A Chilly Farewell

12/21/18 Farewell, ugly viaduct!

We’ve all known for years that the viaduct would be demolished in early 2019. I could have chosen any warm fall day to do it, but instead, I waited until it was 39 degrees to make my farewell sketches.

12/21/18 After being chilled to the bone making the
first sketch, I retreated to Starbucks for this window sketch.

We all have a love/hate relationship with the dark, formidable viaduct, but however we might feel about it, it’s coming down in February.

Walking under the viaduct toward the Pier 55 Starbucks where I was meeting Sue and Antonella on this chilly morning, I passed many people in small tents or nothing but sleeping bags; they use that viaduct as their rooftop each night. Feeling my fingertips go numb as I sketched, I wondered where they would go when their “home” disappears in a couple of months.

I think the only other sketch I have of the viaduct is one I made from the ferry terminal walkway three years ago.

By the way, the scope of the top sketch is very ambitious for me, and I was quietly freaking out as I blocked in the composition. But I remembered what I learned in Gabi Campanario’s “Pocket Urban Sketching” workshop a couple of years ago, which helped immensely.

Sue and Antonella braved the cold to sketch with me.

Farewell Viaduct

I think this is the first time I have ever sketched the Seattle Viaduct, and sadly, it is also the last time. Scheduled to be torn down in early 2019, it will be replaced with a shiny new tunnel. I met up with Sketchers Tina and Antonella this morning to commemorate the last weeks of this Seattle icon. I have driven on the viaduct many times, and I know that many Seattlites are taking “last” drives through town on it, documented with photos and video. But this is the view I will keep in my memory.

kirkland daytrip

I had some work stuff that took me to Kirkland last month, and just scanned those pages of my sketchbook recently. After my meeting, I spent the afternoon sketching around downtown, naturally! This was...my second visit to the east side, ever. It was easier to get there on public transit than I expected. 

My favorite spot was the pavilion at Marina Park, a small bay right by downtown. I liked those trees which visually cut out the structure, and the view across Lake Washington is pretty great even when it's raining on and off. It was super windy and quite cold, so these sketches were done quickly. My favorite part of the above drawing are the two simple trees on the far right.

very small (2"?), very fast sketches of a nice moment I chanced upon - teens hanging out on a pier together, undeterred by rain - and the colors of the Heritage Hall building surrounded by yellow autumn leaves.

I sketched this while drinking one of the best bubble teas I've ever had (on this continent at least ;). While a lot of Kirkland is new, this part of downtown feels older and cuter than most of the town.
I was trying out a new watercolor set - Derwent Inktense pigments - which my mom had just sent me for my birthday. Thanks mom! I love them. They're so saturated, you can get very bright colors on the page even though they're dry pigments!

Last one! This is kind of a color/mood study. I'm learning that the hue of your lines really affects the mood of your drawing. I used a Kuretake Zig chisel marker, watercolor pencils, and watercolor for this one. The colors were amazing when the sun peeked out - bouncing off all the bright yellow autumn leaves, which were just past their prime. I miss leaves already :(

a weekend of USK

This was my first visit to Swanson's Nursery! It lived up to the hype. I'm a houseplant enthusiast so I appreciated the variety here, and I ended up buying some stuff....for me and for my friend who is getting married next week. The café was great, love the soft/bright greenhouse light, and of course being surrounded by plants. I would come here to hang out if I lived nearby.

Seattle Urban Sketchers took over the big table!

I sketched the reindeer in the last few minutes before throwdown. A nearby mom turned a special moment into an educational opportunity...I guess? Had to capture it in my drawing.



The Sunday meeting was in a very different space from Swanson's - sterile instead of warm, metal instead of wood. This was 1/4 of a 360˙ view I shared with Tina, Kathleen, and Susan.

I was very attracted to the tall buildings outside the windows so I started my drawing by using them as landmarks, making sure I got all negative spaces in to keep some white areas. Then I used some opaque Nicker poster paint - which I've just started playing with - for the metal window panes. using values for these instead of line made them way less of a pain in the butt to deal with. And just going over it once more in a darker or lighter value gives them dimension!

