Meetings and Reunions Under Overcast Skies

 

8/29/25 Gasworks Brewing on Lake Union

I don’t know if it was the weather (overcast and cooler), the location (Northlake), or that it was the Friday before Labor Day weekend, but USk Seattle had record-breaking attendance at our drink & draw!

The venue, Gasworks Brewing, is one that I had checked out several months ago for drink & draw potential. Although it is a fabulous location right on the north shore of Lake Union, it has one serious flaw: Very few of the plentiful tables have umbrellas. What were they thinking? Given some of the scorchers we’ve had this year, I had dismissed it as an option for most of summer, but the end of August cooled down enough to make me optimistic. It must have helped to keep my fingers crossed, because the day ended up mostly overcast and cooler – just fine for sketching the lake and each other without shade.

It was especially fun to meet Naoko, a sketcher from USk Tokyo, who has been traveling with her husband across the US the past couple of months and will continue on to further adventures before returning to Japan. I was thrilled when I found out Seattle was on their itinerary! It’s always special to finally meet someone I’ve followed for years on social media.

In addition, several sketchers who had not attended USk in quite a while (more than a decade for two of them) joined us at this drink & draw. It was a happy reunion for those of us who knew them back then. We also greeted several newcomers who made the drink & draw their first outing.

All in all, it was an ideal way to start the holiday weekend before saying good-bye to an excellent summer.

Naoko wears both a USk Japan T-shirt and a UW cap (her husband Nobie is a former Husky!)

We don't usually do a formal throwdown or group photo at drink & draws, but this one felt like a special occasion!

Good to see Jackie after nearly a decade!

Welcome back to Will, whom we also hadn't seen in at least a decade.

Naoko was on a mission to sketch every drink & draw participant!

Alice (foreground) is another sketcher we hadn't seen in years.

Eleanor Doughty Sketches from Afar

10/20/18 Ellie gives a demo at tiny Lynn Street Mini Park.

On a chilly, foggy morning, I went out to what must be Seattle’s tiniest park ever: Lynn Street Mini Park on the east shore of Lake Union. That was the location of Ellie Doughty’s USk 10x10 workshop, From Afar: Rendering Atmospheric Perspective in Watercolor. Stopping by for a quick sketch and a few photos, I couldn’t take the workshop myself, but from all reports, it was an inspiring, well-organized experience for her students. And she couldn’t have picked a better day to focus on atmospheric perspective: Boats and buildings on the near shore were in marked contrast to the foggy landscape on the opposite side of the lake.

A great morning for atmospheric perspective.

lake union drydock co.

Lake Union Drydock Co. is one of my closest neighbors here in Eastlake, Seattle, occupying a couple blocks on the eastern Lake Union's shore. I'm working on getting inside the facility and onto their docks for closer sketching, but for now I'll be content capturing interesting land/water scenes from the many viewpoints on land.

They've been in operation for almost 100 consecutive years, and are one of the only all-wood docks left in the city. LUDD has mostly been in the boat repair business, but back in the early 20th century they made a few dozen patrol & recreation boats, and even several minesweepers during WWII. [source]

Some charming sailboats moored up on the left, in front of various wooden sheds on docks used by the Drydock Co. Behind is the I-5 highway I wrote about earlier and the upper-class neighborhoods cresting Capitol Hill. 

The Sandra Foss, a tugboat, has been docked for several weeks, presumably getting repairs.
I recently learned that the Foss Maritime business started in nearby Tacoma, when a frustrated person sold his rowboat to Thea Foss for $5 in the late 19th century. She painted it white with green trim and turned it into a business asset; eventually leading the Foss family to own a fleet of tugboats, rowboats, sailboats, etc which they leased out for recreation and industry; today they are the largest tug/towing company on the west coast. Many Foss vessels are still painted white with green trim, as you can see here.

A quick sketch of some administrative buildings, accessible by footbridge, during a drizzle. I enjoy how all the LUDD buildings are integrated with the lake.

LUDD leases some of their dock space to Seattle Seaplanes, where you can charter a flight for a aerial tour of Seattle, as well as for moorage for recreational boats.

Double Redux at MOHAI

4/14/17 Lincoln Toe Truck at MOHAI

Although we knew it would be iffy, we had planned this week’s Urban Sketchers Seattle outing for Lake Union Park. That way, if the weather wasn’t on our side, we could duck into the Museum of History and Industry. True to predictions, it stayed dry all day, but that stiff, cold lake wind was more than I could bear.

