A Media Moment on Beacon Hill

 

8/21/25 Beacon Hill neighborhood

In addition to a beautiful morning, USk Seattle had some special guests at our Beacon Hill outing last Thursday. Seattle Times writer Erik Lacitis and photographer Akash Pamarthy were with us to do a story about Gabi Campanario and how he founded Urban Sketchers! Putting on my investigative journalist’s hat, I surreptitiously followed Gabi and Akash from a half-block away so that I could sketch them. (Watch for the article in an upcoming Pacific NW magazine section!)

Akash Pamarthy photographs Gabi for the Seattle Times

For the rest of the outing, I caught other snippets around the area of the light rail station. Gabi had pointed out one of Seattle’s Last 6000 “majestic” trees (a designation of documented trees with a trunk diameter of 30 inches or greater), so I wanted to capture at least part of its trunk. It was completely dark underneath (thank you, majestic tree, for providing much-needed shade), so it wasn’t easy to see, but I squinted to get as much as I could.

The very modern Beacon Hill Branch Library has a distinctive aircraft sculpture on top of it. I sketched it years ago, so I already knew that the plane rotates, but of course, I forgot until I started sketching it. Then I walked across the street to get the whole front of the library. Its asymmetrical architectural design is fun and challenging to sketch.

As always, I like to capture ordinary street and sidewalk scenes, too, in whatever neighborhood I’m sketching. From the last time I sketched on Beacon Hill, I remembered seeing a huge of flock of pigeons hanging out in one area, but I didn’t know why. This time I saw a guy come out and scatter feed all over the sidewalk for them. I missed sketching that action, but I do like the patterns the birds form on the wire (the mess they make on the sidewalk below, not so much).

Our final exciting moment was when Akash took our group photo! How often do we get a professional throwdown photo?!

Another special guest was Dan (tall guy in back wearing yellow hat), a member of USk Detroit, who was visiting Seattle with his family. At his left in tinted glasses is Seattle Times writer Erik Lacitis, who also sketched. (Photo by Akash Pamarthy)

Whenever I snap throwdown photos, they don't turn out great because everyone is facing the sketchbooks, and sometimes it's hard to get around to the other side. This is how a professional does it!

Sunny and Relaxing on Beacon Hill

 

8/18/24 Street trees, Beacon Hill neighborhood

According to my blog, the last time USk Seattle sketched in the Beacon Hill neighborhood was in 2016 on a cold summer day, where we could find only one coffee shop for a warm-up. We were pleasantly surprised on Sunday by how much the area around the light rail station had changed since then. Many more venues, several with outdoor seating offering good sketching views, and generally more welcoming to sketchers. We also had much better weather this time – sunshine and temps in the mid-70s, especially considering the wild lightning and rainstorm we had the night before.

Before I got started with the neighborhood itself, I pursued my ongoing mission. Since I don’t get to Beacon Hill very often, I had looked in Taha Ebrahimi’s book, Street Trees of Seattle, to see if any trees could be found there. Sure enough, two were documented within easy walking distance of our meetup location, so I head off for them (above). Interestingly, one was a holly, which I don’t typically think of as a street tree. The second was one of several beech trees on Beacon Avenue South, the main arterial and business district.

By the time I finished the trees, I was getting hungry, so I considered the many food venues I had heard about from sketchers who lived in the ‘hood. It was a tough choice, but the ice cream at Milk Drunk won out. I had intended to eat my entrée first, then go back for ice cream, but the line was so long and slow that I decided to order everything at once. That explains why all I had time to sketch was the soft-serve swirl, which I had to eat quickly before it melted and also at the same time as my curly fries before they got cold! Ah, the tough life of a food sketcher.

Lunch at Milk Drunk

Despite the mixed meal, it was so pleasant dining under a huge shade tree that I stayed long after I had finished eating, eavesdropping as I sketched.

Almost reluctant to leave that comfy spot, I head out to look for more neighborhood scenes. The light rail station itself, central to the neighborhood (and a likely reason why food venues have proliferated lately), was an easy pick, as was the top of St. Peter Catholic Church. As for the pigeons, usually when I see a flock, they are overhead on wires. These were all pecking or dozing on the ground – a rare opportunity to sketch some.

To round out an excellent, leisurely day of sketching, my 25-minute light rail ride each way gave me plenty of time to catch fellow commuters. Most impressive was the intrepid shopper who was on the train with his bike – and a package of Costco TP! A belt was wrapped around the middle of the package . . . perhaps he straps it to his back while riding, along with his huge backpack?

USK spring meetups

Sharing a few of my sketches from some recent-ish USk Seattle events!

Centro de la Raza for Cinco de Mayo.

I often pass through this plaza, but it's almost always dead quiet -- so it was nice to experience it crowded & lively for the celebration. I always appreciate the extremely bright colors often used in Mexican crafts, like the ones the guest vendors were selling, especially on such a dark gloomy day like this one. I stood under a tent shelter, mostly out of the wet, and did a quick sketch in mixed media.

Chinese Garden @ South Seattle College

This is such a classic USk Seattle location to me. I enjoy the clean, white walls of the structure, which allow you to appreciate the landscaping in contrast to it. Using white acrylic, I got it to pop off of my gray toned paper.

 Couth Buzzard Books + Espresso in Greenwood

I stumbled onto this cute little bookstore after our share event at the library. It was too cold to draw outside, so I cozied up at a small table and captured the vibe while sipping a cappuccino. It was fun listening to people come in and ask the proprietor very specific book questions.

Soggy Cinco de Mayo

 

5/4/24 Cinco de Mayo celebration at El Centro de la Raza, Beacon Hill neighborhood

 

As I drove to the Cinco de Mayo celebration at El Centro de la Raza, the rain was just starting, and I thought how fortuitous it was that we had chosen an indoor venue for our second International USk Week outing. The weather got the last laugh, though, when I saw that while El Centro is a former school building, the festival was outdoors! Nonetheless, a few other hardcore sketchers showed up for the festivities, which included lots of traditional Mexican music and dance, food and colorful vendor booths.

When I made a pit stop inside the school, I spotted a Dia de los Muertos display for the social activist Roberto Maestas. One of the floral-decorated skull heads called to me, especially since it was a way to sketch without getting wet.

The rest of the sketches are of some vocalists, a vendor booth and a bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (El Centro de la Raza means “the center for people of all races,” so many cultures are honored there). Every sketchbook should have at least one page containing drops of the local DNA.

Mark found a way to stay dry.

I (mostly) didn't.

Beacon Food Forest: Work Party!

On the third Saturday of each month, volunteers from all over the Seattle area gather at the Beacon Hill Food Forest (“BFF”) for a morning blitz of gardening projects and then a community lunch. The Food Forest is an ambitious all-volunteer project steadily transforming a barren, boring grass lawn into two sustainable acres full of edible and medicinal plants, open to everyone. The number of people who attend the work parties make it possible for big projects to be completed in a couple hours.

It feels like a miraculous place, but it's really possible because of an extremely dedicated group of people who organize volunteers, get grants and permits from the city, and generally work their asses off just because they believe in this project. It's difficult to drag myself out of bed and across town on a freezing, rainy Saturday morning, but every single time I'm so glad that I went. Also the lunch is always delicious.

I started this work party by working in the wetlands, pulling out undesirable plants, then pruning a patch of overgrown roses encroaching on a sidewalk.  Once the sky cleared I felt like it was time to sketch. I was a little nervous about sitting around and drawing while the rest of them toiled in the dirt, but the atmosphere of BFF is extremely supportive and they actually loved having an artist around to document the happenings of the day. 

Everything in the BFF has a story attached to it, and next to nothing in the garden is bought directly from a store. e.g., one of the project leaders talked to me about the volunteer who invented these trellises, and how someone else came up with the macramé technique.

After lunch people finish up their projects, or hang out at the gathering space. Peter played guitar and sang by the fire; Tony gave me a sample of his bees' raw honey. The garden space here is a small fraction of the total food forest, terraced on a steep slope. You can see the Seattle skyline!

Continue under the cut for an experimental reportage comic about some of the "real work" I did at the BFF!

Beacon Hill Station

As we met at the Beacon Hill light rail station this morning it was chilly and raining.  Some went straight over to The Station coffee house nearby.  I was intent to sketch another item in my project on  the art at all the stations.  So I went down into the tunnel.  This is "Space Forms" by Dan Corson.



By the time I came up, it was sunny and warmer!  Others were sketching outside. 

We welcomed two new sketchers to the group!  This was Dave's first sketch outing with us.



and Pam's, too. 





