Bellingham!

This past weekend was Linux Fest NW in Bellingham. We go every year. Himself attends both days. I pick and choose. This year I only attended one panel and it was a disappointment as it wasn't quite what I'd hoped.

Mostly I sketch, wander around town, and go to art, craft and book stores!

After dropping Himself off at the venue on Saturday morning, I drove around the corner to sketch this amazingly purple Victorian. It was pouring rain so I was fortunate the be able to park in a location with the view I wanted. I kept having to run the wipers to see my subject. I tried a new technique... drawing only with pencil.



Soon it was time to join Urban Sketchers Bellingham at noon for their outing to Wander Brewing. The ability to travel and meet up with other USk'ers is one of the many great things about Urban Sketchers. It was a fun outing and a nice group of sketchers.






A couple sketchers had already left by the time we had the throw down and group photo.

On my way to await Himself finishing the day, I drove past this burger joint. I pulled in to do another sketch from the car.  I finished just as he called me to pick him up.  




I brought 4 original sketches to abandon as I'd done them in Bellingham some years ago. I  left them around town in the locations where I'd sketched them.  This last one I left at the venue for Linux Fest where I'd sketched it while waiting for Himself 3 years ago. 



Sunday was wash and repeat. Again, after dropping Himself off, I went back to Home Skillet as it wasn't raining. I didn't go inside today, either, because there was still a line.  It's so wacky and colorful I rather wished I'd asked to just peek inside.  I sat on a stool near the street to sketch Velveeta.   It's my favorite sketch of the weekend. 

Potpourri

Café Javasti, Wedgwood Neighborhood

Suzzallo Library, with Location Drawing Class

Café Racer "Dune Night"

I recently moved to Wedgwood and have begun sketching my new local coffee shops in the mornings.












An in-class demo drawn for my Gage students during class.



















Drawn at the bar of Café Racer during the monthly drawing jam, held the third Tuesday of the month, from 7-11pm. All the drawings are then collected into a zine called Dune.

I have a show of a dozen large watercolors at Phinney's Herkimer, where I sat and drew the view from the corner window.

I'll be giving a book talk and signing at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park on the 7th at 7pm. I went to scope out the space and drew this found still-life in the same room where I'll be chatting. I hope you'll come out for it so I'm not left talking only to this clay frog.

New book cover

Frank in the Shadow of the Troll

4/28/18 Fremont Troll

The last time I sketched the Fremont Troll, it was on a scorching summer day last year when the shade of the Aurora Bridge and a soft breeze had kept several urban sketchers comfortable.

Yesterday morning, 12 students in Frank Ching’s workshop sought shelter under the same bridge – this time from rain instead of sun. Under the Troll’s watchful eye (singular), Frank talked about “Locating, Framing and Composing Views” in urban sketching.

By the time I got there, the heavy rain had slowed to a drizzle, but the weather still wasn’t exactly hospitable. After snapping a few photos of Frank and his students, I was going to leave, but then the Troll caught my eyes (plural). Although I’ve sketched him several times, I couldn’t resist another quick one.

A bunch of tourists gawking at the Troll? No -- just Frank and his students.

Chilly sketchers stay dry under the Aurora Bridge.

Frank drops Mel a line.

Frank gives Pam a pointer.

Seattle Summer Workshop: Sketching with LIght Shadow and Color with Virginia Hein

Los Angeles urban sketcher and Otis College of Art and Design instructor Virginia Hein is offering a 2-day workshop in Seattle July 7 – 8! “What really makes a sketch a success is a strong composition--that's what grabs your eye and holds it!” says Virginia. “In this weekend workshop, we'll practice dynamically composing a sketch--first by exploring ‘Notan,’ the harmony of light and dark, and then with the harmony of color.” The Japanese Garden, Arboretum and Sculpture Park will be the locations for “Sketching with Light, Shadow and Color.”

Workshop is full. If you'd like to be put on the mailing list send an email to: usk.seattle@gmail.com

No Right Angles

4/27/18 Top Pot Doughnuts, West Seattle

After a phenomenal week of sunshine and record-breaking heat yesterday, today dawned cloudy with a chance of rain, which normally would have been disappointing for our sketch outing in West Seattle. I was eager, however, to apply the concepts I learned last week in Andika’s workshop, so I didn’t mind staying indoors at Top Pot Doughnuts.

It was only after I sat down with coffee and an apple fritter and looked around the room that I began to realize something strange: Top Pot has no right angles! The walls, the almost-L-shaped bar, the funky, partially rounded ceiling trim – everything is slightly askew.

