Columbia River Take Two

These are rest of my sketches from the Columbia River cruise with my mom. Man made Stonehenge in Oregon. In Astoria there are these brillant green pilings in the water. They are covered with algae or moss and are beautiful in the sunlight.
Always ask if they have a stamp. I like the addition they make to my pages. This page is bits and pieces at the Museum of the Columbia River Gorge. The wooden carved sturgeon was about 10 ft. long. Yikes!
At the Maryhill Museum there were two rooms of chess sets. They were very stunning, eveything from art deco, golds and silvers to ivory and wooden carved sets.
The last day of touring was at Fort Clatsop and the Maritime Museum in Astoria. I tied all my sketches together with strands of coloful glass trading beads. It was a fun trip. I will definately plan a cruise with Cruise West in Alaska.

Robert Bateman Sketchbook 6"x 10"
Pen and Watercolor

Columbia River Cruise

My mom and I took a riverboat cruise on the Columbia River with Cruise West. We had a great time and met some wonderful new friends. The cruise was based on the history of the area, the river, the native tribes, Lewis and Clark and the flora and fona. I had a great time finding lots to sketch on our many stops. There are four locks on the Columbia and four more on the Snake.
I really like the way this page turned out. I don't plan out a whole page when I start sketching but continue on until the page is full. The sketch of the fish was copied out of Clark's journal.

The chains and ropes were for the gangplank and were tied up outside our cabin. I liked the design that they formed and had to sketch them. We got to see many petroglyphs, which are carved and pictographs, which are painted. The figures and animals have so much character.

After the gangplank was used the ropes and chains were tied differently and so I sketched them again.

More petroglyphs and pictographs. We took a jet boat ride on the Snake River and at one of the stops there was a cold or root cellar. As I was sketching a very cold wind was blowing and I was shaking which added the roughness to the stone wall.

Robert Bateman Sketchbook 6" x 9"

Pen and Watercolor

Sherman Gardens

Spent a lovely day with Toni yesterday. We visited a very cute boutique in Newport Beach and then had a nice lunch at Sherman Gardens in Corona Del Mar. After lunch we took a short stroll around the gardens and I managed to do one quick sketch before we had to leave. Last week I had a bit of a tussle with a valence as we were taking it down and broke my index finger. It's not a bad break but it does make things a little slower and challenging. This was my first attempt at sketching with two fingers hooked together. As Tim would say, "Carry on!"

Robert Bateman Sketchbook
Pen and Watercolor

Fun from Costa Rica

Everyday Jan Yatsko had a
creativity exercise to get our juices flowing. This one was using a Spanish word that started with a drawn letter. I picked a "U"! I had already drawn the crocodile at the River Tarcoles and decided to go with "ultravioleta" and paint him purple. Without that "U" I never would have gotten a "cocodilla ultravioleta".

Diane and I went up to the cloud forest in San Gerardo de Dota and the Savegre River. While hiking we poured water on the rich soil of the trails and I painted the background of this page. Then I added bits of plants from the trails and around the hotel.

San Gerardo de Dota is very popular with the bird watchers. Large groups come to see the numerous

song birds, woodpeckers, hummingbirds and of course the Quetzal. It really is a spectacular bird but who could pass up sketching those "birders", they were almost as entertaining. Can you say, "zip off pants"?

Jan had a bandana on her list of what to bring. We had a great many laughs over the bandana and it's possible uses. I actually came to rely on that bandana in my pocket and have bought three more since returning home. I was enchanted by the silhouettes of the trees covered with moss, vines and bromeliads. These bromeliads are the epiphyte variety that attach themselves to the trees. They don't cause any harm to the host trees. I loved the different varieties.

Robert Bateman Sketchbook Pen and Watercolor.

