(not so lazy) afternoon at the Fisherman's Terminal

An enjoyable afternoon with students at the Marina.

Working with foreground/middle-ground and background aspects; subject was huge. 

If I had had more time, I would have drawn less!

Sunnys Bar in Red Hook, Brooklyn

Sunny's is a legendary bar in Red Hook, Brooklyn, but according to the the New York Times, "To merely call Sunny’s a bar is to shortchange it. The place feels like a delicious secret, with its century’s worth of knickknacks, joyous multigenerational bluegrass jamborees and unassuming intimacy." In short, it's legendary. 

When Hurricane Sandy hit last November, Red Hook took a huge hit, and Sunny's sits on the downhill side, just a block from the East River. It's basement has a dirt floor. 

Thousands have rallied to raise funds to reopen Sunnys. At the same time, the owner, Sunny Balzano, has been living with cancer for the past 12 years. Still the patrons are loyal and I've heard the place hosts "speakeasy" bluegrass show occasionally. The green truck is a constant, by the way. 

Japanese Garden

It was another fine summer day for a sketch outing.  The "Friday Sketchers" met at the Seattle Japanese Garden.  It was beautifully serene with the relaxing sound of the running streams.

I made a circuit of the garden to decide on what scene to sketch.  There were so many possibilities.








As usual, we shared out sketches and the posed for a group shot.

Back row:  Kate, Gordon, Peggy, Frances, Susan
Front: Natalie, Rosemary, Lynne, Peggy, Tina

Peaceful Japanese Garden

What a glorious day!!  The ad hoc group of Urban Sketchers met at the Japanese Garden today.  Oh my!  there was so much that "looked good!" - how to choose.  Rather than walk around, I stopped at the very first scene that caught my eye.  Soon, I was joined on the bench by the other Peggy, and so we sat, lost at times in our respective sketches, occasionally sharing a comment.  Two hours later, it was time to gather!!  And such wonderful sketches were shared!!

Sunday at Mukilteo Lighthouse

The Urban Sketchers have been loving this glorious weather!  On Sunday, I joined them in Mukilteo.  Dense fog didn't hold us back, tho everyone was grateful for the strong shadows once the sun appeared towards noon.  My two sketches reflect the change in the weather.

Ultimately, It’s About People

Sagrada Familia

Barcelona! When I first heard confirmation that the rumors of an urban sketching symposium in Barcelona were true, I was thrilled. Although I didn’t know much about this city except what I’d seen on Rick Steves’ show, I had an image of an exciting, vibrant city filled with old and new. My image was correct, except a hundredfold. I expected a large, bustling city, but its intensity nearly overwhelmed me. From the sheer extreme immensity and bodaciousness of the Sagrada Familia (probably the single most impressive manmade thing I’ve ever experienced) to the sea of humanity cruising down La Rambla at any given moment, everything about Barcelona felt intense, over-caffeinated and fully saturated. I loved it, and at the same time, it exhausted me.

Combine all of that with being with 200 people from around the world who are equally passionate about sketching as I am, and the collective energy we produced was probably enough to light up the Sagrada Familia! I am grateful to the hard-working symposium team that brought us together.

I picked out a couple of my most memorable Barcelona sketches to post here. The type of place you could sketch every day of your life for a year and still find new things to capture, the Sagrada Familia took my breath away every time I turned. My husband and I spent all day there, yet I felt we had barely brushed the surface. By mid-afternoon, I realized I still hadn’t sketched it, so I braved the blazing sun, found an empty bench (empty only because it wasn’t shady) and took half an hour to sketch it (all the time I could stand that heat). It was the manmade equivalent of the Grand Canyon, and I sketched the equivalent of one rock.

Arc de Triomf

A second memorable sketch is one of the Arc de Triomf, for a couple of reasons. The Arc was the designated location of the group photo for all symposium participants preceded by a general sketchcrawl. When I got there, the Arc itself was stunning to behold, but what caught my eye was all the sketchers. I think it was the only sketch opportunity that all symposium participants as well as ad hoc sketchers were available for, so literally hundreds of sketchers were scattered all over the grass, benches, everywhere I looked. As excited as I was to be part of the symposium, I hadn’t expected to feel so moved to see so many sketchers in one place – and to know that I was fortunate enough to be among them.

The second reason my sketch of the Arc is special to me is that it was my first after taking Inma Serrano’s workshop, “Rhythm in the City.” Before her workshop, I would have stood at the foot of the Arc in such awe and dismay that I probably would have chosen a small detail to sketch – not the Arc itself. But her approach toward sketching and her way of seeing architecture as living creatures liberated me to take on the whole Arc – and it was the most fun I’ve ever had sketching an architectural structure!

As much as I learned from the workshops that formed the meat of the symposium, I think what was most important was being part of an amazing collective energy. My most memorable moments in Barcelona are about meeting sketchers I’ve long admired online; chatting with fellow participants about our local sketching communities; and sharing a common passion even when we barely shared a common spoken language. After the paint has dried and the last sketchbook page has been scanned, ultimately the Urban Sketching Symposium is about people.