Fortified with fat, sugar and caffeine, I attacked the room, grumbling and occasionally muttering, What would Andika do? I had planned to put at least some of my doughnut into the sketch, but it took me a full two hours to do the sketch, so the doughnut didn’t have a chance.

Sketchin’ and Chillin’ with Andika

Andika shows us how he makes confident lines.
(Photo by Jane Wingfield)

“Sketch ‘n’ Chill,” the title of Andika Murandi’s USk Seattle 10x10 workshop, is irresistible: Who doesn’t enjoy sketchin’ and chillin’? And the subtitle is even better: “No-stress interior sketching.” I’ve long admired Andika’s sketches of interior spaces that convey depth and complexity and yet stay small and simple. His workshop would be a good opportunity to learn his approach. I signed up immediately!

For the first half of the workshop, we met in Pioneer Square’s Grand Central Arcade, where Andika led us through practicing the very basics of any kind of drawing: making bold, confident lines instead of jaggy, tentative ones. By moving the whole arm and shoulder, not just the wrist, even when drawing in a small sketchbook, lines will be more controlled, continuous and consistent. 

He urged us to forget about erasing tentative pencil lines; instead, he encouraged going straight in with ink and “embracing the mistake.” To reinforce this attitude, he showed us examples from his own sketchbook where he had made incorrect lines initially and then restated them, but left the old lines in place. When he pointed them out, we could see the “wrong” lines, but they otherwise disappeared into the rest of the composition, which was confidently presented.

Line-drawing practice

Rooms can be simplified into trapezoids, rectangles and triangles.

As an architect, Andika pays attention to perspective in his sketches, yet with a casual, “no stress” approach. Most traditional lessons in perspective drawing begin with illustrations of one-point or two-point perspective in which the point where all those lines meet might be way outside the composition and halfway down the street. Instead of starting with a horizon line and vanishing point, he showed us how interior spaces can be simplified into rectangles and trapezoids (one-point perspective) and triangles and trapezoids (two-point perspective). Once you see those basic shapes in a room and form a composition around them, the rest is just details. Stress-free perspective!

With those lessons and line exercises under our belts, we proceeded to our first sketch within the Arcade’s large interior. I chose the two-point perspective of one of the main doorways somewhat complicated by the stairwell in the center of the room. I initially got the height of the stairwell wall wrong, but I drew the lines confidently and left them boldly in place. 😉

4/21/18 Grand Central Arcade

True to his personal philosophy of relaxing with a beverage and sketchbook in a café, for the second exercise we split up into two groups, each going to a nearby coffee shop. I was in the Caffe Umbria group, and I went to a back corner of the café. I again chose a two-point perspective looking toward the front of the room. (I was planning to “chill” with a mocha as Andika would do, but learning to draw always makes me hungry! I sketch ‘n’ scarfed a grilled veggie sandwich.)

4/21/18 Caffe Umbria

Before taking this workshop, my usual approach would have been to focus first on the two men sitting in front of me, then add the roaster, tables, chairs and other details around the men, and finally fill in the windows and walls in the background. But often what happens is that my scale or placement is off on the tables and chairs, so when I put in the walls and windows behind them, the whole room tends to skew. With Andika’s approach, the first lines I made were the shapes of the trapezoids and triangles of the walls, ceiling and floor. Although I probably didn’t get the perspective perfectly accurate, when I used those lines to guide the placement and scale of the details, they tend to look right.

Similar to Gabi’s “Pocket Urban Sketching” concepts or Sue Heston’s “sky shapes,” both learned in last year’s 10x10 workshops and that I find myself using often, Andika’s simple, straightforward approach is one that I could grasp easily in an hour and then practice immediately for reinforcement. I left the workshop feeling confident that I could use his approach for interior spaces whenever I want to show the whole room – without thinking about where all those perspective lines eventually meet up. Sketch ‘n’ chill, indeed!

Final throwdown

A stress-free group! (Photo by Jane Wingfield)

Determined Enjoyment

Sometimes weather conditions are not the most conducive to enjoyable outdoor sketching. This past Sunday was such a day. I haven't been to a sketch outing since January so I was looking forward to Sunday's sketch outing at Westlake Station. I figured the indoor/outdoor option of the light rail station would offer a safe option, protected from left-over wintery winds. However when I met the cool air funneling up from the light rail station, my assumption dissolved. Thinking street-side might have the possibility of added sunshine, I headed up to the street.

