Kim Roberts Joins Admin Team

All sketches by Kim Roberts

Kate, Jane and Tina are happy to announce that Kim Roberts has joined the USk Seattle admin team! Kim has been an active, enthusiastic participant for a couple of years, so you probably already know her, but if you don’t, please introduce yourself at the next outing. Here’s Kim:

As a kid, my parents got me oil paints and art lessons. What a gift! All my years working (teaching Japanese language, mostly at Juanita High School in Kirkland), Mom kept asking, "When are you going to do something with your art??" and I would put her off, saying, "When I retire." Again, what a gift! I retired in June 2020 and with the pandemic lockdown, figuring out how to work with watercolors was just the thing for me.

I discovered Urban Sketchers as we were opening up after COVID and have really enjoyed meeting the folks here while discovering (or rediscovering) interesting places in the Puget Sound area. In addition to my portable stool and portable watercolor set, my favorite tool is my Sailor fude pen with the 55° bent nib. Now I take them with me everywhere. 

I live in the Bryant neighborhood of northeast Seattle with Hubby Dearest, one of our two kids, our niece and three cats. In addition to art, I love literacy tutoring, hiking and travel. Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Kim with Hubby Dearest

Meet the correspondent: Alex Hollmann

A friend told me about Urban Sketchers about ten years ago and I immediately thought, "That's sounds like what I am doing" and started following and posting on my flickr site (https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexhollmann), but only recently joined the Seattle Urban Sketchers Facebook group, which has led to contacts with other urban sketchers. I was delighted to be invited to become a correspondent.

There is so much that I like about urban sketching, but the main thing is going out into the world and losing myself in something bigger by standing or sitting quietly and observing and being drawn deeper into what is in front of me. Looking at and registering details and getting at the larger structure, whether of a person, building, or landscape, absorbing atmosphere and mood, and thinking about the past and present behind that person or object is a wonderful act of meditation.

I was born and brought up in South Africa and was always drawing as a child. Drawing was a way to create a world around me with things I wanted. One of my earliest creations was a version of Disneyland, based on photographs from an old National Geographic, on sheets of paper glued (to my mother's horror) to the walls. Later on I drew steam locomotives, private trains, research vessels, and planes fitted out with chemical laboratories and divans and armchairs upholstered in red leather and velvet, ready to take me anywhere in the world for the sake of science. (I loved 19th c. illustrations and Jules Verne.) As a teenager I drew less and dropped the science and became obsessed with black-and-white photography and printing my own photographs. I took pictures of people on buses and trains, and portraits when I could get a willing subject. I learned a lot about composition and light and shade, and when in my mid-twenties I began to draw again and started painting in watercolour while in graduate school in the U.S, I think that experience with photography helped me a lot.

Ever since then I have drawn more and more, at first mainly while travelling, but now almost every day. In the last year getting a bike and having more unstructured time due to the Covid pandemic has led to an interest in the waterfront of Seattle and an explosion of drawings of water and boats—the older the better. Below are two of my sketches from this month, both drawn at Seattle's Fishermen's Terminal.

Meet the correspondent: Helen Todd

Sketching at Swanson's Nursery.
Photo by Tina Koyama.

Hello, fellow sketchers! My name is Helen Todd, and I’m thrilled and honored to be a new correspondent for Urban Sketchers Seattle! I was born in England and grew up in Northern Virginia, but my husband and I moved to Seattle in 1998 and I can’t imagine living anywhere else. My professional background is in Computer Science, but I’ve always had an artistic streak lurking underneath, and I took various art classes over the years.

I discovered plein air painting about twelve years ago. While it shares similarities to urban sketching (in that you’re painting from life, outdoors), the vibe for me is completely different. When I happened across the Urban Sketchers outings in 2018, I was blown away by how much more connected I felt with the environment and people I was painting -- and also how much more focused I had to be with my paintings given the time limit! That part was a real struggle for me at first, but it has definitely helped me grow as an artist.

Buddha amongst the potted plants, Swanson's Nursery

My first Urban Sketchers Seattle outing was in June 2018 to the Anderson School in Bothell. To be honest, I was a little intimidated about going. I’d taken a long hiatus from anything artistic and the thought of drawing -- in public! -- and sharing it with a bunch of strangers, was slightly terrifying. But to my relief, everyone was incredibly warm and welcoming, and I was hooked. I eagerly went back for the outing at the Seattle Chinese Garden, and many more. Living in Carnation - definitely the ‘east’ part of the Eastside - rush hour and parking make it difficult for me to attend all of the Seattle events. (I am, however, now familiar with my ORCA card!) But this has given me opportunities to find additional places to sketch (and people to sketch with) on the other side of the lake.

