Rip Visits Lake Union Park

7/30/21 South Lake Union skyline from Lake Union Park

I had another Rip Van Winkle moment, this time at Lake Union Park, which I had last visited nearly two years ago. So many new buildings had popped up or been completed since then that it was disorienting. Thankfully, the Space Needle was still visible, but I wondered how much longer that would be true. Sketching with USk Seattle, I deliberately chose this view with new buildings obscuring it from this angle.

Unfortunately, I had to leave the sketch outing early to get to a class, so in the remaining time, I filled a couple of pages with quick gestures of sailboats. I’ve sketched boats on the lake before, but only as part of a larger scene. My goal with these was to simply capture their movement and varying angles as they went by. What fun!

USk at SLU

It was a scorcher as it eventually got to 93 degrees, which is too hot for us here in PNW.  We started in the morning with a cool breeze off the lake.  Urban Sketchers Seattle met at South Lake Union Park today.  

I stayed in the shade of the large MOHAI* building. I always like to sketch a view of the space needle.  If there's a crane in the frame, all the better.  Still so many cranes in SLU. 

Not wanting to walk around much in the increasing heat and unrelenting sun, I spotted this worker painting "Innovation". 

We had a goodly number of people attending. Tina left early but I think everyone else is in the photo. 

* MOHAI = Museum of History and Industry

Farewell, Reckless

7/22/21 Reckless Video in the Maple Leaf neighborhood

Greg and I have been renting movies from Reckless Video since the days of VHS more than 30 years ago. One night during those early years, the building where Reckless was a tenant burned to the ground (insurance arson was rumored). Not too long afterwards, Reckless rose like a phoenix across the street, and we continued to rent movies there throughout the DVD and BluRay eras.

A couple of years ago, owner Mike Kelley, who opened the store when he was 31, let his loyal customers know that he was operating in the red. Over the years, it had become increasingly difficult to compete with streaming services, and most video stores had closed years ago. Unless he had a turnaround, his shop would be going the way of the Beta format. Saddened and alarmed by this news, I sketched the shop, Seattle’s last family-owned video rental store. At the time, he had signs up that said, “Burn Netflix” and “The Internet is not a neighborhood.”

We didn’t think Reckless would make it through the pandemic, but it somehow managed to keep its doors open – until now. Mike announced in May that the store would be closing for good. In his farewell message to customers on Facebook, he wrote:

Reckless is where I met my wonderful wife Kathy and we started a home and a family for our boy Joe. The video industry held unprecedented excitement for the first 20 years. The annual conventions in Vegas (aka world’s best party) are where Kathy and I met stars like Leonard Nimoy, Mary Tyler Moore, Martin Sheen, John Voight, Dennis Miller, Jeff Goldblum, Ice T, Nina Hartley, and the Fourth Ghostbuster!

In addition to Reckless, Mike’s family owns the Maple Leaf Ace Hardware store next door. He donates all the ice cream bars for the neighborhood Ice Cream Social every summer and contributes in many other ways. He’s the kind of business owner who helps a neighborhood feel like a community.

Last month Reckless rented its last video (we still had a couple of punches left on our pass, so we sadly made our last rentals). It’s now open till the end of July to sell off its inventory of discs.

I decided to make one more sketch of Reckless before it closed, this time to give to Mike. That same day, we walked over to Reckless together and perused the shelves for the last time. We bought a stack of movies we haven’t seen, but mostly I wanted them as mementoes of Reckless.

Shown below are the sketch from 2019 and the first one I made in 2014.

5/5/19

10/1/14

Back Out Again

It was wonderful to join a large group of sketchers for the 12th Anniversary of Seattle Urban Sketchers!

I choose to sketch a couple of the older shed buildings in one of the working areas of the terminal.  The Seattle Ship Supply Co. is no longer open for business since 2018.  The building was built in 1914 and is made from old-growth heavy timbers for its structural frame.  I painted it a few months back, but wanted to come back in the morning time to get the sunshine on the east side of the building.

 The other sketch was of some older shed buildings almost under the Ballard Bridge at the Fishing Vessel Owners Marine Ways, Inc. boatyard.  I was attracted to the yellow-colors and wanted the "Sacajawea" in the foreground of the sketch.  Looking forward to the next outing.

The Four and the Fifty

 As Tina explains below, today was Urban Sketchers Seattle's 12th Anniversary.  

From that first outing, 12 years ago: 

Today's group photo, courtesy of Stephanie Bower.  As Tina noted, about 50 people here represents what is likely our largest gathering ever!

 

 These four artists were at that first outing and have continued to participate over the ensuing dozen years.  Unfortunately, our founder, Gabi Campanario, was unable to join us today.  

