A Saturday in Bremerton

I was itching to get out of the city a couple weekends back & realized that I should OBVIOUSLY go take the ferry somewhere...somehow I haven't done this yet! I chose Bremerton instead of Bainbridge because you get more ferry for your fare, and bc I was interested in Illahee State Park & Reserve for their camping potential (in warmer weather). I rode my bike down to the ferry, and as soon as the boat left I already knew I had made a great decision. The mountains were all out and I felt a great sense of freedom! I sketched some tiny views as the ferry chugged across the Sound, then through the passages around the peninsulas. I underestimated how beautiful it would be out here. 

My first stop in Bremerton was kind of obvious - the USS Turner Joy, retired warship, now floating museum. I didn't want to pay the $$$ admission to go on so I sketched "her" from the pier. The first page of this new sketchbook did some unexpected speckling when I added watercolor, but it kind of works? I used masking fluid to save the white of the masts in the foreground and kept detail to a minimum (focusing only on the shapes and darkest areas), which I find to be a counterintuitive but solid strategy for capturing confusing scenes.

I love biking to explore new areas, but I really underestimated those hills around Bremerton. especially since I've been using the e-powered Jump bikes a lot, I am mentally and physically weaker than I once was (also my bike could use a tune up). I spent all the uphills gasping and fantasizing about how much better it would be if I was riding a moped (soon!) instead of a squeaky old road bike. To partially make up for the physical exertion, the views north of town of the foothills and the Olympic mountains (so much closer!) were pretty stunning. I stopped to catch my breath by the small Bataan Park on the way to Illahee State Park and did a sketch of this steep street.

I will be back to explore more when I have my motorcycle license and it's warm enough to camp! If not sooner; I wish I left more time to bike around the flatter Port Orchard area. To get there, you just step onto a $2 "foot ferry" which is a beautiful historic wooden boat - one of the famous Mosquito Fleet of the PNW- and go across the water. You can even swipe your Orca card to pay the fare. 

Cherries on the Quad

The UW web page for Quad Cherry blossoms reported "The cherry blossoms in the Quad reached peak bloom today". It seems Urban Sketchers Seattle hit the mark for planning a sketch outing for today. We've come to sketch the peak cherry blossoms for some years now.

Our group photo was taken by the Ellen M. Banner, photographer for The Seattle Times. didn't get her name at the time as she was talking to us about the group and our sketches. She put one of the sketchers in her photo essay, here  (it's the third image).   By the end of our session there were quite a few sketchers.



by Ellen M. Banner, photographer for The Seattle Times

My first sketch of man with camera is representative of the dozens of photographers present today. The UW blossoms are predominantly white with a bit of pink in the center. But I wanted to heighten the effect with splattered pink. During this sketch I sat with two charming families, mothers with small daughters. I gave one daughter a piece of paper as she wanted to draw, too.  They were picking up tiny fallen blossoms and I took one to draw in the corner of my sketch. 



My second sketch was done for the USk Flickr group weekly theme: "fire hydrants". This one is in the colors of the University of Washington. It seemed the perfect choice.



I had just a few minutes left and I wanted to include this ornate lamps in my sketch of more trees. 

Nearly Peak Experience at the Quad

3/29/19 UW Quad

Between the weather and peak blooming, timing an Urban Sketchers Seattle sketch outing at the University of Washington Quad is a tricky matter. Today we hit it just right: While the cherry blossoms weren’t quite at 100 percent, they were close enough, and the sunshine on a cool morning was a bonus.

Roy DeLeon invited me and three other sketchers to participate in a 360-degree sketch. The only other time I’ve done that was at the downtown library a few months ago, and it was a lot of fun, so I came armed with my panorama landscape sketchbook. As expected, hundreds of people milled about, enjoying the magical, ethereal blossoms, and some – like the three ladies in the foreground of my sketch – were having a traditional hanami picnic under the clouds of sakura trees.

Here are my fellow 360 sketchers, and below are our circle of sketches (though I see now that I got one in the wrong sequence).

Peter, Helen, Robin and Roy hard at work.

Sketches by Robin and Tina...

... Peter and Helen...