In the waiting room...

One of my favorite things about urban sketching is that it’s changed my entire attitude towards drawing. It isn’t something I have to ‘wait’ to do -- everything is an opportunity for a quick drawing. One of my favorite recent sketches was done while waiting for a doctor’s appointment, on the back of a receipt because I’d forgotten my sketchbook! I’d also forgotten my glasses, so it was a bit of a challenge in that respect as well! Technically, it’s not the best thing I’ve done, but it made me much happier to spend ten minutes sketching, rather than messing around with my phone. I’ve been working with digital art since the early 90s, and in the last few years, I’ve been drawing on my iPad as well. Some of you have probably seen me at outings with it -- I know I’ve had quite a few questions, which is great! (If anyone has any questions about iPad sketching or the program Procreate, feel free to ask!)

When I started urban sketching, time constraints nudged me away from my previous style of detailed drawings and layers of watercolor glazing to the much-quicker techniques of pen and wash. Similarly, I found I’ve changed my digital style as well. I’ve started doing looser, more expressive drawings, as opposed to the digital animation-style pieces I did before. I struggled with this process for a while, but it finally clicked when I started drawing people -- a subject that has always terrified me. It’s yet another way urban sketching has stretched my boundaries and helped me grow as an artist.

Cart guy.
Digital sketch using iPad and Procreate.

Drawing on a regular basis has brought a lot of joy into my life, both from the actual process, but also from the interactions and friendships I’ve made within the sketching community. I’m really proud and grateful to be a part of the Seattle Urban Sketchers, and of the worldwide Urban Sketching movement. I look forward to sharing my work with you here, and on Instagram at artgeekstudios!

Freeway Park, Seattle

Meet the correspondent: Antonella Pavese

Hello Seattle sketchers! I'm Antonella, and I'm excited to publish my first post as correspondent for the Urban Sketchers Seattle blog. This group has been my sketching community in the past two years and I've been in awe of its talented sketchers and supportive environment.

Antonella sketching at Viva Farms in Mount Vernon, WA (Photo by Rebecca Murray)

The John Deere tractor posing for me in all its majesty (Photo by Rebecca Murray)

Here is me sketching at Viva Farms, a non-profit "farm incubator" near Mount Vernon, WA. Viva Farms provides land, tools, and training in sustainable and organic farming practices to new farmers in Skagit Valley. My husband Scott was there with videographer Rebecca Murray to do some filming for a new training video, and I took the opportunity to visit the Farm and to do some sketching. I loved the place, and especially this green and yellow John Deere tractor, but also the amazing produce, the flowers that grow on the farm, and the mission of this organization.

A bit more about me. I was born in Rome, Italy. While working on my PhD in Cognitive Psychology, I took a plane (and an umbrella) to Eugene, Oregon—just like Andika!—as a one-year exchange student to the University of Oregon Psychology graduate program. There I met Scott, my future husband, and I never went back.

Throughout my life, I've been geographically restless. In Italy, I lived in Rome, in Pisa, Tuscany, in Padova, a 30-minutes train ride from Venice, and a few other places you wouldn't recognize. In the US, after Eugene, OR, I moved to Philadelphia, PA and suburbs, and then to NYC. I finally landed in Seattle in December of 2015.

I loved drawing as a kid, and I've been working on some kind of artistic project on and off all my life, but only in the past few years I started to be serious about sketching and painting. I took classes at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and at the Gage Academy in Seattle, and I started hanging out with urban sketchers, the best training of all. I got hooked with urban sketching even more after attending the two most recent Urban Sketchers' Symposiums in Chicago and Porto. In May of this year, I quit my job in high-tech as User Experience researcher, which left me more time to sketch and draw.

Sketching to me is, above all, a meditative activity. Drawing and painting an object or a scene make me learn about them more intimately than just looking at them or taking a picture. I see sketching as an act of "bearing witness" to the reality around us, an opportunity to open up to the uniqueness of what is in front of us and "to meet it just as it is."

A few of my recent sketches:

The Amgen Helix Pedestrian bridge on August 24, at the latest USK Seattle event

After the Symposium in Porto, I spent a few more day in Portugal, traveling to Évora

Sketching at the demonstration Families Belong Together at the ICE Detention center in Tacoma in June

Learning from the best: sketching at Gabi Campanario's workshop in Seattle last May

I'm looking forward to contribute to this blog. In the meanwhile, you can keep up with my sketches on my Instagram account, @antonellasketches. and on my blog AntonellaSketches.com.

