Pumpkin Patch

Last day of the pumpkin patch!

Schilter Family Farm near Olympia

 

Every year I just want to drink in the colors of this season.

A Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam

In Hue, Vietnam

Oddfellows Cafe_10.10.10

This is a place I use a an urban refuge. Good ambience and it's a great place to watch people. This is the first sketch in which multiple people are included.

Yesterday morning before going to the Imperial Citadel and Forbidden Purple City in Hue, Vietnam, I walked to the Perfume River and sketched this typical tour boat out in the river.

After visiting the tombs yesterday in Hue (pronounced h-way), and the pagoda where Thich Nhat Hahn became a monk, I walked back to the neighborhood and did a sketch of this building. I believe it is a restaurant, but I love the lines of the architectural design. So heavy yet elegant and uplifting.

Experience Music Project_first watercolor of the spring

It was a beautiful spring day and I just rolled around Seattle. Ended up at the Seattle Center and decided to take a chance on sketching this undulating form. It was a good challenge.

Chinatown Gate

Love Don's sketches of Saigon. Late as usual posting this sketch from our last outing on the 29th Worldwide Sketchcrawl in Chinatown/ID district. This gateway is simple in structure but there's a lot going on within it. The broad view is to take in the Smith tower to the right and the clock tower of King St. Station peeking in on the left.

This is a real working class community in west Saigon. There are no tourists, so people were curious about this white guy wandering around. I was often asked to have tea or coffee with people, and I would show them my sketches of the places I'd been drawing. They usually recognized the places I drew, and always paid for my coffee. Genuinely friendly people.

more Saigon buildings near the orphanage

I just spent a week teaching art to 165 kids in grades 1 through 5 at an orphanage on the outskirts of Saigon. There were no tourists, no restaurants other than street food, no taxis, no English speaking people, even at the guest house where I stayed ($7.50 a night). The orphanage was great though, with free lunches and dinners, fast wifi and an air conditioned office. On my long lunch breaks I walked around the neighborhood (full of people preparing food and fixing motorcycles) doing a few sketches.

More from the ID District

There are a lot of interesting historic buildings in the ID district.  The other day I discovered Canton Alley which is located adjacent to the Wing Luke Museum.  It looks as if part of the Wing Luke Museum fronts the Alley.  My guess is that this is part of the Historic Tour that you can take walking through the ID District.
Here are a couple of sketches I did recently of the Alley.

Sketching in Buenos Aires - no dim sum.

Hi! I've been trying to post for days but google has been letting me down. It looks like you had a wonderful Sketchcrawl day and I love seeing the results. I spent the day at a market also and am posting one from there and another view near Plaza de Mayo of Evita fame. My best to all, Peggy

International District Sketchcrawl

October 16 - Hing Hay Park

Sorry I couldn't stay to enjoy dim sum with everyone. This was quite a contrast to our last ID sketchcrawl weather in February! There were two elderly men here practicing qi gong with taped music. That and a bench to put the watercolors on = heaven!!

House on stilts in the Cambodian countryside

Picnic huts at Preah Ag Tom waterfall

I agree, mind boggling detail

But it was warm and sunny and it's so rare to be able to get a view right down the middle of the street...

 

As an aside, I stayed in the ID until 8:30 pm! I loved it. 

Wing Luke showed an astounding film at 4:30 pm, "Operation Babylift" about the evacuation of over 2500 infants and children from Vietnam in April of 1975. Some of those children (now grown) were at the film.

Also Betty Tisdale, an 88 yr old woman who now lives in Seattle but worked in an orphanage in Vietnam then and almost singlehandedly arranged for the evacuation of over 260 infants and children. They covered the floor of a cargo plane! Amazing story. 

The ID Gate with mindboggling detail.

Sketchcrawl - Seattle International District

I enjoyed the crisp fall day in the International District.

The Dragon Poles made a fun subject to draw. A bypaser
told me there were 20 dragon poles. I guess I have 18
more to draw!