Finally in pen I added in the library patrons. As I sketched, I realized that most of the people at the tables had quite a lot of backpacks and bags with them. I'm glad there's a space for these folks to go and stay warm and dry during the daytime at least. The library is one of the only places in the city where you can go and use free WiFi, go to the bathroom, etc, and not get chased out or have to buy something.

by the way, the scanners upstairs (also in most Seattle Public Libraries) are good quality, fast, and free! I scan all my sketchbooks and anything larger than 8.5x11" in them, including these drawings!

A 360-Degree View of Seattle Central Library

12/16/18 My 90 degrees of a 360-degree collaborative sketch at the downtown Seattle library.

A couple of weeks ago Roy DeLeon, Gabi Campanario and Dave Morris made a 360-degree collaborative sketch, with each taking 120 degrees of a café view. As soon as I saw Roy’s post in the USk Seattle Facebook group, I wanted to take part in a 360, too! I talked Sue Heston, Kathleen Keckler and Ellie Doughty into doing it with me at the Seattle Central Library, where USk Seattle met today for our last outing of the year.

After exploring the library for a while to find an appropriate view, the four of us settled on the third floor’s “Living Room” space, which has lots of open seating, including an ideal quadrant of chairs for us. We each took a 90-degree view of the large space surrounded by the iconic diamond-gridded windows of the Koolhaas/Prince-Ramus-designed building. Well, surrounded except on the 90 degrees that I took, which was both a blessing and a curse. I remember how daunting those windows were when I attempted them several years ago, so missing them was a blessing. On the other hand, the view I got was mostly a boring concrete wall and a couple of bookshelves that presented a significant perspective challenge. Curses! Whose big idea was this, anyway!

Once I got started, though, the challenge became fun, and lining up the four sketches in sequence at the throwdown made it all the more fun. I’d like to try it again sometime!

Close-up of my panorama (with the library's cool passport stamp).

The assembled 360: Left, Eleanor; right, Tina. . . 

. . . left, Kathleen; right, Sue

90 degrees each!

Happy holidays from USk Seattle!

Joy to the World at Swansons

Holiday cheer and good will filled the aisles at Swansons Nursery as Urban Sketchers entered the premises to sketch seasonal flora and fauna.

Pick a Perfect Tree at Swansons

The morning was chilly and dry, comfortable enough to weave indoors and outdoors.  Exhilarated by the aroma of pine in the air, I followed the scent to a covered area filled with Christmas trees strung from rafters.  Like picking a perfect tree to chop in a forest, I chose to draw one 6-7 footer and ignored all others.  The Olympic Mountain Range emerged in the background and silhouettes of huge evergreens contrasted against the sky.  Perspective progression of  posts in the barn staging area added some depth to the composition.

Poinsettia heaven

The staff at Swansons are masters at staging eye-catching displays. Made cohesive with a color palette of red, green and cream, poinsettias and house plants nestle together on a metal table.  Poinsettia baskets suspended from the ceiling look like living chandeliers. Tiered tables with multiples of same size plants create visual impact, almost saying, take me home! 

String a tree with moody blue

I returned to the Christmas tree pavilion mainly to warm up and find a quiet spot.  Instead I found two children running and  screeching with joy through the maze of trees.  They probably didn’t notice the variety of display configurations. Some trees are strung up, some are leaning against the wall and some are bound. I think they were just experiencing wild holiday spirit among the trees thanks to Swansons policy of family fun.  Waves of cascading blue light cover the trees beyond Swansons Christmas tree barn. Solid blocks of ultramarine blue lights are a trendy, very cool and mysterious look.

After the throw down, I had lunch with a couple of sketchers in the nursery cafe.  I highly recommend the butternut squash soup, a yummy ending to the holiday Urban Sketch at Swansons.

Reindeer Festival @ Swansons Nursery -12/14/2018

I almost went to this holiday outing every year (since joined USk). As soon as I stepped in this Gift shop, I was attracted by its beautiful lighting, X,mas deco, and holiday gifts immediately. So my first sketch filled with holiday atmosphere!