... and Roy.

visions of vashon

This weekend, as y'all were drinking at the brewery, 5 ladies (including our own Swagatika and April!) and I were exploring Vashon & Maury Island on an overnight art retreat across the water. It was my first time on the island. Props to them for organizing such a good getaway, it was super fun and we saw a ton (including orcas in the Puget Sound!!) while also having lots of time to sketch/journal and relax. 

 

Arriving early, we had about 20 minutes waiting on the West Seattle ferry deck before departure. It was so scenic from there, it was difficult to choose a subject! I settled on a small view of the houses along the (private) beach and the long-trunked conifers surrounding them. I noticed a sliver of red peeking out....and realized this modern home was indeed flying the Confederate flag. It seemed really smug to me, waving to us from afar, and put me in a bad mood. I guess we should thank them for putting their racist flag outside so we can know what kind of people they are 🙃

I made several paintings on this trip, but I kinda like the quicker/looser marker sketches I did in my sketchbook more than the more developed watercolors. 

We spent a good long while at Snapdragon in central Vashon, and it had really good vibes. The prices were fair and the portions were extremely generous! 

Lately, I'm finding myself attracted to really blown out scenes; like, when the light is so bright outdoors that everything inside is reduced to near-silhouetted shapes with minimal detail, and the dark areas are very close in value. It's almost hard to look at, but it gives a very specific atmosphere. 

Just before we had to get to the ferry on Sunday, April, Swagatika and I stopped at KVI Beach for a bit, where I was compelled to capture the red and white radio tower. I subdivided divided my page into smaller boxes to fit the super-tall composition as well as to fit the limited time we had there. Looking around from my spot lying in the sand, I captured some vignettes of the scenery, and continued filling in the boxes until we reached the Seattle side of the water.

I recently bought a 48 marker set of Kuretake Zig Calligraphy pens (since apparently they're not sold in singles anywhere any longer...at least I can't find them). Having so many colors is such a luxury. I've been taking a few out at a time, somewhat at random, and making these limited color sketches. I like the simplicity of this system, compared to the infinite possibilities of watercolor. 

Georgetown Posters

I really like sketching Georgetown. Sturdy brick buildings + grunge. Something about contrasts. This past Sunday, a grey-but-not-so-rainy day I met the Seattle Urbansketchers at the Georgetown Elysian Brewery. It was a wonderful space but I chose to venture out.

Color is usually the thing that catches my eye the most and other than the characters on the streets,  the layers and layers of posters on the telephone poles boasted a colorful contrast to the old brick buildings and grey skies.

I aborted my first attempt, something I don't usually do Instead I started over. So the left side page was a messy blotch of smeared watercolor and pencil; the right a more finished sketch. The next day I went back to Georgetown, found a pole with old posters. (I promise I didn't tear up anything posted after December 2018.) Keeping with the poster theme I decided to plaster my sketchbook with poster samples.

I moved on searching for another inviting scene and again the plastered posters caught my eye. Coupled with telephone poles and wires, freeway overpass and more brick buildings, it seemed if not quintessential, at least emblematic Georgetown. When we met up as a group I only had the line work done. I added color later.

Elysian

Urban Sketchers Seattle met at the Elysian Brewery Tap Room in the Georgetown Neighborhood of Seattle. I'd scoped it out a couple months ago.  Besides the taproom, it's close to the very interesting main street in funky Georgetown.  

We had a good sized group of sketchers attend. Was it the beer?  ;)


It required a large table to hold all our sketches.
 


Thanks, again, to Sean for taking the group photos!

Jason, the manager, let us go into part of the production area to sketch the large casks. These three used to hold wine in California but for the past 4 years, they've stored beer.


Bee Creative 100% cotton watercolor sketchbook

Chavoya's Hot Dog cart was outside. I enjoyed a tasty dog and chatted with Rod, the owner. He might be interested in bringing his father, a draftsman, with him to one of our outings! I hope to see them.

The day was warm and dry enough for sketching outside. This is a water tank. 


Stonehenge Aqua watercolor paper in my handmade sketchbook
More photos.

Elysian Taproom, Seattle 3/24/2019

It was a great turnout at today's sketch outing, I met some of new sketches who are all talented with full of enthusiasm. Of course, chatting with old faces like we have seen for decade. Most important, I love beer..
Therefore, at the end..after glass of beer, had super fun Today!

