View from Smith Tower

 

Fun sketching from the Chinese Room atop Smith Tower with Peggy G. today. We had instant street cred with the gentleman handling the tickets|architectural info, as he attends the SAF auctions and remembered the Urban Sketchers work there last year!

Santa Barbara Style

I have been so fortunate to spend the winter in central California, where the light is bright and the shadows intense. This is my final sketch in Santa Barbara before heading back to Seattle where it is more"subdued and atmospheric". This is the former site of the Flying A Studios where over 1200 feature films were shot from 1912-1919.

St. Ignatius Chapel

The Lighthouse Hill, in El Golfo, Sonora, Mexico. This is a popular spring break destination for dune buggies, quads, rails and 4x4's. It's quiet now, but during Easter break it will be overrun with vehicles and revelers.

Edmonds Last Sunday

Went on a stay-cation to Edmonds and found it charming. 

teddy r.

Aire y Baños

El Golfo garage.

When I posted my last four drawings here, I saw they all had the same boring composition: a cubic subject on a flat plane. For this one I tried to reverse it and draw a cubic negative space surrounded by clutter.

Times Square

I missed the last sketchcrawl because I was in NYC. I sat on the red steps to draw from the ground and then from the 8th floor window of the Marriot Marquis from above. On the red steps there were so many people that they kept standing in front of me so I had to get used to drawing different sections as people blocked my view of what I was working on. Some guys from France took a picture of my drawing before it was done so I gave them the Urban Sketch blog address so hopefully they will visit!

A Few More Sketches

Space Needle

Post Alley

Sketches from my stay in El Golfo, Sonora, Mexico

El Golfo RV Resort Clubhouse

   

A little store nearby

The Point, a restaurant in Puerto Peñasco

El Golfo Cemetery

Seattle Central Library

I'm back again with another sketch. Here, I visited the Downtown Seattle Central Library. There are so many amazing angles throughout this building. The architecture is fascinating. I feel privileged to live in a city with world class architecture. What better inspiration could you ask for?

Lake Union Houseboats

Over spring break I am trying to do a sketch a day until I return to school. These are houseboats along Lake Union which I came across. Along the shores of Lake Union are densely woven houses, each unique. Unlike many homes on land, the Lake Union houses encourage a sense of individuality. In a row of houses, each one varies in size, shape and color. They have tremendous character.

Old Rainier Brewery Site

Had a great time with all the other sketchers on Sunday.  It has been good to meet everyone and now I can put faces to the sketches that I see on the Seattle USK site.  This is definately a wonderful bunch of people that enjoy sharing their view of the world.



This is the first view I sketched from underneath the light-rail overpass.  The rain slowed down enough, but I still tried to work fast because of the cold was setting into my hands.  (Gabi standing down the street sketching)



My next view in the alley with Gabi again sketchingin my view!



Before heading to the wine tasting I discovered that even the heavy equipment on the south end of the site had great colors too.

Thanks Bart for letting us come in from the rain and cold and try your wine.
I am looking forward to enjoying the bottle I purchased sometime soon. 

Seeking Shelter

Bart, of Bartholomew's Winery was gracious to a few of us less hardy sketchers on this Sunday. I know it's in the sketcher spirit to survive the cold but a warm room, table and wine won out. What a gem of a location for city wine tasting.

This is a corner view of the tasting room where we all gathered below to share our sketchbooks.

Old Rainier Brewery - Bartholomew Winery

Four of us are guilty of sketching indoors while enjoying a bottle of wine at Bartholomew rather than braving the March elements. This is proof that friends do let friends drink and draw.

The Old Rainier Brewery

The Old Rainier Brewery sounds much better to my ear than Tully's.

Tully's Color

It was all about color for me today!  So this was a great venue.  It was drizzling and we sketched between raindrops or in our cars.  It was a great gathering today.  We had about 19 people show up. Weather does not deter the Seattle sketchers! 

Tully's Too

Posted myself outside under a tree near the entrance to the parking lot to capture most of this sketch. Transferred to my car to add the color, parking myself perpendicular to the fence. I wasn't really totally blocking the entry/exit . . .  






I drove around to the back of the building and stayed in my car for this sketch. Enough of the suffering for the sake of art. This entrance leads to the Seattle Capoeira studio. Again perpendicular to the wall, nose in the roadway. Apologies to the few cars that were gracious enough to go around. I will take all responsibility to any complaints that may come in. Fortunately I didn't have my USK logo pasted on my car. 

"SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT" IN PRINT

I mentioned this to a few of you at the wine tasting room today, but I published my book "Sustainable Urban Development" earlier this month and wanted to share it with you. It was an amazing trip. There were so many beautiful places and opportunities to sketch. The book is available to view and purchase from this site. 


http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3052946 

The University of Illinois School of Architecture selected Dan Seng as the 2011 recipient of the Francis J. Plym Traveling Fellowship. This book is a record of his travels. It includes research of mixed-use developments in more than 30 cities and is rich with colorful photographs and his water color sketches.

The Old Rainier Brewery

The Old Rainier Brewery, now Tully's headquarters, is an iconic building in Seattle. Driving down I-5, you can't miss it when taking the West Seattle Bridge exit. It draws the eye's attention. And I thought this was a great, colorful and challenging location to draw.

OLD RAINIER BREWERY (TULLYS)

The brickwork and the colors made for great sketching today. The weather forced us to be creative with our sketch locations. It was great to see all of you today (including a few new faces for me!)

Bartholomew Winery Tasting Room 3/18/12

Some of us took advantage of Bart's hospitality (table, music and a space heater!!) and a bottle of Cuvée Rouge and sketched in the Bartholomew Winery tasting room.

 Did a watercolor of the building from my car before the official start time of our sketch crawl.

Then did a collage from that indoors, all warm and toasty, and with a "Washington State Wineries" magazine to add to the paper bits I'd brought.

A lovely way to spend the last Sunday of winter (or so the calendar claims).

Ballard

Looking towards the old Ballard Library on 24th Ave NW. 

New Venue for Sunday March 18th Sketchcrawl

We are having our sketchcrawl at a new venue.  Suzzallo Library is closed for Spring Break so instead we will be meeting at the same time 1:00-3:30 at Tully's Headquarters located at 3100 Airport Way South.  This is also the location for Bartholomew Winery which has wine tasting from  Saturdays and Sundays. 

Another View of Gabi

Sat next to Gail at Gabi's talk at the U bookstore last night. Tough to get a good take on Gabi as he kept moving his head as he spoke. Nice turnout for a great topic. The bookstore employee mentioned that they had sold all of their copies of The Art of Urban Sketching but more will be coming in the end of the month. Congratulations, Gabi!

"The Art of Urban Sketching" Talk and Booksigning

Gabi had his first book signing event for "The Art of Urban Sketching".  It was held at University Bookstore tonight.  Some of us were able to attend and sketched the event.  Here is my sketch...the first page of my new sketchbook.   Congratulations to Gabi for a wonderful book!

Basement Room in Stimson Mansion

Took me awhile to get this posted but here is my sketch from the last sketchcrawl at the Stimpson mansion. I was going to do more on it, but that may never happen at this rate so I will call it done. I love that place - I'd love to go again sometime.

Suzzallo Library

Will be in NYC during the sketchcrawl this month so in lieu of being there, here's my Suzzallo sketch from a couple summers ago out drawing with Steve.

Suzzallo Library

On a sunny day almost two years ago, Jackie and I drew the UW's Suzzallo Library.