Sketching at Scappoose High School

Doing another scene in Scappoose. This time the high school.  

Our booth at the Scappoose Farmers Market

Trying different venues to see what works better for our products.  Learning as we go.  😊

Our booth at 13 Nights in St Helens

Our booth at 13 Nights.  We only booked two weeks to test this venue.  Down by the river is gusty.  Starts out a million degrees in the afternoon and then the wind cools it down by the time the concert in the park starts.  I noticed the first week folks didn't even notice the postcards of St Helens so the second week I made a sign specifically pointing to the postcards.  Then people saw them.  

Clarks Signs in Scappoose

This one was like sensory overload. So many shapes and textures that it was easy to lose track of where I was in the drawing. For painting I used a subtractive watercolor technique I knew the paper would allow me to do which made applying color go faster than it otherwise would have. 

July press release

Bo Jangles

This is a miniature iris in my garden by the registered name of Bo Jangles.  I love these little guys because they are the first to bloom.  Sennelier watercolors on 140# Sennelier hot press cotton paper block.  

#bonnywagoner #sennelier #iris #flower #bloom

Today's adventure

Today we sketched at Cathedral Coffee in Portland while talking about where to go and what to see in France.  Future scheming.  And a lot of wishing.  

An interesting story.

I was trying out the new pens I just bought.  On the side was noted permanent ink.  On-line reviews had quite a number of comments stating the ink dissolved when any water media was added.  I had assumed it was the paper they used but I found out with this drawing in a watercolor journal, it's not the paper.  Turns out the ink really wasn't so permanent.  I contacted Derwent, the manufacturer, to let them know their ink isn't performing well.  It bleeds everywhere watercolor was added to the drawing.  You can see it in the picture above.  There was no saving this one... I just tried to use as little water as possible to add color.  

Derwent surprised me by first apologizing for my experience.  They asked me to send them a picture of the pens which I did and then replied what I had was their first run and have since been replaced with a better now permanent ink.  They offered to ship me replacements for the pens I had purchased.  I accepted.  The pens arrived today.  Not only did they replace the pens I had purchased, they sent me a complete set of their pens with the request that I let them know how they worked.  I've never had a company go to this extent to try to make something right.  I am impressed.  

The Paris exhibit at the Portland Art Museum

The black dress.  You can't really see it in the picture but the dress had a lot of detail in the pattern which screamed stipple (to me).  Although it's an extremely time intensive technique, it's also very therapeutic so stipple it was.  And of course even though I ran out of time at the museum, I couldn't just stop working on it: