Convention Center with WSU

10/5/19 View from Convention Center

As has become an annual tradition, Washington State University prof Bob Krikac and his sophomore interior design class joined USk Seattle for a sketch outing this morning. He brings his class from Pullman to Seattle every fall as part of the curriculum, and their week ends with urban sketching. An avid sketcher himself, Bob believes in the importance of drawing from life and encourages his students to keep a sketchbook. For us regular USk Seattle sketchers, it was fun to have lots of young energy at what was probably the largest gathering we’ve had in a long time.

Since we knew the weather could be iffy in October, we chose the Convention Center and Freeway Park for the outing – convenient for both indoor and outdoor options. While I waited for the group to assemble at the fountain, I made my InkTober sketch with the white Uni Posca pen I’ve been trying out with my trusty red Field Notes. 

10/5/19 Convention Center fountain

Once we all got up to the Convention Center’s top floor with its floor-to-ceiling city views, I picked the one with cranes (of course). The overcast sky made it tricky to see values, so it was a good opportunity to pull out my red/blue pencil. (Only three cars on the freeway. . .? Perhaps a post-apocalyptic scene. 😉)

Although I didn’t have time for a sketch at Freeway Park, I was happy to see that many students wandered out to enjoy its unusual nooks, crannies and fountains.

WSU sophomores and USk Seattle had the Convention Center nearly to ourselves!

emphasis zone

In a beautiful city like Seattle, I've surprised myself by being so attracted sketching the highway of all things, but here we are. Mercer Corridor along I-5 is an area designated as one of Seattle's "emphasis zones" – which are "places where an encampment has become a consistent problem". It's also very close to where I live. These paintings contrast the traffic, chaos, and sale of the freeway with the people who live their lives around the structures. It might be hard to see at the small scale here but there are tiny people in the landscapes if you look for them. 

I sketched all three of these from life while standing above I-5, drawing as fast as I could so as to minimize the amount of fumes I breathe.

These + a few more paintings will be on display for one night only - Thursday 7/19/18, 7pm-2am - at Lovecitylove in Capitol Hill!

from Pine St.

under Lakeview Blvd

from Plymouth Pillars Park

A winter day at the Convention Center

Once again, we met at the Convention Center. It seems to be a winter favorite in the winter as it has so many options and keeps us dry and mostly warm. There are several floors with excellent views out the windows on the upper floors.

I'd seen this sculpture before but today I decided it would be my main subject. This large sculpture of the plains Indian is from the Cobb building.  "The facade features large terra-cotta cartouches incorporating a stylized Indian chief’s face in full headdress. These were supposedly inspired by the photography of Edward S. Curtis."



Then I did a small sketch out one of the many windows before meeting up with the others for throw down. 









More photos
https://redharp.smugmug.com/SketchOutings/2018-0126-Convention-Center/

Convention Center

1/26/18 Convention Center lobby

It seems like Urban Sketchers Seattle has met fairly regularly at the Washington State Convention Center. With natural light, people, plants, fantastic views and plenty of public seating all around, it’s a wintertime staple for us. But when I checked my blog, it turns out that the last time I had sketched there was in 2013, so I must have missed an outing or two since then.

I don’t know how long it’s been there, but we all noticed a striking architectural feature that was prominently displayed in the lobby: A Native American chief that once decorated the 1910 Cobb Building at Fourth and University. According to one news article, “The facade features large terra-cotta cartouches incorporating a stylized Indian chief’s face in full headdress. These were supposedly inspired by the photography of Edward S. Curtis.” In 2006 the former medical building was turned into apartments. I couldn’t find information about when or why the cartouches were removed – others are apparently elsewhere in the city – but I enjoyed sketching this one (along with Kate sketching it, too) in the comfort of the lobby.

1/26/18 I-5, Freeway Park and a sliver of sky

Eventually I wandered up to the top level, where floor-to-ceiling windows offer great views of downtown. I picked a view overlooking Interstate 5, Freeway Park (where we met last summer) and lots of buildings, where I could see only a sliver a sky between them. 

As usual, I found myself with only 15 minutes or so before the throwdown, so I looked up and chose a Freeway Park tree through a high window. 

1/26/18 Looking up

From the Convention Center, this summer

I wasn't able to make the last Seattle Sketchcrawl, but I have recently done a sketch from the Convention Center.  This summer, I taught a quick workshop as part of the Northwest Watercolor Society's anniversary celebration activities. 

I walked a pretty large group up to this spot on the top floor, then turned and sketched the view out the window.  It was a super quick demo, but good for explaining the eye level and how the vanishing point works in sketching urban streets. Most of the NWWS folks are studio painters, so urban sketching was new to most of them!

I snapped a quick photo of the sketch before giving it to one of the workshop participants, who also took one of my Good Bones workshops, and traveled all the way from out-of-state. Thank you!

Garden Show

The Northwest Flower and Garden show opened Wednesday morning at 0900.  I took the bus to the Convention Center and was in the doors at 1000.  Five hours later, my feet were tired, I'd seen nearly all of it, done 3 sketches and made 100 photos.


The Steampunk garden was my favorite.



"The Romance of Steampunk" Whitby Landcare & Design, Tehia Whitby;  The kinetic water sculpture is by Douglas Walker. 


I liked the cat tails made into metal wire bird feeders! 

"Birds Do It... Bees Do It"  West Seattle Nursery


This gate and tree trunk are actually made of metal by Home & Garden Art

"Romantic Folly" Pamela Richards Garden Design & Falling Water  Design (Rick Perry)