Fairmont Hotel Lobby

I didn't join the group that went during the day today, but made a lunchtime visit at midweek to view the holiday decorations.  I kept low key and didn't bring my watercolors, but still enjoyed sitting and enjoyed the atmosphere.

Getting Ready for Soulumination Sale this weekend

Gail's Table at the Artist Sale

Checking to see if the wreath is finished.

Volunteers making wreaths for the sale

Court Yard full of greens ready to be made into wreaths.

Soulumination depends on volunteers to make wreaths that will be on sale at the Artist Sale on Saturday and Sunday.  Each of them individually designed and made by the volunteers.  I went down today to see the process and sketch the happening.  Great Sale come if you can!

Belated SAM Lobby and Gingerbread Houses

I missed the monthly sketch outing at the SAM Lobby but was able to catch up this past weekend. 

We kicked off the holidays by volunteering at the Gingerbread House display at the Sheraton. It's an annual fundraiser sponsored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and a holiday tradition for thousands. After our volunteer time slot I sat and drew this sketch editing out about 300 more people that were in the frame. 

Guanajuato pathway

Posted for Beth Larkin: 

One of the many picturesque and mysterious pathways in the vibrant city of Guanajuato, Mexico, known as callejones.

Carnegie Free Public Library

I'd planned to go see Flight, but adjacent to the Majestic Bay Theater sits this old library, now an Australian-themed pub. The movie can wait for a cloudy day.

Working Over Coffee

When I have work to do, it sometimes helps to get away from the dishes that need doing, the laundry that needs folding, my art books, the fridge, the piano. I'm thankful to have a friend who agrees.

Before a 6-mile soggy run around Greenlake.

Drawing through a rain-soaked windshield is a good exercise in drawing what you see, not what you know. I had to remind myself not to straighten out the sign posts and car outlines based on how I knew they should look, and instead trace the refracted lines as I saw them.

SAM's Women on Guard

 I spent time in the "Elles: Women Artist" exhibit to sketch some of the pieces.  I was drawn to the different portraits and tried to capture a couple of my favorites.  I had to wait until I went back to the lobby to add color and ink lines.   It is interesting what I remembered and what they actually look like.

After our share session I returned to the old lobby space to capture one of the "Guardians" of our museum.

SAM Lobby

Still another view of the original SAM lobby, designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. I had originally abandoned this drawing (because of issues of scale and proportion) and started a second before I realized this was a mistake. So I returned to this one and finished it. You can see a lot of my preliminary marks as I tried to position and located the various elements.

Recoleta Cemetery

 

While you all were at SAM, I was hanging out with dead people in Buenos Aires, and taking a few rubbings off some old mausoleums. Evita is buried here, and draws a crowd, but the place is almost 200 years old, so lots of interesting sights - including these very peculiar trees.

Sunday with SAM

Another huge turnout of sketchers - this group is growing quickly. 
I always enjoy getting immersed into drawing then meeting up to see all the sketchbooks.

SAM Lobbies

Two sketches from different lobbies of the Seattle Art Museum.  Great time and nice to sketch in a warm place with places to sit.

Seattle Art Museum Lobby - Elles Exhibit

Seattle Art Museum Lobby during Elles: Women Artists from the Centre Pompidou, Paris. I lost track of time while sketching all of the rays coming out of the cool hanging cars in the museum lobby. It was dizzying trying to keep track of the changing colors in the light rays. After sketching, went through the Elles exhibit. Wow! My favorites were Yayoi Kusama: http://www.yayoi-kusama.jp/ especially her 3-piece giant wall of polka dots that was titled something like "Life keeps going" (that's not the title and it's driving me crazy because I cant remember what it was, but something like that), the cool 70's videos from the heyday of the feminist movement, a sketch of a woman looking up to a sky of penises, and an extremely disturbing video called "Barbed Hula" by Sigalet Landau: http://www.sigalitlandau.com/. I am inspired!

More of SAM

My first sketch inside SAM was in one of the entry lobbies where there are a number of large, Egyptian-like sculptures.  A Camel in Seattle:




I noticed this view while sheltering near the entrance as I arrived early.  I liked the old and modern buildings in back of The Hammering Man.



Sharing our sketches:

I am sorry to have missed the sketchcrawl at SAM today but I did manage to walk a block or so to sketch these local steps. Among the things about Fremont that retain its old charm are the easy to miss connections between streets.

Sketchcrawl at SAM

I rode the Bus to the Sketchcrawl which provided many sketch opportunities.  The third in the top series is my attempt a Sketch Reportage.   A group of people came on the Bus without paying  and at the next stop three Transit Police boarded and got rid of the scofflaws.   While sketching Hammering Man I never really realized how much he looks like ET.  I love how people interact with it.  The little boy in the sketch posed for a picture while tickling HM's heel.

SAM lobby

The Seattle Art Museum lobby before a stroll through Elles: Women Artists from the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and SAM's extension: Singular Works by Seminal Women Artists. Finished my sketch too late for the after-sketch book-sharing, but great to run into Gabi upstairs.

