Movie: The Illusionist (06-20-11)

Even a thoroughly stupid movie like The Illusionist has its rewards: for a few seconds, one could see an old, graceful farm estate at night. Another redeeming value for this movie: it was filmed in the Czech Republic, and a few scenes were even filmed inside the castle at Český Krumlov.

Thuy's Plants (06-17-11)

Going to Thuy's Hair Salon is an exotic experience: Vietnamese music videos blaring from a TV set near the ceiling, piles of old magazines, and Thuy herself, always in spike heels, ever so lithe and feminine, admonishing caution against some impending catastrophe... And of course, Thuy's plants, that thrive under her care, strike me as somehow exotic also.

One of Thuy's plants

Scene at a Trendy Bar (06-15-11)

Since I knew that the Portland Urban Sketchers group had planned to be there, I went to Produce Row Café with my friends Greg and Suzanne C.
Greg, who'd gone there in his younger days was dismayed that the place had gone the usual trendy route ("Coffee" stained woodwork, rich-looking patrons, expensive food, etc.). This is the way everything seems to go in Portland nowadays: posh and trendy-looking places, either for the hip, or for the well-to-do.
But we still had a pleasant time chatting and listening to great music. Greg wrote on his notebook, I finished this sketch, and Suzanne worked on her "doodle" book (for lack of a better word).

At the end, we took a peek at the other artists' work, and that was cool.

Drawing Portraits at Da Vinci (06-14-11)

I volunteered drawing portraits at Da Vinci Arts Middle School last day of school. It was a lot of fun drawing the sweet-faced young kids who lined up and patiently waited for their turn... This brought back memories of other like moments at Da Vinci, when my daughters were younger...

A quirky 6th grader...

And a pensive 8th grader...

Hairstyles (06-12-11)

I was surprised to see that some women attending the (Church) Stake Conference had relatively interesting hairstyles... (Who would have thought?)

Space-Age Bun and Bouffant Hair

Waterfront and Fun Center (06-11-11)

After the parade, I went down to the waterfront. As part of the Rose Festival, a fleet of ships comes for a week, an interesting scene, with bridges opening and closing, and lots of people everywhere.

Hawthorne Bridge

Essayons at waterfront

 I did a sketch of the U.S. Corps of Engineers' dredger Essayons (a very French name for a U.S. ship...).

Big ship details

Technical things are complicated to sketch, at least they are to me. I spent a good 20 minutes on this sketch of the side of the dredger.

Fun Center

As for the "CityFair" (Fun Center, Carnival, whatever), it was a chaotic scene, with people waiting in line for rides and greasy food. (Click on the link above for a nicely edited night video that someone posted online).

Grand Floral Parade (06-11-11)

It had been a few years since I had gone to the Rose Festival's Grand Floral Parade downtown, so I decided to go and draw a few sketches on the street.

Parade Details

On the left, policemen and one of those Rose Festival creepy old men with a white suit and cape; in the middle, a bicyclist, a cameraman, and a dancer with pompoms (I especially like that sketch); on the right, women at the Media broadcast table.

Chinese dog!

Throughout the parade, I had been working on sketching the street as a background, not sure how I could fill the foreground fast enough since the floats passed by too fast to draw them in their entirety, when, during a lull between floats, suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a goofy-looking Chinese dog appeared. A precursor to the Chinese New Year Dragon dancers, the dog was full of enthusiastic energy, so funny. I quickly drew it. (Click on the link above to briefly see the dog in a video someone posted online...)

Scenes from the parade

Here, I caught the elegant white horse from the Mexico "float" (possibly from the Portland Guadalajara Sister Association). It was just regal. (Click on the link above to see it in a video someone posted online...)

I enjoyed myself.

Craft Party for I [Heart] Art: Portland (06-10-11)

I was a volunteer at the Craft Party for I [Heart] Art: Portland held at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. Aside from the fun craft activities, there was good food, and there were so many of prizes, almost everyone got something also (although I didn't...).

Food table

The audience during the drawing for prizes

At Church (05-22-11)

...Done during Church...

Art Spark May Event (05-19-11)

Art Spark was at ADX Portland, a huge warehouse-turned-creative-space, with lots of people present. There was a cutesy contest-like presentation by SCRAP staff, make some useless craft item, with felt remnants and old crayons, etc. Since it was for an artsy Portland non-profit, this activity was led by women wearing the obligatory 50s dresses with polka dots, too tight for today's ample bosoms, thick-framed glasses, and big-soled shoes. Not to type people, but....

