Dark St. James with Cornish Students

Last Friday was a dark and rainy day, and only a small portion of my Cornish class actually showed up! I sat in the dark before and after class to do this sketch, could barely see my linework at the back of the Cathedral.  Listened to someone snoring nearby.  I am totally hooked on doing these 180 degree views, this is in the Pentalic 5"x8" watercolor journal.

St. James Cathedral--click on the image to see a larger view.

Urban Sketchers Gathering International District - Seattle

It was cold and wet, hell all of March was wet. The green awning is the Fortune Garden Restaurant I believe. Pen and ink with watercolor.

A Small Sketch Outing in California with Suhita

What is nice about the Urban Sketchers group is that you make friends with people from other places.  And this is so with the correspondent Shuhita Shirodkar from San Jose California.  Before I left for California I contacted her to see if she had time to sketch since San Jose is near Fremont where I was staying.  Luckily timing worked out and we set up a sketch outing at the Niles Historic Train Depot in Niles, California.  I met Suhita and her niece Mohini who is a sketcher and is studying at UC Berkeley. You can see Suhita's post from that day "a-mini-sketchcrawl". For more photos of that day and links.

Here are my sketches from that day.

Lunchtime Sketches

I have challenged myself to do a sketch a day and to walk no more than a block.  Oh and it had to have power lines in it.

MOHAI "Drawn to Seattle ~ Sketcher in Residence" 3-22-14

Sketches and pics from today's MOHAI "Sketcher in Residence" session for Gabi's "Drawn to Seattle" Exhibit. Great group of talented and enthusiastic new urban sketchers who I hope will join at a future Seattle Urban Sketchers outing!

 



Historic Panama Hotel - Since 1910

Made internationally famous from Jamie Ford's novel "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" , the Panama Hotel has a funky charm--nondescript on the outside but full of history and intrigue. Jan Johnson, a fashion designer who grew up in West Seattle purchased the hotel in 1985 and has renovated it and opened the tea house on the first floor. The shop is fringed with memorabilia and historic photos. They've even cut a window in the floor that provides a view of the basement where artifacts left behind by Japanese as they were forced to leave during the internment.

There were five of us there Sunday drawing in the tea room, escaping from the rain and cold. Disappointingly I only got one drawing done. And just as we were about to leave a woman came out and started straightening things. It was the owner, Jan Johnson. She was delighted to see our sketches and told us stories of some of the artwork in the glass cases. It was really a perfect sketching spot for a wet March Sunday morning. I definitely want to go back.

Sketches and Tea Leaves

            It was really great to see so many new faces at this month's sketch crawl in the International District. I hope everyone who participated in the Good Bones workshop had a good time and will join us in the future.

            Despite the terrible weather, I found plenty to draw at the Panama Hotel. I recently finished reading "At the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" and wanted to take the opportunity to visit the Panama Hotel since it plays a key role in the novel's plot.

            On the outside, the hotel is a nondescript brick building. At the base of the hotel is a tea and coffee house that is packed with artifacts from the building's history.

 

                The most interesting display is a window cut into the cafe's floor that allows visitors to peak into the basement where hundreds of Japanese families stored their belongings before being interned during World War 2. Trunks, books, umbrellas and other paraphernalia lay abandoned.

            The cafe also features a range of historic photos and newspaper clippings that illustrate life in Seattle's nihonmachi (Japan Town) prior to 1942. There is also a wonderful collection of books and art by various post-World War 2 Japanese artists and writers.

            If you ever have a chance to visit the Panama Hotel it is an interesting peak into Seattle's history. The Panama Hotel tea room also serves a wonderful selection of teas and coffee to help keep the Seattle blues at bay. I look forward to seeing everyone at next month's sketch crawl.

 

Wrapping up Good Bones

Good Bones 2 USk workshop just ended this past Sunday by joining the Seattle Urban Sketchers in the International District.  Thanks to all who attended the workshop, it was a great group who came from Seattle and environs, California, Colorado, Oregon, and even as far away as Kentucky!  

The first day was perspective basics, and by mid-morning, everyone had that deer-in-the-headlights look, but by the end of the day, they started to get it.  The next day was watercolor basics, using a very limited 3-color palette to add color to their sketches.  After a few demos, it was off to the very busy Pike Place Market to put the classroom knowledge into practice--and they got great results!  A few people said they were too intimidated to sketch in public, but given the crowds of onlookers and people taking our photos, I'd say they've gotten over that fear.

On Sunday, most of the class was able to join the Seattle Urban Sketchers (thanks all for including us!), and I have to say, the results were amazing--their sketches were GREAT, even those who had never, yes, never sketched before!!  

