Hanging with the Los Angeles Urban Sketchers

I've been in Santa Monica since mid-June getting acquainted with my second grandchild, I've had a couple opportunities to emerge from Babyland into LaLaLand. Today I met up with a few of the Los Angeles Urban Sketchers at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. It's an old building that has been expanded; the contrast between old and new is striking.

Virginia Hein and Heather Evans Davis and I headed across the street to the lovely rose garden where we could have a bit more distant view of the original building. Check out their sketches here.

As I was waiting for the group I started a quick sketch of one of the old guys - triceritops maybe? And on the way in to the museum, I quickly sketched some fellow "subway" riders. This may be the only "subway" in the world that has to stop for street traffic.

        

Rubbing elbows with a Seattle homeless man

When I approached a group of people at Westlake Park and explained that I was hoping to sketch and talk to someone experiencing homelessness, the first question I got was: “Do we get paid?”

My negative answer elicited some disappointment, but after I explained that I was part of a group of artists with no funding, simply hoping to draw attention to homelessness in Seattle, someone raised his hand.

"I'm very homeless," said Nathaniel Simon, a 37-year-old Seahawks fan who likes to greet people with an elbow bump.

Simon, who has been homeless for 15 years, traced the root of his situation to run-ins with the law when he was growing up in Honolulu. He said he first got in trouble for stealing mopeds. Later in life, adversities piled up. He said he got shot in Las Vegas, suffered from drug addition and is currently battling throat cancer.

When I asked Simon what could someone have done for him along the way to prevent him from becoming homeless, he shared this memory from his childhood: “I wish my grandfather would have taken me surfing more .... That would have kept me out of trouble.”

Seattle Homeless Project #SeaHomeless

Gabi Campanario put the word out a few weeks ago that Crosscut, a local e-publication, was coordinating a media blitz homeless project to try and focus attention on the problem of homelessness in our area.  They had done this last year with a fair measure of success and were hoping to build on that success again this year.  Gabi had asked all of the Seattle Urban Sketchers to try and do sketches of the homeless and things associated with them and to post them with the hashtag #SeaHomeless on June 28.  Tina was working with Gabi to coordinate this.  Many thanks to them both for thinking of bringing us into the project and doing all the background work on our efforts!

I was able to get 4 sketches done for the project.   Not as many as I hoped, but hopefully this helps add to the blitz in a positive way.  Here are the sketches in the order they were done.

The gentleman above was living under an overpass in the SODO area of Seattle. He was the only person in this particular area. He was very reserved so we didn't talk much before he returned to his phone. He did say he was working a series of part time jobs but he was homeless because he couldn't earn enough to afford rent anywhere near, or afford to live further out and commute.  I happened to pass this area again about a week later and he was gone along with his belongings.  I am not sure if he found nearby housing he could afford or if he moved by choice or at the insistence of the city.

The sketch above is under the West Seattle Bridge by the 1st Ave off ramp.  There are about a dozen or so tents and assorted boxes and bags and belongings scattered about under the bridge. This is a heavily used exit from the bridge for folks wanting to get to the south end of downtown, often called SODO for the South Domes, the big sports stadiums located near here.  The exit is a prime area for panhandling with all the traffic coming off the bridge and the lights stopping the cars that gives the panhandlers time to be noticed by drivers. 

Normally I see at least a few people at this camp but not this time.  I am just speculating but I would guess that these folks will be moved from under this structure at some point.  In various cities bridges have been closed for significant periods of time so they could be inspected after fires started in these protected areas.  RV's have caught on fire, BBQ's have flared up igniting tents and boxes and trash, etc.  If nothing else traffic will be stopped while the fires are extinguished and if the fire touched the structure itself it generally gets iclosely nspected for damage.  That can all take significant time.  Expensive and inconvenient for people trying to use that roadway.  In the case of West Seattle this bridge and exit are a prime means to go from West Seattle to downtown.  Generally the City has tried to have somewhere else for people to move to, but often people don't want to move to those locations.  Invariably they move back to these locations once the City is no longer watching it and the whole process starts again.

