The house across the street

On the one fine day we had this week, (I think it was Monday?)  I did this sketch. I had started it while waiting for a ride to our last sketch outing (basically I was 5 min into the drawing).  It is a sketch of the house across the street.  This  carriage house and the main house adjacent to it was built in 1910.  It had belonged to a family who had lived in it for over 35 years.  They raised three sons and a daughter in it and saw the grand kids of that family grow up. The carriage house and the property it is on was subdivided and sold.  Our new neighbors renovated the carriage house and built a new modern house behind it.  In the last 4 years,  the main house and the carriage house have each seen two new owners.  

November's sketch outing

Seattle Art Museum Lobby and surrounding downtown area 

Sunday, November 18, 10:00 AM - 12:30

The lobby is free and we can use pen/watercolors etc. If folks want to pay or are members you can go into the galleries but we can only use pencil. Also, weather permitting we can find additional sketch sites in the neighborhood. Pike Street Market is covered. We sketched at Pike Street Market when  the first snow fell in 2010. I remember thawing in Starbucks. Hence, an indoor option. 

Sons of Norway Bazaar in Ballard

Over the weekend the Sons of Norway had their annual Fall Bazaar which is a kick off for the Holiday Season with Arts and Crafts and great food.

The older couple in the traditional Bunad were circling the room and this is a composite portrait.

Looking south on Rainier

Looking south on Rainier kiddycorner from the Royal Palm. I was shivering by the time I was done, nonetheless it was a gorgeous autumn day.

Columbia City Theatre and Bourbon Bar

I used to live just off Rainier St on South Garden and I would drive down Rainier Ave every day on the way home from work. Somehow I didn't notice the Columbia City Theatre back then. Columbia City has come a long way in the 15+ years since I lived near there. It is beautiful with lots of colors, activity, buildings, and shops, old and new. It was a somewhat chilly day in comparison with some of the almost summertime weather we've been having which made for some quick sketch and watercolor maneuvers on my part, including spills, splotches, huge droplets coming from the sky and landing on my page that I wasnt sure if came from the clouds or the birds. All in all, a nice day and I'm glad this crazy long summer weather is finally giving way to Fall. I am game for a few more outdoor sketchcrawls!

Seattle Urban Sketcher 50 Years Ago

Over the weekend I came across a copy of Victor Steinbrueck's "Seattle Cityscape" at a estate sale.

I paid $7.00 for a very clean copy in wonderful condition.  Looking through it, my first response was Victor was the grandfather of the Seattle Urban Sketchers.

This book was published in 1962, the year my family moved to Seattle.  The freeway had just been finished and of course the World's Fair was underway.  This is a wonderful record of a young american city that was just at the beginning of some dramatic changes.  We (USkSeattle) are presently documenting the current "teen years" Seattle with some things still the same, but many- many changes from the Seattle of 50 years ago.

The one view I included from the book is similar to the views from September's sketch crawl at Jack Block Park. Note the changes to the downtown in the last 50 years. Amazing!!

Beautiful, crisp Sunday morning

I really enjoyed seeing so many sketches and fellow sketchers. We all had numb fingers after sitting out side for a few hours, but it was worth it! 

Columbia City Sketchcrawl

I managed to stay warm because the van in front of me was idling its engine and the exhaust kept me warm.

But now I have a headache.

Fall in Columbia City

Though it was cold and damp we still had a great turnout in this sketch outing.  About 19 people showed up.  We kind of took over Starbucks but people didn't seem to mind.  I found a side street that actually got some interesting light and shadow play as the sun darted in and out of the clouds.  Here is my first sketch.   I will post the second later.  I did the line work on site but will be painting it from photos. This will be the last out door sketch outing until late spring.

Columbia City - Rainier Ave

The light and color this morning were spectacular. Despite Rainier being a busy thoroughfare, the street is very pedestrian friendly. The tree canopy and connected deep overhangs contribute to this in a major way.

My conversation with Dave before sketching lead to this diagram. I decided to take more time to analyze what makes the street work. I love how the brick paving creates a buffer zone between peds and cars for all that urban jewelry (bikes, newspaper boxes, trash cans and tree wells).

Cold Columbia City

We were freezing! I sat next to Steve and Jackie, but turned to look down Rainier toward
these backlit trees.

Columbia City Sketchcrawl

Chilly but clear morning sketching with the Seattle Urban Sketchers in Columbia City. 
Nice turn out, and nice to sketch with Jackie again. But even with my fingerless gloves I was too cold. Jackie is somehow immune to the chill, but interiors for me from now on until May.

There was a great turnout on a beautiful but chilly October morning for the sketch crawl in Columbia City.

A few weekends ago my son and I camped on Second Beach, near La Push. A marine inversion shrouded the beach in fog and mist for the first 2 days, but then the weather cleared. I did this not-so-urban watercolor sketch of Crying Lady rock. Then I did a plein air sketch in oils of the same landmark, from a different vantage point. The oil took about 1 hr. 45 minutes.

October 21, Sketchcrawl in Columbia City

Sunday, October 21 - 10:00am
Meet at Starbucks at Rainier and Edmunds
Map and pictures

Another cooling sandwich sacrificed for art.

Late breakfast during a break from my teacher training workshop thingy in West Seattle.

