This is a series for Restore Oregon of
the Celebration Award Dinner November 2015.

Restore Oregon is a cause I can support.
Drawing old buildings is always fun for me, as I began life as an architect.
Restoration is my passion, though we practice it as object conservators
(and occasionally in buildings for interior applications).
I believe in saving the buildings on the Endangered Places list,
and others that didn’t make it to that list.

Restore Oregon Celebration Dinner, Process

Mitchell and I attended the Restoration Celebration to raise money for the
the 2016 Most Endangered Places, and to hear the winners of the 2015 Demuro Awards,
as the guest of one of our clients, Karla Pearlstein of Restoring History.
Restore Oregon is an excellent place to put your time and dollars toward preservation.
I teamed up with Drew Nasto (photographer) and Denise Bartlett (Restore Oregon)
to collect great images to place into sketch format to commemorate the night!
This post is a teaser, to show the process of moving from great pictures to sketch.

In this instance, I started with Drew’s excellent images of the Demuro Award plates
and lovely image of Peggy Moretti, Executive Director, Restore Oregon.

Pencil first, both watercolor and graphite.
(If you use pencil first, and erase some or all of it, use a clean eraser!
If it is a knead-able eraser then pull it into a clean place!)
Moving to a fine point fountain pen, then a Japanese brush pen.

I laid in ink to unify the background, Super5 Dublin and Australia.
It is so different working on really nice watercolor paper;
I am usually in a Moleskin or Stillman & Birn journal:
great journals but obviously not like good watercolor paper!

I began layering washes,
Quinacridone Gold and Yavapei and Piemonite and Sepia,
Sap Green, and Imperial Purple. I tested colors on a piece of the good paper, to see how the inks reacted to the good watercolor paper and to watch the colors build to the deep colored piece I ended with. (The glittery shimmer in the images is wet paint. No sparkles were added).

I am no portraitist, so it is nerve-wracking to do someone’s portrait.
But I’m learning! Finished piece: 1/4 of the folded journal, sans writing, below.

Process slide show below!

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Inked sketches on a handmade Arches Journal with (mostly)
Platinum Carbon pen, Pentel Brush Pen, or Pilot Parallel pen 1.5;
Super5 or De Atramentis Document inks;
Daniel Smith, QoR, Holbien and Greenleaf & Blueberry Watercolors.

Restoration Oregon Celebration Dinner,
Photographs to Layout

I teamed up with Drew Nasto (photographer) and Denise Bartlett (Restore Oregon)
to collect great images to place into sketch format to commemorate the night!
Drew’s images were edited for my purposes.

There is a process to choosing and organizing a layout.
I want to tell the story of our memory,
how we saw and felt about the event.
The choices of image, the way they were cropped for my use,
my liberal interpretation using Drew’s photos for inspiration,
and the progression and juxtaposition
all determine how the story is told.
I jotted down the words (below, above)
that came to mind as I drew.
They help unify the story, offering an emotional impression.

The images flow one to the next, ready for words and color!
Is it successful? The viewer decides in the end!

Inked sketches on a handmade Arches Journal with (mostly) Platinum Carbon pen.
Last image used Pentel Brush Pen, or Pilot Parallel pen 1.5;
Super5 or De Atramentis Document inks;
Daniel Smith, QoR, Holbien and Greenleaf & Blueberry Watercolors.

Restore Oregon Celebration Dinner,
The Event

Thanks to Drew Nasto for letting me use his images
to place into sketch format to commemorate the night!

When we draw, we remember.
When we draw details,
we get to know our subjects intimately.

The simple act of pen to paper allows me to cement
an event forever in my mind and heart.
I remember standing with Mitchell listening to the guitarist,
Matthew’s and Karla’s and Peggy’s faces,
the lovely conversations at the table and after,
a new friendship made, a loyal superintendent,
many patrons of our business dressed up for
a night on the town, and the gift given! Thank You!

I understand the decorative details of the ballroom design
(my architectural background helps here).
I studied the stunning mandala on the hand-painted jacket
from the Pacific Northwest College of Art,
and listened to the stories,
so many great speakers and stories
of buildings lost and buildings saved,
especially Max Williams’ story of watching
a building come down in his home town as a boy.

With the promise of more buildings to be saved,
I watched many people pledge their faith and dollars
in Restore Oregon and our built history.

Artist commentary below, on process!

I thought to take the evening through from start to finish.

I tied the various sketches together with background waterproof inks
which allowed me to add to them, deepen the colors, splatter watercolors.
Super5 inks: Delhi, Dublin, Australia.
This was true tying in the Quin Gold and Quin Brunt Orange of
Istvan Roman’s guitar to Delhi’s saffron yellow ink.
Matthew and Arthur’s suites were almost black;
I made them deep purple blue instead.

I used artistic license to make the scene work.
I didn’t want to draw every last person in Drew’s amazing wide-angle photograph,
but wanted to give a feel for the activity in the room
and the spirited feel of the evening!
The woman I drew may have given much more, I don’t know:
I used our bidding cards to show a monetary amount
because I think a lot of folks gave $250.

The jacket Thomas wore
from a student at the
Pacific Northwest College of Art
(still trying to get the artist name!) was stunning!
How could I not show another artist’s work?
Mitchell would totally wear a jacket like that!

I drew some of the mandala in the
Platinum Carbon pen, and used
Noodler’s Lexington Grey ink and Super5 Delhi
so it would not mix with the watercolors on top.
Then I free-handed the lovely scroll work.

I started with Peggy Moretti’s image because I had her photo first,
along with the Demuro Award plates.
I left space on the folded journal for other items as they came, watching the story play out.
I wanted an image of Arthur Demuro because the award
was named for him and so many told stories of him.
His was the last image to come to me.

Inked sketches on a handmade Arches Journal with (mostly)
Platinum Carbon pen, Pentel Brush Pen, or Pilot Parallel pen 1.5;
Super5 or De Artramentis Document inks;
Daniel Smith, QoR, Holbien and Greenleaf & Blueberry Watercolors.
Photographic images by Drew Nasto.