                               

Next.., of course, Joined all curious kids watch Reindeer as part of X,mas spirit. I'd give space to all little ones who enjoy so much, I sketched from distance with constant laughing around me.

Outside the garden, saw a boy company mom shop winter wonders, his curiosity became mom's shopping targets.

New Reindeer But Same Santa

12/14/18 More kids were present than I've represented here! Way more.

Last year’s post about USk Seattle’s annual holiday visit to Swansons Nursery was entitled “Reindeer, Santa and Mobs at Swansons,” and I probably could have used the same this year. Luckily, the weather was all the way up in the high 40s and dry, so sketching at the reindeer pen and out in the plant displays was reasonably comfortable.

Before the crowds got thick, I started with the reindeer. Instead of Blitzen as in previous years, Dasher’s pen mate was Comet (I suppose even reindeer get some time off during the holidays). Every year I have difficulty scaling their antlers accurately – they seem so unbelievably large! I learned that it takes eight months to grow them each year.

12/14/18 Dasher or Comet?

12/14/18 Santa and a bald pink head.

My next stop was Santa (the same one as in previous years). When I arrived, a tiny infant had been placed in Santa’s arms, and for a few minutes while the older brother finished bawling, I had a good view of them. Suddenly the brother apparently gained courage and joined them, and mom sat on the chair’s arm, completely blocking my view. Whew! That was close.

By then I was hungry, so I went to the café for a snack. Chatting with Robin while scarfing down a scone, I hastily sketched the jungle of exotic greenery in the remaining time before the throwdown.

Sketching at Swansons with my USk “family” is a holiday tradition I cherish (we’ve been going every year since 2012).

vendors of pike place market

If you see someone walking through downtown Seattle carrying a bouquet wrapped in white paper, they probably got it from one of the flower vendors at Pike Place Market.

Follow the aromatic scent to the central area of the market to find a hallway lined with mostly Asian-American ladies selling gorgeous, very reasonably priced bouquets, surrounded by white plastic buckets of stems of seasonal sprigs. As they craft the arrangements, they place them into black plastic vases/holders for passerby to purchase. You can request a bouquet made to order on the spot, or even ask for a particular single flower which caught your eye.

The flower ladies’ stands are all family affairs. The reason that the bouquets are so cheap - as low as $5 - is that they also own the farms, which sometimes also grow vegetables and other produce. Also there is a lot of competition! I love that the Pike Place Market bouquets don’t look like the kinds you see at the supermarket; they’re more of a seasonal variety, and way more interesting than the premade bunches at a chain store.

 I captured these hard-working ower vendors in mixed media: watercolor pencils, ink, waterbrush, graphite, and transparent and acrylic markers. Both drawings took about 20 minutes each. 

Nearly every time I come to Pike Place Market, I get myself a greasy brown paper bag of these freshly fried mini doughnuts. But as the market is usually so crowded, I just grab my snack and get out as soon as possible.

As I arrived at the Daily Dozen, everyone was packing up for the evening – I always forget everything closes surprisingly early here (around 5pm) – and the two people running the joint were selling off their remaining stock of mini donuts at a discount as they closed down for the night. Eventually, there was only powdered sugar left, and not for long!

As they closed up, I got to take in some very charming details of their stall I wouldn’t have noticed if I didn’t stay to sketch:

• Top left: a menagerie of figures above the doughnut case - including Captain America, Jesus Christ, and some Star Wars guy on an alien horse.

• Lower right: a row of plastic rats, which the owners acquired at rummage sales, gaze out at the customer. Someone had forgotten their dentures among the rodents!!

• Other fun details: social justice signage (right) and a demon mask tied to a pole (center)

After the Daily Dozen shut down for the evening, I was left in an empty market. I had never noticed many of these super interesting spaces, like these whimsical archways – the dense crowds prevent me from lingering in corridors like this one. Several groups of tourists came up to me and asked if the market was closed, and also where to find the Gum Wall. perhaps one reason that horrifying attraction is a Thing is because it doesn't close at 5pm like the rest of Pike Place Market.