Veteran's day at the Japanese garden

We celebrated 11-11-11 by sketching in the colorful gardens for a couple of hours before finally escaping to the warmth of elephants deli.

Did you meet me recently?

Thanks for visiting painted cats! I'm over at wordpress now. Head on over to see the photos from the International Urban Sketching Symposium in Lisbon.

MOVING!

I'm moving Painted Cats over to wordpress...please join me over there!
No hurt feelings, blogger, it's just that my new iPad makes it really convenient to blog using the wordpress app.
http://paintedcats.wordpress.com Please change links and bookmarks...and I'm very sorry about the hassle.

Home Sweet Home

a peek at corners of my home

I like Jack Kerouac's books, and that sign about the hippo? I have to plead the 5th.

a place for found nature items next to a meditating wooden cat

journal, only a few of my many journals

sketchbooks!

a furry loved one:

Multnomah Village

Portland Urban Sketchers went to Multnomah Village to sketch.
I copied Mike and tried sketching some of the signs

I love eating at Marco's Cafe, so I figured I should try to sketch it.

I don't usually draw hydrants, but I thought I'd give it a shot:

This is one of my favorite sketches....I find that I love to draw people, and especiall trying to draw someone I know! Here's Mike Porter sketching in the Lucky Lab

street scenes

sacrificed drawing, but I figured I'd post it anyway. It was about sitting there, in the sun, pen to paper, definitely not about the end result!

Picnic, happy hour and a latte but not all in the same day

 picnic in the park

 muddy rudder for happy hour

starbucks for a latte

Riverplace Sketchcrawl

Portland Urban Sketchers met at The Riverplace.

Riverplace was developed at the south part of the Tom McCall Waterfront Park after the Harbor Freeway was replaced by the park in the 1970's. It's got a little marina, some restaurants, and some shops as well as apartments and condos and the Riverplace Hotel. The greenway extends north through Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park up to Steel Bridge and, eventually, south through the South Waterfront.  You can watch the Dragonboat races from here during the Rose Festival (or watch the teams practice during the year).  Riverplace is connected to downtown and the South Waterfront development by the Portland Streetcar.The Streetcar is in Fareless Square - pretty handy. (source: portland-neighborhoods

I realized that sketching these fancy boats are as much fun as sketching cars.


I did get a good likeness of Carrie, sketching happily in the sun.

 I'm always tempted to draw these darn  bridges we've got everywhere, but every time I curse their complicatedness.

 I finished a sketchbook while out, so I started a Flexi Sketch. With its 300 pages, I should be working in it for a while!

 I tried to capture kalina in that great hat of hers.

 I also tried to capture the sail boat with laundry handing out and man in hammock, a dragon boat, and dogs...

Beachhouse with the Beckwiths

A weekend at the beach house with the beckwiths = relaxing and sketching

identifying plants

Tandem Sketching

Tad and I went on a tandem bike ride around Portland. I tried out my ability to sketch and bike at the same time.
thanks to the recumbent bike seat style, I was able to secure my sketchbook.

Sketch with my right hand (which is holding the camera in this shot:)

a rubber band would have been useful....I didn't bring my watercolors, but I couldn't imagine using them anyway!

the sketch with wc added the next day. Biking with mt. hood and the airport in the distance....