Hawthorne Bridge and the Blues Festival (07-04-13)

We went to the Waterfront Blues Festival planning to end the 4th of July with a concert by MarchFourth Marching Band followed by fireworks.

Major chaos! The crowd at the waterfront was so dense we barely were able to find a place to sit; Valérie and Patrick were forced to go someplace far from us. Not to be picky here, but although we were relatively close to the stage, it was difficult to hear the concert, to the point that I felt distanced and inattentive, When it was time for the fireworks, we realized the stage was blocking our view of most fireworks save those that were high up in the air...

There was no room to move or do anything, so I pulled my sketchbook out and worked on this watercolor of the Hawthorne Bridge.

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).

Older Post: Hawthorne Bridge (2004)

I did this drawing of the Hawthorne and Marquam bridges from inside an office building in downtown Portland.

This sketch was over my desk area for a very long period of time. I liked to look at it, then look out the window to compare my work with the view outside...