This is another view of the West Seattle Bridge location in the previous sketch.  In the summer it is a shaded area, and in the winter it is well sheltered from rain, and if I remember from bicycle commuting days it is also pretty sheltered from winds.  It is dark though, especially in the winter.  Being under and alongside major roads exposes it to a fair amount of vehicle exhaust and to lots of traffic and train noise, not to mention noise from the industrial area that surrounds it.  Good and bad points as a temporary refuge for these folks.  As I mentioned though, it is by a busy intersection for panhandling, as well as having good access to transit and the services homeless folks might find useful or necessary.

This person was taking shelter for the night in a store front in West Seattle.  The store had closed for the day and the doorway was recessed and offered some shelter from the modest rain forecast that night.  The person had taken the carts that contained all their stuff and had pulled them into a little makeshift shelter or barrier.

I am a bit embarrassed in that I could not tell if this person was a man or a woman.  When I tried to talk with him or her the person was very shy and didn't talk, ducking down behind the carts.  I gently explained what I was doing and that all they had to do was tell me no or even just wave me away.  I backed up and quickly sketched the store front and carts.  The person eventually stood and I was able to do a quick sketch but the person never talked and never looked my way.  When I thanked them and asked if I could leave some cash as a thank you the person ducked down again.  I took that as a no and let them be.

This person was bundled up as if it were freezing out.  The height of that head gear with the hood over it is not exaggerated and the jackets worn were thick and heavily layered.  The night was typical for this time of year, with a forecast low of about 60, so pretty warm overall.

A Fremont Alley

I found a shady spot to draw this alley in Fremont during the monthly meeting of the Seattle Urban Sketchers.

Notice the many lines that mark the false starts as I struggled to get the proportions and relative sizes of the building forms to fit within my desired view. The key for me is to ignore these stray marks as I continue to develop the drawing and add values and line weights to create the sense of spatial depth on the page.

Back to the Center of the Universe

6/25/17 The Fremont Troll crawling with kids

I worried that news reports of dire traffic conditions from freeway lane closures and Pride events would keep sketchers away from the Center of the Universe, but I needn’t have. Even predicted temperatures in the mid-90s yesterday brought a good turnout of USk Seattle to the statue of Lenin and the rest of the Fremont neighborhood’s funky environment.

6/25/17 Lenin at the Center of the Universe

Although I knew I had sketched Lenin before, I didn’t realize until I checked my blog that it had been as long as four years ago at my first outing to Fremont (a month later I sketched him again during Gail and Frank’s USk workshop). It was high time to sketch him again, and I did it first thing while the morning heat was still tolerable.

For the high noon sun, I knew exactly where I wanted to sketch: In the cool shade of the Aurora Bridge, where the Fremont Troll waits quietly. Although a troll under a bridge is supposed to be malevolent, the only other time I sketched him, also four years ago, he struck me as more curious than scary. Yesterday I thought I saw some surprise and endless patience in his single eye (now shiny silver, though in 2013 it was apparently red) as tourists climb all over him, day in, day out. 

Speaking of patience, I was losing mine as every five minutes or so, a tour bus would come by and disgorge a pile of said tourists so they could photograph each other. The sketch took me much longer than usual because I had to keep waiting for the view to clear. Still, I was in the shade with a cool breeze blowing through. Even on the hottest day of the year, I’d rather be sketching than not.

Several sketchers said they wouldn't be able to stay until the throwdown, so we took a pre-outing photo.

Throwdown in Lenin's shadow.

Monthly Outing - Fremont

I was debating with myself as whether or not to sketch under today's high temperature, I figured if coming earlier before the heat raise I'd ok. In fact, there are quite of shades nearby and, so I start from Stature of Lenin (of course) at top left corner.. monochrome street scene of 36th St at top right.  Then our sketchers folks gathering greeting each other with Gabi showing up surprisingly,...
on the bottom is the scene when I walked down to Fremont Sunday's market..sat under a tree (lucky).