To see more sketches and photos from Barcelona (as well as my following week in Germany), please see my Flickr set.

Gail, Tina & Jackie

Mukilteo Light Station

Although it was cool and foggy in the morning, the sun broke through around noon and it turned out to be another beautiful summer day last Sunday. Because the grounds of the Mukilteo Light Station didn't open til noon, I walked along the beach, which was at low tide, and climbed up some rocks until I captured this view from atop the sea wall.

Mukilteo Waterfront and Bluff

After spending the morning with the other urban sketchers down at the lighthouse, I headed to the other side of the railway tracks.

Up the hill on the bluff over looking Puget Sound and the lighthouse beach is the Mukilteo Pioneer Cemetery.  The view was fantastic now that the morning fog had burned off.  Looking north up the sound was Whidbey Island on the left, the south tip of Camano Island (center) and Gedney Island (Hat Island) to the right.

The ccemetery was quite small but had headstones from the mid 1800's.  William and Corenilla Hassard headstone was the most grand of the lot.  As I was sketching it I noticed that Cornellia was born on my birth date, alas 80 years before me!

Barcelona Symposium Experience

Hi All,
Back from Barcelona and still can't get down from the high.  It was an amazing experience!  I did over 90 sketches in two weeks.  Quite a few of them are not finished with color.  Touring and sketching can compete with each other ...one is faster than the other. I did take pictures and am finishing with watercolor washes from photos on some of the sketches.  I will be posting all my sketches in sequential order on my blog.  But I will share my sketches of the symposium here.
This first sketch was my first introduction to the symposium... attending a pre-sympoisum "Drink and Draw".   A great opportunity to meet all those people you have been in contact with through flickr and facebook.  To connect the person with the sketch was wonderful!  The whole experience extended my sense of being part of the whole international sketching family.  

Stickers, Sketchbooks, Kickstarter

Hey there, Fellow Sketchbooker-types!
How do you tell your sketchbooks apart? How do you keep from carrying home your friend's sketchbook? Here's what I do--I can tell each book by the stickers slathered all over it. I run a marathon--BOOM! Sticker! Grocery store stickers for the kiddies? MINE NOW! Was I a good boy for the dentist? YAY! Sticker! New incentives for my NOW WHERE WAS I? Kickstarter thingie! CLICK HERE: http://kck.st/12wx2H1

that chapel, St. Ignatious

These sunny days continue to be glorious, great for plein air outings;

late afternoon light with long shadows.

This chapel is one amazing still life, 

a collection of architectural forms defined with light and thoughtful urban design.

More Mukilteo

Fun day in a new place. 

The Ivars sketch was done with my Lamy fountain pen on watercolor paper.

This one was done with a fine tip Sharpie (my Lamy pen ran out of ink) on a really absorbent rag paper 

Sketch Outing At Mulkiteo Lighthouse

Back from Barcelona.  I will be posting my sketches but I am just trying to get back into the Seattle time zone.  Almost fell asleep driving back home from this sketch outing.  It was great seeing about 20 Seattle and Whidbey Island sketchers come to this.  Some great work... here is the sketch I did today.  It started as a cloudy day and then brightened up towards noon. 

Bremerton Bound

Snippet of a great day away starting at the Ferry Dock on our way to Bremerton.

A quick pencil sketch of the first lag of the trip.

Started a new sketchbook: 

'Aquabee' brand: advertised as 'the only sketchbook you will ever need!'  

P-Patches and Shakespeare

My church is across the street from the Cascade P-Patch in the South Lake Union area of Seattle.  The other day I noticed a "quaint" scene, and I promised myself I would return to sketch it.  Friday was a gorgeous sunny day, the neighborhood vibrantly alive as I sat on my stool beside the P-Patch.  After I sketched this scene, I walked around the P-Patch, once again promising myself I would return, SOON!

Last week, several outdoor Shakespeare companies started their summer season of performances.  I noted that King Lear would be performed by GreenStage Saturday afternoon in lower Woodland Park, just a mile from my home.  Since the weather was so perfect, I rode my bike, packing snacks, knitting, and oh, yes, my sketchbook.  What an incredible performance!!  For almost 2 1/2 hours I watched, forgetting to knit at times.  The characters, and costumes, and embellishments finally got me to sketching people - and people are NOT my forte!  What can I say?  I will, however go back to another performance and attempt the (almost) impossible!!

Links to Shakespeare plays:  <www.greenstage.org> and <www.lastleaf99.org> and <www.seattleshakespeare.org/woodeno>

Still in the City of Light, but took some detours

Hi Seattle from Paris!

It was wonderful to get to go to Italy, to Civita di Bagnoregio where Seattle's own NIAUSI has 4 beautiful apartments.  NIAUSI will also send sketchers Dave Boyd and Anita Lehmann to do projects there this summer--I wish them a wonderful and productive trip!  Civita is utterly amazing.  I will be teaching an architectural sketching workshop there again next year...in case anyone is interested for 2014...

