summer watercolor, actually fall

Ballard and Olympia Markets

I stuck around the Ballard Market after lunch (when it was a little more dry). 

I just can't take in enough of the colors at harvest season...

We have a great chile cart at the Olympia market. 

I caught the Hot Side...

 

...and overheard a great recipe for chile rellenos

Uniontown

Eleanors Cafe, a popular stop for burgers and beers in Uniontown, is now closed.

St. John

This sketch was done in St. John while waiting for my lunch at a little cafe there.

New York New York!

Teresa and I ventured to The Big Apple earlier in the month to see MoMA's Matisse show ( http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/969) and spent time each day walking and sketching. Sketched this sitting on a bench in Bryant Park, a little rain but not much! Have been missing our sketchcrawls, hope to get out to the next one!

Juanita Bay Park

OK, I wimped out of the serious rain at the Ballard Market... it was really pouring here in the north end, but my husband and I did manage to take a short walk and enjoy the crisp air in a nearby park along Lake Washington. The heavy gray clouds burst open again as I was sketching in a non-permanent ink pen, and I caught some interesting rain drop effects on my quick sketch. I later added some color and a few more pen strokes. Juanita Bay Park is a great park in Kirkland -- Lots of interesting scenery here: water lily pads, old posts from a long gone ferry, plank walkways, surrounded with some wetlands, and buildings off in the distant shorelines.

I did get the flavor of a market as we stopped to shop at our favorite IN-door fruit and veggie market on the way home as the rain continued... I'm so glad you are all sharing your sketches!

Ballard Avenue

Ballard Market

Huddled in the shallow recess of a quiet entryway off the market, I managed to drench just the first 29 pages of my sketchbook, then the sun emerged. It was just in time to paint the blue sky.

space needle

Urban Sketch Gathering - Sept.

When the worst of the rain was coming down and vendors were floating down the street, I was sipping a double short latte in a cozy little coffee shop where I had parked myself in a window seat to draw. You'd think there would be a little guilt....Great meeting Don and other new sketchers, missed some of our regulars, next time...

The market is vibrant; rain and shine

We had a delightful outing and I enjoyed meeting up with everyone. The extra water splashes weren't really intentional, but mother nature decided to collaborate with me on this sketch.

Seriously Wet at the Ballard Sunday Market

I have to admit that I played with "saturation" in my Windows Photo Gallery for the picture of the vegies. Which made me chuckle - as if we hadn't gotten saturated enough on Sunday. I love that we are all good humored waterproof northwesterners.

Ballard Sunday Market

While September is usually a really nice month, this one has been like an early version of October. But I'm really happy about two things—the great turnout we had and the sun finally breaking through. The first sketch of the market is like those already posted, probably because the viewpoint offered some protection from the downpours. In the second image of the Ballard bell tower, I had to redraw the upper portion after I realized I didn't get the proportions right the first time.

Ballard Farmers' Market

Certified wet & organic. I sketched this produce stand from the covered porch of a little house that is now a lawyer's office. Thankfully, there was no retainer fee required. Went back later, when the sun came out, and started another view, but timed out.

Despite the rain bursts (not quite on Frank's announced schedule), enjoyed the day and then drying out with folks at The Noble Fir. I was glad we could pay back the guy there, who had come out when I was huddled in his overhang, whining to Peggy about my broken water and ink bottles, and given me a bunch of paper towels. Good scenes and good people; let's go back!

Ballard Farmer's Market

I really enjoy the sketchbook exchange part of our group.

Fun sketching outing even with the crazy downpour. Glad the sun finally arrived.

Rainy Day at the Ballard Farmers' Market

Wasn't too sure how this day would work out, but we had one of our largest groups.  Probably around 18 people showed up for sketching at the Farmer's Market.  We even had a visitor from Washington D.C.

The weather challenged our ability to sketch.  It was Urban Splashing Northwest style.  You didn't need to pre-splash your water color paper, the rain did it for you!  Despite the challenge it was a great day and the sun finally showed up at the end of our session.