Outside the PCC Fremont I saw Fremont bridge in distance (Fremont Pl/36th St),
thought can't exclude it when sketching Fremont neighborhood, right?
I was absent for our ending sketch sharing as having appointment, hope to enjoy others sketches online!

Exteriors (finally!)

Glo's Coffee Shop on Capitol Hill. Solo outing.

Tree in garden near Marshall Park, drawn with USk

Several shops across the street from the Funeral Home. Drawn with USk

Des Moines Farmers Market with Urban Sketcher Anjl Rodee.

Highland Drive, Kerry Park and Pure Sunshine

6/23/27 Highland Drive

Parsons Garden and the garden’s area of upper Queen Anne Hill have been a favorite of USk Seattle for several years; they’ve become a summer staple. I think the first time we met there was on the 4th of July in 2014. Looking back at that post, I see that I sketched two of the same scenes yesterday as I did then – Highland Drive’s romantic curving wall of globe lamps, and the spectacular viewpoint at Kerry Park.

I’ve sketched Highland Drive with a twig, and ink and watercolor more than once, but I’d never used graphite at that location, so I pulled out my Gekkoso 8B. Kate was sketching a short distance up the drive. She started in the shade, but by the time I put her into the sketch, her bright yellow blouse was blazing as bright as the sun.

6/23/17 Kerry Park

Kerry Park and its dazzling Space Needle-centered skyline is another view I’ve sketched several times, but it’s never been as crowded as it was yesterday. Entire buses and cars periodically disgorged tourists, who rushed up to snap photos of each other in front of the Needle and Mt. Rainier. Instead of working around people blocking my view, I moved to a particularly popular spot for group photos. As mothers ordered their kids into neat rows and couples pulled out selfie sticks, I felt a bit snarky and wanted to shout, “Sure, it’s lovely today, but you should have been here the prior 10 months like the rest of us! We didn’t get this free – we earned it!” 

But I was in such a good mood that I didn’t care. Really, who could blame them when this is what they were looking at:

Parsons Garden and more

The Urban Sketchers Seattle Friday outing was to Parsons Garden area on Queen Ann hill. There were many scenes from which to choose. From the hill, once could look out onto the sound with cruise ships. Or walk down to Kerry Park for the classic view of downtown Seattle and the Space Needle from the north.

I walked along Queen Ann Bldv until I saw this tree.  I kept having to move to get out of the full sun.  The light on my white paper nearly blinded me.  While the day was predicted (and did) to reach over 80 degrees, it stayed cool in the shade and there was a very pleasant breeze.  



Then I walked down the stairs from the bridge. The street below has the same name. Sounds confusing. But I liked the arches.


At the agreed upon time, we had our sketchbook sharing and the group photo.





After which, the three of us who carpooled from the South End had a picnic lunch.
Next we drove the short distance for the Kathleen Keckler's show hosted in Le Reve baker/cafe.  She had many excellent pieces hanging. 



And then.... we drove to Daniel Smith for the recently announced 20% off Flash Sale! I had a list.

Geese and Cranes at Lake Union Park

6/17/17 Seattle skyline from Lake Union Park

USk Seattle’s 10x10 workshop series culminated yesterday morning with a group reportage activity at Lake Union Park. While I didn’t take part in the workshop, I joined the general sketchcrawl that followed in the same location, which is one of my favorite Seattle parks.

6/17/17 Canada geese

I’ve sketched parts of the skyline from the park a few times, most recently last summer, but I’ve never had my panoramic Stillman & Birn sketchbook there. The landscape book was still in my bag from Friday’s outing in Tacoma, so I took advantage of it to capture as many as possible of the 14 cranes visible from that spot (I only got 11, and then I ran out of space). 

