Call for Art: Think Globally, Sketch Locally: Urban Sketchers Seattle Celebrates Edmonds

CALL FOR ART

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Think Globally, Sketch Locally: Urban Sketchers Seattle Celebrates Edmonds

Urban Sketchers Seattle invites you to celebrate the sketchability of the Pacific Northwest in two exhibits within the City of Edmonds:

Gallery North, Edmonds’s premiere artists’ cooperative, will feature a juried exhibit of work by members of Urban Sketchers Seattle during October 2013. Urban Sketchers from surrounding Western Washington communities are invited to join USk Seattle in submitting work for this exhibit. This will be a limited display of perhaps 30 to 50 sketches. Sketches exhibited at Gallery North must be offered for sale at a minimum price of $75. Gallery North will take a 40% commission and an additional 10% of the sale price will go to Urban Sketchers.

During the same month of October 2013, Edmonds Café Louvre will display the rest of the submissions received. Work displayed at Café Louvre will also be for sale, but the Café does not require a commission. Artists are asked to donate 10% of any sale to Urban Sketchers.

There will be two live events: an opening reception at both venues on a Sunday afternoon, probably October 6, and Edmonds’ usual Third-Thursday Art Walk the evening of October 17. On both these dates, we hope to offer a progressive feast of sketching in Edmonds, with sketchers working live, sketch materials to invite the public to participate, and refreshments.

We will need human involvement from many sketchers for these events to attend and serve at the receptions, to be “stunt sketchers” in the streets of Edmonds, and other helping hands.

To submit your sketches of Pacific Northwest beauty, post them in the Urban Sketchers Celebrates Edmonds flickr group by midnight August 10, 2013. To be eligible, sketches must have been created onsite in the spirit of the Urban Sketchers manifesto. The jury (old-time Seattle Urban Sketchers Beth (polusladkaia) Betker, Teresa (TylerStreet) Lawson, and Tim (Potimkin) Taylor) will be giving priority to sketches that evoke a sense of place and space rather than simply isolated portraiture or still life.

Two upcoming “official” Urban Sketchers Seattle outings will offer special opportunities for sketching this region, and we invite sketchers from the entire Pacific Northwest to join us. Check our blog for meetup details!

June 23: sketching in and around Edmonds
July 21: sketching in and around Mukilteo

For work accepted for Gallery North, there will be a hanging fee of $10 for the first accepted piece and $5 for each additional accepted piece (maximum of 3 pieces/$20 per artist). This money will go directly to Urban Sketchers to defray exhibit costs (of publicity, refreshments, etc.). Participating artists must frame accepted sketches in black and fit them out to hang, with either 9”x 12” or 11” x 14” outer (framed) size, for visual continuity and space optimization.

Submission details available online beginning June 30, 2013 at seattle.urbansketchers.org or from Beth at halfsweet@comcast.net.

Exploring Spokane

We went over to Spokane for a wedding and got to see a bit of the town before and after. First we found a cute place to eat with exquisite confections - Madeleine's Cafe and Patisserie. The periwinkle blue walls and ceiling contrasted with the golden yellow to make a really pleasant feel. 

As we meandered through Riverfront Park we came upon this playground. The giant radio flyer seemed to represent the spirit of the park. 

Under the Pike Place Market Sign

Finally getting to post my sketch from last Sunday's sketchcrawl. I've been wanting to get to the Market to sketch for awhile and was happy to join fellow sketchers at this months outing. I had a great spot right in the heart of the Market and it was a fun place to spend a couple of hours. I talked a lot of people who strolled by...several tourists who asked to take a picture of me, a couple of nice guys with teardrop tattoos who had just come to Seattle from the Midwest who said they had gotten out of prison there and were making a fresh start, a couple who wanted to know why there were so many sketchers at the Market, and then Frank Ching stopped by to sketch and chat for awhile before meeting up with the huge group of sketchers out this month. I think I will have to try this spot again soon...

Golden Gardens Park

To test the viability of having my 2nd graders ride their bikes to Golden Gardens Park next week, I made the trip noting inclines, train tracks and scary road crossings. I think they can handle it.

10 days in France so far...

Rain, rain, rain...am I in Seattle?  Nope, this is Paris, unusually cold and rainy for this time of year.  I'm 10 days into my trip, and only now starting to feel a little normal.  Below is one of my sketches from last week, done on a rare sunny day while eating a sandwich in the Tuilleries near the Louvre. I believe I'm looking at the Biblioteque des Arts Decoratif building.

