symposium participant : suzanne cabrera

Sadly, I didn't introduce myself prior to the symposium, but I guess late is better than never! You may remember me---I was that girl sitting in the back of the room drawing----oh right, that was everyone! So fun to be part of a group!

My name is Suzanne and fortunately I had the opportunity to talk to many of you, and learn by glancing over shoulders at the sketchbooks of many more. I had the best time in Portland and hope you did too.

Here's the first spread in my Moleskine [which were actually the last pages I completed---I'm superstitious and always skip the first couple of pages in a new sketchbook]. I tried to approach the accordion format as one composition, linking each spread to the next. As such, I would love to be able to post the whole book as one big file. Does anyone have any suggestions on how this might be done? I could probably create a video, but would love if it was a matter of using a scroll bar to look at from beginning to end.

Cheers to sketching with friends, both new and old. I look forward to seeing more inside your sketchbooks in upcoming days!

Find more of my drawings over at my blog : An Open Sketchbook.

Symposium Participant: Janene Walkky

Although urban sketching is very new to me, I have enjoyed drawing from a young age.  Graphite has been my medium of choice through the years, but I began to yearn for color and to be freed from the eraser so in the last year I launched into sketching directly with ink and using water colors.  I like this new phase of living dangerously!  I am hoping to improve my line quality and and the 'sketchiness' of my drawings, amongst many other things, during the symposium.

I am fortunate enough to live here in Portland, where I am surrounded by such abundant and varied natural beauty--mountains, seashore, desert, forest--all within a short distance.  If symposium attendees have the opportunity to travel in Oregon, I recommend the Columbia Gorge with it's many beautiful waterfalls, the coast, and Mount Hood and the rolling hills of our wine country.  Even if you stay in Portland, the city has many beautiful parks to visit and to sketch.  You probably already know about Portland's many coffee shops, excellent restaurants including food carts, and neighborhood shopping districts (NE Alberta Street and N Mississippi Street are my favorites).

I started my own landscape design business about ten years ago, partially because it would keep me drawing.  I do all of my drafting by hand, and illustrate my ideas for clients with sketches.  Having a job that keeps a pencil in my hand, and outdoors a lot, is the best!  Oh, I want to mention that I am part of the Portland Sketchers group that meets regularly to sketch around the city.

I hope you all enjoy your stay in Portland!

Symposium Participant: Pascale Steig

I'm Pascale, a self-taught artist with a (non-practicing) background in Graphic Design. I teach community Art classes for adults and children.

Sketching is second nature to me. Although I enjoy immersing myself in a crowd, I usually stand on the perimeter of the action, - a vicarious participant -, observing people, taking in what I see, and chronicling it in my sketchbook.

When I draw, I prefer the precision of ink pens. I never use pencils because they inevitably end up smudging the paper, greatly disturbing the perfectionist in me. My carry-everywhere supplies are simple: my small Bomo Art sketchbook from Budapest and a V-Ball pen (I know, I know, not waterproof...)

I look forward to attend the symposium and to meet other sketch artists. Although I was born and raised in Belgium (and speak French fluently), I've lived in Portland for many years; so, don't hesitate to ask me questions about the area.

You can view more of my artwork on my sketching, illustration and comics blogs, and if you want a laugh, visit my blog about trying to renovate an old farmhouse near Portland...

Symposium Participant: Chris Kerins

Hi Everyone!

My name is Chris and I'm from Southern Cal. Like many of you, I have a lot of balls in the air. I teach architectural illustration at Orange Coast College where I drag my students off the computer and outside to sketch in their sketchbooks. They whine at first but thank me at the end of the semester. I also design websites and do arch illustrations using photoshop when there is a paying client, which isn't often these days. I've spiraled through design fields: graphic, architecture, set design, illustration, website and so on.

My big secret is that I rarely get to sketch. It used to be a travel thing for me, but traveling has been scarce and my small family takes up all my discretionary time. In my dreams I'm traveling and sketching, which is why the symposium sounds so great.

In high school, my art teacher handed out Berol 314s with with a slice of wood carved off the end to write our names on and I've never really looked back. Good soft fat leaded pencils that can do a full range of lines are what I recommend to my students. I used to always use the black hardbound sketchbooks because I liked the look on a shelf, but now I'm coming around to spiral bound because they are easier to fold back and out of the way.

I can't say I'm accomplished as a sketcher. My goal is to capture the essence with an economy of line but that remains as elusive as ever. Usually I end up over working it.

I'm really looking forward to meeting you all and finding some tasty food carts. Please bring your suggestions for good eats.

See you in a few days!