I did a thumbnail or two of the Westin Hotel with the Monorail in the forefront - a classic scene, but the best angle was from the middle of 5th avenue, so I kept scouting. I was determined to enjoy a morning of sketching even if it was through chattering teeth.



When I entered Westlake Center to warm up I noticed City Dog's hot dog stand sitting across the street. I'm a sucker for bright colors in a sketch scene, so I gave it a shot.


Actually two shots, one from a distance and one closer-up.

By the time I was finished I was shivering so I treated myself to a white chocolate mocha before meeting up with the group again. Sometimes enjoyment of Seattle's spring weather only comes through determination . . . and a little coffee.

Later I popped in to Seattle Art Museum. While listening to the docent tell the story of a remarkable show, "Figuring History", I sketched the visitors.

Westlake challenges

Urban Sketches Seattle met at Westlake Station. It's in what's known as the "bus tunnel" under downtown Seattle. I think it's the largest of the tunnel stations and is under a major shopping area.

It sheltered us from a day of frequent drizzle. At least 3 sketchers left early and aren't in the final group photo:



I struggled with my sketches today. I tried a larger format on a hot press 8x10 Fluid 100 paper. Hated it and thus unhappy with the sketch, too.

I did one sketch I liked on the good ole' Legion Stonehenge Aqua. It's a sculptural light fixture that's all along the station.


A few more photos here. 

Westlake Station and the Monorail

4/15/18 Westlake Station platform level

Westlake Station, in the middle of downtown Seattle’s retail corridor, is also the hub of the city’s public transportation system. You can catch buses and light rail trains from this station. You can walk over to Westlake Center and hop on the Monorail. Or you can just stay and shop.

Despite all that is going on there, it took me a long time to find a composition I wanted to sketch. Maybe I was just feeling picky, but everything inside the station seemed too dark, too plain, too fancy or just too difficult. I started questioning why we picked this location for a USk Seattle outing! Finally I leaned over every railing that looked down on the platform level to find a view where two women were waiting for the train.

4/15/18 Fifth and Pine

After wandering around the station a bit longer, uninspired, I zipped up my jacket (thankfully I wore my down) and went out to the street. Lending light but not much warmth, the sun appeared occasionally. On the corner of Fifth and Pine, I found a street scene I wanted to capture: The Monorail and the round twin towers of the Westin Hotel (plus a lot of scaffolding that seems to be marring much of the view in this area). With all the buildings that have been popping up (as well as torn down) over the past decade and especially the last few years, at least those two icons haven’t changed much since I was a kid.

Jane’s Workshop Captures People at the MarketFront

4/14/18 Kay focuses on people, not the pig, in Jane's workshop.

On a drizzly morning mobbed with the usual Saturday crowds, the Pike Place Market’s MarketFront sheltered Jane Wingfield’s 10x10 USk workshop students as they sketched people “inside-out.” Eavesdropping on Jane’s lessons and demos as I snapped photos and sketched her students, I found myself almost unconsciously following her principles: Focusing on essential lines of action and drawing in a fluid manner to capture gestures and movements.

4/14/18 Jane and her students hard at work.

An interesting and useful exercise Jane used was to hold a pose (see photos below) for several seconds as students sketched her. When she no longer held the pose, they were to continue finishing the drawing from memory – an essential skill to develop when sketching anything that moves constantly (I try to do this frequently with people as well as animals). She told me later that she gives her students this exercise because most people in public places like the Market are not making a wide variety of poses other than milling about or standing.

4/14/18 Queued up for piroshky

Stopping for a quick bite at Michou Deli, I grabbed a stool at the windows looking directly out onto the sidewalk, where a long line of people waited their turn at Piroshky, Piroshky. Queuing people usually aren’t very active, but I still tried to capture their individuality by focusing on their posture. If you observe closely, there’s a line of action (or inaction) even when people are doing nothing but standing.

Jane holds a pose for a few seconds so that her students can keep it in memory and continue drawing after the pose is gone.

Another pose Jane holds for a few seconds for her students to capture from sight and memory.

Jane offers feedback to Kay.

It's raining, but Jane's students stay dry under the shelter of the Pike Place Market's MarketFront, which is surrounded by natural light.

Roastery’s Complexity Still Challenges

4/13/18 First Covenant Church

When we planned our sketch outing at the Starbucks Roastery and Tasting Room, it was impossible to know if the weather would allow us to sketch outdoors, too. Our dry-weather contingency plan was Plymouth Pillars Park and the First Covenant Church, both within a block of the Roastery.