I have a blog going now at www.stephaniebower.blogspot.com, and a flickr page too, if you are interested in seeing more sketches from this adventure in France. I will also be posting as a blog correspondent for Paris Urban Sketchers while here this summer--so nice to get a warm welcome from fellow Urban Sketchers!  I hope everyone is well back home...

Enjoying the sun on a chilly day and my emmantaler and ham sandwich, in the Tuilleries Gardens, Paris

Wisteria Fascination

The past two weeks of Spring flowering have been a feast for eyes.  I am particularly drawn to the way WISTERIA adorns various buildings, homes, gardens and businesses.  I have found a couple favorites, which I enjoy checking out each year.  The first one is located at the corner of NE 56th St. and !st Ave NE. I't's an old-fashioned corner store-front building, which now holds a small hair salon.  As if the wisteria wasn't enough, the parking strip is full of huge Oriental Poppies in classic orange.

Another "perfect" quaint scene is located in the alley behind Immanuel Lutheran Church at 1215 Thomas St. in the South Lake Union (Cascade) neighborhood.  I attend that church, and I've often noted the cute little "house" on the alley, but when the wisteria came into bloom, and I saw it, I had to come back the very next day to sketch it!!

Iconic Seattle - Pike Place Market and King St. Station

Two sketching outings in one week!  Sunday I joined almost 50 Urban Sketchers in the Pike Place Market! A person could spend days and days here, sketching so many "classic views" of Seattle's market.  I chose a rather complicated viewpoint in Post Alley, looking south.  Frank came by as I was sketching and encouraged me to include the stairway to make a better composition.  Back in my home studio, I re-sketched the scene, with more attention to values, per Frank's suggestion.


Today, I went to Amtrak's newly remodeled King Street Station.  It was clean and bright; nearly every surface had been painted white!  Several Urban Sketchers and I walked up to the second floor, where I chose a view of the arches and curved alcove that overlooks the entire first floor waiting area.

For my second sketch, I started to walk  downstairs, but I passed a window with an interesting view towards Jackson Street.  I was so intrigued by the line of globed light posts that bordered the main walkway.

Line to Color Workshop

Sketch geek heaven! That's how I'd describe last weekend's Line to Color Workshop with Gail Wong and Frank Ching. It started in Ballard amidst the throngs gathered to celebrate Norway Day. The streets that were cleared for the parade served as a perfect spot for Frank to give some basic instruction and a demo... until we got pushed to the side. Undaunted we carried on. Her's a few of my sketches from the different locations. 

Ballard Livery and Transfer

Freemont Statue of Lenin

Gasworks Park

Pike Place Market

a few more on my personal blog

Cafe Fiora

It has been a long time since I have had a chance to sketch for fun.  Today on the way back from a meeting I stopped by Cafe Fiora for lunch and Coffee.  I had never been there before.  It looked like a cool place from the outside and it was really cool from the inside.  It is a place with a lot of atmosphere and character.
I have gotten a bit tight with my sketches and really wanted to just be loose.  So I took the following advice.  "Be loose, be free and be brave!"  Don't worry just sketch......  I liked what I got.

Mike's Chili Parlor, Ballard.

Drawing Mike's Chili Parlor from across the street afforded me a view of: a couple drunks waiting impatiently at the locked door for the noon opening; another staggering into the intersection to stop oncoming traffic with raised arms, challenging cars to hit him. Eventually I heard someone calling, "Hey! Hey!" It was the waitress calling to me. "Are you drawing US?" I smiled and gave her the thumbs up. She waved and then tossed out the guy who had been blocking traffic earlier.

Photos from Saturday

Gordon U., one of Seattle Urban Sketchers new sketchers, took photos of the groups at Saturday's sketch outing in Pike Place and sent them to me to post. The first one is the entire group, posed by Gabi in front of the view of the Great Wheel.

The participants in the "Line To Color" workshop by Gail & Frank. 

Line to Color Workshops

Frank talking about horizon line

Frank Ching and I just finished two workshops. A one day workshop in Mount Vernon and a two day workshop in Seattle. Both were great experiences. Between the two workshops we had people from all parts of Washington state, Vancouver, B.C., Denver, Wyoming, Oregon, Illinois and California.  We immediately realized after the first workshop in Mount Vernon that we had too much material to cover effectively in a day, and even a 2 day workshop would not be enough time, but it was too late to change it. We've learned a lot from both experiences and will continue to fine tune it. Thanks to Frank for teaching this with me. It was great and I always learn a lot from him. Thanks to all the participants, both were great groups to work with. Mount Vernon participants' comments were so helpful in modifying the workshop for Seattle. I am already thinking of how we revise this workshop as I read the comments from the Seattle participants. Photos from both.

