The Pump Café, 710 Main St., Springfield, Oregon

We’re always interested in trying a new sketching venue, and when Hugh & Sandy had breakfast at The Pump Café in Springfield, they approached  the owners with the idea of having the sketch group be able to spend some time sketching there some morning.  They said yes, and we were charmed to be in such an interesting warm hearted place. (The food was great, too.)

We were just a small group, but sure enjoyed being there – Tricia, Sandy, & Erik (who couldn’t resist their eggs on pancakes – YUM).

Tricia started by showing us the sketch she completed the last time we were together, noting the demands of sketching fast when your model is apt to move on!

   Here’s the view from the inside The Pump Café looking out to the sheltered outside patio, Trisha’s initial sketch outline on the right.

   Here’s Jane’s sketch done on grey toned paper, and Trisha’s in watercolor on white paper. It’s interesting to see how different artists choose what to include in a sketch, what to exclude.

     Trisha had to turn around to see what had Sandy so intrigued across the room on the wall.

     Oh! What an interesting collection of memorabilia on display! Sandy really had fun sketching this, as you may be able to tell!

Perugino’s, Eugene, OR

     Erik, ever the gourmand, choses a caprese salad to sketch, and Sandy adds her cappuccino to her version. Wow, look at those colors!

     Trish introduced the topic of “morphing” when last week she started a sketch of Jane and when Jane left early she had to turn into a green vase of flowers!  Today she got the caprese and Jane, too.

     Barbara Sommers often has to leave early, so it was fun to catch up on her finished sketch from last week, & see her start a new one.

     Jane brought a printout of a sketch Carlos Castro Perez had posted on Facebook on the Urban Sketchers page because it reminded her so much of how Barb Shirk sketches grow around different things.

    Jane tried to let Carlos’ sketch of different objects from the same street influence her sketch of the inside of Perugino’s. But hers turned out not to be so loose!  (How does he do it?!?)

     Meanwhile, Barb Shirk tried adding the cows from a painting to her sketch, but when it got too challenging, they morphed into women’s heads! (Can you see the cows hiding in her sketch?)

     And then Trish made such an enticing model across the table that Barb Shirk added her to the page, too.

Perugino’s, Eugene, OR

    As usual, we catch up on work done since last week.  Left is the finished orange & more by Barbara Shirk, the iris by Barb Sommers.

Then it’s down to work – Barbara Sommers & Heidi Sachet.

     Erik starts with a favorite sketch topic: FOOD – and he’s found the perfect balance between sketching and eating the subject!

     Barbara Shirk is very intent…on the guy from the Perugino logo!

     Barbara Shirk is capturing him, too, incorporating him into her page.

     Sandy looks on as Heidi begins her pencil sketch, then refines it.

     Sandy boldly starts with a wash, ending with a splashy flower sketch.

       Trish begins with a tea canister, and the page develops from there.

              Jane’s eye was caught by a wall display, and here’s how it ended up.

Yes, we found plenty to sketch at Perugino’s (and plenty of good coffee and pastries, too!).

The Tate Condominiums, Eugene, OR

When the folks at the Tate Condominiums invited us to hang our sketchbook show “World Sketches” at their place, we were so honored and delighted.  They had a lovely reception for us Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015, which we all enjoyed very much.  Here are a few pics:

      Jan and Erik, Trisha and Hugh.

      Penelope and Trisha answer questions posed by residents.

   Barb Shirk, Ken, Sandy, Barb Aten; Barb Aten & Satoko Matouji.

    Patti McNutt & Erik; Jane and Barb A.

  View of the reception area; Ken O’Connell & Sally from The Tate.

      Kate & Erik with Ken; Hugh & Sandy with Patti.

      Trisha shares her sketchbook; Penelope & husband with Satoko.

Jan and Barb A look at one of the books of sketches that Erik has published.  We had several of our books on display here. I neglected to take a photo of the table laden with all kind of goodies – maybe I was thinking “out of sight, out of body” but that strategy didn’t work.

Natural Grocers, Eugene, Oregon

      Sandy and Barb Shirk shared their calendar watercolor swatches – Sandy posts hers like a gallery, Barb integrates hers with other art.

Then we all got down to sketching our art models – fruits! Pictured here are Penelope, Tricia, and Sandy.

      Barb Shirk starts with sepia pen, adding to a sketch already in her sketchbook, then beginning to add color and value depth.

      Barb Aten tries out new markers, alleged to be water soluble. She’s not so happy with how they behave!

      Sandy begins adding colored pencil definition to her light pencil sketch of the fruit, deepening the values, adding details.

      Tricia starts with a delicate pen and ink sketch, then watercolor.

   Jane (the restless, irritable, & discontent – inside joke) tries 4 versions: watercolor, ink, water-soluble ink, marker with white.

      Erik brings artful technique to the orange he peeled – first pencil, then crayon d’arche, then knife for scrafitto lifting to get light lines.

      Sandy takes on the orange peel challenge, too, adding shadows.

      Penelope adds her orange peel sketch to a page with grapes, using frames to set each sketch apart. The grapes are in a line and text frame, the orange peel gets a napkin frame.