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Saturday, March 30: Colman Ferry Dock

Friday, October 30, 2015

Grand Central Arcade

10/30/15 Grand Central Arcade

Grand Central Bakery and its home in the historic Grand Central Arcade in Pioneer Square hold nostalgic memories for me. When I worked downtown in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, I spent a lot of lunch hours and coffee breaks there. If I wanted to hide from co-workers, or a friend and I wanted a private conversation, the quiet, upper-level tables were good for that. If I needed a quick cup of coffee with no time to rest, I could breeze through and still enjoy the brick interior, the archways and those domed lights that I’ve always loved.

10/30/15
Today while the morning was still blustery, the Friday sketchers stayed in the cozy interior, but eventually the sun occasionally peeked out, and a few ventured outdoors. I was a bit torn – the sun was tempting – but the Grand Central’s unique interior captured my attention for more than one sketch.

10/30/15

Three Icons

As is my habit, it seems, I arrived early for the Friday sketch outing.  I travel into Seattle by bus and light rail so I always leave early to allow for the time needed for public transportation.

I settled down to wait for the other sketchers and started sketch a view of the Bakery and Cafe in the Grand Central Arcade.  It's just on Occidental Park in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle.   Soon after, I saw Gail, who came for the first time today (she is second from left in the group photo below).  Welcome and hope to see you again! 

After a rainy and blustery start to the day, it turned sunny and warm by about 11am.  So I went out to sketch a view I noticed while walking over.  Here are three iconic structures:  on the left is an edge of the Columbia Center tower, the tallest in Seattle; in the middle is the "sinking ship" parking garage; at right is the lower portion of the Smith Tower, which, when built, was the tallest.



We met back to share sketches and pose for a photo




Kate, Gail, Nilda, Natalie, Tina, Gwen, Susan (Kaye had to leave early).

Monday, October 26, 2015

Hearing Voices

Really great to join Seattle Urban Sketchers at the Gates Foundation Visitor Center to mark the World Wide SketchCrawl day!!

I had the really good fortune to get to work on this project for over a year with Olson Kundig Architects.  After over 125 schematic design pencil sketches, it is really interesting and a true pleasure to go to the Visitor Center and see it in action.  Really brilliant design work on the part of OK team and that amazing Alan Maskin.


This is a view from the Voices Gallery.  Every so often, I'd turn my head as I could hear children's voices and people talking, only to realize it was a recording!

Fashion and Exercise at the Gates Foundation



Saturday I spent WWSCD at the Gates Foundation's Visitor Center with Seattle USk. But no Iron Lungs for me. In any museum or exhibit, I always manage to zero in on the clothing and textile pieces. Which, I suppose, illustrates the genius of the Foundation's PR department. The Visitor Center presents the various projects and missions of the Foundation in an interactive and approachable way, designed so there is something that will catch everyone's attention.

The health care workers' jacket by Chinese designer Han Feng, which I started with, was commissioned by the Foundation as part of a series to illustrate various medical projects. And the jacket is a pretty brilliant and wearable two-layer design using both traditional Chinese and western tailoring. The designer also incorporated practical elements like pockets and reflective tape, recycled fabric from military uniforms and modern embroidery.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

49th World Wide SketchCrawl at Gates Foundation

10/24/15 Iron Lung exhibit
For the 49th quarterly World Wide SketchCrawl, Urban Sketchers Seattle met at the Gates Foundation Visitors Center. This was my second visit there, and as I was last time, I was impressed by the varied ways in which the foundation is improving people’s lives around the world. So many things we take for granted, like having a flushing toilet, clean drinking water and contraception, are not easily accessible to many, many people. I always learn interesting things there, like the fact that smelly socks are used to trap and kill malaria-carrying mosquitoes!

10/24/15 window facing Fifth Avenue North
Although the foundation is inspiring in many ways, I admit that I wasn’t particularly visually inspired for sketching subjects. After wandering around for a while, I settled on the Iron Lung, which also attracted several other sketchers. According to the video loop playing nearby (which, unfortunately, we sketchers all had to hear many times and probably memorized by the time our sketches were done!), a polio patient would have to spend two to three weeks inside the Iron Lung until they recovered enough to breathe on their own. A stand was attached so that the patient could read a book, but someone else would have to turn the pages. A mirror allowed them to “see the world around them.”

After that sketch, I found a window facing Fifth Avenue North and sketched several maples shedding leaves on the sidewalk. 