November Sketch Outing this coming Sunday

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 can only use pencil. Also, weather permitting we have additional sketch sites in the neighborhood. Pike Street Market is covered but outdoors for the hearty among us. 

Vetrans Day sketching with the Stumptown crew

I was in Portland visiting a friend on Sunday and decided to meet up with the Portlanders on Monday while they sketched in the Belmont neighborhood. Thought I'd capture the city's namesake.

Art for a Cause

Soulumination is a non-profit organization founded by Lynette Johnson a Seattle photographer. The work of Soulumination is to celebrate the lives of children and parents facing life threatening conditions by providing professional photographs  of these children and their families free of charge.

This year Soulumination will have their 7th Annual Artist sales Saturday- Sunday December 1 and 2nd.  A portion of the artist sales goes to supporting Soulumination's work.  I will have my notecards and my yearly calendar for sale.  Hope you can come! Soulumination had asked me to do a sketch of their artist sale in the summer.  This sketch was done on location, the people and decorations were from imagination to depict the sale.  I gave them a jpg of the sketch for use in promoting their sale.
Here is the original sketch and the postcard.  Click on the Postcard for more information about the sale.

A little bit of Springtime

We were out and about on Greenwood and walked into this Florist Shop and it was like stepping into Springtime with the smell of flowers and the cooing of doves.

One Last sketch from Columbia City

There was one last sketch I did of Columbia City trying out a new large format sketchbook. It was 9x12 size and I was able to get the line work done on site but not able to start the watercolor. I did that in the comfort of my home from a photo I shot after I had finished drawing the sketch. A nice way to watch the Seahawks game and do a little watercolor.

December Sketch Outing Announcement

December 16, 10:00 AM
Experience Music Project and Winterfest 
Both at Seattle Center
More on the Upcoming sketch outings page...

Hands On Children’s Museum . . .

. . .  in downtown Olympia held their grand opening this weekend this weekend. The 28,000 square foot building (only the entrance shown here) will be the largest children’s museum in the country when the outdoor space opens early next summer. Pretty impressive.

It was sunny and bright and I made it though drawing the sketch, but when I got up to hop on my bicycle I was shaking with cold. Made it to our local roaster and thankfully indulged in my first eggnog latte of the season. 

A couple of sketches from last weekend trip to NYC

I traveled last weekend to run the NYC marathon which ended up being cancelled as soon as my plane hit the ground due to Hurricane Sandy. I was staying in Chelsea/Greenwhich Village at my brother's place so I took the opportunity to finish this sketch of a building in Greenwich Village that I started last March when I was there to run the NYC 1/2 marathon. The building was pretty much the same as when I left it except there were men's suits in the store window instead of the cute dresses that were there last spring.

The power was out at my brother's place after the hurricane and started to come on in the stores and buildings one store at a time. My brother treated me to my first-ever pedicure at Spa Belles a little shop in Chelsea that had just gotten their power back. I drew Tina while she was working on my feet. The staff there laughed at me with all of my wincing and sketching and Tina politely smiled and shook her head a little when I finished the sketch. I'm pretty sure she didnt think it looked like her.

Fridge

I was invited to a home-cooked dinner in South Seattle. 

While she grilled pork chops, I drew the stuff on her fridge.

La Jolla

At the end of last week I was near La Jolla, CA for a conference.  After the sessions each day I walked to nearby locations to get exercise and enjoy the SoCal sunshine. 

Two of the evenings I visited the Salk Institute to pay homage to the architect Louis Kahn.  This is a research lab institute that Kahn designed in the 60's and is a wonderful ensemble of an outdoor plaza flanked by the lab buildings.  A must see and experience for all architects at least once in your life time.

The last evening I walked in the opposite direction into the Torrey Pines State Reserve.  The trails wind down through the pines and coastal sage toward the beach.  I ended up sketching in two locations and watching the beautiful sunset.  The second location had incredible eroded land forms that were part of the cliffs leading to the beach.  I ended staying too late and had to walk the trails back to the road in almost dark sky's.

Dia de las muertas

It was a fun day at the Tacoma Art Museum. Everything was open and free to the public and it was packed with families and kids. The colors and activities were much stronger than I've depicted here. So much to take in...

The long hallway was lined with multi- multi-colored altars profusely decorated with skeletons, crepe paper flowers and photos and stories of loved ones, las muertas.

This altar was built on a rusty shopping cart decorated with license plates, flowers, skeletons, jars of buttons, colored lights and more. 

Space Shuttle trainer will be open this weekend

The Space Shuttle Full Fuselage Trainer (FFT) is completely assembled and ready for view at the Museum of Flight.   It's been open for members only  this week but on Saturday, 10 November at 11:00 there will be a ceremony opening it to the general public  

I've had a couple opportunities to see it over the past week.  Today I went just to sketch it. I had a surprise when I arrived.  Evening Magazine was there to film a segment.  Details of that on my personal blog.