My studio has been closed down since February — the month that we decided to sell our home and move to Portland. It is still far from up and running and I have been missing the creative surge a lot. I’ve been so busy with all the ‘settling’ activities involved in a major move that I haven’t even done any sketching since July. sigh
I found Urban Sketchers/Portland on line recently and marked my calendar for their sketch crawl scheduled for Saturday, November 28. Eight of us met at Case Study Coffee, had a cuppa and chatted about the plan. The plan was to walk across the street to the main library and sketch; meet about 12:30 to share what you sketched.
The main library in Portland is a huge, beautiful building; however, stepping inside is even more impressive. The architecture and spaciousness of this library is nearly overwhelming. I feel incredibly privileged to have access to the building and the collections. Here’s a Google Earth photo of it:
I started by walking around the library first. The more I walked, the more intimidated I felt about sketching. Finally, I got my ‘just do it’ attitude tweaked and stopped in front of a window. Here’s part of the view I saw:
This tree had large patches of very thick moss and there were ferns growing from the moss. As many times as I’ve walked by these trees on the street, I never noticed that. I took a photo of the tree. Unfortunately, the sunlight created a serious challenge. I think you can get the idea though.
Next I went down to the second floor and sketched the entry to one of the library rooms:
The real challenge is deciding how much detail to include. There was a lot more detail in the wood work than I’ve captured here. Still, I’m happy with what I got in the time I had to do it.
There were two things that I wanted to achieve with this outing: First, I wanted to meet some fellow Portland artists — check! — and second, I wanted to do at least one sketch — check! This was an incredibly welcoming and warm group of people. I will be marking my calendar for their next gathering.
I’ve missed your posts Franki and glad to see life settling a bit for you. I look forward to seeing what your up to next!
Me too Faye — thanks for hanging in there with me. And, btw, we are much closer neighbors now; we’ll have to chat about that soon.
Franki! Aren’t you intrepid and creative? And I loved your sketches, particularly the one with the library shelves luring us in.
Thanks again to you and Dave for coming to Laurene’s soiree and to Broadway Books — isn’t that a nice little bookstore? Well, not little, but not huge, either…
Ken tells me you’ve both signed up for the SIng-it-Yourself Messiah, so we’ll see you soon….xx Linda
Linda! It was entirely our pleasure to attend the celebration of your new book (which I loved to pieces!). I can’t wait to hear about your next book. And, yes, we’ll see you next month for the Messiah. We’re looking forward to reviving an old tradition.
I have also missed your posts. But understand as I have not been able to post regularly. Family has had some health issues, and for some reason the day goes faster than the chores do. I am looking forward to hear about your new area. We live in the country so am always curious about city life and why the move, your new living style etc. I have never been in that area and know so little about it. Love your sketches. Also on my list, looks like fun. V
Hi Viv, Nice to hear from you! Indeed the chores outlast the time every single day. So, like all new things I add to my list, I decide on what will not be during the day so that I can create time. Believe me, sketching is a lot of fun. And it’s something that you can do anywhere you are once you’ve put together a small portable kit of tools. I always have mine handy. Now I’m actually going to be grabbing it more often! Happy holidays, my friend.
I’m thrilled to see you sketching again, Franki. Now that the ice has been broken, I’m guessing that your tools will be even easier to pick up. There are so many images for you to explore viewed just from your balcony. Hooray! Keep up the good work. I wanted to pull one of those books off the shelf — you made the room look so inviting.
Yes indeed, now that I’ve broken the ice with the Urban Sketchers it will be easier for me to grab my kit and go. And I don’t feel that I have to wait for a meeting with the group; I could take it along on a jaunt to the local coffee shop.
So glad to see you are getting your feet wet again. I used to love to sketch trees like that. The doorway is wonderful. Love seeing your work. Maybe some thread sketching?
Hi Kay! Thanks for ‘hanging in there’ with me. I’m itching to get some thread sketching going but I don’t have furniture in my studio yet. It’s on order but could take many months. Meanwhile I think this will be the only sketching happening.