Hardy at Hing Hay Park

 

3/25/23 Hing Hay Park and King Street Station

I know I say this after nearly every outing, but USk Seattle is made of hardy stuff! The temperature was 35 F on cloudy Saturday morning at the International District’s Hing Hay Park, yet more than 30 turned out for it. By the throwdown, we were rewarded with full sunshine.

Although I’ve sketched the distinctive, modern Gateway many times, it’s hard to resist the bright red sculpture at the park’s entrance. This time, I walked (backward, as sketchers will do) up the street a ways so that I could put the iconic King Street Station tower behind it (at left).

That small sketch didn’t take too long, but after chatting a while with friends, I was thoroughly chilled. Across the street, I looked for a café with windows facing the park, and Go Poke fit the bill. Although I’ve had better poke, I can’t complain: A long row of window seats gave me a view of a park shelter with traditional Chinese tiled rooftops (below).

Hing Hay Park shelter from Go Poke

3/25/23 Light rail riders

Violinist Vicki Ault

On my light rail rides to and from the International District, I sketched a few fellow riders. The best light rail sketch, though, was the surprise when I got off: A violinist and a pianist were performing at Roosevelt Station. I thought they were buskers, but their sign said they were with Bach in the Subways, which I learned is a worldwide program from March 21 – 31. The violinist I sketched was Vicki Ault (with Karin McCullough, pianist). How lucky Seattle is to take part in the delightful program – and serendipitous that I happened to be there at the right time.

Hardy as ever!

pre-social distance

I keep flipping through my sketchbook of the last couple weeks, feeling nostalgia for my carefree, out&about pre-coronavirus lifestyle. it's going to be an important document for my future self, and my present self to record this moment. This sketch of the arch was the final time I went out, to Fort St George in the I.D, which had a nice view of Hing Hay Park and a miserable cold & rainy day with very little foot traffic.

a couple weeks ago, I was drawing at the Athenian's happy hour with friends to celebrate the purchase of T's new live-aboard sailboat. it was just the beginning of the gradual shut down and social distancing. I remember we went to a live punk music thing at another bar later that night and the band had cancelled because of the virus... "that's not very punk of them" we thought.

By the way, the gray ink in these sketches is Diamine Earl Gray, which does lovely things when water is applied over top of it – it softens & separates into pink & blue splotches at random.

An uneasy composition at the Square Knot in Georgetown, one of my favorite breakfast spots. Things were still fairly normal back then. A week and a half later, I drove past this place and it's totally shut down, like 90% of all the other restaurants in the city.

I feel certain that soon even leisurely walks are going to be restricted, so I'm trying my best to enjoy them while I can, especially when the weather is so nice. I met a fellow freelancer friend yesterday in the neighborhood between our home bases because we were both getting extremely restless working from home. We spent some time sketching in the grass 6 feet apart, naturally. 

The person who runs (?) and lives next to the Konko church came out with her tiny son and looked at our drawings. She was really touched that we "found the building interesting" and that interaction was one of the highlights of my day.

Lunar NY Festival

Happy Year of the Pig! Urban Sketchers met at Hing Hay park in the International District to document the belated Lunar New Year celebration after it was postponed due to snowpocalypse. I'm so glad I went to this, it was a great time, and I ate so much. But first, I sketched this view of three landmarks you can see from the park: the archway, the gate, and King Street Station. This was pretty ambitious and I could have planned the composition better but it was fun! My favorite area is honestly the simple little spire from the train station. It was convenient to keep an eye on the time by looking at its clock.

I was also pretty psyched with this found work surface, which allowed me a great view and relative comfort while working on this fairly long sketch. The ubiquitous No Parking sign stands at hip-height for me and has a gap at the top just wide enough to balance a drawing board (actually it's a 12x15" shipping envelope with a piece of cardboard inside, works great!) on top of, and just narrow enough to keep my watercolor set stable. And the top of the triangle is a perfect hook for keeping my backpack off the ground! What more could you ask for?

After finishing the top sketch, which took about 1 hour 15 minutes, I rushed away to try to get another drawing in quickly before throwdown time. That arch is striking from any angle! The shape is very clean and clear, the color pops, and you can add as much/as little detail as you want and it still is recognizable. I used another of my new fountain pens, not realizing the ink was not totally waterproof. Blue and brown is always a good combo in watercolor...but overall this one kind of got away from me!


The organizers had put together a $3 special food menu with dozens of restaurants in the ID participating. You got a stamp for each dish you purchased, and if you got 5 stamps you could enter into a raffle for free tickets to Hong Kong. My bf and I both filled one out and stuffed the slip into a very full box before we left. 🤞🤞 I love that they made it so easy to sample all the great local restaurants, and I wish more neighborhoods had such accessible and fun festivals.

