Quad and Burke Museum

A little late posting but here is my attempt at capturing the cherry trees in blossom in the UW Quad. Trees and water are for me among the most difficult subjects to draw in pen-and-ink because I have to suggest their presence by drawing everything else around them. On the other hand, I love drawing sculptural objects like the masks in the Burke Museum.

Welcome Spring!

I missed the sketchcrawl last Sunday, but went to find Olympia's Annual Community Bubble Blow on Saturday.
I got there just as the last bubble blowers were leaving, but the permanent sweethearts are a constant.
Statue: The Kiss by Richard Beyer, one of the two artists who did waiting for the Metro in Fremont

Enjoying the warm weather and went around on a stroll around and neighborhood, noticed a lot of For Rent signs up...I thought I was a sign more me to pull out my sketchpad and thrown on some colors.

Leigh and the thataway tree

Enjoyed sharing another fluffy (if damp) adventure with you all last Sunday, and seeing your magnificent sketches! I cheated and added watercolor to one of these at home.

The Mountaineers

The Mountaineers moved their Seattle HQ to Magnuson Park about a year ago. Very nice building. They did a pretty extensive remodel on the place.

Second Try at the Quad

I thought I would take a second try at the quad. Went there today since tomorrow looks like it might be rain. I actually got sun!! No rain only thing that was falling were the cherry blossoms!

Blossoms in Gothic

Gothic architecture ranks up there as one of the toughest sketch subjects of all time. If not for the splendid blossoms fluttering about my head and the company of all the other sketchers I never would have persisted. I enjoyed seeing the different techniques and portrayals of the spring time scenery. I'll be out of town next month so see you in May!

Looking down Rainier Vista on UW Campus on a stormy Sunday afternoon.

UW campus

Had fun sketching with everyone.

Process for outdoor sketching in Seattle in springtime:
1) Pick subject and start sketching.
2) Sketch until either a) feeling in fingers is gone due to cold, b) heatstroke, c) shivering due to cold prevents accurate linework, d) sunburn becomes too painful, e) windblown trashcan almost knocks you over, f) territorial crow succeeds in knocking you over, g) rain/snow/sun/hail (often at/near the same time) makes water-based media uncooperative, or h) any combination of a) through g). Some version of this usually happens within 20 minutes or so.
3) Go somewhere indoors to recover. There are lots of bars in Seattle. Perhaps there is a connection.
4) Repeat, until the sketch (or you) are finished.
This sketch of the library took two cycles:

Later I went to the Burke Museum, the curators of which wisely choose to keep most of the exhibits indoors. This particular fish, a contemporary of T. Rex, is said to have reached lengths of up to 18 feet. In my quest to not, "judge a book by it's cover," I'll allow that this fellow could possibly have been a devoted vegetarian, perhaps even a buddhist, but I have my doubts. Fishing back then would have been more exciting than today, due to it being somewhat less certain as to who was ultimately going to end up in whose stomach.

See you all next month!

University of Washington Quad and Burke Museum

It was another great gathering. So interesting to see how many different ways people represented the Cherry Blossoms. I learned alot! It was a bit wet but that's what we get for living in the Northwest. It created another opportunity to draw and paint at the Burke Museum.
That was fun and they even provided a chair.

Shoulda...

checked the blog before going out Sunday. Had a few hours and wanted to draw this scene for some time.

Cold but lovely

It's a challenge to sketch on such a day. I was feeling a frustrated until I saw what others had accomplished. There were some wonderful images of the campus buildings and the gentle abundance of those trees in the quad. I found a cherry blossom stuck to my palette.. This is a sketch of the smaller trees near the library - some color added when I got home.

Golden Gardens

I saw the Olympics on my way home today and had to make a quick detour to enjoy them. Warm and dry in my car.

March Urban Sketchers gathering - Uof W

Slightly cold and wet but great subjects to sketch. As always, enjoyed seeing everyone and again, learned something new about fountain pens.

3/21 cherry blossoms @ UW Quad

Yes, that's a bride down at the end of the walk, joining us and all the folks with Nikons hanging around their necks to pay homage to the cherry blossoms. The stop-and-start showers were a bit problematic, but as always it was great to be out with Urban Sketchers, and exchange sketchbooks and pen & paper info.

Spring Sketchcrawl, Sunday, March 21st

View Larger Map

We are planning to meet at the University of Washington quad at 10 a.m. Hope to see all of you there!

Heritage Park, Olympia

Heritage Park and Fountain
Olympia, WA

Yesterday was a beautiful day in the Northwest. In Olympia,our main public recreational water source is Heritage Fountain. The fountain is the focal point of the park with sits between capital Lake and Budd Bay, one of the southernmost fingers of Puget Sound.

On sunny days, even in March, kids squeal with delight as they play amidst the circle of water jets that sprout water in random patterns. I was happy to soak in the sunshine on the sidelines thoroughly enjoying the portent of summer.

UW Cherry Trees

I can't believe how early our spring flowers are blooming! I sketched some of the Quad cherry trees at the UW today. The building in the background is Raitt Hall.

urban crawl

On Saturday Feb 27 a few of us gathered for WorldWide SketchCrawl 26 at the Washington State Convention Center. Weather was drizzly and sunny in turns! We had the best of both.
Here's my sketch looking down Union Street to Elliott Bay, from the balcony on the second level.

Oh, Mexico!

Hi! I have been really enjoying the sketches this month! My husband and I have just returned from a fascinating 4 weeks in Mexico. We spent time in cold wet Central Mexico and warm Puerto Vallarta. It was sketching heaven, although there was never enough time. I wish I had more skill drawing people, as they were the most inspiring but here are a few of my favorites. More on my blog -
http://travelswithpeggyandjeff.blogspot.com/   See you at the next Sketchcrawl, Peggy

El Sagrario, in colonial Patzcuaro. MX 

Plazuela Reforma, in the colorful mountain city of Guanajuato, MX

Narrow walking street, Guanajuato, MX

And always relaxing, Puerto Vallarta, MX