More from Costa Rica

Here are a few more of my sketches from Costa Rica with Jan Yatsko . This one was a creativity exercise called draw your breakfast. It was a fun challenge. I don't think I have ever drawn sliced fruit. Do you know how many colors are in a slice of papaya? And how good in pineapple jam?
We spend a day with the Maleku, an indigenous tribe of Costa Rica. There are only about 600 in the tribe and they teach their children the Maleku language and Maleku customs in school. We took a walk through their rain forest. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the medicinal plants and we tasted and smelled many of them, most of them were not enjoyable! As we were leaving the rain forest we got the added blessing of being rained on. It was the best, I loved it!
After a very satisfying lunch made by our guide's wife, we were treated to their fire ceremony called: God, Nature and Man. It was a beautiful ceremony with fire, words, song and dance. Afterwards we all got the chance to dance with them aound the fire. It was a great experience.

Returning to our hotel, I walked the gardens and quickly sketched some of the flowers. At the fire ceremony we were given the words to the prayer in English. I used these two pages to write these words in my sketchbook. This was one of my most favorite days in Costa Rica. I will always remember the Maleku and their generous loving spirit.

Robert Bateman Sketchbook Pen and Watercolor

Costa Rica - Sketch Adventure

I am back from a fabulous trip to Costa Rica! I
signed up for a sketching tour in Costa Rica with
Jan Yatsko and "Wow" what a great way to see the country. It was a small group of four participants and we had lots of fun, laughter and creativity. Jan does a fantastic job with setting up the tour arrangements and getting those creative and artist juices flowing. This page is the first day around the hotel before dinner.

There were creativity exercises for each day, they were fun and made you think. This page was the result of sitting for 10 minutes and really taking in your surroundings. I awoke one morning to the birds singing. Laying there in the early morning light I tried to separate each bird's song and then translated those sounds into words. Most times you can hear the birds but not see them. The songs seem to be coming out of the trees.

One day we took the tico "local" train to the beach from Atenas. It was a little over two hours and lots of fun on a rickity tickity train with the locals. There was singing and dancing as well as beautiful scenery. A pulperia is a snack shack. We also stopped by a fruit stand on the way back. Did you know you only get one nut from the fruit of a cashew?

Don't forget those postal cancellation stamps.

Jan has a wonderful driver, Adrian. He has been with her for five years and is a wonderful addition to her tour. This is my drawing of our van. I added stickers of some of the places and cities we went to. "ATW" stands for all terrain women as we were ready to go no matter the road! After the tour my friend, Dianne and I spent four more days on our own. We hired Adrian as our driver for our last day and were so glad to spend more time with him. What a gem of a man! Robert Bateman Sketchbook Pen and Watercolor

Fullerton Arboretum

My friend and sketching buddy, Ginger, is back in town for awhile. We spent a lovely afternoon on Friday sketching at the Fullerton Arboretum. I thought I would sketch more of the plants but the rooster was so colorful and who could pass up a sunbathing turtle.
We followed the path around and found another enticing place to sit for a spell. It was another of the ponds and as we sketched, the water birds and ducks flew in and out making wonderful splashing water sounds. After awhile it was time for lunch and margaritas.
A very enjoyable day.


Pen and Watercolor in a "new" Robert Bateman sketchbook

Remembering Provence

I found a new magazine, La Vie Claire. I am not a big magazine girl but my good friend, Mari Le Glatin Keis, was interviewed for the Spring 2008 issue. It was a lovely article about Mari, her ideals, and her workshops. The magazine is beautiful with wonderful pictures and articles. It comes out four times a year and is $6.99 an issue. I may have to subscribe to this one. It's a mini relaxing vacation.

Reading about Mari made me remember the very special time I had in Provence with her last October. I decided to post a couple more pages from my sketchbook. These are images from the dining room at the Domaine. We were served breaskfast and dinner in this warm cozy room. I loved the use of the old scale as a place to hold some bright flowers.

This is the last page done in Pont Saint Espirt before returning to Paris and our flight home. One more walk down the lane along the Rhone River to record the wonderful peaceful feeling of this very special place.

I can't wait to join Mari in Astoria, Oregon this August. My sister is joining me on the trip and I know we will have another amazing adventure with Mari. Check out Mari and her wonderful workshops at her website:

http://www.artraveljournals.com/index.html