Color and Sunshine for Belated Lunar New Year

3/2/19 Gateway sculpture at Hing Hay Park

3/2/19 King Street

Postponed due to last month’s snowstorm, Lunar New Year was as festive and colorful as ever in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District today. Despite temps in the mid-30s, the sunshine helped USk Seattle members stay warm in Hing Hay Park, where the bright red Gateway sculpture was a popular focal point for sketchers.

When the group met at the celebration two years ago, the street closures must have been different, because several of us were able to sketch from the middle of King Street with an unobstructed view of King Street Station and Chinatown Gate. This year, most of the merchant and food booths took up that space. I was determined, though, to squeeze all three neighborhood icons into this sketch at right: the station, the yellow gate and the red Gateway at far right.

The lion dance, of course, was the highlight of the festival, and I tried to capture as much as I could of the blur of red and yellow through the throngs.

3/2/19 lion dancer

As usual, I had a few minutes to kill before the throwdown, so I caught a few people snacking, watching the festivities or just hanging out in Hing Hay Park.

3/2/19 people at Hing Hay Park

Throwdown, including curious passers-by.

ID with WSU

Eh? Urban Sketchers Seattle joined design students from Washington State University in Hing Hay Park in the International District yesterday. There were more of them then there were of us. At the throw down, it was interesting and fun to see how they interpreted the area in their sketches.



I didn't think about it when I asked him, but the young man who took our photo was wearing a UW shirt. He suggested we shout "Go DAWGS!" but the students replied with "Go COUGS!".



 I've sketched the Chinatown Gate before but from the other side. In recent visits to the area I noticed this view and immediately knew I wanted to sketch it. That's the clock tower from King Street Amtrak Station in the background.

Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook. TWSBI Go pen; Platinum Carbon Black Ink; Daniel Smith watercolors

As we were walking to the meeting spot from the ID light rail station, I noticed this view with the Smith Tower in the background. I've now sketched the Smith Tower twice in two straight days!


Strathmore Series 500 Mixed Media paper. TWSBI Go pen; Platinum Carbon Black Ink; Daniel Smith watercolors

Colorful Hing Hay Park

9/29/18 Chinatown Gate and King Street Station

This morning USk Seattle met in Chinatown/International District with Washington State University interior design students and their teachers, who were in Seattle for job shadowing and to research local resources. 

Over lunch afterwards, instructor Bob Krikac told me that learning to draw by hand is an important part of the curriculum because he believes clients are more receptive to early design concepts when they see them hand-drafted. As someone who obviously values old-school sketching on paper, I was pleased to hear that there’s still a place for that in contemporary design, where so much of the work is done on computers.

9/29/18 Gateway in Hing Hay Park

I’ve been using a lot of graphite lately, which I love for its expressive, tonal aspects and because it is helping me to see and understand values better. But the heck if I was going to use graphite in the colorful ID and Hing Hay Park! First up was a sketch of the historic Chinatown Gate and the equally historic King Street Station peeking behind it. I sketched a similar view last year during the Lunar New Year celebration when it was mobbed with celebrants. By comparison, it was relatively quiet in the ID today.

Several months ago, I sketched a larger view of the dramatic Gateway in Hing Hay Park. This time I got up close, where a guy was eating lunch next to the bright red metal sculpture.

It was a fun morning sketching with the students and USk Seattle on what might be the last day of our streak of beautiful fall weather.

Sunshine at Hing Hay Park with Gabi

5/5/18 Hing Hay Park's new gateway

Unlike last week at the rainy Troll, the site of today’s 10x10 USk workshop was sunny and bright: Hing Hay Park in the International District. Gabi Campanario led his 12 students through a series of exercises that focused on “Pocket Urban Sketching”: keeping it simple with a small-format sketchbook and putting a large scene onto a small page.

5/5/18 Gabi's watercolor demo

With colorful subject matter like the geometric red gateway, Grand Pavilion and even small kiosks designed with a Chinese theme, Hing Hay Park gave everyone plenty to sketch. A community gathering place, Hing Hay was full of busy people all morning – a tai chi class, a group filming a performance, a lively ping pong game – so Gabi’s students fit right in. Lots of curious passers-by stopped to peek over shoulders and comment on the work in multiple languages.

In addition to documenting the workshop’s activities with photos and sketches, I was also Gabi’s teaching assistant. During one of his demos, though, I managed to sneak away to sketch the spectacular new gateway at the park’s entrance. Installed in February in time for Lunar New Year, the gateway marked the completion of the park’s expansion project. I’d walked past the park several times since its installation but hadn’t had the chance to sketch it until now. The striking, modern sculpture is in sharp contrast to the traditional Asian motifs and organic trees.

5/5/18 Gabi gives tips on measuring proportions accurately.

Throwdown critique

Practicing measuring

Gabi, did you turn in your indemnification form?

This is what urban sketching looks like!

Watercolor demo

Aria or urban sketching?

Another successful graduating class of USk Seattle 10x10!