More photos are here:  https://redharp.smugmug.com/SketchOutings/2016-0624-Beacon-Hill-Station/

Beacon Hill

6/24/16 Seattle Public Library's Beacon Hill branch

Unlike so many Seattle neighborhoods, Beacon Hill hasn’t changed much since I hung out there as a teenager (I didn’t live there, but many of my friends did). The biggest change was the opening of the Link Light Rail Station in 2009, which now brings a lot more foot traffic to the ‘hood. 

Knowing that, I was a bit surprised this morning that the immediate area around the station didn’t have more coffee shops and cafés for chilly Seattle Urban Sketchers to retreat to when the day starts out too cold for comfort. At least that was my thought after I did a very quick “test sketch” of a station sign post to see if I could stand being outdoors all morning.

I couldn’t, so I crowded my way into The Station coffee shop, which Michele had told us about. With great funky street cred, The Station is tiny but makes a mean Mexican mocha that definitely took the chill off. After sketching Natalie’s bacon-wrapped biscuit and sampling Gloria’s cinnamon roll, I was sufficiently warmed and fortified to head outdoors again. Just outside the door was the shop’s pug, which kept my pen moving.

6/24/16 Link Light Rail Beacon Hill Station

The sun came out, so I gladly took a short walk to check out the ‘hood with Anne and John, who pointed out the Seattle Public Library’s Beacon Hill branch. The modern building is topped by The Dream Ship, a sculpture by Miles Pepper that appears to be part boat, part plane. After the challenge of the constantly moving pug, I thought I’d give myself a break by sketching a nice, stationery object. No sooner did I put pen to paper, however, did I realize that the sculpture is actually kinetic, rotating with the wind!

Afterwards at the Baja Bistro, I started sketching Ching and Marvin (who was sketching me and not as surreptitiously as he thought he was) and would have kept going around the table. Fortunately for the others, my burrito came, so that sketch was done.

6/24/16 pug

6/24/16 Marvin and Ching

World Wide SketchCrawl on Beacon Hill

This is actually three different scenes melted together. The car was a warm up sketch at the bus stop, at Jefferson Park there was a Samoan cricket match going on, and in the background a sketch of the Beacon Hill neighborhood looking north to the Seattle skyline.

Pen and ink with a watercolor wash.

Jefferson Park Jubillee and 36th WW Sketchcrawl

What a gem for Beacon Hill and the City!  This was once the site of two reservoirs a small park with only one of those old merry go round play structures.  Mark Smedley said parents used to check the park for needles and such before letting their kids play.  The community has been working on building this park up since Mayer Norm Rice.  After 9-11 the city decided to lid our reservoirs.  With the activism, the support of the Beacon Hill community and the support of the City of Seattle this beautiful Park was realized.  It boasts of large Cricket Fields, skate board park, children's play area,  water park...the covered picnic shelters and the Mountain Outlook have solar panel roofs..the electricity generated from that powers the fountains of the waterpark,  there is a short zip line for kids, amphi-theatre....the community center and driving range.    What a gift for the community! 

About 9 Seattle Sketchers were on hand to document the opening ceremonies and the park.

Here are the sketches I did of that day.

Jubilee Celebrations Taiko Drummers

Jubilee Celebration With the Women's Samoan Cricket Team and Bon Odori Performers

View from the Mountain Outlook with Solar Panel roof.

Jefferson Park Grand Opening

The Beacon Hill community and the city of Seattle teamed up to create this beautiful new park next to the golf course and over what used to be a huge water reservoir.

Pen and ink with watercolor in a watercolor Moleskine.

36th WW Sketchcrawl Saturday July 14th

Come join us in the celebration of the opening of Jefferson Park.  We will be meeting there to sketch the opening festivities and for the 36th WW sketchcrawl.  Meet at the front of the Community Center at 10:00 am.  There is parking right there along the Blvd and the 36 bus stops there too. We will meet up again  at the Viewpoint at 12:30 to share our sketches with each other.  Loads of activities to sketch!

"Dedication ceremony with Taiko and Bon Odori performances, Mayor Mike McGinn, noon; activities, food, demonstrations, performances reflecting the park's cultural history and the surrounding community, skate park, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. including Friends of Olmsted Parks walking tours, 1 and 3 p.m.; concert with local bands, 4 p.m. Saturday."

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Jefferson Park

3801 Beacon Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98106

For how to get there check out this link http://jeffersonparkjubilee.com/getting-there.html

Schedule and maps http://jeffersonparkjubilee.com/schedulepark-map.html