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.

Mongolian Boot

Ink wash 10" x 7"

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.

Apple

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.

Pepper

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.

More from Eastern Oregon

A couple more sketches I did on my trip to North Central Oregon.

Palisades in the Clarno Unit near the Painted Hills

Just beside the John Day River

Osa

This is our very sweet dog Osa. She's such a good dog that she actually sat for this drawing. I had to talk to her constantly but she patiently sat for about 15 minutes for me to get most of this down.

Osa was rescued from some kind of terrible farm/puppy mill where most of the animals were neglected. Some had died. She was taken better care of, apparently, because she was a breeding female. She had 2 litters before she was 2 years old, which is how old she was when we got her. She was underweight and her coat was raggedy and the slightest noise or unexpected movement would send her flying, at first. She rarely left my side.

We've always had dogs and they've always been good dogs (except Cooper, but that's another story), but Osa takes the cake on goodness. She learns quickly and has always been very obedient. It took about 3 or 4 years to coax her out of her shell but she has blossomed into a great companion. I can't believe she's 7 years old already.

Dining Room Chairs

I often sit down before or just after dinner to sketch something around the house.

I've just started a new sketchbook made from Twinrocker handmade paper. The first half of the book is White Cotton Rag hot press. It's a little bit hard to get wet but it's somewhat hard surface keeps the paint brilliance and it holds up really well under abuse.

Rainy day reading

It rained off and on and off and on all weekend, in fact all week. I was planning on going out to draw but worked around the house instead. It was a great day for laying by the window with a book. Listening to Bill Frisell - good rainy day music.

Velvet Chair

I saw somewhere that another artist had made a sketchbook with Rives BFK paper, so I included some in my current sketchbook, since I happened to have some on hand. It's a printmaking paper and has a soft surface. When it's wet, it gets kind of fuzzy. This is good for intaglio but not so great for ink and watercolor. The drawings come out softer and more diffused looking, which is a nice change, but I don't think I'll use it again.

Day bed and guitar

Willie

This is Willie, my daughter's 18 year old Ausie/Cocker mix. We've had him since he was 5 years old. His eyesight is severely impaired and he's deaf. He can't do the stairs anymore but hates to be left alone when everyone is upstairs.

He's actually much cuter than he appears here or sounds from this description. He's better looking than I am, certainly.

We love Willie.

in the studio

SE 20th and Madison

Typical corner in the SE, one block north of Hawthorne. I did this while waiting for my wife to have a shiatzu treatment. Lots of bike traffic here.

Sneakers

Felco Pruning Shears

These are my trusty old Felco Pruners. I once made my living with them pruning upscale gardens around town.

Tony's Salt & Pepper

We've had these shakers for almost 30 years. They were a wedding gift from a dear friend and wonderful jazz pianist, Tony Zano. He passed away many years ago and I still think of him whenever I see these shakers.

portrait study