Symposium Participant: Shiho Nakaza

Hello! My name is Shiho Nakaza and I am a Los Angeles correspondent for Urban Sketchers. I was born in Okinawa, Japan, and have emigrated to United States with my family as a child, and have lived in Los Angeles since. In that time, I've studied illustration in college and fell into the field of graphic design field after graduation. I have been working as a print production artist/graphic designer for majority of my career while I continue to draw on the side, and I take workshops on drawing and painting whenever I can. Urban Sketchers has encouraged me to sketch every day, even for a few minutes during my lunch hour or after work, and I find happiness in making lines on paper to describe the world I see.


My sketching gear was cobbled together from tips I learned from workshops and other sketchers over the years. Here is my current setup - I keep it very lightweight and minimal so I can carry it around to the office or on my errands - I want to be ready to sketch whenever I have few moments.

My everyday tools that I carry around daily:

• Uniball Signo pen in sepia - 0.5mm regular or 0.38mm superfine
  0.5mm bleeds when painted, and 0.38mm has waterproof ink. I like the brown color because it looks softer than black.
  
  


• Sketchbook - about 6 x 8 inches (15 cm x 20 cm)
  I like smaller sketchbooks that are easy to toss in my bag and are discreet enough to use everywhere. I love Holbein sketchbooks but my favorite ones with thicker paper are discontinued, so I also use sketchbooks by Canson, Daler-Rowney and Strathmore.
  
  + a painting kit for times when I know I'll have a few hours to work on drawings (pictured with water for drinking):
  
  
  
• Watercolor kit - I use Winsor & Newton Cotman kit I got when I was in college and have popped the pans out and filled the empty slots with watercolors from tubes (various brands: Winsor & Newton, Holbein, Jack Richeson). Colors are cool + warm tones of primaries (reds: alizarin crimson + cadmium red, blues: ultramarine blue + phthalo blue, yellows: jaune brilliant + cadmium yellow light) + greens: (turquoise green + cerulean + viridian + permanent green) + brown ochre.


• Rag to sop up water/paint - a small giveaway towel cut up in half to fit the mesh pouch. Sometimes I use paper towel/napkin instead (Viva brand of paper towel works well).
  


• Pentel Koi waterbrush - very handy when doing quick painting on location. I now paint with this exclusively when I'm out and about.
  


• Small Post-It notepad - for using as a ruler when painting: paste it down on the paper and do a wash over it for a straight edge, lift when paint is dry - though these days I paint free-form and haven't used it in a long time.


• Small watercolor sheets - for when I have time to sit at a table to make a "nice" painting (hopefully during this Symposium!) I happened to have Fabriano Medioevalis 208S on hand. I love Arches cold-press sheets, so I save small leftover pieces of Arches that I cut out from sheets I use for larger paintings.


• Mesh pouch - to carry all the gear. I then toss them all in my purse.
  

+ optional gear for longer sketching outings (shown in photo here):

• Binder that can hold sketchbook as well as rest of my gear - this binder is originally made to hold a schedule book/calendar. It comes in handy for toting everything around in a backpack that is bigger than an everyday purse I normally carry.


• Camping chair - so I can sit and paint on location comfortably.

+ depending on the weather:

• sunglasses + sunscreen (mandatory year-round in Los Angeles), hat, jacket, fingerless gloves (it came in handy when I sketched in Alaska!) - I would eventually like to figure out a nighttime flashlight setup like some of the fellow Urban Sketchers. I usually never sketch in the rain...I'll look to Portland folks for suggestions!
  

This will be my first time in Portland, so I am very excited to be able to visit the city and meet and learn from fellow artists. I also love to try new food and cycling leisurely to discover new places, so I'm looking forward to checking out the food carts and possibly renting a bike to explore the city (unless it's raining...)! See you all soon!

Symposium Participant: Todd Serrano

Hello everyone, my name is Todd and I am an Artist and Product Design Consultant from Chicago. For the last 5 years I was in sales management in the Contract Furniture Industry until about a year ago, with the support of my wife, I went back into art full-time. The company I was working for was also very supportive and asked if they could hire me as an independent Product Design Consultant with flexible hours. I happily agreed and this has allowed me to use my art degree to its fullest, consulting on the design of products as well as just having designed two products for the company this year.

Prior to this, I had been drawing my entire life and studied Fine Art and Communication Design in College. After graduating in 1997 I began doing some post graduate semesters in Europe and studied plein air painting. Upon returning to Chicago, I continued to work on location but found winters frustrating as well as not being able to set up painting equipment in the areas I really wanted to work. When I couldn't work on location in pastel or oil I kept a sketchbook in pencil and made notes about color.

