10/16/18 Gray heron at Japanese Garden (with a koi swimming by)
With the weather forecast predicting today’s sunshine, we took a chance
last week and scheduled a sketch outing, even though it was still seven days
away, when conditions could easily change. I kept my eye on the forecast, and
our optimism was rewarded. I think it may have been USk Seattle’s most colorful
outing ever!
As I entered the garden, I overheard people chatting about a gray
heron in the pond, and I assumed it would be gone by the time I got there. To
my surprise, he was still taking his time preening atop a rock, so I couldn’t resist
grabbing him first while I could. Amazingly, he stayed the whole time I
sketched.
After that I walked around the whole garden to take in all the color
lighted by the low afternoon sun. A weeping willow growing nearly horizontally
over the pond was challenging but, again, irresistible.
Expecting to have only my usual 15 or 20 minutes left before the throwdown,
I was surprised to see that I still had a half-hour. Plenty of time for a third
sketch! A stone lantern by the path was filled with shadows ideal for hatching.
I’d already done an InkTober sketch for the day, but what the heck – I could
get a head start on tomorrow.
For a short-notice weekday, we had a great turnout!
I'm Eleanor (or Ellie) - nice to meet you! I'm a new Seattle transplant as of September 2017. I moved here from NYC (Brooklyn, Bushwick) for a few reasons, none of which have to do with working for Amazon/Microsoft/etc:
• I was super tired of having multiple roommates, but wasn't willing to pay twice as much rent to avoid it. Also my lease was up, and it's so horrible to move in NYC it was pretty much just as difficult to move across the country as to move across a borough.
• Having grown up exclusively on the east coast, it was time for a change!
• The west coast was the closest thing to moving to a different country before it would be logistically super difficult. I plan to stay here for a few years before moving overseas.
• I wanted to live in a place where you could see mountains. The Pacific Northwest delivers.
• The light on the west coast is different. golden. magical (when the sun is out).
I grew up in northern Virginia, just outside of Washington D.C., earned a BFA in illustration at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, and then moved up to Brooklyn for three years. There I co-founded the Brunch Club Sketchers group, which has a similar mission to USK. After the Chicago Symposium, I wanted to get more involved with the global Urban Sketchers community, and here we are!
I currently work as a freelance illustrator (editorials, architecture, private commissions, etc.) and hustle selling prints online & in craft markets around the city. My sketching style is pretty bold and energetic, influenced by my work as an editorial illustrator, where it's critical to use shapes to create striking, attention grabbing images that also communicate clearly. I got really into watercolors last year but drawing is my first love! I especially like sketching scenery from above or from afar, to see the true character of a landscape. The mood I usually try to evoke is lighthearted & a bit wonky and off-balance.
Although I sketch on the daily, I'm looking forward to this opportunity to write more & provide context to the things I draw. I realized that the drawing part is only half the battle in urban sketching – so now I want to work on my journalism skills. So far in Seattle, sketching has brought me many opportunities to explore the city and meet interesting people, as well as a good excuse to get outside and take advantage of nice weather when it happens.
Here's a flipthrough of my sketchbook from the first four months of my Seattle life (Sept. - December 2017), and some highlights below:
the Row House Cafe (left), a lovely Old Seattle style building unfortunately slated to be demolished in the near future, no doubt for more hideous luxury apartments. I really felt it was my duty to paint it...before going inside to catch their happy hour.
My first ever time going to Gas Works Park. There was a big forest fire somewhere that day so the surroundings were weirdly tinted and super hazy - a new thing for an east coaster.
the Seattle Japanese Gardens w/ Ad Hoc urban sketchers. The fall colors were beautiful, especially in all the maples. Lots of photo takers were present as well, "appreciating" the foliage in their own way.
While we waited for our new apartment be ready for move-in (spoiler: it would eventually fall through), my partner and I went camping on the Olympic Peninsula. This was the view from our tent – pretty much unbeatable. A huge plus of living on the west coast: ocean sunsets.
We planned a short notice sketch outing when the weather seemed good and the maples would be in their autumn colors at the Japanese Garden. We might have been a bit too early but we didn't want to wait until out next window of time as it could be raining then!
Today had a bit of fall crispness in the air but was otherwise perfect. I found a tree with some color and decided to try my new square Pentalic Aqua sketch book by doing a two page spread of the wide scene.
Since I was the first sketcher along the path, several people stopped to chat. A couple had used watercolors. One young woman asked how I got the effect seen most in the upper right corner. I explained it's granulation and is shown to good effect on this paper but happens because of the characteristics in the paint. It is Daniel Smith primatec, made from the actual stones or minerals.
The koi were jockeying for position to get as much of the food as possible. The kiosk sells packets so visitors give them what's good for them. They appear as two small, orange flecks in the sketch.