As for the Canada geese, I couldn’t have sketched them all even if I had wanted to. There must have been hundreds, including some very sweet goslings and adolescents with fuzzy heads. (Adorable as they may be, there’s no leash law for geese. Watch where you step.)

Panorama detail

After the last 10x10:

The last class of the 10x10 series in Seattle was a Group Reportage. The class met in the morning at Lake Union Park. The attendees were invited to join some members of USk Seattle in an afternoon sketch outing.

The group was a mixture of instructors, USk Seattle members and workshop attendees. We had a shorter than usual outing as those involved in the workshop had had a long day. That was probably a good thing as it started to sprinkle as we were finishing. We shared out sketches and had our group photo in the shelter of the MOHAI cafe meeting room:





I've sketched several times in this area so I looked for something a little different. These large flowers caught my eye. It was even more interesting with the Space Needle peeking through.

Festival of Sail

6/16/17 Foss Waterway and Tacoma skyline

The day dawned with typical mid-June wishy-washiness: It could end up with “sun breaks” just as easily as it could rain. I took a chance on the former to join Urban Sketchers Tacoma at Foss Waterway, which was the site of this weekend’s Festival of Sail.

6/16/17 Festival of Sail tall ship

With my landscape-format Stillman & Birn sketchbook on the panorama setting, I tried to squeeze in as many as I could of the dozen or more tall ships across the waterway. It was the first time I’d seen Tacoma’s skyline from that direction, so even though my focus was on the ships, I couldn’t resist putting in Old City Hall (left of center).

My next plan was to make a detailed sketch of one of the ships – the only one that had some of its sails up (it’s near the center of the panorama). Since white rigging is always a bother to save out in a sketch on white paper, I took the easy way out and sketched it on red paper.

I always seem to have five or 10 minutes left to kill before the sketchbook throwdown, so I used them to capture the row of snags (one of them was home to a family of flickers) next to the waterway where Natalie and Beverly were sketching.

The morning’s gamble was a good one: Not a drop of rain all day, and despite the chilly wind and thick cloud cover, we had a good turnout of enthusiastic sketchers.

Panorama detail

Mama Duck

Upon our arrival at the site for our sketch outing to the Festival of Sail, I was disappointed that the Mamma Duck was no where to be seen. Upon more exploration, I could just see the tip of her yellow head far down the Foss Waterway. Later another sketcher said she was across from Johnny's Dock, so we resolved to have lunch there in order to sketch the World's Largest Rubber Duck.

Though there was a chilly wind off the Foss Waterway, it didn't rain while we sketched the Tall Ships docked across the way from the Center for Urban Waters. A few members of Urban Sketchers Seattle joined Urban Sketchers Tacoma.  We had an excellent view of several ships with classic Tacoma buildings on the hill behind.   The ship I sketched is the Hawaiian Chieftain
 


After sharing and the group photo....




most of us decamped for lunch at Johnny's Dock. We could definitely see the big duck from there. Mamma Duck is 61 feet tall and weighs 11 tons!



More Photos: https://redharp.smugmug.com/SketchOutings/2017-0616-Festival-of-Sail/

Guild 45th and Seven Gables

6/8/17 Seven Gables Theatre

Local media reported last Tuesday that two Seattle theaters, the Guild 45^th and the Seven Gables, had closed “abruptly” that day, ostensibly for renovation, but it doesn’t bode well. Part of the Landmark chain, these theaters haven’t been independent neighborhood film houses in a long time, but people who don’t like 12-plex mega theaters in shopping malls were happy to have old-fashioned alternatives.

As soon as I heard the news, I dashed out to the Guild 45^th in the Wallingford neighborhood. Someone had taped a handwritten sign on the wall saying, “What next?” alluding to the lack of information about what’s going to happen to the venerable institution. As I sketched the pink art deco building with curved walls, a woman walked up to the windows to peer inside, and she snapped a photo of a sign saying the theater was closed.

