Catching up on some Summer Sketches

Its been a long time since I have posted any sketches, here are some sketches from various trips since late summer.

Crater Lake - August 2015 - managed to squeeze in some sketching while I visited Crater Lake for the century bike ride.

Williamson River - a really nice river and place to camp outside of Crater Lake National Park.

Cape Lookout - Oregon Coast Aug 2015

Rogue Pub - Portland OR, Pearl District

Benson House - Portland Or 

Outdoor sketching is a bit "sketchy" with the current wet weather so I hope to focus on some more traditional studio watercolors if I can find the time. 

thanks for looking!

Phil

Art Show Bare Bones Cafe and Bar

Its been a busy summer with a lot of sketching, cycling and some painting not to mention project deadlines, so I have not been keeping up with the blog much. I wanted post an update that I am having a show at Bare Bones Bar and Cafe in the Belmont neighborhood the month of August. There will be an art opening tonight for happy hour 4-7. Come check it out if you are in the area.

Backpacking and Plein Aire Painting

I recently went on a backpacking trip with some friends to a remote lake in the Oregon Cascades. This time I brought along my Altoids tin travel paint kit and 8 1/2" x 11" landscape watercolor Moleskine. I did a number of paintings in Plein Aire here are some of my favorites.

The view from the campsite notice the canoe that someone has packed to the lake and left for anyone to use.

 A small brook trout one of many caught on the trip

Thanks for looking.

Some new Sketches from around Portland

 With the nice weather here in the Pacific Northwest I have been doing a lot sketching outdoors and not much studio painting. Here are some of my recent sketches from around Portland, all these sketches were done in my Stillman and Birns Alpha sketchbook with a Lamy Safari fountain pen and Graham watercolors. 

NE 15th Bed and Breakfast

sketched while drinking coffee at Peets with my son Caleb, he was busy sketching some pretty awesome cats. 

Clock Tower Downtown Portland

this was a lunch break sketch, I don't know the name of this building but I believe its the home of  Water leaf architects.

 Jake's Crawfish

this is a pretty well know restaurant in downtown Portland not far from my Office I have not eaten there but I hear its good, yes that's a Canadian flag not sure what that's about.

Golden West Hotel

This building a block from my office in the Pearl District  was built by Black entrepreneur W.D. Allen in 1906 its a historic landmark for the African American community in Portland and home to John's Cafe a place that looks like its straight out of the 70's . I have always liked the copper mansard roof. 

Smith River Commission

A few months back I was commissioned to paint a scene from the Smith River in Montana. It was for Lady whose husband is an avid fly fisherman. Since I love Fly Fishing and painting rivers this was a perfect commission for me to do. Ideally I would have liked to go on site an do some sketches of the river in person to paint from, but seeing that it was still winter and the River is in Montana that was not going to happen so I settled for working from photos. After some black and white composition/ value  studies and a watercolor sketch of the scene I decided on a composition. 
The challenge of this painting was the large cliffs in the background I did not want them to be too detailed and distracting since the river and the fisherman are the focal point of the painting but they are obviously an important element. I really like the finished painting I feel there is good color harmony and composition, I like the reflection of the cliffs on the water and the sun coming through the trees on the upper left. The fisherman were another challenge since this painting was for a fly fisherman they had to look accurate. I think they came out good  I did a page of sketches of fisherman in different stages of casting to make sure I didn't mess up the whole painting however there is one small error with the fisherman's line (it does not go through the lowest eye on the rod... oops) but I don't think too many people will notice.

Fly Fishing the Smith River, Watercolor 22" x 30" Commissioned Painting

Hillsboro Library Art Exhibit

My work along with a fellow Portland Artist Jo Riemer is going to be on Exhibit at the Hillsboro, Oregon library starting today through June 30. If you happen to be in the area check it out. Also we are having an Artist reception Saturday May 16th all are invited to come here is the formal invitation with all the info. Hope to see you there.

Sketching Portland's waterfront

I have a bunch of new  paintings but I have been to busy to post them. So in the mean time here are a few new lunch time sketches done on Portland's waterfront. All these were done on location in a Stillman and Birns Alpha sketchbook and watercolored at home.

Burnside Bridge Watch tower

Portland Maritime Museum in an old Sternwheel

Hawthorne Bridge