Colorful Clouds of Belonging

 

8/9/26 "Clouds of Belonging" installed outside King Street Station

USk Seattle had one of its most colorful outings ever. “Clouds of Belonging,” a temporary installation in front of King Street Station, “is composed of large cloud-like forms that introduce softness, color, and light into the surrounding urban landscape,” according to the city’s Office of Arts and Culture. Artist Alex Proba invites visitors “to move through, pause within, and simply enjoy a bright, sculptural environment designed for connection.” As nearly everyone in the group focused on the sculpture, it definitely formed a connection for all of us.

After finishing the full-color version (top of post) from the railroad overpass, I was going to move on to other subjects. Then as I walked around, I found more viewpoints I liked, so I drew it twice more.

While I ate lunch in the courtyard outside International District/Chinatown Station, Mariners fans continually streamed out of the station and walked in the direction of T-Mobile Park (below, right).

At the throwdown back at the “Clouds,” USk Seattle came through with an impressive variety of compositions. The whimsical clouds were certainly inspiring as well as colorful.

massive monkees day

 

Did you know Seattle is big in the world breakdancing scene? It's pretty much the opposite of the techy, online culture I associate with Seattle. It's in large part thanks to the Massive Monkees, the highly acclaimed dance crew that originated in Beacon Hill 30 years ago.

Massive Monkees Day — actually a weekend — is a breaking (as in breakdancing) competition hosted in Seattle on a more or less yearly basis, hosted by the It was hinted that this would be the last one — I hope it isn’t. Saturday was the semi-final round, and was open to the public at a block party in the Chinatown area.

I’ve sketched the faceted red arch of Hing Hay Park many times, but never seen it framing an event like this one. A crowd was gathered around a vinyl floor, where the individual footwork part of the competition was underway.

A few seated judges stared hard at the sneakered feet flying around the dance floor. I had no idea what they were looking for, and I was distracted by all the other athletic feats on display anyway.

Dancers flipped & inverted, their baggy t-shirts dropping open to reveal muscular torsos. They threw and twisted their hips in ways I have never before conceived. Bucket hats slid across the floor. Smiling in exertion, they jumped and gestured, daring their competition to best them. The crowd yelled & screamed in response to the most impressive moves. Reaction was involuntary and instinctive.

The ages competing ranged from about 10 to 50, and the kids competed alongside the adults. Part of the Massive Monkees’ philosophy is “Each one, teach one” - to instruct the next generation of dancers. The gathering at the park was almost all people of color, and Asian b-boys and b-girls appeared to make up the racial majority of participants.

The MC announced competitors from out of town — from Texas, Hawai’i, Boston, British Columbia, and Calgary. There were also some big names from Japan and Russia competing in the finals.

During an intermission in the action, I took out a few acrylic markers and sketched the scene in front of me. Using a brush pen, I tried to capture some of the characters in the crowd without being too obvious. For the dancer in the center, I took some pictures and used them as reference to add them in last — no way I could draw that fast!

A breaking competition is far from my usual circles, but I’m grateful I got that chance encounter in the park with these guys, and that I got a chance to spectate.

Although City of Seattle recognizes the Massive Monkees as a cornerstone of our artist culture, I’m not sure how much the general population here is aware of them. But now you are! I feel super proud of not only my city, but also my neighborhood in creating this undeniably cool bit of Seattle culture. 

 To see our hometown b-boys in action, I recommend watching this video. I dare you to tell me you aren't enthralled by them!

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!

Historic places in the ID

We met this chilly morning in the Chinatown-International District.  It was barely 40 degrees, cloudy, and threatened to become rain later.  But about 30 intrepid sketchers met at Hing Hay Park in the heart of the ID.  

From there I branched out to sketch an historic spot that has been on my list for years! The original Chinese message board is at 7th & King on the side of the Louisa Hotel.  It was installed in the 1960's and even predates Chinese language newspapers in Seattle.  In 1982 Seattle Chinese Post was first.  It was how the people communicated.  It's just this green board on the side of the building. On the right, in the distance, is the China Gate and the King Street (Amtrak) Station clock tower. 

It was the coldest part of our sketch outing time.  My hands were encased in fingerless gloves covered by mitten ends except my right index finger, used to hold the pen.  It got so cold I gave up, went to find some coffee at Uwajimaya complex, and sat with Roy while I added color to my drawing.  