First sketch,..barrels are almost everywhere in various size.  Kate sat on the floor sketched with her favorite drink behind. Okay! get to work before ordering my beer...

 
After 2 of beer testing, I ordered "The noise" Pale Ale (Right one).
It test like dark Chocolate with wheat sweetness (not much Hop)..love it!
Fellow sketcher order the other one, I think is Winter Ale (maybe), its golden color so translucent and float spring-like smell, so attached a logo as to remember this enjoyable sketching day!

Brew and Draw at the Georgetown Elysian

3/24/19 Tanks on Airport Way

While starting a lazy Sunday afternoon with a decaf espresso is more my speed, I’m not opposed to making that drink a Split Shot Espresso Milk Stout instead, and that’s exactly what I did in Georgetown. USk Seattle was in full force (maybe close to 30 sketchers?) at the Elysian Taproom and brewery, which was very accommodating as we took over most of the taproom with sketchbooks and paint.

Before settling down with my brew, I walked across the street to sketch a couple of the brewery’s painted tanks visible from Airport Way. Behind them are Interstate 5’s Corson Street ramps.

Behind the taproom, rows and rows of kegs filled the warehouse (below), and I had to make sure I bit off only a small piece, or all those circles and ellipses would drive me bonkers. Fortunately, by that time I was enjoying my stout, which kept everything in perspective.

Warehouse of kegs

Looking around at all the sketchers, I started to capture a few in front of Elysian’s 20 taps (and Jason serving up the brews), and my intention was to include an inset of my fancy schooner glass. But then I realized I had only 12 minutes left before the throwdown, so it turned into a small value study instead.

Sketchers in the taproom

Throwdown in the taproom

Welcome to first-time member Tim, who
made this delightful sketch of me!

Tim's sketch of me and my fancy schooner that I didn't
have time to sketch.

Hint of Spring at Bellevue's Botanical Garden

A group of ferns and a tree stub on the other side of the Suspension Bridge

Yesterday Scott and I visited Bellevue’s Botanical Garden for the first time. It’s a slightly wild and yet very urban park, with a pretty small Japanese Garden. The Garden was built in the 80's after Cal and Harriet Shorts donated a 7.5 acres of “arboretum” land to the City of Bellevue.

It was a great day to visit the Garden. The plants were full of buds and the air smelled and felt like Spring, even if Spring was not quite there yet. 

The Suspension Bridge at the “Ravine Experience”

We walked around for a while, then we crossed the wobbly suspension bridge that marks the "Ravine experience." I placed my stool in front of the bridge and sketched it as the sun was getting lower at the horizon. It was a beautiful, "suspended" moment. I thought how Nature is still so beautiful and inspiring.

I had with me a sketchbook that I made with Fabriano Artistico Hot Press watercolor paper and it made me think how much easier is to paint on real watercolor paper instead of the sketchbooks I normally use. 

Night Blooming, a sculpture by Taiji Miyasaka and David Drake on the Lost Meadow Trail.

It was a great afternoon. I want to come back later in the season, when all those buds will open up into beautiful flowers and the air will be even warmer and more fragrant.

Kite Hill

3/16/19 Kite Hill at Gas Works Park

I’ve sketched at Gas Works Park probably more often than any other Seattle city park. The massive gas works themselves are almost always my focus; it’s hard to resist those mysterious, steampunkish structures. Today, though, I wanted to focus instead on all the happy locals reveling in the sunshine on Kite Hill. It’s been a long, record-breakingly cold winter, and just being able to take a walk without a down jacket felt like a celebration.

a station without a train

Stepping into Union Station on Friday Morning, a building I have walked past without a thought dozens of times, I had that feeling of "wow! I didn't know this was here!" It was dazzling walking into the white tiled Beaux-Arts space, lined with parlor palms in perfectly spherical planters.

Inside is a generously sized, open public space with immaculate restrooms. As others mentioned, there's no café here, but true free public space in Seattle is so limited I think it's nice to not have an obligation to buy anything. It's a waiting room for nothing. A relic of the old days of the ample rail-based public transit in the city, so much of which is gone/disused/buried in the asphalt now. 