Crisp, Sunny Morning in the ID District

What a great day!  No rain.  It was a beautiful perfect fall morning in the ID district.  The light was great, the sky was blue,  I even had to squint to draw my building.  This is a rarity in Seattle, especially when we come into fall and winter, but the timing was perfect for the 29th WW Sketchcrawl.  We had many more people than are shown in the picture.  Probably between 15-18 showed up.  I wanted to draw an iconic storefront building and found later that this building located on 7th and King was one of the first buildings to be built in the ID district.  The sketch was challenging to me and it is not one of my better ones but some days it works and some days it doesn't.  The second and last sketch I did was one I have been wanting to sketch for a very long time.  It is the Standard Cafe noodle bowl sign.  This is such a wonderful sign  I have always loved it.  Standard Cafe is no longer in existence.  I hope they don't take down the sign.  It should be on the historic register.  It is up there with the Hat and Boots!

Worldwide Sketchcrawl 29, Seattle ID

Here are a few of our lovely usual suspects at this morning's crawl, gathered at Hing Hay Park after an enjoyably grueling morning of sketching!
See more of the worldwide crawl at http://www.sketchcrawl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=54

view toward the aurora bridge from gasworks park

This is the toughest subject I've tackled so far. The midground and background got a bit messy, but the overall result has given me some confidence

more about methow

methow valley

29th WORLD WIDE SKETCHCRAWL: SAT. OCT. 16TH

Hi all,
Just a reminder of the 29th WORLD WIDE SKETCHCRAWL!
It is happening this SAT. OCT. 16TH in the International District 10:00 am.
For meeting information.  29th-world-wide-sketchcrawl-sat-oct-16
Hope to see you there rain or shine!

sign kiosk on capitol hill_seattle

These structures have always fascinated me. So the discovery of this one near my life drawing class provided an opportunity to finally draw one. It was also the first time that I used my new french field easel on site, and it was a dream.

More Saigon cafes

I love the handmade patchwork quality of so many of these little places, sandwiched between larger structures. After saying no as many ways as I could muster, I bought The Rum Diaries by Hunter S. Thompson from a sweet girl selling bootleg books.

Saigon alleyway

The high, narrow alleyways with their helter skelter awnings felt like walking through a cubist painting.

Saigon scenes

Monday Oct. 11 - I spent 2 days in Saigon, walking through the busy streets and alleyways. I love the dark, congested alleys that cut through the larger blocks, revealing the busy world of people doing food prep work, various services and just living their lives. Open doorways often reveal living spaces, with electric shrines lighting up dark rooms. See my Vietnam trip blog at http://vietnam.don-baker.com.

Asian Art Museum_Volunteer Park

a watercolor done on a beautiful spring day. I really enjoyed doing this because it was the first painting I had ever done on site.

RENOVATION OF THE PIKE PLACE MARKET

This is some scaffolding that is part of the ongoing multi-year renovation of the market. it will help insure that the market remains vital and safe for many years to come. And everyone in Seattle is glad for that.

Olympia Farmer's Market - another try

After several attempts I was finally able to get the scale under some control. 

 I've just posted on my personal blog, sketches from Hong Kong ...

...and Brooklyn/NYC... mostly of people on the subways or standing in line, the only places I was still!

st. ignatious

mazama, washington

Saint Ignatius Chapel_Seattle University

This was my first sketch done outdoors in quite a while. The chapel is a beautiful building which holds a series of interior spaces that are inspirational and subtly beautiful.

29th WORLD WIDE SKETCHCRAWL: SAT. OCT. 16TH

Hi all,
Get ready for the 29th WW Sketchcrawl!  We are meeting on Saturday October 16th,  10:00 am
in the International District.  See map and photos below.  There are a lot of options for sketching in the ID district.  The area by the Gate, HingHay Park Pavilion,  Wing Luke Museum,  Panama Hotel Tea house,  Uwajamaya, King St. Station....

We can meet meet first at the International District Transit Station across the street from the  ID Gate on 5th and King St.  If any one is interested in having Dim Sum after, we will find a good place for that.  May be a good chance to draw food!

Ballard Farmer's Market!

Hi Everybody, this is Olivia! Its is my first post on Urban Sketchers (Hurray!)

I'm looking forward to being a part of all the great work that everybody is contributing.

But anyway, remember that really rainy sketch day in Ballard....

Thanks Gail and Gabi for the invite!

Essential Baking Company Bakery

Went to Essential Baking Company Bakery this morning and met fellow urban sketcher Beth there. Had a nice chat and was able to do a sketch of the space.  What a wonderful place for coffee and a muffin.