5th St. Market, Eugene, OR

    Here we are, back in our favorite window alcove at the market, sketching what we see in or out or on the table!

        What Barb Sh saw on her phone was a photo of a real live rooster to go with her sketch of the sculpture on the fountain downstairs.

        What Laura saw was the vase of flowers Marsha brought from her yard, and sketched them using only 3 colors of colored pencils!

        Marsha saw the flowers from the other side of the table, and drew them in colored pencil, too. These two are getting so adept!

        Those flowers did double duty in Bev’s sketchbook – one sketch on a page with thumbnail sketch windows, another on a pre-printed page.

        Jane started with a simple contour sketch of her pastry, but the flowers couldn’t resist getting in the sketch, too – yummy!

Daisy won the prize for doing the most sketching in the shortest amount of time. She came from an appointment and got right to it.

        And Serge? He was able to escape the exact straight lines of the outdoor architecture by putting in the hanging basket – go organic!

5th St. Market, Eugene, OR

We had intended to sketch outside on the patio, but chilly toes drove us inside. Here are nearly all that showed up to sketch.

     Tyra, a pal from the Italy sketch trip, enjoyed catching up with Barb Sh and seeing her ever evolving sketchbook. So fascinating!

          Tyra was sitting across from Barb So, and here’s how her page evolved – pencil outline, watercolor, ink and stamp!

         Meanwhile, Barb So was sketching the “rear view” of a flower Marsha brought to sketch…and…

        here’s how Marsha’s”front view” of the flower sketch developed.

     Ken was sitting at one end of the long table sketching Serge at the other end of the table.

        Serge was looking across the room for his sketch model. Nice!

          Laura was looking one way then another for her sketches.

          Helga’s view out the window to the patio was her sketch model.

          Jane was determined to stay loose with her watercolor version.

     Time for show and tell! We all enjoyed looking at each others’ work.

      Barb So & Marsha got to compare sketches of the whole flower, and Serge saw Ken’s sketch of him – “More beard hair needed,” said Ken.

        Then Ken discovered that the Market had a stamp! Jane and Helga made quick use of it to add just the right touch to their sketches.

   Marsha and Tyra liked adding the stamp to their pages, too.

Vero Coffeehouse, Eugene, OR

So nice to be under the trees on a warm day .

        For Erik, it was all about the huge fir tree, and here it is from pencil sketch to finished layers of color. What a great process!

        Ken zeroed in on a different tree (oak? maple?), and said he thought he could work on it for about five hours (which he didn’t have).

        Marsha drew what was in front of her – Ken and Jane! From graphite pencil to colored pencil, the scene comes alive. Nicely done.

        Jane was sketching a woman across the deck who moved to get out of the sun, so the rest of the sketch was all context!

        Bev sketched the couple in front of her, then went on to a car – “I like cars,” she said, “they don’t move.” Well, there certainly is that!

        Serge sketched an ornate lamp, then began doing a series of little window vignettes to loosen up – good idea! These are wonderful.

        Penny finished up a sketch she began at Lone Pine Farm, then started sketching the little tree on the other side of the deck.

        Satoko, fresh from putting her house on the market and getting ready to go to Tuscany to paint for two weeks, joined us for respite.

Vero Coffee House, Eugene, OR

Here most of us are with our sketch guru, Ken, in the middle of us all.

         Ken, bless him, makes the rounds giving sketching encouragement. He sees what Barb So has done, as well as visits with Rita and Carol.

      Serge has done lovely detailed work, but wants to be looser, so Ken shares Rita’s travel sketches with him – loose and very evocative.

             Penny gets in on the conversation, and then began sketching the coffeehouse doorway in the tiniest sketchbook! Very sweet.

            Rita was interested in the use of paper fold-outs that Barb Sh had done in her sketchbooks, then Barb began her sketch from a photo.

         Here’s what Barb So did last week at home, and what she worked on today – those vivid colors are a departure for her, but well deserved.

      Laura had completed her sketch from last week, did a light colored under sketch and then added color to her sketch from today.

      Bev says that color wash strips and pre-stamped pages have become part of her signature “look” in her sketchbooks these days – nice!

      Helga got lots of support for her sketches, yes, even simple ones.

      When not taking photos, Jane seemed to be simply into a collection of what she saw, all part of the Vero Coffee House ambiance.

      Lealan’s sketch of Laura began with a light blue outline, then she layered colors and shades of Tombow markers for this rich portrait.

          Rita shared some travel sketching trips – want a straight line? use a ruler. Want to add color? use water soluble pencil and a wet finger!

       Carol had a previous page done, so she added a lovely wash to the next page and started sketching what was around her.

        Danita started with a pencil sketch, added ink, and the watercolor to a delightful sketch of the bench and planters across from her.

Jane’s yard, Eugene, OR

Just a small group of us today – Bev, Serge, Marsha, Ken, Erik, & Jane (behind the camera) – but we enjoyed the time together outside.

          Serge, new to sketching from an engineering background, started with pencil and was curious to know more about sketch booking. He sure has a good start – lovely backyard sketch going here!

      Ken is always eager to talk about the spirit of the rough sketch, and shared both his and Erik’s sketchbooks to show varied examples.

       Marsha is relatively new to sketching, too, and picked up on Ken’s advice to “go darker” to push the bench away from the flowers.

         Ken and Erik in the corner, where Ken picked up a watercolor brush and water soluble colored pencil to sketch the cyclamen. Nice!

        Erik did a small thumbnail sketch to test how his colors worked together before going into a larger sketch -note colors used on right.

        Bev is so adept at sketching that she was able to turn out three sketches during our time together, incorporating stamped pages.

      Jane did a series of vignettes of what she saw, even her dog Tutti. Last page in this square sketchbook! Hooray! On to the next.

          Tricia used her Goliath paint brush to make up for lost time, and did a two page spread including matching the new color on Jane’s house.