Iron Lung on Display at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Yesterday I joined the Seattle Urban Sketchers at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle and sketched part of the exhibit on display at their campus. The exhibit describes the healthcare outreach that the foundation provides worldwide.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Today was the 49th Worldwide Sketchcrawl so the Seattle Urban Sketchers held a special WWSC outing at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. I've parked in the lot just north of there many times for the Seattle Marathon but am embarrassed to say I hadnt noticed the Gates Foundation was there and it has apparently been a few years. What a great place! As soon as I walked in I noticed this post-it board. I walked around a bit and there was other cool stuff to draw including a large room with all kinds of message boards with words such as "inspiration" and "innovation" as well as an Iron Lung which I had never seen before. But I circled back to draw the poster board. The sign caught my attention because I've spent the past week having discussions with my daughter about about girls, women, and science especially after seeing the film The Martian and talking to my friend who is a data scientist at NASA. As I sat to sketch, one of the Gates Foundation staff came by and mentioned that I could add a post-it if I wanted. At first I thought, No, I don't want to mess with my drawing subject. But then as time passed I found myself getting up to add two post-its.  You cant see very well in the sketch but the post-its said, "Mentors," "Malala," "Mindfulness," "Confidence," "Menstrual Cups," "Power and Voice," "Self-Confidence," "Equal Respect," and "Parents who Care," "Freedom from Violence, "and "Survival Skills" ...  I sat there for two hours and at about an hour in I got up to add my two green post-its -- that said "To believe that they can be scientists" and "to have confidence in their skills in math." Through the window I could see Memorial Stadium where they sometimes have my daughter's HS football games and where she went to a concert during Bumbershoot. And could hear a recording of Melinda Gates in the background talking about global health and the important work being done and still to be done. Sitting and listening to the audio of Melinda Gates made me think about how much responsibility comes with all that wealth, how inspiring it is to see what can come from it. Oh, and of course I couldn't help think about my magnificent smart kind unique daughter, how lucky she is to live in this great city surrounded by such inspiration and good fortune and all of my hopes and dreams for her. I wish for all the post-its to come true for all the girls and women around the world......      

Saturday, October 24, 2015

WWSCD at Gates

We spent the World Wide Sketch Crawl Day (WWSCD) #49 at the Gates Foundation Visitor Center.

On the way there, walking across Seattle Center, I saw an opportunity to do a new sketch for the Urban Sketchers flickr group's weekly theme: "reflections".   This is the Experience Music Project (EMP) buildings.  The blue one is reflected in the red one.  A monorail runs through it.



Most of the exhibits in the visitor center are interactive. As such, there aren't many artifacts to sketch.  This group interested me most of all.  In particular, the two containers on the left, in combination - one inside the other - can keep vaccines cold for 30 days with no electricity.  On the right is a "box that saves lives".  "When conflict or natural disaster drives people from their homes, they often end up in refugee camps. Until they can go home, the ShelterBox gives them basic protection and supplies."



There was some unexpected rain and when it stopped, I ventured outside to explore the Gates Foundation buildings.  I saw another opportunity for a reflection... this time the Space Needle reflected in the windows of the Gates Foundation office building.



We met back to share sketches and have a group photo.





More photos here

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Stone House Cafe on Ad Hoc Friday

I have been AWOL for a couple months with no "urban" sketches to show for it. But last Friday I sketched the Stone House Cafe with the Ad Hoc group. The other sketchers have said it all... beautiful weather, a fascinating building, great pastries and the baker/host was the nicest guy...

Stone House Cafe, Rainier Beach

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

The Craven Pumpkin Farm, a Veritable Circus of Autumn Offerings


Fall Festival at Craven Farm--Sketches by Michele Cooper
Sunday, Oct. 18
The Seattle Urban Sketchers monthly meet up began at Craven's Pumpkin Farm at 10 am. For the first 45 minutes, it wasn't really cold at all and the rain held off. I took advantage by sketching the front gate post for my Inktober Day 18 drawing. See last sketch below. By the time I finished my first sketch, the parking lot had nearly filled up.
I wanted to catch the steam rising off the two large kettles out toward the back of the Snack Shack where they were boiling corn on the cob.
I toured as much of the property as I could before the rain started, then stepped inside the gift shop, Mouseville, under the arbor and the animal barn to keep my sketchbook dry. Every once in a while I would step out again to check on something that I may have missed in the sketch I was working on.

The man with the "Hair Style of the Day", was
Dutch Bihary, the face painter working at a barber chair inside the animal barn. His calm and smiling demeanor and fast yet effortless skill attracted an unending stream of children, ready to have him paint butterflies, tigers and more on their upturned faces.