Piazza San Donato in Civita di Bagnoregio, an amazing Italian hilltown.

One day in Rome, One Sketch in Rome in blazing heat and millions of tourists!

Then came the Urban Sketcher's Symposium in Barcelona!  It was a wonderful, wonderful experience--an incredible city, amazing instructors and unbelievably well-organized.  Kudos to all the sketchers who put in countless hours of volunteer time to pull it off.

I also got to see Gail Wong and her husband John there--she did beautiful sketches! Also briefly saw Jackie, didn't see Tina somehow...there were lots of people there.

I saw Gail and John on Sunday at the Sagrada Familia where Gail and I were sketching. See below.

Detail of sketch, interior of Basilica Gaudi's Sagrada Familia

Full sketch, Sagrada Familia interior.
Click on image to see it larger.

I hear the weather has been great in Seattle--I hope you all are enjoying the summer and doing lots of sketching.

For more of my sketches and paintings, as well as drawings from my Gabriel Prize project, please check out www.stephaniebower.blogspot.com.

A bientôt~~
Stephanie

July Sketch Outing

Mukilteo Lighthouse
July 21, 2013
10:00 AM
Directions and Map

This sketch outing is scheduled in the Edmonds area to get ready for the Think Globally, Sketch Locally, Urban Sketchers Celebrate Edmonds shows coming up in the fall. 

America's first suburb - Brooklyn Heights

We stayed in Brooklyn Heights, Willowtown specifically, a sweet apartment in a lovely neighborhood with a canopy of trees lending shade to the 90 degree/90% humidity. It was the first suburb in America where Manhattan residents escaped the intensity of the city in the early 1800s. Hopefully our current American suburbs will grow to be as charming. This one also had charming cafes,  mid-block churches and even a fire station amidst the brownstones. Found it on Airbnb. 

The Highline, NYC

I walked the Highline three days in a row.   Such a lovely park and so New York.   If you're not familiar, the Highline is an elevated park  built on an abandoned railroad track from the Meatpacking District to  near Chelsea.   If you're interested you can read more. Partly I love it because it's so different from any park I've been to. Also it's been beautifully designed and thirdly, it was a grass roots project instigated by some people in the neighborhood.   I did this sketch on my  third walk. Because it was my birthday I felt justified to ask my companions to indulge me and wait while I sketched. As it happened there was plenty of people watching to be done.  The Highline been dubbed "The new Times Square" and if you judge by the numbers, that day 's visitors certainly rivaled it's predecessor. 

Kickstarter Launch for NOW WHERE WAS I?

Hey, Everybody! After the gratifying requests I received to make a book, here it is. Please pass this link on to your friends and ask them to pass it on so I can get this labor of love printed and into your hands. OH YEAH- Check out the short video made by my talented friend Deborah Libby. (All the good parts were her ideas!) Thank you thank you!

Click here:   KICKSTARTER!

Daybreak Star

We had a picnic here last weekend and rediscovered it.  This weekend will be their annual Pow Wow celebration.

After the red-eye...

Took the red eye to Brooklyn and Manhattan the first of July to visit family. Arrived at 5:30 am hopped on the AirTrain to Penn Station. It was 6:30 am, about 90 degrees. Thought I'd take the subway to Brooklyn and cooked below ground drawing this sketch.

 Thankfully my daughter sent me a text saying she was on her way by car to pick me up, so I headed above ground - 33rd and 7th I think - and had a few minutes to do this very quick sketch of the Empire State Building.

I did a few more -a sort of visual diary -  some of which I'll post through the week. 

GAGE Academy Figure Session

Drawn near the end of the session.

Camano Island Weekend

For the World Wide Sketch Crawl I decided to sketch the setting of where we spent our weekend celebrating our anniversary.  The body of water is the Saratoga Passage between Whidbey and Camano Islands.  The next morning Mt. Rainier was sitting just to the right of the 3 trees above Whidbey Island and to the far right out of the view was the Olympic Mountains.  It was a perfect NW setting for a wonderful weekend.

Gasworks Park, summer sequel

Gasworks revisited.

We are so lucky in Seattle to have such a beautiful landmark park.

These were created looking at the overall shape initially then placing the intricate details.

Graphite on paper and pure sunshine.

As the time progressed, more forms emerged.

St. Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral

For Friday's sketch crawl, I thought it would be interesting to sit in the same spot where I drew the church three years ago and see how my approach might have changed. Not as much as I'd thought.

Friday Ad hoc outing

Nine sketchers met near REI mothership in the Cascades or South Lake Union neighborhood for an ad hoc sketch outing today.  About half of us sketched the Orthodox cathedral nearby!  It was surprisingly chilly and I almost wished I'd brought my gloves.  I did not quite feel up to the perspective challenge of the entire facade so I just sketched the entrance.






We took the above photo a bit early so a couple people could get to their next sketching appointment!  So we missed including PeggyJG.