Uninspired at the Pike Place Market

1/18/15 

If there hadn’t been an Urban Sketchers outing this morning, I probably would have stayed in bed listening to the torrential rain and wind battering our windows and skylights. As much as I enjoy sketching at the Pike Place Market, doing so on a blustery, stormy day does nothing for me. Everything I like to sketch there is either outdoors or too close to the elements for me to be happy on a day like this.

Despite the ridiculous weather, the Market crowds were already getting thick, maybe because many people were coming through on their way to the noon Seahawks game. Before the crowds became daunting, I sketched a busker who was barely sheltered from the downpour just behind him.

1/18/15

After that, chilled and uninspired, I wandered around in the Market’s deep lower bowels trying to warm up. Looking down from a railing toward the stairwell that leads to Western Avenue, I finally sketched another busker and got chilled all over again. Eventually I wandered back to the Atrium for our final sketchbook sharing and killed the last few minutes with twig and ink. (I think that last hasty sketch was my favorite of the day!)

I might have been crabby about the weather, but it certainly didn’t keep others away: We had a terrific turnout, including several first-timers! Only Urban Sketchers (OK, and maybe the Seahawks) can get people out on a day like this.

1/18/15