Both workshops were a wonderful experience, thanks to all who participated.
Thanks also to Urban Sketchers for this opportunity, to the makers of Pentalic and Aquabee journals for their generous support, and to Daniel Smith for their watercolor sample cards.

Below are a few photos from the Good Bones 2 workshop--I hope some of the participants from both Good Bones and Good Bones 2 will write comments and post their sketches to the Seattle USk flickr page.

Good Bones 2 Workshop participants (minus Carol)

Sketching midst the market crowds.

Watercolor demo of a fruit stand at Pike Place Market.

In the International District - Seattle

Yes!!  This sketch IS  in the I.D. of Seattle, but it sure is an unusual building!!  When I met up with Seattle's USkers this past Sunday, I walked past this building - located right across the street from Uwajimaya, and across 5th Ave and a courtyard from Starbuck's, our meet-up place.  It sure was tempting to sit INSIDE to do my sketch, but the angle wasn't right, so I braved the cold, damp rain to sit outside, fortunately under cover.  Over an hour and a half later, I had completed the ink sketch, but standing up to move was - oh, so stiff, and cold fingers, so I finally did go back into Starbuck's, to enjoy a latte, and thus I did the painting inside!
If anyone knows the history of the building, or the name of the original building, I would love to know.

Seattle's King Street Station with Good Bones 2

Thanks to the Seattle Urban Sketchers for welcoming the Good Bones 2 USk workshop folks on Sunday morning.  It was so great to see the workshop group integrate what they learned into their own sketching, even those who had never sketched before were turning out amazing drawings!!!

I sat more or less dead center for this view, debating whether or not to put the sketchbook's seam in the middle of the space.  But the station is so classical and symmetrical, I decided to respect it's formality and center the image.  The station looked great, by the way, they did a wonderful job on the renovation.  The sketch looked a little washed out with the light pencil and low light in the station.

ID District Scenes

As soon as I got off the bus yesterday morning, before our meet up at 10 am, I saw this view of King Street Station and had to draw it. Luckily, I was able to stand beneath a canopy while sketching.

Later on, to get out of the rain and get warm, I went into the Panama Hotel Tearoom, where I saw several other Urban Sketchers comfortably sketching.

Final Exam at King Street Station

3/16/14 King Street Station

Whenever I take a sketching workshop, I feel like whatever results from the exercises aren’t my “real” sketches because the compositions are either contrived (by being directed by the instructor) or I received so much help that I can hardly tell which lines are mine. Did I really learn, or do I just feel like I learned because I nodded whenever a concept was explained, and I thought I understood? For me, the “final exam” for such workshops is always whatever happens after the class is over.

Yesterday Stephanie Bower’s Good Bones workshop participants joined the Seattle Urban Sketchers in the Chinatown-International District. While others ducked out of the pouring rain into cafes or shivered under awnings to sketch iconic ID buildings, I headed straight for the King Street Station. I’ve sketched there twice before, and both times I avoided (perhaps evaded is more accurate) any views that would have required exercising the dreaded P word: Perspective. But I knew that if I wanted to say I had passed the workshop, I would have to give myself the final exam.

With that in mind, I plunked myself down on one end of the station’s main floor looking out at the grand columns near the front entrance and up at one of the curved corner balconies. As instructed, I began by drawing in a reference rectangle in the distance as well as my horizon line and vanishing point. I started to draw in the converging guidelines with pencil, but as I did, my brain was fighting me every step of the way: Those lines can’t be right! Look with your eyes! How could they be right?! So I fought back in the only way I knew how: I switched to indelible ink!

I didn’t show the sketch to Stephanie to hear her tell me I had passed; I knew I had. But I did show it to her to let her know that I couldn’t have made this sketch before taking her workshop.

On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, the Panama Hotel Tea and Coffee House

Out of town sketchers coming to Stephanie's Good Bones Workshop got to see a Seattle style sketch outing..rain and all!  We were hoping today would be sunny and dry as it was forecast at the beginning of the week but you can never depend on the weather report.  So each sketcher had to find dry locations to sketch.  I happen to see Logan and Kay walking and asked where they were going.  They had planned to go to the Tea and Coffee House at the Panama Hotel.   I have always wanted to go there ever since I read "Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet," an historical novel by Jamie Ford set in Seattle during the Japanese internment.  This was a great opportunity to see the hotel and didn't disappoint.  It had the character and feeling that you would expect of these old historic ID buildings.

Other people had the same idea and soon Jane Wingfield popped in and then Frank Ching.  

Here is my sketch for the morning.

