Next Sketch Outing
Thursday, July 17: Figurehead Brewery drink & draw
On the last sunny day of winter, I
decided to go for a walk through West Seattle. I stopped at Seacrest Park to
eat at Marination, a fun restaurant that serves Hawaiian food.
Besides their food, Marination also has a
stunning view across Elliot Bay to downtown Seattle.
I have drawn this view of downtown Seattle several times and
decided to draw a view focused on Marination instead.
Marination is housed in
the Seacrest boathouse, which was built in 1989. Besides Marination, the
building also features a canoe and kayak rental shop, public restrooms and
hosts the annual Tengu Club Fishing Derby.
The dock outside of the boathouse is the West Seattle stop
for the Elliot Bay water taxi.
Ever since I learned about the group of women who dress up the
Interface sculpture in Coulon park, I've gone down at each holiday to
check. There was nothing at Halloween.
Today, however, I was
pleased to see them dressed as I drove past. I'd expected to see some
variation of Thanksgiving Pilgrim garb. But they were in ordinary
sweat pants and shirts. Huh? As I got closer, I realized the center
figure was dressed as a referee and the two others each wore a
university sweatshirt.
Then the light dawned!
Apple Cup!! Rivals University of Washington (UW
Huskies in Seattle) play Washington State (WSU Cougars in
Pullman) on Saturday!
Hope you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.
Though there was an Urban Sketcher event going on in the Bus Tunnel, my girls were going to a concert at Benaroya Hall a bit later so we decided to commute in together. A brisk beautiful fall day in Seattle made for a busy Post Alley and often making the subject matter dissapear. The young entertainer was quite good and his dog would sing on command.
I had tested a new ink pen (disposable) on paper before I did this sketch - no bleeding. What I didn't do was test in on the watercolor paper of my sketchbook. With the exception of the door, I was going to have to be satisfied with shading using water and a brush pen.
Pen, ink, watercolor pencil in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.
Braving the rain and traffic, I had the opportunity today to enjoy an amazing Korean lunch at Maru Grill in Shoreline with a small team from Olson Kundig Architects...research for a project!! The table was virtually covered with food and bowls...it was hard to sketch and not just keep eating, so I had to work FAST!
. . . but sunny and bright so I headed out to the streets. As often happens I thought it wasn't so bad. An hour later after concentrating intensely on the drawing, I started to notice I was starting to shake. So I finished this double-paner as best I could.
Fortunately, I had been sitting just outside a Starbucks. As I entered I saw at least 5 other urban sketchers. And there was a couple of intense chess games on one of the long tables. I think these guys meet there regularly. They were really into it. Made me think of Washington Park in New York.
Here's a couple of shots of the group.
Near freezing temps, but a motivated group of Seattle Sketchers showed up on Sunday at the Pioneer Square underground bus tunnel! This is part of what is so great about USk, the group motivation and support to venture out on a Sunday morning, even in the COLD, to see our world one sketch at a time.
First was the bus tunnel...it was very hard to get the curves right, took longer than expected.
Second, with frozen hands, I needed to feel some sun, so it was up to the sunny corner at 3rd Ave. and Yesler.
After, I headed over to Zeitgeist cafe and sketched the entire interior. I have been trying a limited color palette over pencil drawings in my work sketches lately, and I suppose this is a variation on that idea, with just ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, and a touch of manganese blue in the glass. I was tired, so the perspective got a little wonky in places! I also probably need to draw into the gutter a bit more, maybe try pen...always learning...
It had been a while since I sketched at the Seattle Central
Library. On top of that the cold winter weather is making sketching outside
increasingly unpleasant. So I packed up my notebook and headed downtown.
I could not find parking on the street and parked in the
library parking garage off of Spring street. This meant I had a brief time to
sketch before the parking fee shot through the roof.
I decided to head up to the reading room, which is my favorite
area in the library. I always feel so light in this space cantilevered over the
street below. The space is also visually striking with the massive cube that
houses the library's offices hanging over head.
I hope to get out and do some more sketches soon.
I tried to find an unusual/complex perspective, and found a good spot at the corner of 1st and Yesler looking down both James and Yesler, prominently framing between them what has been called the ugliest building in Seattle, the "Sinking Ship" parking garage. In adding the text later, I came across
some really interesting history behind that site -- and this is what I love about sketching cityscapes: the endless stories and discovery!
A beautiful cold day in Seattle and the Urban Sketchers went underground for our sketch crawl! My first sketch was at the mezzanine level of the Pioneer Square Station. I captured the main vault of the station along with the old counter-balance wheel from when there was a street car going up and down Yesler Way at the turn of the 20th Century.