Line to Color Workshop

I'm in the middle of a move from Ballard back to Fremont but I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Gail and all of the participants in the Line to Color workshop held this past weekend. From Friday evening in Ballard through to Sunday at Pike Place Market—those three days left me exhausted but also exhilarated by the energy and warmth of the group and their willingness to try out different approaches and techniques.

While I didn’t have a lot of time to sketch during the workshop, I managed to get to Pike Place Market a little early on Sunday morning to capture this view of Post Alley.

And at the end, I borrowed this view of the iconic market sign that Jackie Helfgott was painting and expanded on it a bit.

Corner Market Building @ The Public Market

Sunday was a great day to sketch outdoors and to be at the Pike Place Market.  The temperatures have finally warmed consistently enough that the hands don't stiffen up and the spring showers held off from disrupting our monthly sketch crawl.  The sky was disappointing because it was grey and the clouds had no definition to them.  The market was bustling with people and so I found an out-of-traffic location between parked cars to sit and sketch the Corner Market Building.  It is one of the older buildings in the market, constructed in 1912 (the first building, the Main Arcade, opened in 1907).  Jackie (another Sketcher) was directly in my line of sight sitting at the curb sketching the Main Arcade and chatting with passersby.  No one bothered me today because I was against the back of the stalls where only vendors come out to have a smoke break. 

Ballard Coffee Company

Occasionally, a tired and trite-sounding platitude I've been hearing all my life comes into focus, takes on weight. I woke at 4am from a dream of snowmobiling with this thought: "My life is just a story I tell myself." I should remember that the narrative I spin weaves in and out of the other's stories. And then I thought, "All the students who've passed through my classes- over 500 kids- have I influenced their own narratives in a positive way?"

Gaining Perspective at Pike Place

This weekend, I took part in the workshop with Frank Ching and Gail Wong. We had hours of time to think about perspective and color. It was challenging to try to see and sketch through architectural eyes. We finished with a morning at the market. I enjoyed the company of new sketcher Emily while we tried to apply what we learned at the iconic market entrance.  I heard voices in my head - horizon line, space, viewpoint, context, contrast. Whew. Plenty to absorb.

PIKE PLACE MARKET SKETCH OUTING

The Market was just packed today and I have never seen so many sketchers out in one day. Looking back on these sketches I realize the edge conditions identify this as a place (I stayed on the edges because the inside was a madhouse). City scale signage and pedestrian scale elements draw visitors in to this active urban destination.

A Tour of Seattle, Urban Sketcher Style

5/18/13 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Stillman & Birn sketchbook

A day in Mount Vernon with the venerable Frank Ching and Gail Wong wasn’t enough for me; I went back for a whole weekend of their “Line to Color” Urban Sketchers workshop, this time in Seattle. Sketchers from as far away as Idaho and California joined local sketchers for what turned out to be a whirlwind tour of some of Seattle’s most sketch-worthy neighborhoods and attractions: Ballard, Fremont, Gas Works Park and the Pike Place Market.

 

In Ballard on Friday and Fremont Saturday morning, workshop participants practiced perspective and composition under Frank and Gail’s watchful eyes and thoughtful critique. As one participant kiddingly said, “I thought I was my own worst critic until I met Frank.”

 

By the time we got to Gas Works Park on Saturday afternoon, we were adding color to our lines. I finally got to practice wet-on-wet clouds over the Seattle skyline using the technique I’ve long admired in Gail’s sketches. (This was my favorite sketch of the weekend.)

 

Sunday morning’s class at the Market was combined with the regular monthly Seattle Urban Sketchers meet-up, which brought out what must have been a record number of sketchers!

 

By the end of the workshop, I came to the same conclusion I always come to: Learning from the masters helps; hearing their critiques of my sketches helps the most. But the only way to become a better sketcher is to practice, practice, practice.

 

Thanks, Gail and Frank, for another great workshop! (For more of my sketches from the workshop, see my personal blog.)

Elementary School Assembly

The kids noticed I was drawing them, so when we got back to the classroom after the assembly they wanted to see what I'd done. "Don't be upset," I warned them, "You're much cuter than I've drawn you." They enjoyed pointing each other out and recognizing themselves, but Sophie (with the flower in her hair) asked, "Why do we look mad?" I could say it's because they had to sit on cold hard linoleum for an hour, but the truth is, I need to work on the way I see, and hence draw, mouths.

Jeep Ride to Tacoma Marathon, x 2.

Drawn while Jackie drove us to Tacoma for the Marathon. Twice. Because we got all the way there and I realized I'd forgotten my money. She was not happy. I felt horrible. But I had time to do a drawing in the bumpy jeep. I still feel bad. Sorry, Jackie!

