Ravens and the Mouse King

For the fourth year in a row, our Friday group sketched holiday scenes at Swanson's Nursery. Last year there was snow but this year it was just cold. We were also later in the season so the place was mobbed. I had wanted to sketch the Star Wars themed model train village but gave up due to the crowds. Same with the reindeer. In past years there was also a camel but Tina reported he'd been retired.

First, I sketched indoors as I found this charming fireplace scene with owls.


 
I braved the chill to sketch the raven sculptures, which I've often admired but never got around to sketching before.



Only a few of us were left to share sketches as best we could in the crowded cafe.



More photos: https://redharp.smugmug.com/SketchOutings/2017-1222-Swansons-Nursery/

After we dispersed, I went back to the delightful "Nutcracker Lawn".  These are from the Sendak version of Pacific Northwest Ballet's production of The Nutcracker.  It's only a few minutes away from Swanson's. I'd stopped by on my way in the morning and returned in the afternoon to sketch one of the statues. I'd learned about it from King 5's Evening.


Of course, I had to sketch the Mouse King! I added some detail of the interesting house, too.


More photos:  https://redharp.smugmug.com/MKB/2017-1222-Nutcracker-Lawn/

Reindeer, Santa and Mobs at Swansons

12/22/17 Blitzen

A Friday USk tradition since 2012, Swansons Nursery during the holidays is one of our favorite outings. We usually don’t schedule it this late in the season, however, and it was significantly more crowded than usual.

First, I had to fight my way through swarms of kids to get to Blitzen and Dasher, the reindeer who visit the store annually. 

12/22/17 Dasher and Blitzen

Then I had to fight my way through swarms of parents to get to Santa, with lots of Santa’s helpers blocking my view. (Even with my limited view of him, Santa remembered me from the time I sketched him a couple of years ago.) At least I didn’t have to fight to get to Pippin, Alex’s new puppy, who stayed relatively still chewing his leash.

12/22/17 obstructed Santa

12/22/17 Alex's new puppy, Pippin

12/22/17 banana tree

After all that, I had to break for lunch, and then I had my usual 15 minutes left before the throwdown. In Swansons’ crowded café, I had a mostly unobstructed view of the enormous banana tree growing by the koi pond. 

Despite the mobs, Swansons was still a fun way to end the year with Urban Sketchers Seattle!

Kate and Antonella

Sketching a Historical location with UskOahu

Michele Cooper in Hawai’i

Dec16, 2017–My son and I, along with my two granddaughters joined USK Oahu at historic Washington Place from 2:30-4:30  to enjoy its 170 year history.

Over a dozen urban sketchers met on the grounds and former residence of Queen Lili'uokalani as tours were given of the interior. 'Aha Mele Hawaiian musicians and dancers performed on the lanai.

The Greek revival palace was built in 1848. It was the former residence of Queen Lili’uokalani and later became the official residence of the Governor of Hawai’i. It is a National Historic Landmark, designated in 2007. The current governor’s residence was built in 2008 behind the historic residence and is located on the same grounds as Washington Place. 

I began with a sketch of my 8 year old granddaughter, Leila.

A “backstage” tent was set up on the side lawn for performers.

My finished spread includes a group of performers, garden lamp, section of the mansion and side garden landscape. Leila has been going out sketching with me since she was 4 years old.

Leila likes sketching trees and people.

Above is Leila's sketch of the hula chanter with her drum. Her 4 year old sister, Ocean, sketched the lanai roofline and trees. See photo below. 

I took advantage of the opportunity to abandon a hand painted greeting card near the lanai. It vanished within 20 minutes!

Thanks to USK Oahu for making this rare experience possible at Washington Place.
Be sure to check out our sketches on Flickr !
See Urban Sketchers Oahu blog for more about this event.

December chills at Winterfest 2017

Decorations and Winter village

This was my second visit to the Seattle Center, last visited during Diwali festival celebration in October 2017. The 'swoopy' curves at the ceiling attracted me and to get better view of the entire decoration I went on First floor. I captured flowing curvatures and main attraction of Winterfest i.e. winter village and replica of King street station with clock tower. The entire ambiance was cheerful.

Stage performance , Hanging Lighted Snowflake and Ice-Sculpting

Alongwith Winter village display, small kids were performing Gymnastic skills on the stage. It was amazing to see them and crowd cheering those young ones. Later, I went to Fisher pavilion where my daughter was Ice-Skating. Though wanted to sketch there, but it was very crowded. Outside the pavilion Ice-Sculpting activity was going on. It was chilly and windy, still sketched the artist with his assistant while sculpting. On the way back for meet, I saw two musicians playing their instruments inspite of cold. Did a quick sketch in my pocket sketchbook and was able to draw Urban sketcher Tina Koyama.