Anyway, I always find people watching more interesting than anything else...

New Parent Night at Da Vinci (05-18-11)

My daughter Monica-Sophie and I were invited to sit for question-answer on the Alumni Panel for an informational meeting for new parents at Da Vinci Arts Middle School. It was nice to see some familiar faces again, like Connie Cheifetz, Doug Ingamells, who had been my daughters' Math teacher, and Jane Ferguson, former Drama teacher at the school.

Doug Ingamells

At the Rural Auction (05-17-11)

Here are some familiar characters at the auction...

Portrait: Suzanne C. (05-11-11)

Probably not one of my best portraits, but it has merit as it stands.

Drawing at the Canvas Bar (05-09-11)

Back at the Canvas Bar, for another session with an uninspiring model... but I actually like these simple poses.

Voice Recital (05-07-11)

Our daughter Valérie who is studying Music in college had a voice recital. Although the temptation to spend the entire recital working on the scene, I preferred to just draw a quick little thing, and then stop to listen to the music.

Haircut Anxieties (05-03-11)

I dread getting a haircut, because I'm afraid that my hair will look like a disaster, no matter what is done to it.
 Although I got a lot of hair, it's pretty fine. It gets static electricity, lays flat on top of my head, and I look like those people in science demonstrations whose hair flies straight up. So, I will give the hairstylist very detailed descriptions of what I DON'T want, and what I do want...then, as she gets to cutting my hair, I will spend the entire time worried and anguished over the results. Finally, when the results look like the minute description I gave of what I didn't want, I feel obligated to praise the hairstyle, even though I hate it. Then, I have to silently suffer over my looks for another six weeks or so later, then go through this all over again.

I hate my hair!

Anxious moments

High School Memories (04-28-11)

When I was in high school in Belgium (the equivalent to 8th or 9th grade), I had a Biology teacher who had a serious style and fashion problem. She was frightful-looking, cross-eyed, with long stringy hair, glasses, and buck teeth. She was clearly middle-aged, and yet, hope springs eternal, she wore mini-skirts that revealed more than anyone would want to see of her her knobby knees and chicken legs.

I can't begin to relate how much of s trouble-maker I was in that class... I sat in the back, with the class clown and his acolytes, and we disrupted the entire class on an ongoing basis. The poor woman, whose humble ambition was to get the class to dissect a frog, never got a chance. I lead our group in loudly objecting that it was cruel and unusual treatment of animals. Small animals. Like poor little frogs, wrenched away from their little ponds, to end up in a stupid classroom, cut into pieces, all for nothing. Why did we have to do this? Could we just draw the frog, and be done? I didn't give a rat's... about dissection; I didn't give a rat's... about Biology either for that matter. Etc.

We never dissected any frog. In fact, we never did anything else than riot in the class.

Woman's Hair (04-27-11)

Here is a nice little drawing done with a Pitt Marker pen. They take a lot of time to get used to, but some of the results ate quite satisfying.

Shakespeare and Molière (04-27-11)

Actor Tim Mooney came to Mt Hood Community College to perform two one-man acts, Shakespeare and Molière. I really enjoyed how he effortlessly changed from one character to another.

Actor Tim Mooney (with autograph removed)

Not an easy task to draw someone gesticulating... So I worked on the sketch above, but also did the quick movement thumbnails below.

Drawing at the Canvas Bar (04-25-11)

On Monday nights, the Canvas Bar has models who pose for artists. This was a struggle for me because I couldn't get over the "dress" the model was wearing, something that looked like a cheap beach straw mat with long strands that hung on the side.

Model wearing a stupid looking straw wrap

Comics Fest (04-17-11)

This is the first time I ever made it to the Stumptown Comics Fest. I found it intimidating, even discouraging. It was like a gathering of clickish people who all knew each other, an exclusive event for exclusive, cool people. I had my Maxine's BD book with me, and was met with dismissive or bored glances when I tried to engage some of the hip publisher representatives who were there; I guess if I were in my 20s, things might be different. As it was, I felt like a fool with my little drawings.

I ran into Theo Ellsworth who had a booth featuring his illustrations and books, and I also saw Kalina Wilson, another artist from the Portland Urban Sketchers whose sketchbooks I admire.

Theo Ellsworth's booth