Surfing the web about 4 months ago I came across the Urban Sketchers Site from another artist who had the link on their page. It was exciting to see a forum and very talented community available for something I was already doing, so I joined Urban Sketchers right away. The site also led me to investigate using ink pens and watercolors, two mediums I had very little exposure to in college. I am really just re-learning how to use the ink pen these last few months as well as watercolors. My goal this summer is to fill up my sketchbooks to make larger pieces in the studio during intolerable winter days. Having a great community to share and receive feedback on this has been invaluable.

I am looking forward to meeting everyone in Portland and learning as much as possible. As fellow Urban Sketcher Linda from Portland mentioned we already met while she was in Chicago in May and we both happened to be downtown drawing, it really is a small world! Below are some of my sketches as well as are some of the items I sketch with, not including a small folding stool or my pochade box and tripod. I just throw everything into a small backpack.

Symposium Participant: Vicky Porter

Hello Fellow Sketchers--

This is me on the Broadway Bridge, which is the one closest to PNCA where the Symposium will be held. You may find yourself drawn to this sketching site soon, too, or to one of our other bridges. I think you're really going to like Portland, even though we actually do have mosquitos. (I have five current bites at the moment. I'll share my bug spray and anti-itch ointment.)

I've lived in Portland since I came here to go to college 40 years ago. I love how it's turned from a big town into a city full of well-read, pretty open-minded, friendly, creative types who love their fresh produce, microbrews and local wines. You're going to find lots of drawing opportunities here, from bookstores to bars (if it's dark) or fountains and food carts when it's sunny.

All my life I've enjoyed drawing, but I've never really done it consistently over time. Like many others, reading Danny Gregory's books caused me to be more deliberate about it. I took Kurt Holloman's wonderful Urban Sketching class and got up my courage to draw in public. Until retiring a year ago, I was teaching elementary school, so drawing was reserved for time carved out of weekends or vacations. I believe that children should have lots of opportunities to draw, so I also gave my students as many drawing lessons as I could get away with. Now I draw pretty often; sometimes with the Portland Urban Sketchers or another group of mostly-retired people and I also sketch alone--even in public! Since I saw the Symposium notice on the Urban Sketchers site, I've been excited about learning from all the sketching masters whose works I've been following.

If you need any help (not with drawing--but with other things) while in Portland, just find me. I'll have the anti-itch ointment, too.

Symposium participant: Laura Frankstone

A breathless hello in the middle of an eventful summer! I'm an Urban Sketchers correspondent from North Carolina. I'm so thrilled to be heading northwest in a few days to meet those of you I haven't met (which is everyone, actually, but Veronica and Donna) and to draw together and to be inspired and stimulated and refreshed. There are so many of you whom I feel I know already and whom I admire so much from seeing your work on Urban Sketchers, your own blogs, and elsewhere. I really can't wait for all of us to be in the same place at the same time!

A little background about me: I've always had one foot in the visual arts in my working life, whether it be helping organize and mount exhibits statewide from a state art collection, acting as curator for a university antiques and portrait collection, writing art criticism for a local newspaper, running my own small interior design business, or as an adjunct staff member of an event design company. A few years ago, I turned to pursuing my art career full time.

My sketching habits and sketching gear are as varied as my career. I'm always on the lookout for the new best way to make the lines, colors and shapes I want to make, It's a never-ending, exhilarating/frustrating process---one I'm sure most of you are familiar with!

My latest gear is pictured here. I'm messing about with Kuretake water brush pens I fill with various acrylic inks to see what can happen with them. I alternately use Cretacolor oil pencils---they make nicely sensuous lines without a lot of smudging. The Schmincke travel paintbox you see here is the result of my trying to travel light(er.) I like sketchbooks that are not spiral-bound, since I always want the option to draw across a double-page spread. I'm especially fond of Maruman accordion sketchbooks, which I bought several of a couple of years ago---but, of course, I just learned they are now impossible to get. If anyone knows of a source for these, please do tell!
Here's a sketch made with ink-filled waterbrush pens and watercolor washes: And here is one made with Cretacolor oil pencils and watercolor washes:

More of my work can be seen on my blog Laurelines.
See you all very soon!

Portland's the magnet 7/17/10

Ink in Journal

Ink in Colorbok Journal

brush pen and ballpoint in ledgerbook

brush pen and white grease pecil on Utecht recycled paper

various ink in way old ledgerbook

Hello to all Portland bound urban sketcaholics, my name is Don Colley and I'm an artist residing in Chicago for the last 11 years. While I work in a lot of mediums, oil, gouache, acrylic, enamel, lithography, intaglio, woodblock, and paint on everything from cardoard to plexiglass to wood to velvet (yup, and I'm crushed that the Velveterium has fled Portland for LA), my biggest romance is with my sketchbooks. Long ago I dropped the noble pencil and picked up that modern stylus, the ballpoint pen. It's been over 35 years without regret. I didn't have any brand loyalty, tried 'em all. Never passed a pen, be it on the counter at a bank or on a weed stewn lot that I didn't test drive it on a page in a ever present sketch book. If it gave me a distinctive or juicey line, we left the premises together. Frendships were no barrier to the acquisition of a pen capable of a gorgeous flow. For me, it was all about the line and at that time nothing caught my eye quite like ink.

