I wanna move! (01-30-10)

I am having a bad case of (rental) cabin fever. At least, the rental house has great water pressure and the water is really hot.

Some good news...and some not so good (01-21-10)

The sewer scope was done today. Good news: The sewer line is okay.

We're still at the stage of negotiating repairs. Negotiations still underway...(since December). ...Still negotiating... (this has got to be the longest process ever to buy a house!)

We found a house...I think (01-19-10)

This is the house we may be buying. We just had a home inspection yesterday. The thing that really freaks me out, though (aside from the many repairs necessary), is that there are hobo spiders...

House Inspection (01-18-10)

The house sale is "pending" (we are the buyers).

The home inspection was today (and it was scaryyyyy)...

Faces at Church (01-17-10)

You might wonder why there are so many entries about Church... I simply find people at Church to be an unending source of material for quick sketches.

Some familiar faces

Portrait: Moso (01-16-10)

A quick sketch of Moso, that doesn't totally look like her...

Moso?

All these efforts for nothing...so far (01-14-10)

So far, we made FIVE offers and several counter-offers on various houses...with no satisfactory results.

Mary G. (01-11-10)

This is my friend, Mary G., whose pale ethereal beauty brings to mind a mermaid or a fairy (a "fée" in French).

Church Meeting (01-10-10)

Two quick sketches of people at Church...

Woman at a Restaurant (01-08-10)

I was at Claim Jumper with Gary, and a woman sitting at a table nearby caught my attention. She was in her 40s and pretty, and with the black dress and heavy jewelry she was wearing, was clearly dressed for an expensive date. It set my imagination going: was this a "kept" woman, who was meeting with her lover?.. At Claim Jumper, of all places?

At the Endodontist (01-05-10)

The two following sketches are a good example of what the luxury of time allows one to achieve, as opposed to a rushed sketch.

In the first sketch, I was sitting in a waiting room, and with no desire to read the usual old magazines, I had plenty of time to work and complete the sketch of the other woman sitting in the waiting room, first focusing on her, and then, filling out the details around her: the walls, furniture, decor, etc. Nice.

Woman knitting

The second sketch was started while I was waiting in the chair for the endodontist to come to look at my tooth. It is a quick sketch, on a spread that includes unrelated things, with merely some cursory details about the experience. And yet... it depicts that particular moment accurately.

Pain and Anxiety

Back at it with another offer... (01-03-10)

Despite my feeling ill with a raging toothache, we made (another) offer on the "Ducks and Bunnies" house...

New Year's Eve (12-31-09)

We attended a very entertaining New Year's Eve party at the Watts, with a brilliant and well-researched presentation about the prophecies of 2012 by Jesse C.

Jesse C. and his audience

At Claim Jumper's (12-29-09)

It was a pleasure to see Lyndon L. again after many years. We had a good time reminiscing and sharing stories about his and Gary's time spent in Verviers as missionaries.

Still looking... (12-28-09)

We looked at houses today... Time to consider pros and cons again. It's totally a drag, honest.

I can't think of how many houses I've looked at that, and the minute I walked in, I wanted to walk out right away.

We've seen it all: stupid floor plan, close-in but minuscule house, dumpy, massive fixer, steep driveway, no yard, no convenient bathroom, really nice but unaffordable, an abundance of Home Depot kitchens...or a really cute house, but far away from the city. There is no perfect house out there.

Annual Community Messiah Sing-Along (12-18-09)

This year again, we went to the Messiah Sing-Along at Central Lutheran Church. I sing Alto, but mostly follow the melody... so it was easier to just listen and enjoy Händel's gorgeous music (a German name NOT pronounced "Handle," but Hen-del"...).

I really like these few sketches; they are representative of the variety of people in the audience and how engaged they were in singing. The last sketch is of my daughter Valérie, with her sister Julia to her right (not visible).

We made an offer...again (12-14-09)

House offer revisited. Re-wait-and-see. I'm having mixed feelings about the subject; this house selling/renting/buying has been like pulling teeth.

Counter-Offer (12-07-09)

The terms of the counter-offer were so ridiculous, they were almost funny. The seller wanted to rent the house back from us, for a ridiculous price, and for an indefinite period of time. So, we rejected her counter-offer.

Offer (12-05-09)

We made an offer on a house. Now, it's time to wait...and...see.

A page from my sketchbook (ca. 11-25-09)

A page spread, worked on over several days...

At left, Julia, and at top middle, Wendy B.

LeeAnn B. at Church (11-22-09)

LeeAnn B. is always smiling and everyone loves her classes.

LeeAnn B.

Doodle Study in Black and White (ca. 11-09)

I love using my black pens. The following doodles were done with a fine point Sharpie. I wanted to fill the page with patterns as they happened spontaneously.

Video Games Live (11-07-09)

Great concert at the Arlene Schnitzer Hall: Video Games Live. Although my knowledge of video game music is limited to the Metroid series, this was a superb concert!

From a Book of B&W Photography (10-23-09)

This sketch was done from a photograph of (I think) an industrial or banker from the 1940s, found in an older coffee table book with many photos of famous people from the last century. I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know who it is...