After getting warm I headed out again to a spot I'd initially noticed on my walk over to the park from the light rail station.  It was a view of the classic China gate with the historic Smith Tower rising over.  It was nearly throw-down time so I decided it looked good enough in just ink.  

It was wonderful to see so many people braving the weather, so many new people, as well as  Nishant again, visiting from Vancouver, BC. By the time of the throw down, we were rewarded with sun and a little warmer temps.

daily drawing

I've been making a point to do one solid sketch every day. It's an answer to my desire for a bit more structure in my life. I live alone & am self employed & single so I have to account for all my time by myself. day in day out. No more regular events anchoring the months. With all the wildly scary and depressing news out there, it’s important to fall back on something positive and immediate. 

I’ve been daring to go out for coffee again (outdoor seating only) while the weather is still nice. It’s been comforting to sit in places where I can overhear conversations and watch the world go by as I sketch, as all urban sketchers can appreciate. And making sure I do something every day that grounds me and consistently makes me happy is therapy.

Here are the first 12 days of my project, September 22 - October 3.

9/22: morning coffee at Broadcast on 20th Ave, listening to two guys chat in Arabic (?).	9/23: work meeting with my writing partner Jonathan. he's working as the caretaker of the Lotus, a 1909 floating lodge moored by Mohai. great views of Lake Union from the cabin!
9/24: dinner at my friends' place in Capitol Hill. we drew Sara while she participated in a distanced performance, which took place over an hour long phone call. it involved a 3 way call between her, a stranger, and a robot prompting conversation & narrative.	9/25: grocery run to Lam's Seafood Market on King St, my favorite food store in the neighborhood. I've wanted to draw this place for a while. Sketching it made me notice how the awnings were attached to the original part with lots of different materials.
9/26: A Saturday where I forced myself to not work on client projects. I ended up at Ada's Technical Books on 15th Ave, where they now have street parking partitioned into distanced tables & chairs. REALLY hoping all this outdoor seating stays a thing forever.	9/27: Sunday plein air club meetup. We ended up at a picnic table on Seattle University campus. drawing those boring buildings in the background was surprisingly fun.
9/28: Feeling lonely, I went up to Bhy Kracke park to take in some sunlight and eat a bag of Dick's. the way a guy was encouraging his dog to fetch made me laugh.	9/29: we watched the presidential debate in the studio, everyone was on edge and I dissociated by drawing this.
9/30: I landed at this cafe i've never been to before, London Plane. It's a really nice, very distanced place to sit and sketch in Occidental Square.	10/1: my scooter friends and I took a little ride down to Burien to eat donuts and sit in Seahurst Park and do the first day of Inktober (clearly I got a head start). it was a smoky day, and the bluffs came in & out of view.
10/2: my sketch friend Alexander has wanted to draw this tower on Swedish Hospital on Jefferson St so we met up and sat in the parking lot across the street. I've discovered my side-hobby of feeding crows peanuts goes really well with my outdoor sketching.	10/3: biked to London Plane again, where I ate a massive cinnamon bun all by myself and drew trees turning fall colors. Pioneer Square has really changed in the last few months.

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.

Autumn at Danny Woo Community Garden

9/27/19 Sixth Ave. South, Chinatown/International District

The Danny Woo International District Community Garden is a favorite of USk Seattle during the transitional seasons. If the weather is on our side, we can sketch the terraced gardens and distant views of downtown Seattle, but if not, we can duck into the cozy Panama Hotel Café across the street. Today we lucked out, and the chilly morning eventually yielded to sunshine in time for the throwdown.

9/27/19 entrance to Danny Woo Gardens

Happy that I wore my down parka, I was still cold with the brisk wind coming up behind me from the Sound as I sketched the view looking down Sixth Avenue South from Kobe Terrace Park at the top of the garden (left). The row of bright yellow trees punctuated by the ID’s iconic red street lamps caught my eye (and as soon as I finished, I realized the perspective of those lamp posts was way off!).

My self-photobombing aim was a bit off, too.

After getting some hot genmaicha from the Panama Hotel Café to warm my hands, I pulled up my hood and went back out – and immediately saw the next view I wanted to capture: It was the trellised entrance to Danny Woo Gardens framed by more yellow trees (above).

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.