Catching Up on Sketches

Here's a bit of catch up for me with a few sketches. I'm planning to see you at the Ballard market!

....Fisherman's Terminal in August, a beautiful fun day with sketchers...
.....the Woodland Park Zoo in March with sketchers, brisk weather, but another favorite place...
.....an escape to Bandon, OR, one of my most favorite places, in March, fresh sea air, rocks, exquisite scenery there...
.....a plane trip to Texas to visit family in April, what else could I draw?...
.....a side trip to the Wichita Mountains, OK in May, a wildlife refuge for bison...

September 19th Sketchcrawl at the Ballard Sunday Farmers Market

Hi all,
Our next Sketchcrawl is this coming Sunday September 19th.  Let's plan on meeting at the Ballard Centennial Bell Tower on 22nd Ave. N.W. and Ballard Ave. N.W. at 10:00 am.
Parking will be very difficult.  You may want to get there early to find parking.  I was able to find some parking on Shilshole Ave. N.W. last time I was there.   Look forward to seeing you there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6zyaOKHyek&feature=related

A Late Posting from Winslow

A couple weeks late posting this sketch from our Winslow outing but Gabi's e-mail about enlarging our images spurred me to try it out. Hope it works, and thanks, Gabi. I like the new look.

Vancouver

Went to Vancouver BC last weekend with my mom and two sisters, fellow urban sketchers (see Beth's Vancouver posting). 

Our focus was the Modern Woman Exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery (Museum). Rooms and rooms of impressionist drawings and pastels from mid-1800's to mid-1900's. A feast for us sketchers! I intended to sketch/copy some of the great masters, but I was so engaged in just examining them I totally forgot.

I did manage a sketch of the hotel across the street from our hotel...

but quick sketches of people is what I like to do most...

waiting in line at Zara

two women at museum

Bainbridge Island pencil sketches

The sun never broke through the clouds during our escapade to Bainbridge Island, so I didn't miss my watercolors much that day. In fact, I decided to focus on pencil sketching, something I've been wanting to do for a while.

Frank Bettendorf makes a few appearances in the drawings I did. We took the same bus to Seattle and I drew him before, during and after the outing around Winslow. I had a blast sketching with Frank, who hardly ever misses a gathering of the group despite living two hours north of Seattle. His enthusiasm for sketching is inspiring. My sketches don't do justice to his cheerful attitude and sense of humor. Of the first one I did, he said: "Unfortunately, it looks like me ... You can take it home, put it in the garage and it will keep all the mice out of the house."

GARDENS

A couple of weeks ago the weekly theme for urbansketchers flickr group was to sketch a garden.  Since ours is in really bad shape, I went to the Japanese Tea Garden instead to try another attempt at drawing landscape.  This came out better than my first attempt.  Also looking at the work of urbansketchers on the international blog helped me see how much value some people use to create depth and differentiation.  This was also my second attempt at sketching on a larger format.  This was 10 x 15 approximately. 

Sweet Sophie, Super Dog

This is our dog Sophie, a very game model for my sketching. I am experimenting with different paper and pen

Bainbridge Island

In my 45 years in the Northwest I'd only been to Bainbridge Island once, and never to the downtown, so it was a delightful reunion with Urban Sketchers Seattle...great company and conversation (and pretty good wine as well).  
Finally getting to scanning and posting...
Scale is still a challenge for me -- notice I had to work "above the fold" to get the steeple in.
Did anyone get the name of this church?

Did this on the way home on the ferry.

Vancouver

Went up to see the "Modern Women" exhibition in Vancouver....lovely and inspirational.

Delaware Boardwalk - Rehoboth

Sketched this in Delaware last week.

bainbridge

Brought my family. Kept my kit light and got better results for it. Good times!

The church. An obvious target for many in the group.



Eagle harbor, from the south end of the shore trail.





Tower on the WSF Tacoma, our ferry that morning.