Pearl District Sketchcrawl

We gathered at the new pedestrian mall on NW 13th.  

And then I walked up to the new bridge at Flanders and sat down in the shade on a traffic island and did a one-point perspective looking down towards the river.

Oregon white oak, again

Another unsuccessful experiment.  This time dipping the watercolor pencils into water and then drawing with them.

Oregon white oak

An unsuccessful experiment of watercolor pencils on a wash.

Sycamore maple

Watercolor pencil, using cyan, magenta and yellow primaries, with dark blue for shadows.

Shiny Geranium

Noxious weed, destroy on sight.

Gesture sketch, and ink and colored pencil.

Non-virtual Sketchcrawl!

At long long last, the Portland urban sketchers met in person, there being enough of us fully vaccinated (mostly the old farts, but the youngsters are hot on our heels) to feel safe out in the world.

We met on the esplanade, and, seeing that the Hawthorne Bridge was closed to auto traffic, I took the opportunity of planting my butt on the sidewalk and dangling my feet on the road bed and did a one-point perspective of the bridge, taking care not to drop a pen or pencil through the mesh and into the drink.

And then switched to my tablet and did a study of the trunk of a gnarly old willow by the fire station.

Cherry Bomb Blossoms

 

For this month's virtual sketchcrawl, with a challenge of using only three tools.  For me that was a pink pencil, a black pencil, and a black micron pen.  Not even a pencil underlay to sort it all out.  (Which meant that it didn't stay sorted.)

Easter Morning

My next-door neighbor used to have a camellia tree at the corner of her house, that towered over her roof line, splendid with red blossoms.

When the oak tree fell it smashed most of the plant.  It survived, but in a truncated (sorry) state, ending up as a sturdy shrub.

This spring, after a year of rest, it put out a single bud, a single blossom.  I'm taking that as a portent of hope and rebirth.

Virtual sketchcrawl - new media

I'd bought a cheap kid's set of watercolor pencils, months ago, at Freddy's, but had never tried them.  So, with today's theme of trying a different media than you usually use, I dragged them out.

Obviously, I couldn't sketch the pencils themselves, not in their true colors at least, so I let other pencils stand in.  And the highlights didn't work very well.  There was a white pencil in the box, but, wet or dry, it didn't seem to end up in the drawing.

For my second sketch, I dragged everything outside, and huddled under my eaves to do one of the dogwood blossoms.  To make the white stand out, I cut apart one of the multitude of paper grocery sacks that I've brought home during the pandemic.

And, again, the white was pretty pathetic.

Japanese Garden and Washington Park

Sunny during the day.  Warm, so long as you managed to stay in the sun.  Clear and cold at night.

Stuffed my sketchbook and some extra clothes into my bag and took off, climbing to Cornell and then heading south.  I crossed Burnside and stopped in at Zupan's, hunting until I found the deli and bought a wrap for lunch.  (I'm reminded of why I hardly ever go there.  There's a sidewalk in, but it dead-ends in a dark corner of the parking lot, next to a service entrance.  The only other way in or out is to use the driveway, which is full of, well, cars.  Who aren't expecting to see people.)

Climbed up the old carriage road into Washington Park, started up the MAC Trail, then cut up through the Rose Garden, then zigzagged up the trail to the Japanese Garden, getting there not long after it opened.

A women stopped to admire my pencil set, and to wonder where she might be able to find such.  Sadly, I had to tell her that I'd had it for decades, and that the store that I bought it in has been closed for nearly as long.

Walked through the exhibit of traditional peasant clothing, woven from plant material (including kudzu) and even paper, or quilted together from scraps.

South on the Wildwood Trail, winding around and hearing at intervals both real trains from across the river and the little toy steam engine that plies Washington Park.  Diverted off the Wildwood near to the zoo, to walk the ridge and get my fill of mountains.

Then spiraled down the wrong way through the Vietnam Memorial, coming out in the zoo's parking lot.  Headed for the MAX station and caught a train to the stadium, and then caught a 15 home.

Milwaukie Sculpture Garden

Sunny, turning quite warm in the afternoon.

I packed a sketchbook and took off, walking into the Pearl, and getting to the bus stop a minute before the 33 was due to leave.

We drove up the bus mall, then crossed the river on the Hawthorne bridge and turned south, heading for McLoughlin. (The east side streetcar tracks have made it all the way to where they turn to go over the new bridge. The new bridge, on the other hand, does not yet exist.)

I got off at the Milwaukie Transit Center (one block long) and sat down for a sketch in their sculpture garden.

Director Park Fountain, three ways.

Overcast and cool in the morning, turning warm and muggy by afternoon.

I found that it's damned hard to see the screen of my phone in bright sunlight.

WES line

Sunny and warm. Damned warm at times.

Art along the WES line, from Wilsonville to Beaverton.

From PDX Transit

From PDX Transit

From PDX Transit

Blue MAX line and swifts

Sunny, cold in the morning but turning quite warm in the afternoon.

Civic Drive MAX station

From PDX Transit

Rookwood

From PDX Transit

As it was getting towards 7pm I walked up to Chapman School. There was still a soccer game going on on the field, and the hillside was filled, save for the lanes where the kids were sliding down the hill on pieces of cardboard. I headed for my secret spot among the trees, and found people sitting there too. But I was able to squeeze in.

The swifts took their own sweet time in massing. At one point everyone disappeared - I hadn't seen it, but it must have been a hawk. Eventually they started elevatoring in. And then a hawk did swoop through, grabbing a hapless swift. They saw him off and resumed their descent. But it took a long time. They formed a circle, going clockwise, with the bottommost birds in the ring flying down into the mouth of the chimney. When they needed a break from that they reformed as a counterclockwise ring. And then a clockwise one again.

Downtown Bus Mall

Labor Day

Mostly cool and dry. Lacy clouds in the morning with rifts of sun in the afternoon. And also leaden skies and a few sprinkles.

Went sketching up one side of the bus mall and down the other. Skipped a lot of MAX stops, either because I couldn't find a seat, couldn't find anything worth looking at, or was blasted away by tobacco smoke.

From PDX Transit

From PDX Transit

From PDX Transit

From PDX Transit

From PDX Transit

Interstate MAX

Hopscotched up the new Interstate MAX line, sketching...

Rose Quarter

Albina/Mississippi

Overlook

Prescott

Killingsworth

Ainsworth Greenspace

Kenton

Vanport

Atlanta Airport

A long flight over the Atlantic (in front of a couple of unsupervised children), a long lay-over in Atlanta (real, and real expensive, lattes). Napped on the flight to Portland, to find my luggage waiting for me (It had taken an earlier flight). Found the bus stop before I found the taxi rank, so came home the slow way. Got home at midnight, er, breakfast time, er, I don't know when.

Westside MAX

Portland's Westside MAX light rail line opened on September 12, 1998. These sketches were done over the course of the next weekend.

Hatfield Government Center
Hillsboro Central
Tuality Hospital
Washington/SE 12th
Fair Complex/Hillsboro Airport
Hawthorn Farm
Orenco
Quatama
Willow Creek
Elmonica
Merlo Road
Beavercreek
Miliken Way
Beaverton Central
Beaverton Transit Center
Sunset Transit Center
Washington Park


Goose Hollow
Lincoln High School
Kings Hill
Civic Stadium
Mt. Hood I found this at the back of the sketchbook. I don't remember where I did it, except that it was probably in one of the westside MAX stations.