Seattle ID

The rain was falling at a steady clip today as the Urban Sketchers spent the morning in the International District.  I walked up King Street from our meet-up location by the Union Train Station until I found a dry, closed storefront (Golden Star Deli) entry on the corner of Maynard Avenue and King Street.  I was interested in capturing a typical ID street scene (early century buildings with apartments/old hotels above retail establishments).  One thing that was interesting, but unsightly, was the external exhaust ducts running up the side of some of the buildings.  They serve the restaurant kitchens that dot the storefronts, like the Kau Kau Barbeque in the left foreground of this sketch. 

I wrapped up my time with a sketch of the Hing Hay Park and its Asian temple-like pagoda that was occupied by street people trying to find relief from the rain.  The view was just looking to the left across King Street from my first sketch.  The Bush Hotel was the yellow-colored  building overlooking the park in the background.

 

Seattle International District | New Century Tea Gallery

Wet weather and cool temperatures made it challenging to find a comfortable spot with good vantage points in Seattle's International District.  I was sitting under the gazebo at Hing Hay Park when a smiling Buddha behind the storefront window caught my attention.  Near the corner of Maynard and King, I stumbled upon a tea shop called the New Century Tea Gallery.

Inside the shop, massive jars filled with assorted teas line the walls all the way up to ceiling.  I asked the storeowner (Dafe) if I could draw inside and he invited me to sit down at this beautifully carved wooden table. As I sketched, he treated me to a traditional Chinese tea ceremony - sampling various types from green, to jasmine, to oolong, and aged pu-erh.

Two quick watercolor sketches, an education on Chinese tea tradition, and two 1/4-lb bag tea purchases...
Not bad for a rainy Sunday afternoon.

King Street Station

I have been meaning to visit this revitalized Seattle landmark since the construction scaffolding came down last fall. I was not disappointed. The classical organization so rigid, the space bright and the plaster work immaculate.

March Monthly Sketch Outing

Join us for the March Sketch Outing 
 

Sunday, March 16th: International District

10:00 am to 12:30 pm

Meet at Starbucks
505 5th Ave. South - right next to Union Station
Seattle

We will be meeting up with Stephanie Bower's Good Bones Workshop attendees. The International District has indoor options: Union Station, Uwajimaya, Wing Luke; plus lots of outdoor options, weather permitting. See you there!

 

 

Capital Hill Treasure!

The Friday ad hoc group of Urban Sketchers met this morning at ADA'S Technical Bookstore and Cafe.  What a great find!!  Located right on 15th Ave. in Capital Hill, next to Coastal Kitchen, Ada's now occupies the old ramshackle house/bookstore  once called Horizon Books.  Before Ada's took over, the entire house had a much-needed make-over.  And for a sketcher (or a techy nerd,)  Ada's is full of "treasures."  Each table in the cafe part is actually a deep wooden frame-case, covered with clear glass.  Inside the case sits a collection of padlocks, or a collection of slide-rulers, or an antique telescope and guide to the stars.  One long table contains at least a a couple hundred compasses!

Then there's the decor!  Of course there's bookshelves, and some really cool technical "toys" and games.  But also the entire ceiling is full of mobiles from which hang plexiglass-framed ?letters?   And one entire wall is made to look like two doors stacked on top of two doors.  Lights in a column of this wall turn blue, then green, magenta, then red.  And two skylights allow sunshine to stream down into the cafe, as you can see from my sketch:

Fieldsketches from Florida

We spent two weeks birding in Florida south of Tampa to Sanibel, Naples, Bonita Springs, Marco Island and Flamingo in the Everglades. Challenges to field sketching were heat, humidity, crowds, lack of places to sit and bored vultures early morning who tear off blue tarps to chew off window trim and wiper blades. Fearing our $500 deductible, my sketch time was cut short to protect our rental car.

Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets slowly stalked fish in the murky pond. Woodstorks being tactile feeders swung their heads back and forth to feel fish in their bills. Alligators lurked next to them. Sweat burned my eyes and dripped off my nose onto my sketch paper.

Just outside of Florida City before we entered the Everglades National Park is the well known fruit stand, Robert Is Here. Traffic moved fast at the intersection of Hwy 9336 and W.Palm Drive.  Cars were constantly pulling in and backing out. I found a safe place to stand for 10 minutes between orange traffic cones and splashed some watercolor before I had to move. We picked up another bird species while I sketched, Purple Martins.

Trip total = 134 bird species. Trip highlight was meeting Thomas "Thor" Thorspecken and discussing urban sketching over lunch!

Line to Color Workshop at WSU April 18-20 2014

Not too late to sign up for this workshop happening April 18-20th 2014. If you are in the area or have friends who are in the area this looks to be a great weekend of sketching at the beautiful campus of Washington State University in Pullman Washington. Here are some pictures of the campus. We are looking forward to this event. Come join us! Thanks again to our sponsors, Stillman & Birn, Royal Talens, and Canson. Contact Bob Krikac for more information. rkrikac@wsu.edu