Woke up in Paris this morning (someone pinch me)

As I'm traveling alone, I had to pinch myself.  Groggy from jet-lag, I awoke today to a chilly, wet, gray Paris morning, rather like the Seattle I'm used to.  But the similarity stops there...this is no Seattle!  

Yes, it's finally here...the opportunity of a life time to sketch, paint, draw, study and experience the architecture and urbanity of this amazing city, thanks to the incredible generosity of one George Parker Jr. and the jury who saw fit to award this year's Gabriel Prize to moi. To them, I am profoundly humbled and grateful--grateful to my core--and I hope I can honor this legacy by producing some beautiful work over the next three months.

I also awoke to a state of shock...yes, I've left my husband and two kids back in Seattle for a big chunk of time. Yes, I'll be on my own most of the time in Paris (have you ever wondered what it would be like to sit alone in a romantic Parisian cafe?) And yes, the pressure is ON to find my artistic self at last, draw and paint non-stop, and produce something worthy of this incredibly, unbelievably rare opportunity. I hope I rise to the challenge.

Today in the rain, I made my way to the nearby Jardin du Luxembourg, peppered with young people in romantic poses at one end and with small groups of tourists in the other.  It was raining, but under the canopy of the dense rectangularly-trimmed trees, it was very dry, so quite a few people were huddled together listening to the rain hit the leaves overhead.  It was lovely.

I pulled out sketchbook number one, turned to the first blank page, and plunged in. 

Palais Luxembourg, Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris  May 16

Above is the first post from Paris on my blog "Drawing Perspectives" www.stephaniebower.blogspot.com...I figure I'll post a few images in the next three months on the Seattle Urban Sketchers website, but I'll refrain from inundating the Seattle blog with images of France.  However, if you are curious to see how this sketching adventure goes, I soooo invite you to check out the postings on the blog.

Also, I'll be meeting Paris Urban Sketchers this Sunday--I am so VERY excited to meet them, so grateful to be met by a welcoming community.

Last--does anyone know how to get a good jpeg of a sketch without a proper scanner?

Bon Nuit!

Bluff View @ Richmond Beach

Last Thursday evening, my wife and I decided to get take-out and go to Richmond Beach Park to enjoy the sunset.  The air was warm and the view spectacular looking down the Sound toward Shilshole Bay.  Later we walked to the bluff (left side of sketch) so as to get a fantastic view toward the Olympic Mountains and the sun finally setting.

Sketch Outing Sunday May 19th Pike Place Market 10:00 am -12:30pm

Join us for the May Sketch Outing 

Sunday, May 19: Pike Place Market!

10:00 am to 12:30 at Pike Place Market

Meet Under the Post Alley Sign next to where the  Seattle's Best Coffee shop use to be.  You won't miss it.  It is a diagonally cross the street from Sur La Table and across from the Inn at the Market.    

1530 Post Alley at 10:00 a.m.   See you there!

Boston Common - Oldest Park in the US

Wow, what a long day, or days. We caught the red eye from Seattle to Boston, getting in at 7am and we hit the tourist streets running in an effort to get on Eastern time. This sketch was done late in the afternoon of the second day without sleep. Let's face it travel to a rarely visited city makes up for the lack of Zs'

Bike 'n Sketch in Fremont

How could I NOT bike on a glorious day like we had Friday, May 10?!?  So perfect!  We met at the Lenin Statue, decided where we'd meet in 2 hours, and went our own ways.  I turned to walk up 36th St. and stopped.  That Fremont Cigar building  in bright yellow was calling to me. Why look further?

I sat on a hump of dried grass at the base of a tree, and enjoyed the process.  After an hour or so   in the shade, I knew my next location needed to be in the sun.



 I walked my bike barely 100 yards, and almost immediately,  I got hooked again.  This time it was the brilliant orange California poppies!  By stepping back a bit, I was able to include the bar 9 Million in Unmarked Bills in my sketch.  Interesting building that fits into the triangle formed by Fremont Pl. N and N 35th St.

I do love pencil sketching, so in this sketch, I started with 2 Derwent Inktense pencils, followed by ink highlights with Platinum Carbon ink.
I was able to add some w/c later at home.





















After we had gathered to show our work, I went over to Peet's, sat outside with my latte, and sketched the McKenzie Building, which now houses Dusty Strings.  I've never been in there, but I have 2 friends who have worked there.  Can you believe it was hot?! too hot to stay and try to add color, so I packed up and biked UP Stone Way to home. WHAT A GREAT DAY!!!

