Frank in the Shadow of the Troll

4/28/18 Fremont Troll

The last time I sketched the Fremont Troll, it was on a scorching summer day last year when the shade of the Aurora Bridge and a soft breeze had kept several urban sketchers comfortable.

Yesterday morning, 12 students in Frank Ching’s workshop sought shelter under the same bridge – this time from rain instead of sun. Under the Troll’s watchful eye (singular), Frank talked about “Locating, Framing and Composing Views” in urban sketching.

By the time I got there, the heavy rain had slowed to a drizzle, but the weather still wasn’t exactly hospitable. After snapping a few photos of Frank and his students, I was going to leave, but then the Troll caught my eyes (plural). Although I’ve sketched him several times, I couldn’t resist another quick one.

A bunch of tourists gawking at the Troll? No -- just Frank and his students.

Chilly sketchers stay dry under the Aurora Bridge.

Frank drops Mel a line.

Frank gives Pam a pointer.

Sketchcrawl at Hale's Ale Brewery

The spring sun shone on quite large group of urban sketchers outside of Hale's Ale Brewery this morning. I was hoping to spend some time outside to sketch the building and surrounding neighborhood, but ended up staying inside for the entire session.

Hale's Brewery interior, sketched from the steps

The brewery was a challenge to sketch due to its complex overlapping shapes and lines. I started my process by focusing on the basic shapes and placing them in the overall scene (ie. the phone booth, the row of storefront windows, the guardrail, the tanks, etc.) and not really worrying too much about perspective. Once I had these basic shapes down, I added some details (ie. pipes, railings, steel ladders, mullions, etc.) and slowly populating the frame with more lines. Lastly I incorporated hatches to create shading for depth.

Hale's Brewery interior, sketched from the entry lobby

Lunch with Frank

After finishing a couple of sketches, I headed into the bar with the intention to sketch some more. There I came across Frank Ching enjoying his beer. I ended up joining him for a quick bite and chat. He shared his sketching tricks and I shared the story of my college time back in Indonesia studying architecture and having bunch of his books on my desk as reference. Who would've thought that I'd be sitting here having lunch with the master himself.

Spring Courtyard of Seattle's Chinese Garden

A little late for posting this view of the Chinese Garden's Spring Courtyard from last Sunday's outing. Arrived a little early but fortunately the gate to the courtyard was open. What a tranquil setting.

Line to Color Workshops for 2015

Two great opportunities to take the Line to Color Workshop this year.  Frank Ching and Gail Wong will be giving their Line to Color Workshop in Orange County the weekend of May 1-3.  Enjoy the warm weather and Beaches along the Pacific Coast Highway.
We will be sketching at Mission San Juan Capistrano and the Laguna Beach area. For more information  click the Line to Color Icon in the header above.

In late August or early mid September we will be doing the workshop in Portland Oregon.
If you are interested in that workshop contact Gail Wong at the following email address gail(at)glwarc(dot) com.  Further information on that workshop to come.

Seattle Center Scenes

Here are a couple of scenes from yesterday's meeting at the Seattle Centerhouse. The first is of the vast interior space and a quality of light and texture that I couldn't quite capture.

This second view of Key Arena I drew because it was so pleasant outside.

USk workshop sponsored by Seattle Art Museum

Thirty five sketchers took to the streets in and near Pike Place Market on Saturday June 28. Gabi Campanario, Frank Ching and Gail Wong lead the group from three different locations focusing on different approaches to urban sketching.

The workshop included a tour of SAM's exhibition on Modernism in the Pacific Northwest: the Mythic and the Mystical. 

 Michelle Cooper: 

Jim Bumgarner: 

David Richardson: 

Frank Ching

 Gabriel Campanario

When the rain turned to hail and got blustery, I retreated to Tully's Coffee at 9th and Broadway and found myself a spot in the corner offering this view of the Rialto Theater. I began by drawing the frame of the window, Tina drawing on my left, the Tully's sign above, and a couple of coffee cups in the foreground. Then I moved to what I saw through the window, starting with the tree trunk and planting area and then moving back to the Rialto.

SBP

There were some beautifully done sketches at the Seattle Bouldering Project. I especially admire those who could capture the bodies as they clambered up the walls of the climbing volumes. I could only suggest their movements because they moved so quickly.