Mystery Celebrity from the Past

An Entry for 1000 Journals!!! (10-18-09)

Such exciting news! I stopped by artFIBERfest at Reed College. One of the organizers, Tracy Moore (whose journals are fabulous) had one of the journals from the 1000 Journals project with him, and he asked me to draw something in it. I also got to draw in one of his journals.

Left: what I drew in Tracy's journal; Right: what I drew for 1000 Journals

Best of all, he drew a House Fairy in my sketchbook, with a promise that she'll intervene to help me find a new house...

On the Bus (10-16-09)

I don't do comics often enough, but here is something I did while sitting on the bus...

I want things my way... (10-11-09)

...I want my plans to be implemented; I want to reach my dreams.

Photo of the kitchen in our old house (ca. 10-09)

Here is a photo of my favorite space in our old house: the kitchen I designed. I think the project turned out fabulous, especially with the color tiles on the wall. The kitchen "made" the house and gave it personality. I hope to find a house where I will be able to get creative like this again...
(Incidentally, the kitchen was featured in the 2007 Rejuvenation Lighting Kitchen and Bath catalog; there was an article about it in the Oregonian in March 2008.)

Stan Ridgway at The Woods (10-03-09)

Well, once again, Stan Ridgway came to Portland, this time for an all-acoustic concert at The Woods. Although I prefer the louder sounds of old Wall of Voodoo and Drywall, it was a very enjoyable time... Here is my sketch of the musicians (autographs removed).

Pietra Wextun, Stan Ridgway, Rick King

Thugs (09-15-09)

This newspaper photo of three would-be terrorists caught my attention. Interesting faces.

TV: "Lost" (ca. 09-03)

A few sketches done while watching Lost.
Funny to see some characters that were once very important but have been phased out (usually killed off either intentionally by friend-turned-to-foe, unintentionally by enemy-turned-friend, or through supernatural-yet-cheesy means by the malovelent island).

Portland Creative Conference (09-12-09)

I worked as a volunteer at the Portland Creative Conference at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts.

I am really pleased with the sketch of poster artist Emek, especially since it features him talking about his well-known poster of a Decemberists album, which I asked him to sign in my sketchbook (autograph removed). Pretty cool.

Emek

Party in the courtyard

Valérie's Wisdom Teeth (09-03-09)

Valérie's wisdom teeth were pulled. She wasn't feeling very good, so I drew this to cheer her up.

Another Yeti (08-09)

This one's sweet...

Yet another Yeti (08-09)

This one's a bully.

Haiku: The Seller's Lament (08-20-09)

A poem by Pascale Steig

My house on Woodward
is lovely and for sale now.
Great neighbors. Much space.

Three bedrooms, two baths,
The best kitchen in the world:
A gourmet’s retreat.

Time passes, so slow.
The house sits immutable,
while my hair turns gray.

Fickle buyers, all.
Only complaints: too spacious;
the tree...too much shade.

Complaints, excuses:
No lawn, no fence, tree too tall,
house and rooms too big.

What about agents?
Large or small, from the same mold:
"Make it bargain cheap!"

"Price low! Give it up!"
But one thing is sacred, one:
The commission, always high.

"Sell my house," I say
to all agents who come by.
No results. Nothing.

Victorian House in Verviers (ca. 11-08)

For all the talk about houses, as this pretty much the focus of my new blog, I want to include a few photos of my absolute Best of Best, the ultimate reference of what I am looking for in a house: high style, and a moody personality, or, as my daughter Valérie would say, "gloomy, slightly impressive."
But there is no such thing on the West Coast...and if there ever was, it would be in a place like rotten part of Los Angeles or San Francisco, would have been abandoned, condemned and/or demolished...
This gem of a Victorian house is in my hometown in Belgium. Like the setting for a 19th century dark novel, it is precariously
set high on the side of a hill and accessed by a narrow dead-end cobblestone path bordered by the river; a tall spiked cast-iron fence secludes it from intruders. But the modern world has encroached: the freeway runs right over the top of the house.

The house's name is Béribou.

Trip to Washington (07-31-11)

I tried to draw some cars on the freeway. I am not very good at cars, but I found that if I focus on the general shapes, I get a result that works, kinda...

Then I tried to draw trees... Here, it was also a matter of getting the general shape down.

In a Coffeeshop (07-11-09)

I stopped by a coffeeshop at the corner of Killingsworth and Albina; there was no one else aside this guy working on his laptop.

Mississippi Street Fair (07-11-09)

I went to the Mississippi Street Fair and had a great time walking around and working on a few sketches.

Street scene

With his soft and subdued demeaner, rap singer Madgesdiq caught my attention.

Madgesdiq

Julia at bottom right

Movie: Jesse James (07-07-09)

We watched the movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and I drew this with a pen that was almost out of ink; yet, there is something about the unusually fine quality of the pen strokes that I find visually pleasant and fitting with the subject matter.

BluesFest (07-05-09)

I love Blues, so I recorded another great Portland event in my sketchboook: the Waterfront Blues Festival! I wandered around from stage to stage, enjoying the wonderful music.

Maxine's BD: My Significant Other, Part 1

...Where G. gets a job and all is well...kinda.