Sketching at work: Tuning in or tuning out?

Here are some little captures from a staff meeting and a visiting author's time with my kids in the school library.





There's an interesting 6-minute video on the positive power of "doodling" to aid in information retention. So far I haven't been hassled about sketching at work, but I've got this video cued up for the day it happens: http://www.ted.com/talks/sunni_brown.html

More from Fall City Farm

For the World Wide Sketch Crawl I joined the smaller group out at Fall City Farm.

The rainy weather and high humidity kept us all under cover most of the time.  I drifted into the barn to do a quick sketch of the cows, but staid because the showers kept coming.

The cows were constantly in motion which was a challenge and so I appreciate Gabi's work in the Times where he quickly captures his interviews and makes them look right.  The cow sketches are combination of stances which tended to distort their bodies.  More practice and fewer strokes!

The whole time I was standing and balancing sketchbook, water, watercolors and blotting paper.

Another good practice moment, but tiring.  The inside of the barn away from the cows was a lot of farm machinery and barn structure.  My eyes kept adjusting between the bright colors outside and the dim areas inside.  A real challenge to capture the difference without turning the whole thing muddy.  The humidity kept all the colors wet for most of the time sketching; try not to turn the image into a big mess.

Finally got outside for a quick exterior of the barn.  I had a lot of very wet paint on the paper with this sketch.  Outside sketching in the Northwest is great fun for experimenting and working fast and loose.

Again a fun afternoon with the group and a lot of great sketches by all.

Olympia Pumpkin Farm

I sort of cheated and went to a pumpkin farm on Sunday in Olympia. Wasn't quite so rainy until after I left. Watercolors still took a long time to dry though. 

We had some training at work that was somewhat redundant. So. . . 

Soos Creek Botanical Garden

I'd heard about the relatively new garden on the "Gardening with Cisco" show.  Today was likely to be the last nice day for a while as rain is again predicted for at least the next week.

My first sketch was of the pond.  In the middle is a dragonfly sculpture.  There really were lots of them about the pond and couple actually perched for a  a matter of seconds on my water container.  They quite surprised me.




Next I went back to the Demonstration Vegetable garden to sketch that nice old tractor.  This is my second tractor in less than a week.


More details and some of the photos are on my personal blog.

Gray Day

Looking out my 4th floor window on a blustery afternoon.

Fall City Farms Sketchcrawl

I appreciate Pumpkins, they always brighten up the day.  It was moist out and I was surprised at how long it took the page to dry.  While sketching I was hunched over my book and I heard a familiar sound.

It was the Howdy Boys, a blue grass country band that I had seen and sketched last year.

I am including that sketch also.

Watercolor in the Rain

There were about 15 of us at Fall City Farms yesterday.  We  weathered the rain and the goats as Jackie mentioned!  Thanks to Stephanie Bower for suggesting this place and Jane for posting information.

Fall City Farms on Arches

As the weather gets colder and wetter, watercolor takes a long time to dry.  My first sketch was done on Arches watercolor block and the first time I have used Arches paper. I found that the water color would just sit on the surface and not dry immediately.  It also appeared to dull down the vibrancy of the colors.  After the first light wash dried enough to put the paper away, I decided to use my Aqua Journal by Pentallic.  As Stephanie mentioned the paper in this sketchbook is whiter and brighter and takes watercolor well. The colors of my last two sketches were applied later and came out more vibrant.    Interesting to see the results of using different paper.

Fall City Farms on Aqua Journal by Pentallic

Fall City Farms Pumpkin House

Here are some photos from our sketch outing. 

Little Sketchbook

I like being able to pull this smaller Moleskine out of my pocket without attracting attention and dashing out these little doodles throughout the day.

An accident on the Ballard bridge prevented me from going to the Hi-Life for breakfast Saturday so I went to a new place in my own neighborhood.

My 5year old iMac stopped recognizing it's own DVD drive and a copy of Pillow Talk wouldn't eject, so I took it to the Apple "Genius Bar" and they finished destroying it for me so now it's useless.

I drew my nightstand listening to NPR while my arm went to sleep and the wind scraped the tree branches against the side of my building.

Fall City Farms, Pumpkins

Rainy day at Fall City Farms...my family has been coming to this place for some 15 years,
We have watched our kids grow up in the photos we take each year in the pumpkin fields.

A real family-run working farm with soul created by welcoming owners/farmers Rob and Debbie Arenth--thank you for the many memories, including those from today!

I tried a new watercolor sketchbook suggested by Gail, a Pentalic, purchased at UW Bookstore, made by an Oregon company from sustainably grown trees.  Better watercolor paper than the Moleskin!

Fall City Farms Pumpkins and Goats

Thanks Jane and Gail for organizing this interesting location at the Fall City Farms for the WWsketchcrawl! After being the one to say "This is Seattle, what's a little bit of rain?" I discovered mid-sketch that my book was getting completely soaked and I had to run for cover with the goats to save all the sketches in my book. The one I was working on got completely soaked and any white spaces I tried to leave were washed away. When I was waiting for my sketchbook to dry, the goat decided to try to eat it. After things dried out, I had about 10 minutes left to try one more sketch while undercover of Gail and some of the other sketchers drawing in the middle of the pumpkin farm while a musical quartet in cowboy hats played for the crowd.