Since those early days I've experimented with all the modern developments of pens, ceramic ball, gel, rapidographs, brush pens, markers, and many of the traditional ink vehichles, various nibs, sumi brush, what have you. At about the same time that I was opening up to the world of ink; I started drawing in various ledgerbooks, new and old. Some of the ledgerbooks I'm most fond of were made over 70 years ago. Just something about the way they take ink. Possibly the sizing and gelatin.

As I am a committed urban dweller, I spend a tremendous amount of time crawling all over the city and time riding buses and trains during which I get in thousands of hours of drawing. Not one posessed of a great memory, my frienf the sketchbook has been my loyaly secretary and journalist for fleeting ideas and images.

So it with this passion for drawing out and about that I head to Portland to hang with and wonder at the hand craft of so many committed and talented sketch nuts. Can't wait.

Symposium participant: Orling "Arty" Domínguez.

Hello everyone! My name is Orling “Arty” Dominguez. I’m from Dominican Republic, currently living in the capital city of Santo Domingo. I work as a freelance graphic designer and as a high school art teacher in an international school.

A few months ago I decided to post an event on Facebook inviting people in Dominican Republic to get together and spend a day sketching outdoors. By the time I was trying to find people like me in DR, people who just love to draw no matter their backgrounds and/or level of proficiency, so I began searching in the internet to see if there was already a group formed to sign up. I didn’t find any so I went ahead and send out the Facebook invitation. In that same search I came across the website of Sketchcrawl and Urban Sketchers. Oh boy! what a fantastic source of inspiration that was for me, so many amazing drawings.  To make a long story short, the group is formed (DIBUJANDO RD), I had hosted 2 drawing marathons already and there is a 3^rd one scheduled for September 12^th. People are beginning to get the idea, so I hope the group will grow through time.

I had made plans to spend some time at NY this summer when I read about the symposium and I didn’t think it twice to sign up. I said to myself: I’m going to be in the USA anyways, why not just make a quick stop in Portland? (that was me thinking that if I was already in the USA a national flight from NY to Portland was going to be cheaper than an international one from Dominican Republic. I was soooo wrong, it had to be that artistic side of me that knows nothing about numbers, miles and fuels). So I am leaving this coming Sunday to spend a week at New York then head to Portland and eventually to Montreal. I’m really looking forward to sketch in those 3 spots.

For me sketching/drawing is an act of liberation from the daily routine, the bills, the traffic jam. It’s about commitment and passion as well, ‘cause sometimes “the day job” can distract me away from my sketchbook. Sketching is a way of connecting with what’s going on out there, to realize and comprehend and I have to add that sketching outdoors is a great way of making valuable friends.

I look forward meeting you all in Portland. I will be arriving two days early to walk around and get to know the city, to make some photographs (another passion as well) and try out the Portland coffee. (I am a heavy coffee drinker but I am willing to try some tea as well in honor of the tea lovers of the group :-)

Here are a couple of sketches from the Drawing Marathons in DR and pictures of the participants in the 1st Drawing Marathon. Children are always welcome, their drawings are amazing!

this is an old sketch I had around.

and...

... the sketching gear: fountain pen, dip pen, my moleskine, fabriano paper, 

watercolors, ink, graphite pencils, pen, Sakura brush marker, and some handy ziplocks.

'till Portland! :-)

Orling "Arty" Domínguez

My Flickr site.

Drawing by the Pound! blog.

Symposium participant: Linda Daily

Hello fellow Urban Sketchers!

I am an eight year Portland resident, prior to that I lived in Seattle (6 years) and San Francisco (20 years). I guess you could say my husband and I like urban environments.

I have been painting in watercolor for many years and formerly taught classes at Portland Community College.

Urban sketching is something I have mostly done while traveling. I feel I really capture the moments and a sense of place when I sketch on location. Since I have found the wonderful Portland Sketchcrawlers group, I have enjoyed sketching in 'my own backyard'.

I have recently finished 14 WC illustrations for a European food importer, my first'commercial' commission.

Now I am ready for summer and outside sketching!

I am an art supply addict, our sons call me a 'journal junkie'! I am thrilled to know we will receive wonderful samples at the Symposium--what a lovely surprise.

I look forward to meeting the other participants and instructors and learning new skills.

I already met Todd from Chicago, a fellow participant, on a recent visit to the Windy City. I was drawing the Tribune Tower and he was sketching the Wrigley building. I guess it is really a small world when it comes to urban sketching!