Artichoke Cafe

Last night my wife and I enjoyed some really great local acoustic music at the Artichoke Cafe.

Four Singer Songwriters shared the stage and all were really terrific.
The proportions are a little wonky on this one but I enjoyed drawing it and listening to the tunes.

Drinking and Drawing @ Laurelthirst Public House

The Laurelthirst Pub on NW Glisan in Portland is a place I like to go and draw while listening to some great local bands. The music starts at 6pm so I can go on a work night and not be too wrecked for work the next day. I like the Kung Pao Chickens. They're a kind of Gypsy Jazz band that used to play early on Mondays but they moved them to the late show so - too late for me now. I also like Lewi Longmire's country rock band. He reminds me a bit of the Jayhawks.

I get there early and draw before it gets too packed to see anything. I started this drawing at about 5PM and by the time the bands started, around 6:15, the place was filled.

They also serve vegetarian food.

Sketchcrawl in Old Town

Cold, soggy day for sketching. Sketchbook pages were damp and difficult to draw on. Hard to keep clean color. Most of the right hand page was done on location, most of the left was done at home. You can see that the color is less muddy on the left hand page.

Crack Press (NW 3rd and Glisan)

NW 3rd and Glisan, right at the Steel Bridge on-ramp. This is on the edge of Old Town and therefore has the red lamp posts that are used there.

I'm not sure if this building is still inhabited but, at one time it was the home of Crack Press.

Break in the Weather

It's been very wet, even for Portland, so when I got up on Friday morning and could see my shadow, I grabbed my sketch bag and headed out. It was in the mid 20 degrees Fahrenheit, so I stayed in the truck but I thoroughly enjoyed getting some drawing done.

These were both done in the SE Industrial area a few blocks from the Willamette River.

The sketch above was done at the corner of SE 3rd and Ash.

This one was done at SE Salmon near 1st Ave. I'm looking toward the river showing the skyline of the SW downtown including the KOIN Tower and Wells Fargo Center with the West Hills in the background.

It was so nice to see and feel the sun.

RR Utility Sheds

7" x 10" watercolor and ink

This is at NW 9th Ave near the intersection of NW Naito Pkwy, which I still think of by it's old name, Front Ave. Centennial Mills and the Fremont Bridge are visible in the background.

Two Views from a Garage Rooftop

5" x 8" pages

This spread, on facing pages of a Moleskine Watercolor sketchbook, is of the views, looking in opposite directions, from the rooftop level of a parking garage on NW Station Way in the Pearl District of Portland.

The sketch on the left is looking west through the Pearl toward the West Hills and the other sketch is looking east toward the Wilamette River and includes the Broadway Bridge (undergoing construction upgrades) and the historic Albers Mill Building, which is now being leased as office space.

Although I've sketched and painted several times, at this location, these both started as absent-minded doodles, during meetings, from snapshot on my laptop.

Missing House

This is a site on North Knott Street between Interstate and Mississippi. I was drawn to it because it appears to be the site of a home that is no longer there. There are 2 overgrown cedars beside a concrete stairway that leads up from the street but no house at the top.
The Fremont Bridge looms behind it and the property is littered with dumpsters now. I wonder who built and lived in that missing house.

Wrong Way

Union Station from the corner of NW Hoyt and Broadway, at the foot of the ramp onto the Broadway Bridge.

Empty Grain Freighter

This is the first sketch I've done in this new sketchbook. The paper is handmade and seems to contain little sizing. It's almost like painting on a napkin.

Caught on film, at the Urban Sketchers Symposium

Someone caught Frank Ching trying to help me during one of the Sketch Crawls at the Urban Sketchers Symposium in July. I don't remember the exact conversation we had but Frank had great suggestions, some of which I think about every time I draw now.

NW Station Way

I found this little corner of the Pearl District with interesting views in every direction. It's a quiet little space near the train station that I didn't know about.

I thought the structure on top of this condo was interesting. Many of the buildings in the area have rooftop gardens. I'd love to do some drawing from up on one of these rooftops.

Whenever I see an image of a tall building with a plane, I automatically get a weird feeling in my gut.

I tried to resist drawing this truck but I just couldn't do it.



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Union Station

The Portland Train station from the on ramp of the Broadway Bridge.

NW Couch and Broadway

Hawthorne Bridge

Hawthorne Bridge from East Side

Sketchers Gone Wild

I just had the time of my life, drawing til my pens ran dry, at the Urban Sketching Symposium in Portland last weekend. I met some of my drawing heroes and many of them to signed my sketchbook with their favorite drawing pen.

I learned how to draw with my pen upside down from Frank Ching and was reminded of the value of thumbnail sketches by Veronica Lawlor. Tia Boon Sim taught me a technique to pre-stain the page with random color before starting a sketch and Isabel Fiadeiro led us to Powells on a people drawing safari.

Being with people who are at least as addicted to drawing as I am was such fun. Everyone was drawing all the time. During the presentations, people were drawing, during dinner people were drawing. It was kind of ridiculous but I loved it.
Drawing on the paper table cloth at Eleni's after the last day of the symposium.

SE 23rd and Morrison

Funny little building across the street from the Lone Fir Cemetery.

Early Morning Garbage Truck

On an early morning walk, I came across our local Waste Removal crew stopping for coffee at 7 Eleven.

Sketchcrawl at the Portland International Rose Test Garden

A couple of sketches from the Portland Urban Sketchers sketchcrawl today. Above is the Frank Edwin Beach Memorial Fountain in the Rose Test Garden. Below is a view of the US Bank Tower (Big Pink) from the garden near the amphitheater.

Cirque Du Soleil from OHSU

This is the view from OHSU hospital looking toward Downtown Portland. The tents, which may seem to be on the bridge but in fact lie between bridges, are the Cirque Du Soleil show Kooza.