6/7/17 Guild 45th Theatre

The next day I stopped in the University District to sketch the Seven Gables. At the corner of Northeast 50th and Roosevelt Way Northeast, this old building is surrounded by tall trees. (That was fortunate for me, because it meant I didn’t have to draw more than three of those gables.) A red “open” sign was lighted in a window, but that was for the Ristorante Doria that occupies the street-level floor of the building.

A Visual Timeline at 4th and Madison

It wasn't raining (!) and there were actual patches of blue sky among the clouds on Friday morning when the USk Seattle Ad hoc outing took place. It was a bit chilly (59/60°F) out on the 7th floor terrace of the 4th and Madison building. We had a fantastic panoramic view in any direction which included most of the iconic landmarks one associates with the city of Seattle.

Almost everyone succumbed to the easterly view of St. James Cathedral, so tiny compared to the monolithic skyscrapers framing it on either side. As I sketched, a Boeing jet briefly appeared through the gap on its way to SeaTac airport.

I love the way we have buildings from so many eras standing side by side in the downtown core. I sketched the Seattle YMCA (1930), the cathedral (1907) and the Former First United Methodist Church Dome (1910) as well as the Space Needle (1961) and the Darth Vader building (1979). The original 120 ft. dome of St. James Cathedral collapsed in 1916 and was never rebuilt. The present dome of the First Methodist Church is destined to become part of the new SLS Luxury Hotel, slated to open in 2017. Oh, and I snipped the Smith Tower sketch off my business card and added that previously sketched bit since it's my favorite building anyway. It's the oldest skyscraper in the city. You could see it easily by looking past the south side of the terrace.

We had a great turnout for a Friday. I am always impressed by the hidden gems that urban sketchers find to explore in the city. This lovely public garden is certainly one of them. A personal touchstone for me was the joy of sketching in the terrace garden with my granddaughter who is graduating high school this month. It was her first time with USk Seattle but I trust not the last.

A Library and a Walrus

6/9/17 Seattle Public Library

How many icons can a person sketch in one day? When I started out yesterday for the Urban Sketchers Seattle gathering, I didn’t know I would end up sketching several icons, including two on my “must sketch someday” list.

6/9/17 View facing east on Madison Street

The meeting place was the Fourth and Madison Building’s seventh floor terrace – a pleasant outdoor space for nearby workers to bring their bag lunches and for sketchers to catch unusual peek-a-boo views. The one I (and many other sketchers) chose was looking east on Madison Street toward St. James Cathedral at the top of the hill looking very tiny in the steel and glass canyon.

However, that’s not one of the “must sketch” icons I was referring to. For one I went down to the building’s lobby, where a large window faced the Seattle Public Library’s downtown branch. Although I’ve sketched inside this flagship library building several times, I’ve never sketched the whole building, although I’ve wanted to. Designed by Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus, the unusual and striking building has always seemed too intimidating. Yet as I gazed at it yesterday, I had the same feeling I had while sketching in Positano or the Walt Disney Concert Hall in L.A.: The architectural lines are so unconventional and unexpected, who would know if my sketch were wonky? I took it on.

By then I had only five minutes left before the sketchbook throwdown, so I quickly went back up to the seventh floor terrace for the other peek-a-boo view I’d considered: The Space Needle hiding behind the “Darth Vader” (Fourth and Blanchard) Building.

6/9/17 Space Needle and Fourth & Blanchard Building

However, that, too, is not one of the two “must sketch” icons I was referring to. The second one was a walrus on the side of the Arctic Building. One of few old buildings in Seattle with any kind of gargoyles or other cool exterior decorations, it has walruses all the way around, way above eye level. Luckily for me, this one was adjacent to a parking lot, so I could stand next to it instead of on the street, where I would have had to look straight up to sketch. As a bonus, the Smith Tower was right next to it! 

Whew. I think I hit my Seattle icon quota for the year.

6/9/17 Arctic Building walrus and Smith Tower