Meet the Correspondent: Eleanor Doughty

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. 

You can follow my work on Instagram or Tumblr or see my website at edoughty.com

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.

Meet the Correspondent : Ujjwal Mahajan

Hello fellow Sketchers!

I am super excited to be writing my first post for Urban Sketchers Seattle blog. It's a great honor and pleasure to be a part of this forum.

My name is Ujjwal Mahajan. I was born and brought up in India. By profession I am an Architect and Product Designer. Me and my family moved to Seattle, Bothell in 2015. My husband is a Software engineer and we have a lovely daughter studying in Elementary school.
Since childhood drawing and sketching was part of my life. At the age of 9, I started doing oil paintings and had inclination towards art, thereby choosing the field of Architecture. Sketching is like meditation to me and I enjoy every bit of it.

I was introduced to Urban Sketchers group and Gabi's sketches by my brother, 9 months ago. The concept of visiting new places and sketching them live with actual surroundings appealed to me. It was a door opening to my passion and Urban Sketchers Seattle group. Thus, the journey started of carrying a sketchbook and a pen always! 
My first sketch crawl with USK Seattle was in January 2017 at Hing Hay Park, Chinese New Year celebration and it was a completely new beginning for me.
With USK Seattle I revived my architectural sketching skills, working on perspectives, trying different mediums, exploring new places and many more, it's simply amazing! Till date it's being so energizing, encouraging, meeting new people, sharing knowledge and learning new techniques each day. For a new comer like me, it is a warm and welcoming experience.
Apart from sketching, I enjoy traveling and calligraphy. Fortunate to move to a city like Seattle, which is full of natural beauty and artistic talents. I have been visiting new places in and around Seattle, capturing all the memories through sketches in my Travel sketchbook. Following are few sketches.

Center for wooden boats, Seattle

Meadowbrook Park, Seattle

Landscape Arch, Arches National Park, Utah

Ballard Locks, Seattle

I look forward to share my experiences through sketches and stories here. I'm thrilled to be a Urban Sketcher Seattle Correspondent.
Happy Sketching!! Let's 'see the world one sketch at a time'.
My blog : www.ujjwaltushar.com
Flickr : ujjwaltmahajan

Meet the Correspondent - Suzanne Shaw

I came to US in 1993 from Singapore.

I always love arts, but did not really involved until children grown up and finally retired 3 years ago. I started my first Watercolor class over Vancouver,WA, since then never stop loving its beauty of purity. Two years ago I learned USk from one of Artist friend, starting the journey of sketching. I have been participated sketch outings as often as I could. 

This year, I would like to challenge myself to associating my sketch or painting to storytelling. In spite of English is not my first language, I will do my best while walking with many gifted artists. Below are two of my earlier sketchs: #1 was done at Convention Ctr (A Native American stature),#2 was done at Balboa Park, SanDiego.

Hello everyone! And a bit on our last outing to the Gates Foundation!

Hi everyone!  My name is Dave Somers and the Seattle Urban Sketchers recently invited me to participate as a Correspondent as well as a sketcher!   I am looking forward to this as a way to keep me sketching, perhaps even more than I have been, and to do more digging about the places we visit on our outings.

I moved here to Seattle from Hawaii for work about 6 years ago and my wife, Casey, joined me a few years later after leaving her position in California.  We live in West Seattle now and love the area, though we knew we would.  Seattle, and West Seattle in particular, has been a second home for us in terms of long time friends and our love of ocean and mountains.  We plan on being here a long while.  And since I am retired from the National Park Service now I can focus a lot on my hobbies, including Sketching!

I started sketching less than a year ago.  I took an adult ed drawing class at South Seattle Community College so I could better jot down ideas for another serious hobby I have, turning wood on a wood lathe.  I hoped that some sketching skills would help me draw better ideas that I could actually make sense of a year or two later.   In the process I met Darsie Beck, a Tacoma Urban Sketcher. He suggested I look up the Seattle Urban Sketchers as a way to build my skills and meet some fun people in the process.   I did that and am hooked now, both on the sketching and the folks in the Sketchers!!  I have been trying hard to make every outing I possibly can since starting with the group last Spring and now heading into Autumn.

This last Saturday, Oct 8, the Sketchers were invited by WSU to join up with one of their Architect Classes that was traveling down to Seattle to spend some time sketching at the Olympic Sculpture Park.   We got "weathered out" though and ended up sketching at the Gates Foundation Visitor Center near the EMP or Experience Music Project.   It turned out there was a large group of students and a few instructors, plus YungChing Hung and Stephanie Bower from the Seattle Sketchers.