Since I still had my pink colored pencil in my bag from sketching cherry blossoms, I decided to put it to good use once more – on the Lincoln Toe Truck. Pink + nostalgia: Who could resist? It’s one of my favorite old-time Seattle icons at MOHAI. Four years ago when the newly refurbished museum reopened, the Toe Truck was the first thing I had sketched there. Then a year or so later I sketched it again with USk Seattle.

The bitter wind was no warmer by the time I finished, but that bright blue sky was so inviting. . . I wanted to sketch outdoors. I wandered around the museum until I reached the café, where most of the other sketchers had already found cups of coffee to sketch by. I pulled a chair up to a window facing the Swiftsure, the bright red Coast Guard lightship moored on Lake Union. Once again, it was an icon I’d sketched at least a couple of times before – with the Regional Sketchcrawl three years ago and then again when Chandler O’Leary taught an urban sketching workshop in 2015.

4/14/17 Swiftsure lightship moored on Lake Union

Although neither icon was new to me, I tried to look at each with fresh eyes. It’s fun and interesting to look back at my old sketches to see how my eyes have changed each time.

Duck Dodge

Another glorious early evening in Seattle at the water's edge.

The panorama could have kept going, alas, running out of paper either side.

All the sailboats arriving on time for their 'dodge' in Lake Union. 

I just kept filling in more boats as they arrived.

Mixed use and working.

Rick & Joyce Miner's Floating Home.

It was a fun challenge drawing this scene (I added the color at home) on a rocking and rolling dock. Each time a yacht or tour boat went buy we wobbled, and I didn't realize until too late that my satchel and its contents were soaking in  lake water. As we drew, the owner, Rick Miner, came out and used the megaphone (seen on the table in the picture) to yell at some party boaters to slow down because the wake was slopping all over. He came out and introduced himself and we exchanged cards. Nice guy! Check him out at Duckin.com.

Mary Lou and Sam’s House Boat

7/25/14 Lake Union from the rooftop deck

Summer is back on, and the Friday sketchers celebrated with a special treat: Sketching on and around the Lake Union house boat of Mary Lou and Sam, who generously opened their floating home to us.

Choosing my first subject was easy: I climbed all the way up to the rooftop deck (stepping very carefully on that last spiral staircase!) to sketch Lake Union with the Aurora Bridge and Gas Works Park in the background.

7/25/14 neighboring boats

The second sketch subject was harder to pinpoint. First I wandered around the three levels of their home, looking through all the many windows. Then I went outside and walked around all the surrounding docks, peeking at the views between the boats and marveling at the magical romance of living on the water. (Yes, we spotted the house boat from Sleepless in Seattle just a short distance away!) Suddenly I realized I had only about 15 minutes before the meeting time, so I quickly sketched a couple of boats in front of me.

It was hard to beat sketching from a house boat, but then Sam gave a few lingerers an even better treat: A ride around Lake Union on their Lear boat! He showed us how the top rises to reveal a roomy cabin (certainly roomy enough for more than the five sketchers who hopped in when he offered the ride) and then acts as sun shelter, so we could cruise the lake in comfort. I couldn’t resist sketching Captain Sam at the wheel of the Plug ‘n Play.

Thank you, Sam and Mary Lou, for opening your home to us, and thanks to Peggy for initiating the opportunity!

7/25/14 Captain Sam at the wheel

Sebi's Italian Bistro

I pass this restaurant every time I run the 7 mile loop around Lake Union, (a couple of times a week if Jackie shames me into it). Yesterday the light struck it just right and I made a mental note to come back and draw the view from the west side. When I got there, I noticed the light was even better from the north view, so I set up my stool in the shade of a street sign. I had to push the telephone poles around to make a better composition so things wouldn't all be parallel to each other, and the electrical hardware at the top of the pole was way out of view so I shortened the telephone pole considerably so I could include it in the drawing. That's why I always carry my artistic license.

Northlake Way

Hey Seattle Sketchers - I've missed getting out with y'all! I've been tied up with a remodel and travel and just haven't been able to make it out for a sketchcrawl in months. Unfortunately I can't make it this weekend either. But I did sign up for Portland, hopefully see some of you there! (Drawing: earlier this week from the north end of Lake Union)
-Will

Lake Union

It is just another cold and rainy day in Seattle.