Musicians and Tina having conversation

Me and my family spent whole day in exploring the area around Seattle Center Armory. I came across a bike which was standing at the Key arena. This was my first time to sketch bicycle. I was thrilled and excited to sketch it. Though it became more windy in late afternoon but didn't wanna miss this opportunity.

First sketch of Bike

Seattle Center Winterfest

12/17/17 Seattle Center Winterfest miniature train and village

Although the Friday sketchers tend to end up in the Armory whenever we meet at the Seattle Center for one event or another, I think it’s been almost exactly five years since the main USk Seattle group has met there for Winterfest.

12/17/17 Shane the caricaturist

The Armory’s primary visual Winterfest attraction is a miniature train and turn-of-the-previous-century village, whose centerpiece is a train station and clock tower that look remarkably similar to King Street Station (above).

I had a great table for sketching the train station scene that I didn’t want to lose as the Armory started filling. I looked behind me and spotted a caricaturist at work, so I simply swiveled my chair around. My intention was to include his client in the sketch, but he finished drawing her just as I had finished drawing him.

Although a little reluctant to give up my warm, cozy spot inside the Armory, I knew it wasn’t raining, so I pulled up my hood and ventured outside. Like that USk outing in 2012, it was bitterly cold and windy, so I spent no more than 15 minutes sketching the top of the Space Needle covered up with colorful tarps and scaffolding for remodeling. (Waiting at the bus stop for my ride home, I spotted the Space Needle from the opposite side, so I sketched it again as an inset. From that distance, I could see more of the construction equipment on top, plus the Christmas-tree-shaped lighting on the needle.)

12/17/17 Space Needle wearing its top-heavy hat

Even in my down coat, I was shivering and ready to retreat indoors again. At the Armory entrance, though, a pair of buskers called Fascinator Jazz Band was performing, and you know I can’t walk by buskers without sketching them. I decided that if these hardy musicians could play in the cold (the bass player kept stopping to rub her hand warmers between songs), I could shiver for another 10 minutes to sketch them. 

Considering that it’s the week before Christmas and probably the busiest weekend for holiday activities, we had a great turnout of sketchers, including Anya from Anchorage and Juliana from Londrina, Brazil! 

12/17/17 Fascinator Jazz Band

Winterfest

Similar to the Gingerbread village, the model train village at Seattle Center's Winterfest is a sketching nemesis. I've never done a sketch of either that I've liked. So today I mostly practiced avoidance.

I was there so early, though, that I felt I really should sketch something while I sat at a table awaiting the arrival of other sketchers. So I did a small sketch of the "King Street Station" clock tower the the model train engineer.



Still wanting to sketch in the holiday theme, I next turned to this tree decoration.



I wandered up to the "Armory Loft" to see the view of the scene from above. This amused me: the Armory logo with it's own ribbon hanger made it look like it belonged with the holiday wreaths.









The throw down.

A Good Day to Draw at Winterfest

The crowd was still small at 10am, when Urban Sketchers Seattle showed up at the Seattle Center Armory to draw the annual Winterfest activities. The big attraction was the holiday village and miniature train display. But I decided it would be much more comfortable to get a coffee and a good seat and draw the people who came and went, meeting, waiting for their kids, and even another sketcher who had a better view of the trains than I.

Caffe Fiore

12/15/17 Caffe Fiore patrons and Kathleen's painting of Elephant Car Wash

I’ve been meaning to get up to Caffe Fiore on Queen Anne Hill to see urban sketcher and painter Kathleen Keckler’s show, “Signs You Live in Seattle.” She has a lovely collection of sketches and acrylic paintings of city landmarks, including several places we’ve sketched together. The show is up the rest of the month.

Although Kathleen has managed to sketch the café’s interior beautifully, I found the seating to be awkward and not particularly conducive to surreptitious sketching. The main seating in the small coffee shop are a few large community tables and a bar along one window. All the table seating was taken, so I sat at the bar and swiveled around to face the room, which made me feel a bit self-conscious, but everyone had their heads buried in laptops, so they didn’t pay me any mind.

12/15/17 Too close for comfort, and yet I dared.

I was sketching a couple of guys across the room when a man sat down right next to me at the bar. Although he was a little too close for comfort, nonetheless I couldn’t resist sketching him. Since I was already facing the room when he took his seat, he must have assumed I was still sketching in that direction. In any case, he was engrossed in his book and never noticed me, either. 