Emerald City Trapeze Arts

Drawing people sitting or standing still is difficult enough. But trying to capture them as they twirl through the air thirty or forty feet above the ground is really challenging. So I stuck to drawing the space of the old factory building and then merely suggesting the students in motion. In this view drawn from the balcony, Frank B. was nice enough to serve as a foreground element to indicate where we were standing, overlooking the tall space.

Another quick view, this time looking up from the ground floor level.

Serial Vision

The converging lines and foreshortened shapes of a perspective drawing give it a dynamic quality. Yet, it remains a static view—a moment in time—as seen from a single point in space. To better convey movement through space, we can use a series of changing perspective views, as English architect and urban designer Gordon Cullen did when he coined the phrase Serial Vision to describe what one might see and experience as one walks through a sequence of spaces.

This is what I intended to depict when the Seattle Urban Sketchers met yesterday at Suzzallo Library on the UW campus. These drawings chronicle how one approaches the library from across Red Square, enters one of its portals, moves through the lobby and up the main staircase, and arrives in the main reading room.

Above are four of the nine sketches I did in two hours and twenty-five minutes.

Olympic Sculpture Park

Here's one of my drawings from last Saturday's adhoc sketching session with the WSU students. I edited the background quite a bit so that I wouldn't lose the focus on the PACCAR Pavilion, framed by the trees on the left and the Wave by Richard Serra on the right.

Seattle Skyline

On a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning at Jack Block Park, it was difficult not to be seduced by the expansive Seattle skyline that stretched from downtown Seattle north to Queen Anne Hill, across Interbay to Magnolia, and finally across the Sound to the tip of West Seattle.
Because I was drawing in a 5" x 8" sketchbook, I decided to use three page spreads to cover the panorama and join them later in Photoshop. The first spread shows the downtown area from the Space Needle on the left to CenturyLink Field and Safeco Field on the right, with the Harbor Island industries in the foreground.

This next view is of the entire panorama after the individual spreads were knitted together. It’s quite small here but the original is about 26 inches wide.

Stimson-Green Mansion

Here are a couple of sketches I did yesterday. The first, done before the group met at 10 am, took about 20 minutes because it was really cold outside. The second was from the landing on the main stairway between the first and second floors, looking both upward and downward. I always enjoy these transitional spaces because of the multiple viewpoints they offer.

Gee How Oak Tin Association

Thanks to Gail for negotiating with the Wing Luke Museum staff, who allowed us enough time to do a few sketches in the historic portion of the museum. This view of the Chinese family association room is very much like Gail's you can see a few posts prior to this one.

JM Cellars

Great site for sketching.

Couldn't quite finish this drawing of the First Church of Christ Scientist on Capitol Hill before the raindrops came. What a surprise to see how this Seattle landmark has been converted into twelve condominium apartments. Check out the floor plans at The Sanctuary's website: liveatsanctuary.com.

Kenmore Air

It was really informative to witness Kenmore Air's operations and to be able to see their floatplanes up close. Having built a lot of model planes when I was younger, I understood the three-dimensional form of the fuselage and wings but it was still difficult to get the proportions right. Nevertheless, machines and especially airplanes are fun to draw.

St. Spiridon Standing Proud

After realizing I was a slacker and did not do my napkin sketch for the SAF ahead of time, I did this view of St. Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral. Because I was using a fountain pen, I tried to be careful about not overdrawing the lines. Fortunately, Olivia suggested I color the onion domes, for which she graciously lent me her blue Micron pen.

Seattle Public Library

Enjoyed everyone's interior views of the Seattle Public Library. Here’s an exterior view of the iconic building by OMA/Koolaus. Normally, I think irregular forms are easier to draw since it is more difficult to see errors in geometry, scale and proportion. But in this case, proportion does matter. Beneath the gridded facets, you might be able to see my initial attempts in roughing out the forms, which were too narrow given the building’s height. I kept increasing the width as the drawing developed. In looking at the drawing now, it seems that it could be wider still. Nevertheless, an interesting challenge.

Bauhaus Coffee

Great coffee and company. Here is a view of the tall but intimate space from where I was sitting along a wall of books. It’s always tempting but difficult to capture a holistic, wide-angle view of an interior that mirrors our experience.