5th St. Market, Eugene, OR

     Nothing like sharing an exciting trip – here Joby shares information about the trip she & her husband just went on to Oaxaca, Mexico, while Barb Sh., Jan, & Sandy look on with interest…maybe we might want to go there, too!

    Among the treasures she brought back were handmade books, with handmade papers and block prints – Sandy & Ken were particularly interested.

    Of course there was a slide show, too, featuring landscape as well as charming designs. We were quite enchanted by her presentation.

      But best of all were Joby’s sketches done while she was there.

      When Joby was done, Barb Shirk had the opportunity to share her latest sketchbook page with Ken. And here’s the sketch Jane did today with artifacts gathered from the 5th St. Market stairs!

Cafe Yumm, 18th St., Eugene, OR

Here are some of the usual suspects: Erik, Penelope, Sandy, “Barbwires” So & Sh, along with Jane’s sketchable poinsettia.

      Barb Shirk brought us up to date on the “snowflake” sketch she started last time at 5th St., & another sketch page of emergence.

      Barb Sommers shared her “unfinished” orchid, a complicated wire sketch, and started in on the little poinsettia.

        Jane used her water soluble Pentel Stylo pen, and added QoR watercolors. Then she compared her little Altoids Smalls palettes of QoR & Daniel Smith watercolors…hmmm…..

    It was great to have Sandy back with us, making the transition from sculpture to sketching with ease! See her sculptures on the “Arting About” menu tab above.

     New to our group, but not new to hanging around with artists, is Helga Wood – welcome! Here she’s sketching what’s in front of her.

      Meanwhile, Erik is off on an entirely new bent, inspired by one of his favorite artists – Lori Ellison. Keep an eye on this development!

     Oh, and Barb Sh’s sketchbook continues to evolve – here’s the poinsettia added to a sketch of her mom & puppy, and now she’s busy adding color. Tiring? But ever fascinating

Cafe Yumm, 18th St., Eugene, OR

     Jan showed up at our meeting with two new folding cube creations – cows and aliens! She’s really on a roll with these clever details!

Barbara Shirk smiles her thanks at the gift the group gave her for all her work in helping us learn how to do folding cubes.

       Penelope & Barb Sh. get right down to sketching, while Barb A. and Jan discuss art opportunities in the area (Club Mud Ceramics Holiday Sale Nov. 21-Dec 18 at Maude Kerns, for one!).

Penelope is still looking for designs & patterns (thanks to the online course from Jane LaFazio) – she sees them everywhere!

Jane defies herself in being able to sketch some ideas from her memory of items from her kitchen…perhaps they’ll show up in her “grid” assignment from Jane LaFazio’s class.

 Barb Shirk not only sees patterns, she also pays attention to negative space.

Meanwhile, Jan is busy sticking new labels on wooden cubes to get ready for her next folding cube design. Told you she was hooked.

5th St. Market, Eugene, OR

     Jan brought her completed folding block creation, much to our delight. Barb Shirk and Jan enjoy each other’s constructions.

Here, give me that thing! Ken & Erik join in on the hinged block fun.

Now that we’ve been successful in hinging the blocks together so that they will fold open into new patterns, Barb Shirk, Barb Aten, Erik, & Jan start contemplating designs to go on them.

      Barb Aten refers to a Zentangle book for inspiration, while Erik begins a Greek key pattern on his blocks.

      Barb Sommers brought some sample sketches to ask our resident expert how she might use them on her folding blocks. Let’s see….

     Meanwhile, Jane was trying to figure out how to get her stacked rocks to look like they were sitting on the salal leaves, referring back at a previous sketch and photos of the rocks and the leaves. Ta dah!

Barbara Shirk’s house, Eugene, OR

It was an auspicious beginning at Barbara’s house this Tuesday morning…

      We were greeted with warm mini-croissants and chocolate shortbread, as well as a tour of Barb’s craft room & charming home. Above are: Ardas Calhoun, Barbara Aten, Tricia Clark-McDowell, Penelope Youngfeather, Jan Brown, & hostess Barbara Shirk.

      Then Barb introduced us to the folding cubes, samples in basket.

     In the corner was the supply layout, as well as written instructions with illustrations (once  a superb teacher, always a superb teacher!)

    Barb Aten, Jan, Ardas Calhoun, and Tricia got right down to it…take six little wooden cubes (used as math manipulative in elementary school), then cut white sticker labels to fit across two…

    Barb demonstrates for Erik how the cubes go together so that they will open up – this is tricky & complicated! He gives a sigh of relief when his complete folding blocks work right. Yay!

           Tricia cuts carefully, trims the excess after applied to the blocks so that they open up, and then applies a design which will change as the blocks open and fold in a different direction.

     Penelope delights in getting the first set of blocks stickers together. Later she photographed a sample design to inspire her at home.

        Barb A gets the next block section turned just right for the next sticker application, and gets down to doing designs on her blocks.

         Jane and Barb Sommers work on their block collection. Barb refers to one of the samples for design ideas. They had to be seen to be believed at how one design would morph into another!

We had a great time, and we were all successful at getting our folding cubes put together. This definitely got our brains working in a different direction, thanks to Barb Shirk. Now, back to sketching.