To get some warmth in my body, I went outside to sit in the sun and capture some of the views of the older building in the area. The graffiti at the bottom left of my sketch is one of my favorite urban art pieces around. Stop by 2nd Ave S. and Yesler Way sometime to see all the fantastic sea creatures on this building.
The last sketch was of the Pioneer Building that sits on the edge of the square it gets its name from. In the foreground is the "Sinking Ship" parking garage that creates a sloping edge at the base of the Pioneer Building.
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| 11/16/14 Pioneer Square Station mezzanine level |
Our outdoor thermometer read 33 degrees when I left the house this morning to head for Pioneer Square Station. Despite the chill, the bright sunshine brought out a good showing of Urban Sketchers Seattle to sketch in and around the Metro tunnel station.
I decided to get the hard one out of the way first – the view from the mezzanine level out toward the tunnel, plus a few sketchers.
The tunnel station turned out to be colder than I thought it would be. By the time I finished that sketch, I was so chilled that I had to go outdoors to seek sunshine! I set my stool down on Second and Yesler facing west. Just as I was finishing up, I ran into Michele, so we ducked inside Shawn O’Donnell’s American Grill and Irish Pub to warm up with coffee and a quick sketch of the bar.
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| Second and Yesler facing west |
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| Shawn O'Donnell's pub |
Though I had been through the station numerous time I always wondered where the station extended and how the entries met the street and other buildings. Before today I had no idea about the west side james street entry mid block between 2nd and 3rd.
Our Ad-Hoc group of Friday sketchers met yesterday in the warmth of the Six Arms, a rather unique bar and eatery located on Pine, at Melrose. One could visit every day for a year, and still find fresh subjects each time! This time I chose the very large, ?cast iron object that might be a ?pig-dog? Whatever it is, one cannot miss noticing it!
I'm not sure why I haven't shared my other two recent Friday Sketches, but for the record, here they are...one from our visit to the U-Village, and one from the day a few of us met at Jefferson Park in the Beacon Hill area.
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| Lamy Safari pen with Noodler's #41 Brown ink and watercolor |
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| F-C Albrecht Durer W/C pencil with wash |
It was our regular 2nd Friday ad hoc sketch outing. It was a good thing Tina suggested the
Six Arms McMenamins pub in Capitol Hill as it was a little too cold for 2 hours of out door sketching!
As
with any McMenamins', there was a lot of interesting, eclectic stuff to
sketch. We had sketched there once last year. So this year I took on
the sculpture of the 6 armed Hindu goddess from which the pub takes its
name. She was high above me, which created an interesting angle.
We shared sketches and had lunch.
- Linda, Tina, Darcy, Warren, Peggy, Cate, Kate (Natalie is missing).
The Museum of Flight
accepted Boeing's donation of the 787 Dreamliner (#3) this past weekend. Not wanting to brave the crowds of 10,000 during that event, I waited until after my shift today to take a look. It's still the slow season at the Museum and I was able to do this
sketch in between visitors. This is the view of the back end of the 787
from the Space Gallery, across the street.
This
is Dreamliner Number 3. From the museum website: "This particular
787, ZA003, was the third Dreamliner built. It first flew on March 14,
2010. In addition to its role in the flight test and certification
program, Boeing flew Number 3 to 23 countries during a global showcase
of the 787 called the Dream Tour. While on exhibit at the Museum, the
airplane's interior will be partially configured as an airliner and
flight test aircraft, with the remaining space devoted to displays covering the development of the 787, including artifacts from the program."
Downtown Bus Tunnel
Sunday, November 16
10 am to 12:30 pm
Pioneer Street Station
3rd and James
Mezzanine
parking map
The regular monthly Sketch outing will be at Pioneer Station
in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. We can sketch one or more
stations and/or surrounding areas. Meet on the Mezzanine (floor above
the tracks/buses).
If the weather is good, the option exists to sketch on the street.
I went to Tacoma Art Museum today to join in the Dia de los Muertos celebration. And what a great time it was. Ironically, Dia de los Muertos was TOTALLY ALIVE with color, music and dancing. I did ten drawings in the space of a couple of hours. I was on a people kick. Here are a few:
Yesterday was our friend Steve's birthday, so instead giving of a card, I did a sketch! Here is the group, I sat at the dining table to sketch with 8-year old Owen over my shoulder and their dog at my feet. The room was actually very dark and I couldn't see the colors too well, their dining room is really not lime green!
