Laurelines

Oregon sketches, last batch

It's always fun to sketch with another person. Sketching with my daughter Cecelia is more than fun... it's thrilling and so gratifying. Because we were together, I sketched more in the short time period than I often do. Well, and it was so beautiful where we were. That kind of incentive works well, too!

I drew the mountain several times, as you have seen, each time from a slightly different perspective and in different light conditions. I could have gone on forever, I think. I'm hoping to go to the Bavarian Alps next December and that may be my next mountain trip. I'll be more than ready when the time comes.

Here is my daughter drawing in her large sketchbook on our first morning. It was warm enough that day for us to sit and sketch without (fingerless) gloves and hats.

I am always drawn to figurative sculpture, from the fountains of Paris to the folk art of New Mexico. At Timberline Lodge, the interior of the building is animated by lovely carved wooden animals. These and much of the original furniture were made by artisans expressly for the building, in accordance with the Works Progress Administration's goals of providing work for laborers and craftsmen during the tough economic times of the 1930s.

Another quick sketch of the mountain, made with Caran d'Ache crayon, Cretacolor nero pencil, and watercolor wash.

Finally, a sketch of the restaurant/bar area at the Residence Inn in the Pearl District of Portland. Cecelia and I sketched there together last August and we did do again last week.

I'm home now and glad to be here, but I miss Cecelia and our time together in Oregon. Good thing I have these sketches as mementoes!

In which we backtrack, briefly, to Portland

Just a few days before I left for Italy, I went to Portland, OR to be with my daughter while she had surgery (totally successful and not major) and for the immediate recovery period. The day before, she and I went out to sketch together... she's a wonderful artist.

 

I had not had time to even look at these Portland sketches when I got back. But I have now added some color and scanned them, so here they are, in Cretacolor oil pencil, two kinds of brush pens, and Ecco pigment pen, with watercolor washes.

Tiny glimpses of Portland, Oregon, voilà!

Cecelia and I went to Oui Café to sketch and here are my two results. I always (after all these years still) surprise myself with how differently I respond, stylistically, depending on the drawing tool I am using. These two show that difference clearly.

En route to Portland, I took a moment to sketch two men opposite me in the American Airlines lounge. People in this situation are almost always oblivious to their surroundings, so the sketching is easy, if not astoundingly dramatic. My pencil drawings, (as here, using a Big Fat Black Pencil from Jerry's Artarama) tend to be more muscular than my pen ones. Multiple Personality Syndrome or just highly adaptive? Feel free to weigh in ;D.:

Jamison Square is near the hotel I stayed in. Cecelia and I first had affogatos at a nearby café and then we sat outside and drew.I was smitten with the bear and seal sculpture.

Next up, more sketches from Italy. I am thoroughly enjoying this brief, quiet interlude between work and travel. Stay tuned, my buddies!

Portland in March, some sketches

On a recent trip to Portland to see my daughter Cecelia and some friends, we had great luck with the weather... not one day of rain! The cherry trees were in full glory and the Portland Urban Sketchers and I met at the riverside to catch them in their prime:

Here are two of the afore-mentioned Portland Urban Sketchers, having at it!

I had MORE fun with my Koh-i-noor Magic Pencil (see it in my New York sketches here). It comes in several colorways and the ones I don't have are on their magic way to me even as we speak! There is something so beguiling about the way color(s) appear as you draw, as if by (wait for it...) magic! I have just begun to explore the possibilities of this unique drawing instrument!

One more drawing for today. I have several more to show, but don't want to clog up this post. I'll be back in a few days with the rest!

Happy 2013! It was!

 

Not to whine, for such is life... but simply to observe: 2013 was the first good year around here since 2007. Oh, there've been many good days, minutes, hours, some weeks, even, since 2007... but whole years? Not those. Neutral years, years in which nothing much bad happened? Not those, either.

2013 could have turned out differently. The stakes were high. And the big results weren't in until September. 

But what the first nine months were leading up to culminated in very happy news!

My daughter's adorable baby son Miles, born on September 13, and shown here on Christmas Day, at almost 3 1/2 months: 

 I am beyond besotted! Look at that tender, adorable face!

The painting show I started working on in early January, opened in late September to a very warm reception.  There were moments in March when I thought I wasn't going to make it. But I worked through the problems and ended up finding, as I had struggled to find, my own idiom. I made quirky paintings and they pleased me. The fact that others liked them was delicious.

I made illustrations, you will perhaps remember, for a wonderful new magazine about Raleigh, NC, called, appropriately enough Walter!

I got to do all sorts of things---maps, portraits, foodie things, even the cover of the first anniversary issue! And I had a double spread of garden imagery in June !

 

 

 

  

 

 My work appeared on other pages, too. In the June issue of Watercolor Artist Magazine and in Playing with Sketches (the fourth book my work is included in!) by Whitney Sherman, director of the graduate program in illustration at the Maryland Institute of Contemporary Art. I'm so proud to be represented in both publications.

I made trips to Austin and to Portland, OR, to see my darling peripatetic daughter Cecelia. In Portland, I had a delightful sketching meetup with some Portland Urban Sketchers.

As you may know, I ended up my year with an exciting trip to northern Norway. More sketches from that trip to appear in a few days. My scanner is still hiccupping and the holidays are still intervening! 

I will also talk about my art goals for 2014. I've done this before ;D. See you in just a few days!

And happy New Year to all of you, wherever you are!

 

Portland sketches, November days

So, as planned,  in the same book with my Iceland and my Vancouver sketches went most of my recent Portland sketches. Atmospheric? Gray and wet...I call that atmosphere!

Had a fabulous time with my Portland Urban Sketcher friends. We went to see and draw the Samurai exhibit at the Portland Art Museum. Though it was indoors, it was plenty atmospheric. So much beautiful detail and drama to see in these artifacts of war and aggression.

I have other museum sketches to share, but for today I'll just add these non-museum ones, one at the airport, and another from the front porch of my bed and breakfast, the Lion and Rose. I'm glad I got some sketching practice in before my Norway adventure... I was a bit wonky in these two.

Live and learn. And learn and learn again. More to come!