I had been in the Gates Foundation VC a number of times, but this was all before I started sketching.  I was focused on the exhibits of their numerous projects and ideas, and enjoying the feel of the space, but didn't really pay attention to the interior otherwise.   This time though, with sketch pad in hand I started noticing.  It was an interesting place to sketch.  Perspective lines running everywhere, subtle color changes and contrasts, and lots of people.  Sketching people is not a strong point of mine and there was a herd.   Ohh boy.

It was fun though.  I tackled an interesting corridor along the outside wall of the building and had fun with that.  I should add at this point that the floor actually did have bare footprints burned into it.  I am not sure if they had a wild day with a firewalking ceremony or if this was an artistic embellishment.  I didn't see a description of it and will have to go back and dig a bit to find out the significance of these foot prints.

Stephanie was fun to watch sketch.  I took her Craftsy class so I had seen her sketching in that context, but to see it happening in person was a kick.  Even more amusing though was the fact that seemingly all of the WSU students knew her from a class she did for them a few years ago.  They all remembered her and the class quite well and very fondly and were delighted to see her again.  She got mobbed a few times which was pretty fun to see.  

The class got together at the end of the session to share their efforts, much like we do.   It was clear that they had been at this awhile and were getting quite accomplished.  It would be interesting to try and start an Urban Sketchers group up there with these folks as their core.  I have a feeling it would be a popular and active group.

I am off to listen to the rain falling with a cup of tea in hand!  Thanks again for asking me to participate as a Correspondent everyone!  Will do my best to participate fully!!  Hopefully I will see you at the next outing with raincoat and rainpants in hand if the latest weather reports are accurate!

Dave

Northwest Folklife Festival

Hello Urban Sketchers of Seattle. My full artist name is Kathleen Dykzeul Keckler, maybe better known to Urban Sketchers as Kathleen Keckler or as K D Keckler on Flickr. This is my first post on the “Urban Sketchers Seattle” blog and I look forward to doing many more! I moved to Seattle from Michigan over a year ago to be closer to family. After packing and unpacking three times, I’ve finally landed and plan on staying.  I have an art degree and worked in an art school at a Michigan university.  For a few years I owned a frame shop/art gallery where I hosted and curated art hops.  Since uprooting and moving here, Urban Sketchers has been a lifeline of friendly people, inspiring sketches and “I get to go to all the coolest places” comments from family and friends.  Rather than bumbling along on my own, Urban Sketchers introduced me to Seattle sketch by sketch, learning along the way about the history and geography of the city.  It’s a genius concept that suits me well.  At first, aside from loving being around family, I longed for my Michigan artist friends, studio and familiar surroundings. The Urban Sketchers from the start gave me purpose, satisfied the necessity for creative outlet, challenged my skill set, introduced me to a community of artists and provided opportunity for a fresh perspective.  Since starting, I filled several sketchbooks and have become fervent about carrying a sketchbook and finding time to sketch wherever I go. 

Seattle is a vibrant city.  To this newcomer, the neighborhoods, expansive views and variety of people offer up something new to explore and think about every day. I feel lucky to have settled close to downtown because there’s always something going on. The Northwest Folklife Festival at the Seattle Center last weekend is a good example of what happens in Seattle.  I went to the festival three days in a row, rain or shine.

On day three, I stopped in front of the Armory to admire the concrete eagles flanking the sides of the entryway. The curved entrance below the eagles was a good stage for political activists recruiting voters to sign petitions. 

While walking out of the festival on day three, Memorial Day, my path was agreeably obstructed by two tepees and a large sculpture on the Space Needle lawn.  Through the tepees, I could see children dressed in Native American costumes demonstrating tribal dances.  I couldn’t have arranged a composition more compelling as the one created by the tepees, sculpture and totem pole or a soundtrack more mesmerizing than Native American drumming.  I sat on a smoothly flat, dry, tree stump and sketched to the beat of the drums.  In Seattle, I find reality is sometimes more inventive than fantasy.  Tepees and modern sculpture look good together, something about simplicity of form.  Later, I discovered the purpose of the event was to celebrate Coast Salish cultures.  This is the second year I’ve been to the Folklife Festival.  Both times I relied on walking through and catching acts or events serendipitously not using the extensive guide to research and plan my visit.  The festival is exciting because there’s so much to see and do yet it’s frustrating if you miss out on a performance because of timing or other impediments and distractions on your journey. This year I sketched, ate a spring roll and a biscuit, visited with companions and entertained children.  If there is another Folklife Festival, I promise to plan.  In addition to all the things listed above, I will listen to more music and dance.