Saturday, November 17, 2012

IPRC Event (11-17-12)


For a while now, I had been wanting to see the new space where Independent Publishers Resource Center (IPRC) had moved to and I took the opportunity of an event scheduled there last night to stop by and check the place out.

Local indie bookstore Reading Frenzy was promoting some recently published Portland zine writers and artists who read or presented some of their work (including that of a woman who related how she biked to the hospital to deliver her child while in labor!). One thing that caught my attention was the hand-drawn Collective Tarot Deck, intriguing in its sizable black package.

The event was well-attended, and the space was open and welcoming. I liked the charm of the old space they rented downtown, but later improvements to the building ruined it for me; charm is elusive and best not tampered with. Anyway, the new space in a warehouse is functional and optimal to house printing equipment.



About the pano sketch above: I really like the challenge of working in my 5" x7" sketchbooks in a way to make things match from page to page (in this pano, the junction between the two double-page spreads is somewhere in the middle; the fact that it is not really noticeable makes it a successful sketch as far as I am concerned).
I usually clean my double-spreads in Photoshop to get the distracting page folds out but in this case, I just moved the page middles a bit to hide the shadows and didn't bother with any other correction aside from joining the two spreads.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Open House at SE Antique Store (11-15-2012)

One of my favorite local antique stores is Bernadette Breu Experience.

It is one of those magical dreamy places where odd and delightful objects of every provenance are displayed in bohemian artistic displays. There is so much to discover that one must make the time to slow down, to look at every one of the many treasures inside.

So what a fun opportunity it was to be invited to do some sketches of the early Christmas event at the store! Many people were present visiting and talking at what seemed more like a social event than a sales event.
So many people!

By the snacks table
Faces in the crowd

I worked on some sketches of the crowd, but my attention was focused on a display of beautiful shoes covered in gorgeous fabrics and the fantastic west wall near the sales counter.

My unfinished watercolor
The model scene


I love it when a sketch works out!
The west wall