After we shared our sketches, I could see that the rain was letting up, so I decided to stay and wait it out. There was a wagon load of fresh fall flowers, some pink pumpkins and a bin of apples that I had my eye on. I only had to wait for less than half an hour before I could go out to finish my two page spread.
Sketchers, families and people of all ages found something of interest despite the rain
I started the day with my Inktober 18 sketch of the entry gate post
To really and truly understand the multitude of offerings at Craven Pumpkin Farm, you must visit their website and Facebook pages. Their Autumn Festival is in full swing: Birthday parties, 3D black-light presentations, food, gifts, animals, Minions, hayrides, pirate ships, duck races, and people pushing wheelbarrows full of newly purchased pumpkins!

I actually started another panoramic sketch in my "Perfect Sketchbook" with a view of the distant hillside from underneath the arbor. I thought the arbor would protect me from the rain, but the grape vines started to drip onto my watercolor washes. My sketch is about 2/3 finished and won't take much to complete.

Monday, October 19, 2015

WW Sketchcrawl Day at Gates Foundation this coming Saturday


Saturday, October 24
12:00 pm - 2:30 pm* 

440 Fifth Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109

*Note change from our usual time 



Sunday, October 18, 2015

Snohomish

Instead of spending my sketching time at Craven Farms, I spent the morning sketching the Snohomish Exchange Building before heading out to the farm to meet up with the rest of the group.  The Exchange was built as the Alcazar Opera House in 1892 and then became a agriculture supply store, but now is an antique store.  I like all the different metal signs attached to the outside of front facade.


After our meet up time I went back into Snohomish to capture a few more quick sketches of some of the other storefronts in the old town section of town.


Craven Farms, Snohomish, WA

I sat myself down just past the entrance at the Craven Farms at today's sketch outing to sketch this"Clipper Grain & Seed Cleaner." It was a busy spot with small kids, parents, and grandparents passing through which made me remember the days when my daughter was that age...and grateful that even as a teenager she and her friends wanted to come with me to hang out in the pumpkin patch. The rain didn't seem to bother anyone and it's always a surprise to see what happens when raindrops hit paint.

Pumpkins in the Rain

There were about 14 sketchers who braved the distance and the weather for this fall sketch outing at Craven Farms outside Snohomish, WA.  The day was cloudy and rather dark, but not too cold.  Midway through the time there, it started to rain. 

I sat on a bench to sketch the scene with the old truck.




A friend had posted photos from a trip here yesterday.  So I knew this Minion was somewhere on the property.  It's made of a covered bale of hay or straw.  The goggle is a tire painted white!



We found shelter inside to share sketches and have a photo.  There were 2 new sketchers plus at least 2 others who didn't make it back to the sharing session and photo.




Thanks to Jackie's daughter for taking our group photo.

Rainy Craven Farms

10/18/15 Dutch, the face painter
I’m starting to associate pumpkin farms with inclement weather. Three years ago Urban Sketchers Seattle met at Fall City Farms to sketch in the pouring rain. The year after, we met at Craven Pumpkin Farms in Snohomish, where I dressed in down jacket and tights and still shivered in the foggy cold.

This morning, again at Craven Farms, I was thinking we were finally going to break our streak of pumpkin farm bad weather luck. It had drizzled a bit on my way east out of Seattle, but by the time I set up my stool in front of an old truck surrounded by pumpkins (below), the rain had stopped and the temperature was mild. But no sooner had I started putting paint on, the rain began again – and this time it was solid rain, not drizzle. I stayed in denial a while longer – long enough for my watercolor technique to be called wet-on-wet.

10/18/15 Dutch at work on another client.
I ducked into various shelters around the farm, including a hand-washing station tent filled with sketchers. I wasn’t too excited by the tree and gourd stands I could see from my spot in a leaky corner of the tent, so I moved on.

Thankfully, I wound up in the animal barn, where I wouldn’t have minded sketching a few goats and kittens, but I found something better: Dutch, the face painter. With a pumpkin-orange Mohawk, Dutch painted elaborately flourished butterflies, jack-o-lanterns and other images on the faces of young clients. He’s so fast that he finished several kids in the time it took me to do one sketch of him. I had so much fun that I moved around to the other side to do a second sketch.

Despite the weather, we had a good showing of USk Seattle, who aren’t daunted by a little rain. (We complain, but we aren’t daunted.)