Ad Hoc outing to Fremont

We met in the Center of the Universe, aka Fremont.

Despite having lived just south of Seattle for 13 years, I'd never walked around Fremont.  It was great fun!  My first goal was seeing the Troll.   I only did this one sketch during the official part of the sketch outings because I had too much fun talking to other people who came to see the Troll. 


I tried to put into practice what Gail Wong taught in her recent workshop about reserving the white spaces in the sketch.

We met to share out sketchbooks.

One person is missing as there were 13 of us today.

The rest of the photos of sketchers in this set

After lunch and more walking around Fremont, I did another sketch.  The Fremont Rocket is 1950's surplus from AJ's Surplus in Belltown.  It was acquired in 1991 but not installed until 1994.  It bears the official Fremont crest and Motto:  "De Libertas Quirkas" (Freedom
to be Peculiar).

Sketching in the Center of the Universe

5/10/13 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Stillman & Birn sketchbook

With ideal – no, pluperfect – sketching conditions (for me, that means wearing a T-shirt and sandals but not breaking a sweat while sitting in the sunshine), a good turnout of Seattle sketchers showed up for an ad hoc meet-up in the Center of the Universe.

 

The Fremont Troll has long been on my list of favorite Seattle sights to show out-of-towners. The Troll, who lives under the Aurora Bridge, was created in 1990 by Ross Whitehead, Steve Badanes, Will Martin and Donna Walter. When I started my sketch, the only other person there was sketcher/photographer Gordon, who climbed behind the Troll’s shoulder to take a picture of me across the street. But by the time I was finishing up less than an hour later, I had lost track of the number of tourists who came by – some in taxis with the meter still running; others on tour buses; still others on foot. I know the Troll is supposed to be scary, ominously clutching a hapless VW Bug. But as I sketched him, I realized he has very human hands and seems more curious than scary.

Urban Sketching at Harborview Medical Center

Harborview Medical Center Trauma Emergency entrance, watercolor and ink by Carleen O.Zimmerman

I met Gabi and was introduced to "urban sketching" less than a year ago. Last fall while waiting for my eye clinic appointment, I looked out the window and saw this view and realized it was a "sketch moment".                                                                                                                     I had my little Moleskine sketchbook in my pocket and quickly did an ink drawing of the scene below. I was struck by the awareness that for so many people, this corner is a pivotal moment in their lives.                                                                                                                                   I have since re-painted this scene, donating the latest sketch to the Emergency Administration department. They asked to purchase it for printing note cards, but I requested instead that any and all proceeds go to the Pediatric Trauma Fund.                                                                                                               My sketch and the plug about urban sketching is a feature article in the exhibit brochure (my name is misspelled). The exhibit runs from April 20 to May 18 in the cafeteria.

Thanks to all of you for continuing to inspire me to tell the stories of my community, where we live and work.

My Bag Gets 15 Minutes of Fame

My day job is freelance writing, so I gave myself and urban sketching a little publicity: The Summer issue of Studios magazine published an article I wrote about my bag – my “portable studio.”

 

In part, here’s what I wrote:

Urban sketching is taking the world by storm! Unlike traditional plein air painters – who are often portrayed in fields with easel, palette and beret – contemporary urban sketchers take a more portable approach. For these thousands of sporadically nomadic artists worldwide, their “studios” have to fit in pockets, backpacks, purses or everyday bags.

That’s because, at least for this urban sketcher, a sketching opportunity can occur at any time – during a lunch break, while waiting in a dental office, or at a brief stop between errands. So I like to have my gear with me wherever I go.

The article includes photos of the contents of my bag, my attachable watercolor kit and a couple examples of my sketches.

I wrap up the article with how I came to be an urban sketcher:

By now you’re probably wondering if I even have a “real” studio at all. For the past 10 years, I have worked as an abstract artist in a variety of media that require traditional studio work, so I do have a small home studio.

But the other side of the story is that for most of my life, I simultaneously felt both the fear of drawing as well as the desire to learn how to draw. In 2011, partly because of my desire to learn and partly because the Urban Sketchers movement resonated so strongly with me, I decided to overcome my fear.

In particular, I was inspired by Urban Sketchers founder Gabriel Campanario and his weekly column in The Seattle Times. His sketches of Seattle – my birthplace and lifelong home – depicted sites I had been to many times yet had never truly seen. I wanted to learn to see and experience those places more thoroughly. And I couldn’t do that if I never left my studio.

Now my studio comes with me wherever I go, and I’ve never looked back.

The Summer 2013 issue of Studios magazine can be purchased digitally or in hard copy.