I'd spent a lot of time on this sketch, letting layers dry (and talking to people). So I only had a few minutes. I've sketched this lantern and bridge before but decided this would be a good choice for a minimalist ink sketch and would also fulfill my Inktober drawing for the day.
We were delighted to have Jane Blundell from Australia join us today. She's in the USA teaching a number of workshops. All the ones this next week at Daniel Smith are full but there is a demo tomorrow afternoon. Along with her is Jonathan Livesey. USk Tacoma sketched with him on Wednesday so I met him again today.
group photo done by a passerby who composed well, showing the garden and some of the dramatic sky.
For several years now, we’ve been wanting to sketch at Japanese Garden when the maples are turning, but it’s tricky. Urban Sketchers Seattle usually plans outings several weeks in advance, but the weather is so iffy in October that it’s impossible to know that far out whether a given day will be dry (and there’s no shelter at the garden).
This year we tried something new: We tentatively planned for any of the Fridays in October when a regular outing wasn’t scheduled, and if the weather seemed promising a few days out, we would schedule the garden that day. We took a chance on today, and our luck held out – although chilly in the morning, the sun appeared often enough to give us good shadows.
I actually got a jump on the group by visiting the garden yesterday too, which was more consistently sunny. On that day I went in the late afternoon, so the sun lit the trees on the opposite side of the koi pond, and I captured a little more color.
10/5/17 On the sunny side of the koi pond.
The maples aren’t at their peak yet, but who knows what the weather will be like in a couple of weeks? I’m just as happy that we took a chance on today.
Australian painter and instructor Jane Blundell is in town this week and was able to join us at the garden!
9/17/16 A cellist performs during Otsukimi at Japanese Garden.
Otsukimi (“moon viewing”)is the Japanese tradition of celebrating the autumn full moon with poetry, music and general festivities. On a warm, clear night, it must be nothing short of magical to gaze peacefully at the rising moon while listening to live cello music and haiku readings.
That warm, clear night, however, did not materialize for us yesterday at Seattle Japanese Garden, which annually hosts Otsukimi for the September Harvest Moon. We were lucky to have a brief reprieve from the rain and high winds that had battered us most of the day – just long enough to enjoy some of that cello music. By the time I started putting a little color on my sketch, it started spitting, and when I switched to my small Field Notes notebook, the spitting had turned to rain. Otsukimi revelers didn’t miss a beat; they just opened their umbrellas and pulled up their hoods.
You might wonder why we chose to go to Otsukimi on such a blustery night. The Japanese Garden starts selling tickets to the highly popular event a month ahead of the date, and it sells out almost immediately. We’ve been wanting to attend for years, but we were always either out of town or weren’t able to get tickets in time. Knowing we’d be in town this year, we pounced on them as soon as tickets were available. Of course, you can’t predict weather a month out, and late September is always iffy.
Ah, well. The clouds never parted long enough to reveal that elusive Harvest Moon, but we all knew it was shining up there somewhere.
While we visited Kubota Gardens for the stonework, I also took the opportunity
to wander through the garden. I always enjoy Kubota garden because its intimate
paths and spaces always give me the sense of discovering something new.
This time through, I was entranced by a small clearing
dominated by a stone retaining wall and a row of towering blue spruce. Visitors
mostly entered the space through a small two post gate.
I particularly enjoyed the composition of the gravel
clearing surrounded by neatly trimmed shrubs and hedges transitioning into the
more wild landscape beyond. This is the sort of balance between detail and
generality that makes Japanese gardens so unique.
I was also amazed to discover that this clearing was mere
feet from the front entrance. It is amazing how a great garden can surprise you
every time you visit it.
If you get the
opportunity, I would encourage you to visit Kubota Gardens before August 20th
and admire the construction work. It is a truly unique experience that will only be in
Seattle for a limited time.
What a glorious day!! The ad hoc group of Urban Sketchers met at the Japanese Garden today. Oh my! there was so much that "looked good!" - how to choose. Rather than walk around, I stopped at the very first scene that caught my eye. Soon, I was joined on the bench by the other Peggy, and so we sat, lost at times in our respective sketches, occasionally sharing a comment. Two hours later, it was time to gather!! And such wonderful sketches were shared!!
Yesterday I joined Beth and the Seattle Plein Air group at the Japanese Gardens. What a great way to spend a sunny afternoon -- the sketching was good, but even better was getting lost in the beauty of the trees and the fragrant blossoms. I have to say that the infinite shades of green were a little overwhelming, and the heat didn't help as I encountered challenges with my watercolor washes, but I found that focusing on a single bloom or intriguing color combination was a great way to engage without (too much) frustration. Anyway, I made a few studies, including the above pencil sketch, and really enjoyed the scenery.