4/13/18 One of the Roastery's several tasting bars

Rain was in the forecast, and it was already spitting when I got off the bus. Since I had arrived a little early, I ducked under an overhang across the street from the church and grabbed a quick sketch of that beautiful golden cupola before the rain got worse. And worsen it did, so I gave up my plan of grabbing the pillars, too.

I spent the rest of the morning inside the Roastery enjoying my Costa Rican pour-over and marveling as I always do at all there is to see there. As many times as USk Seattle has visited the Roastery (most recently just about a year ago), I haven’t yet tired of the complex, overwhelming interior of warm copper colors, snaking pipes and tubes and people everywhere.

4/13/18 Interesting lines, shapes and contrasts all around

Our turnout today was triple what it was a year ago at the same location!

Lower & Upper Antelope Canyons

View of the mountains from I15 North route towards Page

This Spring break we visited Page, Arizona. The drive from Las Vegas to Page was 4 hours 30 minutes. It was amazing to see the change of terrain, vegetation and weather. Whenever I was on passenger seat I sketched most of the roads. The roads were with less vehicles and as far as the vision goes one could see barren land, blue sky and mountains in background. Curvy, bumpy and straight roads. The bright sunshine was throughout with us which I literally enjoyed.

While seating on passenger seat, I sketched these roads. These curvy roads making their way through red rocks.

St.George, in backdrop was green mountains and in front red rocks rocked!

Antelope Canyon lies on the Navajo land east of Page and the only way to see them is by taking a guided tour. Antelope Canyon is a breathtaking destination. Two different slot canyons make up Antelope Canyon and both offer very different experiences.

For Lower Antelope we opted Ken's Tours and time slot was 4:00-5:00 pm, 60 minutes tour. Pre-booking of these tours is a must! A group of 8-10 people is allotted to each guide. Our guide Christen escorted us to Lower Antelope. It was very windy and sandy. No backpacks, purses, sling bags are allowed inside the canyons. Only cameras, cell phones and things that fit into your pockets and in mine, I carried Field Notes, white gel pen, Pentel paint brush pen and pigment pens. Field Notes are very handy and I thank Tina for making it available for me. Lower Antelope is famous for its ladders. To get there, you have to descend through the steep ladders. The space inside the canyons is very narrow and all the time sand particles are falling from the upper surface. It was thrilling experience to climb down those ladders. 

Industrial Park which is visible at a distance from Lower & Upper Antelope 

Sketching inside these canyons was wonderful. These are very quick sketches as we have to stick to our guides and follow them. To save my time on coloring I chose Field notes(Red) to give sandstone effect and used white gel pen for light. Though all sketches might look similar but the feel through these curvatures was stunning! I was drawn by the unique topography and sweeping red curves. Its beautiful to see the sunbeams shinning in through the canyons and I felt connected with Nature. Lower Antelope is a one way hike and comparatively less crowded.

Upper terrain(contours) of Lower Antelope Canyon

The curves are formed by water and wind rushing through the middle of Canyon. Lower Antelope also referred as 'The Corkscrew".

The beautiful red curves wanna be a part of today's world.

Through our imagination, these curves resemble a 'Smiling Shark'

from Finding Nemo and many more such fictions.

The black dots are Iron oxide deposits.

             

Next day at 10:00 am was the time slot for Upper Antelope Canyon. It was 90 minutes tour with Adventurous Antelope Canyon Photo Tours. The military truck took us to the entrance of Upper Antelope Canyon. The ride was adventurous, lots of sand and dust in the air. Gib our tour guide narrated entire history of canyons and helped us taking photographs.
The sketching experience inside these canyons was different as it was flat ground and more crowd. Upper Antelope Canyon is a mix of warm colors - reds, oranges, yellows and browns. The entrance and exit is same here and hoards of people can be seen. The beam of light through the slots is worth seeing.

The Roller coaster ride of Military truck till the entrance of Upper Antelope.

Sandy, dusty and hot weather.

Layers of rocks and vegetation is still making its way.

       

It was the best time to visit those light beams. The light beams are the biggest perk of visiting Upper Antelope Canyon. It was completely different and incredible sketching experience! and Yeah! another tick on my bucket-list!!

It feels like a 'Glowing candle'!

                          

  Sun light passing through cliffs!

              It was almost noon and perfect timing to see the beam of light.

           All photographers were in their positions to capture those sun rays.

     Truly magical!!