, Erik in sun.

          It’s a bit difficult to see in the shade, but Barb Sommers brought her sketch of the truck from the Farmers Market, then on to sketching.

    Jan showed her abstracted sketch of a creek bottom – too weird? How about this one of Kokopeli?  NO, we all agreed – very cool!

  Tricia found a place in the shade, and decided to work on contrast.

       Erik got those preliminary arches down just right, and the foliage began to grow (until hunger pangs took him away for lunch!)

      Jan’s style blends expressionism with just enough representation – so charming and full of life.

    Barb Sommers made a sweet sketch of the wild geranium, and beside it the tiny blossoms of feverfew – so light and delightful.

   And here’s how Tricia’s study in contrasts evolved – some leaves were in the direct sun, some in deeper shade. Well done!

Jane was busy taking photos, and doing little design vignettes from  the plants in bloom all around them. What a lovely special day!

New Day Bakery, Eugene, OR

Another Tuesday of iffy weather sent us to New Day Bakery, which has the luxury of being warm and dry inside, and when (if?) the sun comes out we can adjourn to the colorful courtyard. Here we are:

Tricia, Sandy, & Erik get right at it.  Jane did a little more on the sketch she started at Riverview Café at Riverbend Medical Center.

   Tricia catches us up on a recent trip. What’s going in the little box at the bottom left? Come back next week to see!

     Erik takes advantage of a nearby model – did he captured that mood?

     Sandy dutifully started sketching food & drink, but also got enticed by the guy modeling across from her.

    Then it started warming up outside, so Erik, Sandy, & Jane were happy to move.  Here’s Erik’s sketch of the bike across the patio.

    Kokopeli & the acanthus molis caught Jane’s eye for vignettes.

        Sandy was intrigued with all the flowers in bloom.

And Tricia captured the whole colorful scene, with comments, too.

Farmers Market, Eugene, OR

Now here’s a sketch (by Rita) you might expect of the local scene!

    Rita Cavin was just back from her Asian cruise, and thought our mentor, Ken O’Connell, would particularly like her Kyoto trees. We sure like them!

   Sandy was interested in what Barb Sommers had done in her sketchbook since we last met. Roses from the Rose Garden!

     The farm goods truck caught the eyes of Jane & Sandy, both of whom swore off trying to sketch trucks ever again. It was sort of fun.

     Sharon Heinz, who attended Ken’s sketch class at Emerald Art Center last week, joined us.  A watercolor painter, she said her goal was to loosen up – looks like she accomplished her goal! We were happy to have her with us.

RiverView Café, RiverBend Medical Center, Springfield, OR

Our original reason for going there was to see the display of Patti McNutt’s art (please click the photos to see a larger view):

    Here are Patti’s fabulous birds at the entry of the cafe, and here she is herself re-creating her photo in her artist’s statement!  (She has  a problem with being overly serious about herself, but we love her.)

      Here’s the beautiful rainy view, and the sketchy crowd: Heidi, Sandy, Penelope, Patti (& Jane behind the camera).

        Penelope brought work to share from a class she’s taking, where you go from nature drawings to abstracted designs. How cool is that!

      So Sandy and Patti got right down to drawing the nature scene.

      Jane started her sketch in pencil (she’s taking a class from Steven Reddy), while Sandy & Penelope went directly into watercolor (notice Penelope’s brush holding technique for branches).

       Heidi couldn’t resist the ginkgo leaves Patti brought, and got raves for the way she used shadows in the negative space to ground them.

     Confession time – Jane caved in & got a chocolate muffin, just for modeling purposes, of course, & did a quick contour drawing.  She claims the drawing will get a Reddy India ink wash – we’ll see…

And Penelope summed up our visit in her sketchbook.

Owen Rose Garden, Eugene, OR
   While there were lots of roses, there were also lots of other flowers blooming. Barb Shirk holds up Jane’s sketch of the rose arch behind.

    Barb Sommers took photos of the mystery spikes (cardamon behind her), while Barb Shirk focused on the poppies and love-in-a-mist, with Erik prowling around in the background. Tricia arrived about the time we had decided it was still too chilly to stay outside.

So Barb Sommers, Erik, Barb Shirk, and Jane went to 5th St. Market.
Note all but Erik referring to images captured on their phones. He said he’d check his later!

    The Barbs caught us up on what they’d been sketching – Barb Shirk added a toad lily to her toad page, and Barb Sommers added a favorite spoon to her cup page.

    Jane sent Sandy a text about where we were, so she came by to work on her calendar sketches while Jane did a California poppy.

    Erik in process – pencil, ink, colored wax crayons.  He overheard Jane & Sandy talking about mixing oil paint to make pink & having it end up kind of flat – his solution? Start with pink pigment to begin with! His sketch was of Barb Sommers touching the cardamon plant.

    Barb Shirk began with pencil & moved into watercolor pencil – we aren’t sure what this flower is…a mallow of some sort? Elegant.

Then Tricia showed up to give her sketch report – more than just roses at the garden, that’s for sure! Love the vignettes.