 Frank Ching, Gail Wong, Frances Buckmaster, Mark Ryan

Oh, right.  I did do a sketch today.  Many people picked the Vernon as their subject and all of them are different. 

Twelve Years and 50 Strong

7/18/21 Fishermen's Terminal

On July 19, 2009, Gabi Campanario invited anyone who wanted to sketch to join him at Fishermen’s Terminal. Thirteen showed up for that first outing of Urban Sketchers Seattle. In the ensuing 12 years, USk Seattle has met at least monthly (except for 14 months for that pesky COVID) and as often as weekly during the summer. Today we had a record-breaking turnout at Fishermen’s Terminal to celebrate 12 years of sketching together. Fifty were counted at the throwdown!

Although I wasn’t at that first outing (it would still be three more years before I attended my first), I’ve sketched at the terminal at least a couple of other times with USk Seattle, including the group’s seventh anniversary celebration. As I sketched the bright yellow crane, I remembered that I had sketched it at the last celebration, too (apparently my eye goes to cranes before ships), from a different angle. Last time, Frank appeared in my sketch; this time, it’s Suzanne and Stephanie, as well as the fishing vessel Vernon.

Trying to screw up the gumption to take on all the gazillions of boats, I wandered around a while just enjoying the sunshine. That’s when I spotted Sue sitting at the end of a pier and decided I’d leave the boats for another time.

Sunny and with temps in the low 70s, it felt like heaven to be sketching with my tribe. Happy anniversary, USk Seattle! I’ll be there for many more to come.

Sue sittin' on a dock

We're both back

We both missed last year, so this is the 16th year that Renny Doyle of Detailing Success has brought a crew of professional detailers to clean and polish the Museum of Flight's aircraft, particularly Air Force One. It's a smaller crew this year but no less dedicated as they are all volunteers, taking time away from home and business to honor the presidential aircraft.

I was pleased that several of the crew stopped by to say hello as they either remembered me from previous years or wanted to see what I was doing. I did remember them, too.

One of the crew called this "Bee Hive Day". I forgot who said it to me and also forgot to ask what it meant. Others didn't recognize the term. So my guess is that they are swarming Air Force One as so many of them were working on it at the same time.

Now this is dedication...making oneself a pretzel in order to polish the inside of the engine! I added her in to my sketch. 

 

PDX Union Station

 

A simple marker + watercolor sketch of Union Station in Portland, that time when I rushed to the station in an overpriced Lyft, only to discover the train was 90 minutes behind schedule. Well, like all delays it was a great excuse to sketch. I tried out some new calligraphy markers I got from Cargo (my fav store in PDX) and eavesdropped on some great conversations in the building's smoking area: folks in town from afar, crossing paths on long journeys.

Colman Beach

 

I've found it's only a 15 minute, not-too-steep bike ride from my home to a few beaches on Lake Washington. I feel super lucky to be so close to an accessible and super beautiful waterfront for swimming and relaxing. Colman Park has a wonderful willow tree on whose branches I enjoy throwing up my hammock over the water. I did this sketch with markers + water from that spot, watching the Canadian Geese come out of the water and act menacing to the other parkgoers.

Dr. José Rizal Park

7/2/21 Downtown Seattle from Jose Rizal Park

Dr. José P. Rizal, a Filipino patriot who led political reform for the colony under Spain, was executed by the Spanish colonial government at the age of 35. Honored by the Filipino community as a national hero, he is the namesake for a small park on Beacon Hill. Other than his name, I didn’t know anything about Dr. Rizal, but visiting the park with USk Seattle gave me an opportunity to learn a bit about him.

Bust of Dr. Rizal

The park has a sweeping view of the southern end of downtown, which I tried to capture under a thickly overcast sky. It was a bit chilly this morning, but after our recent “heat dome,” no one dared complain! It was a perfectly fine temperature to be sketching!

The centerpiece of the park is a bronze bust of Dr. Rizal, sculpted by Anastacio Caedo, that was presented to the city by the Filipino-American community in 1989. As I sketched, I thought it was unusual that the bust had been made when Dr. Rizal was a young man; most monuments depict much older people. Then I saw from the dates on the placard (1861 – 1896) that he was very young when he died a “martyr,” which made me want to learn more about his life. I always learn something from urban sketching.

Pac Med

 Dr. Jose Rizal Park has an amazing view of south Downtown and Elliott Bay. We met there this morning. While it is a good view, the Art Deco Pac Med building was across the street and I've always wanted to sketch it.

Pacific Tower is Seattle College’s site health education programs. For 10 years it housed the Amazon empire, but they outgrew it. Built in 1932 as a US Public Health Service Marine Hospital. More information.