Jack Block Park Skyline Redux

9/9/16 Downtown Seattle skyline from Jack Block Park, West Seattle

Yesterday was what I consider a quintessential Seattle fall (or even summer) day: sunny and perhaps on the chilly side in the morning, but by afternoon, I could take the top down for my drive home. At 73 degrees by mid-afternoon, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Meeting with Urban Sketchers Seattle at West Seattle’s Jack Block Park, I walked to the farthest end of the park where I had sketched the downtown skyline more than three years ago. Sketching it again on that beautiful morning seemed like an ideal celebration of quintessential Seattle.

With a small pocket of time left until the sketchbook sharing, I went over to the other side of the park where I had spotted a rare view of the West Seattle Bridge on the other side of a chain link fence.

Lunching afterwards on the sunny deck at Salty’s on Alki, we all mentioned what a treat it was to dine al fresco with a view of Elliott Bay. I drove home feeling bittersweet, knowing that our days like these are numbered, at least for this season.

9/9/16 West Seattle bridge from Jack Block Park

Jack Block Park

This was a perfect day for sketching.  There as bright sun and cool breezes.   The Friday group  met at Jack Block Park on the south eastern section of the Aliki point.  USk Seattle has been there before.

I have a new phone and actually put a SIM card in it!  I tried navigation with Google maps.  Despite taking me a very convoluted way to avoid traffic on the I-5, it got me there in 30 min and so I was early.  I sat in the warm sun on a picnic table to sketch these buoys at the edge of the park.





Tina takes a record shot of her skyline sketch.  A few of us chose the skyline to sketch.  I was one of them:

\
Sketchers down below:

 Jack Block Park offers a stellar view of the shell oil rig. It is truly amazing how giant the structure is. From Alki Drive it often seems to dwarf the city skyscrapers behind it.

It was also quite interesting to see all the people who came out to see the oil rig from the Jack Block viewpoint. There were equal parts parents with little kids and disgruntled residents. It made for an odd contrast.

Jack Block Park

On a very early sketch crawl, years ago, the Seattle Urban Sketchers met at Jack Block Park. Donna had the idea to visit there on Memorial Day, as she'd never been. It was cool and breezy and perfect for sitting for a couple hours in the zone.

Crumbling Dock at Jack Block

My first attempt left me a little bored. 

It wasn't chunky and tactile enough, so after half an hour I started over 

and zoomed in on what I thought was the more interesting part of the scene.

I actually got some color applied on site, using Prismacolor pencils. 

But then I cheated and filled in the blue sky in Photoshop.

A hidden delight

Never even knew about this great spot with some of the best views of Seattle. Sunday's outing was great.
I loved sketching to the sound of sea lions. Wonderful seeing everyone's sketches...inspiring.

Views from Jack Block Park

Jack Block Park has such wonderful views I found myself walking around a bit to really find a spot I liked.  Too many choices!  Here are two views I captured.  The first is looking through the legs of the lookout tower toward the Port of Seattle and downtown Seattle.  I was drawn to the angular platforms of the lookout platforms and the tower itself creating and interesting framed view.
The second was the fishing pier and view of Magnolia and Queen Anne.  The repetition of the pier structure drew my attention  with its pattern of positive and negative shapes creating peek a boo views of the city.

View Through the Tower Look Out at Jack Block Park

View of Magnolia and Queen Anne Hill from Jack Block Park

Jack Block Park

Another beautiful Sunday in Seattle to sketch outside on the water.  Enjoyed the ride over to West Seattle on the water taxi with a few other sketchers and some Dallas Cowboy fans (they were still in a good mood because it was before the game against the Seahawks). 

This is my second sketch looking back toward West Seattle and the large barges that were moored next to the park.  The colors on the rusting hulls were fantastic and I would like to go back again to photograph them. 

Another good turn-out with three tables of sketch books to admire at the end of the session. 

Jeff and I found a little hole-in-wall place to grab a burger / pint (Seahawks on TV) before returning to Seattle on the water taxi.  Overall a great day!

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.

Jack Block Park - September Gathering

I think this is my favorite new place to sketch in Seattle. It has the obvious beautiful skyline view but also many opportunities to sketch industrial and decaying marine subjects that always interest me.  Jack Block Park (run by the Port of Seattle) isn't easy to find but worth the effort. Great weather and good company, a nice way to spend a sunny Sunday morning.

Jack Block was a former Port Commissioner and the area was a wood treatment plant and shipbuilding facility that was so contaminated that it became a Superfund site cleaned up by the E.P.A. in 1994.

This sketch was pen and ink with a watercolor wash in a Moleskine sketchbook.

Later at Jack Block Park

I missed the official sketch crawl because I had to make an airport drop-off; since I was so close, however, I wound my way through the maze of Harbor Island/Spokane Street/ Pier 5 freeway columns and explored the park on my own. 

Peek-a-boo view from the hill 

Looking back on the park from pier

Sorry I missed everyone! See you next time!