Invisibility: The urban sketcher’s super power.

Kathleen's sketches and paintings are on exhibit until Jan. 1. (This is the guy in
my sketch at the top of the page. I didn't see his man bun until I took this photo!
I wish I'd been able to sketch him from this angle.)

Christmas Trees with the Ad Hoc Sketchers

I thought about titling this post "Christmas tree photobombed by Starbucks". On the last outing to draw the gingerbread houses - which are sponsored by the Sheraton but located in the US Bank building - I got side tracked by the Christmas tree in the lobby. And then the Starbucks kiosk snuck in.

Fifth Friday Anniverary

This is the fifth Anniversary of the Urban Sketcher Seattle's Friday Ad Hoc sketch outings. It might not be the exact date, but it is the same event. It was 5 years ago that just 5 of us gathered to sketch the Gingerbread Village.



It was Nilda, Tina, me, Peggy H. and Carleen that first time. Once we decided to continue, the numbers grew. You might also notice there are no other visitors surrounding the Gingerbread display. In future years we decided it had gotten just too crowded to sketch there.

This year, though, the display moved to a larger area so the Gingerbread constructions could be further apart. We decided to give it another try. There were far more sketchers present, too!

As usual, I was at our meeting location early. In a previous outing, I had noticed this view out the upper story windows. So while I waited, and again at the end while waiting for others to converge back, I sketched that view. 



I walked around all of the displays. The theme this year is " 25 Years of Cheer: A Celebration of Seattle". I found I did not enjoy them as much as the previous years' Star Wars and Harry Potter themes. From previous experience, I decided to choose a smaller section to sketch. This is the "Historic North Seattle" scene designed created by CallisonRTK & Hargis with Chef Lee Baldyga. It depicts an sailor but it was the gull in matching shirt that appealed to me!



Tina pointed out later that one of the member of USk Seattle works at CallisonRTKL! My thought was that made it an even better choice.

The Gingerbread constructions were starting to get crowded so that was a good time to sketch something else. Last time we met in this building I sketched this arch. I wanted to repeat it today but with the Christmas tree. I see my holiday card for next year!





Photos of all the Gingerbread structures:
https://redharp.smugmug.com/SketchOutings/2017-1208-Gingerbread-Village/

A Friday Anniversary at Gingerbread Village

12/8/17 With an emphasis on Seattle's waterfront, this exhibit includes the Big Wheel and an octopus.

Six years ago this month, five urban sketchers wanted to sketch the Sheraton’s annual Gingerbread Village exhibit, but we knew weekends would be mobbed, so we decided to have an ad hoc outing on a Friday. That was the first of what became the bimonthly ad hoc Friday USk meetups, and the group has been growing ever since. To celebrate our anniversary, we met at the event that initially inspired us: Gingerbread Village.

Kathleen sketches the exhibit featuring Ballard.

For this annual fundraiser, Seattle’s major architectural firms team up with local chefs to design elaborate, theme-based dioramas made of cookies and candies (voluntary donations to the event somewhat ironically benefit type 1 diabetes research). Now in its 25^th year, Gingerbread Village moved from the Sheraton to US Bank City Centre – a much better venue. Instead of displaying the exhibits all in one row, the confectionary creations were spread throughout City Centre’s main floor, dispersing the crowds into small clusters instead of a single line, which made the displays easier to see (and sketch).

Although I had a better view, I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed. Unlike previous years that had strong visual themes like Harry Potter, Star Wars (my favorite), Christmas carols, sailing ships, and fairytale castles, this year’s theme was less defined: “25 Years of Cheer: A Celebration of Seattle.” Each exhibit focused on a geographic area of Seattle and included images of the nostalgic past or the imagined future. The most visually fun was a fat sailor riding an orca in an homage to Ballard’s Scandinavian heritage. While colorful and sometimes kinetic, most of the exhibits left me scratching my head as I tried to understand the theme’s interpretation.

I went up to the second floor to sketch this rotating
exhibit of downtown, including the Smith Tower.

Regardless, I enjoy sketching this event not so much for the elaborate sweet creations as for the people of all ages who come to see them. Although I had space to step up close to the exhibits, I decided to hang back as I usually do and focus on the viewers. 

Ummm. . . a Norwegian sailor in Salmon Bay?

A future Seattle waterfront.

Throwdown from a great turnout of Friday sketchers!

Rotating city!