10/18/15 Inadvertent wet-on-wet technique.
10/18/15 

Friday, October 16, 2015

Sketchers in the Stonehouse

We had perfect fall weather for our sketch outing at the Stonehouse Bakery and Cafe in Renton.   As I've written before, I've driven past the decaying remains of this once beautiful stone building for many years.  I was so happy to see construction and repair happening a year or so ago.  Then even happier to find a bakery and restaurant had opened there last spring. Since then it has been a favorite place to sketch as it's only about 20 minutes from my home.  The bakery has marvelous treats.  I had lunch there for the first time today and all four of us at the table were very impressed with the food.

A sign in the bar gives some of the history:  "In 1926, a brick layer by trade, Earl Collier opened this gas station.  Over the years, it has appeared in many books and articles about its unique craftmanship.  After closing in 1963, the family still lived on the property until 2011 when a new owner took over and was dedicated to preserving and cherishing this special landmark." 

I was there early..  So I had a pastry, some coffee and sketched the mantel of the fireplace, decorated for autumn.



The owner has put a lot of effort into decorating for the season.  There are pumpkins everywhere.  My next sketch was one of a few patios on the property.


The sign is a bit of photo collage.

The bakery operator, Patrick, was delighted to have us there and was so very hospitable to us.  He even wanted to pose with us when we had our group photo (upper left, next to me)



Welcome to Chris,for whom this was the first time sketching with us.



Stone House Café

10/16/15 The Stone House Cafe
Tucked against the southern shore of Lake Washington is the Stone House Café, which is as literal an interpretation of its name as any café can be. Even the restroom incorporates the original stonework of a former service station built in the ‘20s. With indoor and outdoor seating decked out for Halloween, a full-service restaurant and a bakery, the Friday Urban Sketchers had plenty of choices this morning. First choice for most of us was coffee and some form of decadence from the bakery (I chose a pumpkin scone, but I drooled as cinnamon rolls, sticky buns and Danish passed by).

Suitably fortified, I warmed up with a sketch of the hacked-up tree across the street (below) – an ideal subject for #inktober and my Pilot Parallel pen. Despite the hack job, this tree seems to express a certain insouciance that I tried to capture.

By then the morning had warmed up along with my hand, so I settled in for the Big Kahuna: the Stone House Café building itself. Sue and I both liked the shadows on the north side of the building that highlighted the stone contours and the building’s high peaks (although looking into the sun for an hour wasn’t much fun).

Our thanks to the café staff for making us feel at home! For both indoor and outdoor sketching, the Stone House is a keeper.

10/16/15 Across the street from the cafe

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

October Monthly Outing - Sunday October 18

October Sketch Outing  
Sunday, October 18 
10:00 am - 12:30 pm 
Craven Pumpkin Farm.
13817 Shorts School Road
Snohomish • WA • 98290


Monday, October 12, 2015

Perspective for Sketchers

Fear perspective no longer!!
For those interested in learning more about perspective sketching, I'd like to share this opportunity (got the OK from the blog gods). 
Today I join the ranks of other Urban Sketchers like Marc Taro Holmes, Shari Blaukopf, Paul Heaston, and coming up, Jim Richards and Lynne Chapman, in offering online courses together with Craftsy.  And our own amazing Steven Reddy too!!!

Mine is called what else but "Perspective for Sketchers" and it launches today. 
For more info and a discount link for Urban Sketchers, please visit my blog

This class is really thrilling for me, as it brings together 25+ years of teaching architectural sketching, career as an architectural illustrator/architect, and my love for sketching on-location to a much broader, literally a world-wide audience.  I don't want people to fake perspective or ignore it, or avoid sketching buildings because they fear getting it wrong.  Perspective is actually easy, once you know what to look for!



Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Roofers

10/6/15 the house next door (Maple Leaf neighborhood)

Our neighbors next door are getting a new roof. Betty came over last week to warn us of the forthcoming noise and mess, but instead of being dismayed, I was thrilled – what a sketch opportunity!

10/6/15
After all the old shingles were torn off (unfortunately, I missed most of that), a truck appeared with a long conveyor belt attached to haul all the roofing material up. Sketching from the street, I finished the line work just in time – the truck put away its belt and drove off before I could get the color on.

Next I went upstairs to our bedroom window, which gave me a front-row seat of all the roofing action. These guys have to squat, crouch, kneel and pretzel themselves into the most uncomfortable positions, all the while taking care not to go tumbling down that sharp slant. I was somewhat reassured that they all wore harnesses, but my adrenalin was rushing the whole time I was watching.

10/6/15
One thing about them I envy: their tool belts! Hanging right at arm level in such familiar positions that they can grab without looking, their tools are always right at hand. Imagine all the pens and pencils and paints I could fit in there. . . 

10/6/15
10/6/15

10/6/15