And naturally, Seattle's homeless/mentally ill folks congregate in public spaces like these, for good reason...I'd certainly come here too. While we were sketching, a man entered shouting and ranting, the sounds bouncing off the tiles & the vaulted ceiling, amplifying his unintelligible anger into an echoing roar as everyone hunkered down and tried to ignore it. Eventually he was guided out by a security officer. it reminded me of the outsized impact of a relatively small number of homeless and transient people in Seattle, and the how most of us notice these sad situations, feel bad about it, and move on with our lives in our different spaces. I wondered where the man ended up going after he was escorted out.

On the other side of the space, another man quietly read a newspaper on the pew, surrounded by plastic bags stuffed full of things.

I was trying out the Viviva Color Sheets, which are like swatches of dry watercolor pigments that come bound in a little book. The color from them is like...wow! Quite saturated! I asked the rep who sent these to me about their lightfastness, because they remind me of liquid watercolors (dye-based pigments that look SUPER bright like these, but they fade fast) ...haven't heard back yet.

After the sketching meetup & errands, I went up to my studio in Belltown. But first, I needed to abate my caffeine headache, so I got an americano at nearby Bedlam Coffee - one of those lovely places stuffed full of whimsical, curated junk! I wanted a window seat but they were all taken. Instead my view was of a muttering bearded man sipping one out of several paper cups. He was curious about my drawing but also shy; I don't know what he would have thought if he realized I was drawing him. Two ladies chatted in the sunshine by the window, and next to me I listened in on a painfully chipper corporate interview.

After finally getting work done, I went out for a beer with an artist friend, Sarah. Ah, the simple pleasure of consuming alcohol at an establishment at the end of a work week! Pike Brewing, as we know, is another of these Curated Junk places that you can discover many fun details through sketching. There really is an insane amount of Stuff here. 

One last social sketch: my studio coworkers have a plein air club, and I went out to their meetup on Saturday. We sketched a bit at King Street Station, then walked over to Zeitgeist Coffee for more. Again, those Viviva color sheets are SO much more saturated than I'm used to (see: bright red table). Jackie, left, struggled with the Sketcher's Conundrum: sketching food but also wanting to eat the food, and then getting distracted and forgetting not to eat it. 

Winter sketching

Oddly enough, and in spite of all my grumbling I've filled over two sketchbooks and then some since January 1. They aren't all beautiful or even finished sketches. Lots of exploration, trying out new materials. Just keeping the engine running basically.

This past week, however I've had two sketching sessions that made me think I either deserve a medal or a mental exam. Admittedly, I wasn't in the midst of the polar vortex, but still... it was pretty cold. Here's a couple of examples:

McMenamins Olympic Club, Centralia, WA

Century Theatres, Ruston Point, near Tacoma WA

 You can read more of my recent adventures here. 

One more time at Union Station

We met again at Union Station. At one time, this was a train station but now it is the headquarters for Sound Transit.  

Union Station was constructed between 1910 and 1911 to serve the Union Pacific Railroad and the Milwaukee Road. It was originally named Oregon and Washington Station, after a subsidiary line of the Union Pacific. It was built in the Beaux-Arts Architectural style. From Wiki: After nearly 30 years of sitting idle, the station finally experienced an expansive renovation supported by Nitze-Stagen with financial backing from Paul Allen. The Union Station renovation was the winner of the 2000 National Historic Preservation Award.

By the time for the throw down, a goodly number of sketchers had gathered.


 
Thanks to Sean for the group photo.

On my way in, the train wasn't too crowded so I could sketch.  Two sketches on the light rail train ride into Seattle.


Field Notes Signature Sketchbook

A sketcher reported that there were more sketchers over at King Street station next door.  There seemed to be some confusion about at which station to meet.  So I went over and found a couple there. I also decided to get another sketch for the USk Flickr group's weekly theme, which is "vending machines". This is an AmTrak ticket vending machine. It might also do for next week's theme of "trains and train stations"!


Strathmore Mixed Media 5x8

I had a little time left, so sketched this detail that is repeated all over the upper level.  The "O W" initials refer to the station's original name, Oregon and Washington Station.  We were curious about the meaning of "OW" so I looked it up after I got home. 


Stillman & Birn Beta pocket sketchbook

My main sketch of this location was a small section of wall. It was the Beaux-Arts era lamps that attracted me to this view.


Strathmore Mixed Media 5x8

More photos here.