Allan Bros., 5th St, Eugene, OR

As we frequently do when we sketch in a café, Erik chose something to nibble on as his sketch focus, and dutifully laid down line & color.

Turned out to  be a quickly completed sketch, and the model was indeed good enough to eat!

Meanwhile, Sandy admired Barb Shirk’s sketches from last week, and then claimed she just wasn’t inspired today, maybe next time.

Barb got caught up in sketching people in the line for goodies.

Heidi found the addition of cayenne pepper to her hot chocolate to be worthy of a sketch, but she sure didn’t wait before she consumed.

And Jane just messed about with brush pen and water-soluble pen.

Allan Bros. on 5th St, Eugene, OR

The early gatherers – Barb Shirk, Heidi Sachet, Sandy Larkin, & Jane behind the camera.  Looked like serious sketching going on!

Then we got a look at Sandy’s shirt! Cracked everybody up!

Back to work – sitting in the middle of the room at the coffee shop gave everyone a view of people to draw in all directions.

Jane chose Penelope’s view above, but did it at an angle on the page (her approach to keeping it simple); Sandy did the girl across from us.

Heidi says the thing about your “model” leaving is that you get to finish it the way you want. She goes onto a design definition, and Penelope to adding color.

Sandy tries a Betty Edward’s suggestion – draw the sketch upside down! Did it work? (Book courtesy of Barb Shirk, from an earlier visit to a fascinating show at the Schnitzer Museum.)

Here’s a view of Barb’s “models” and here’s how she added values.

New Day Bakery, Eugene, OR

Barb Shirk always finds the most interesting things – this time, a watercolor calendar with a twist! There’s a sample, then a faint outline of the work with watercolor tips. What fun.

Penelope falls back on the old trick of sketching your tools.

Barb Shirk brought along a companion for Woodlo, which Jane enjoyed sketching – isn’t he a character?

Erik did do some sketching, but mostly, let’s admit it, we talked!

New Day Bakery/World Cafe, Eugene, OR

Here we are again, Jane behind the camera, Barb Shirk, Sandy, Penelope, Barb Sommers & Erik. Happily surrounded by people.

Jane and Barb Shirk get right down to it.

At first it looked like Erik had figured out a way to focus on architecture and plants, but a person in a booth snuck in.

Sandy went beyond the head to get the whole profile, but what’s that that Penelope is doing across the table?

Aha! The classic sketch-it-before-you-eat-it ploy!

Barb Shirk’s sketch just keeps getting more peopled!

And we even got to talk about Matisse, thanks to Erik.

“World Sketches” show at The Gallery at the Watershed, 321 Mill Street, December 16 – January 17, 2015.

All the participants who were in town & not under the weather came to a “sneak preview” – Front: Mike Maszk, Barb Shirk, Manda Severin; back: Jan Brown, Barb Aten, Jane Harrison, Ken O’Connell, Jo Palmer, Tricia Clark-McDowell, Erik Johnson, Satoko Motuoji.  We were all thrilled to see the show hung.

    Erik, Jan & Barb A view one of the walls, while Trish samples the treats, and Mike, Amy & Ken take a look at another wall.

And then came the official opening & holiday party on Friday:

      It was pretty much a happy mob scene all night!

    Amy stood up to give the welcome and introduce some of the players. Ken, surrounded by Lucy Hart (who first introduced him to LaRomita), Erik Johnson (a long time colleague & sketch friend), and Satoko Motouji (who introduced Ken to Italy) then spoke about the unique nature of sketchbooks and the quality of the giclée prints.

     Ken even showed off a sample sketch book by one of his former students at LaRomita, Vicki Abbott, who came down for the show. Then the meet and greet and view (if you can) began in earnest. Here’s Tricia with (the) Robert Gamblin & Jane.

     Lynn Pfeiffer & Jim Patterson.  Anneke (Ken’s daughter) with daughter Fiona, her husband, and Satoko.

       Mike and proud wife Ann Wein; Mike & Barb A share a chuckle. The discussions got pretty lively and intense as the evening went on.

I think it’s fair to say that everyone had a great time! (And some sketch art even got purchased! Hooray!)