...and the kitchen sink

As we have for the past several non-pandemic years, we met to sketch the Georgetown Garden Walk.  There were so many options I did more looking than I did sketching.  It's a problem.  

One of the gardens I visit every year is that big Victorian house across from Oxbow park.  It's known as the "Georgetown Castle".  The gardeners are Lynda, Micah, and Debbie.  It seems every nook and cranny is stuffed with plants and things collected.  I liked this scene on a side walk...bamboo and a sink! 

We met back at Oxbow Park, which is also home to the "Hat and Boots", a former gas station road side attraction.

Back in Georgetown

 

7/10/22 Oxbow Park in Georgetown

Although it’s not too far, I rarely sketch in Georgetown except with USk Seattle. After a two-year pandemic hiatus, the (normally) annual Georgetown Garden Walk was back on this year – and we lucked out with a gorgeous day.

My blog shows me that I have sketched the historic Hat ‘n’ Boots at Oxbow Park at least three times – why not a fourth? My only regret is that the few people in the park didn’t seem to want to walk close enough to the boots to put them in for scale.

After that, I spent more time walking than sketching (the public restroom was quite a trek), so I had time for only a couple of quick ones: a clock tower covered with scaffolding and a busy view of the Interstate 5 bridge with lots of the horizontal and vertical lines I love. It was good to be back in Georgetown, especially with USk Seattle!

Hat and Boots - Vestiges from the Fabulous 50's

For the first time in a few months I joined Seattle Urban Sketchers on their Sunday sketch outing. And for the third year we've hit the Georgetown Garden tour. Those earlier visits had me at the Georgetown Trailer Park. This year, however, I was determined to get over to the infamous Hat and Boots at Oxbow Park. Created in 1954 for a Georgetown gas station, the historic landmark, was billed as the largest had and boots in America.

First I did a quickish thumbnail:

And then tried pencil and watercolor. 

Fun to be back with the group.

A Blast from the Past in Georgetown

Seattle Urban Sketchers met in the Georgetown neighborhood this morning at the Bank of America (Georgetown branch) parking lot for July's monthly outing. It was the occasion of the 22nd Annual Georgetown Garden Walk.

On my drive towards the sketchers' meet up, I was looking forward to seeing the historical homes and luxurious gardens that the neighborhood had to offer. It was the first time I had been here with USk. Upon arrival, I received a map of the Garden Walk which listed 59 officially numbered options. Where to start?

As a group of us started walking down Carleton Ave S. towards the only known restroom provided, we saw unusual buildings (one with a question mark worked into the pattern of roofing shingles), a plein air painter working in oils, and lots of invitingly shady gardens.

We reached Oxbow Park and I realized I had found my subject, albeit not a garden. The largest cowboy hat in the world and a matching pair of gigantic boots stood proudly at the end of the park, relics of the roadside attractions of the 50's. These unique buildings have been lovingly restored and moved here from the gas station they previously occupied. The boots were originally used as the gas station restrooms and the hat was the office.

I found a shady spot at the west end of the park where Kathleen was also intrigued by the unusual shaped buildings. As I sketched, Joseph sang Native American songs, played the flute and accompanied himself on the hand drum. Across the street another reminder of the '40's and '50's, a classic teardrop trailer, was all set up as a cupcake stand.

At 12:30 we shared our sketches. It was another beautiful summer day spent sketching in Seattle with the urban sketchers.

Musical Hat in Georgetown

7/10/16 Hat in Oxbow Park

For the second year, Urban Sketchers Seattle took part in the Georgetown Garden Walk, an annual event that culminates with music and art in Oxbow Park. While I enjoy gardens as much as the next sketcher, I knew from last year that they would be crowded and difficult to sketch in, so today I went directly to the park instead. Like last year, I couldn’t resist another sketch of at least the hat part of the legendary and historic Hat ‘n’ Boots. Even better, a jazz band was performing under the hat!

In addition to us sketchers, lots of plein air painters also found Hat ‘n’ Boots to be an inspiring subject. I loved looking around the park and seeing sketchbooks and easels everywhere.

7/10/16 Painters and sketchers in the park

A Triple-Header of Urban Sketching

7/10/15 Westlake Center 

What a treat the past three days have been (and I don’t mean the return of our “normal” summer temperatures in the 60s and 70s, although there’s also that)!

It started Friday with an ad hoc outing to Westlake Center, where I sketched the cute miniature Ride the Ducks boat/bus, which is actually the ticket booth for the land and water tour vehicles. The round tree planters/benches made an interesting composition, but it wasn’t until I started sketching that all those tricky ellipses snuck up on me!

Saturday was the Pacific Northwest Regional Sketch Outing in Tacoma, organized by Urban Sketchers Tacoma. During my drive down south, I was only half-listening to the NPR radio program. The other half was mentally gearing up to do the sketch I knew I had to do: Union Station. Not because anyone was telling me I “should” sketch it or expecting me to sketch it – after all, the beauty of urban sketching is never having to sketch anything unless I want to – but because I knew I had avoided it on previous Tacoma sketch outings. I am my own worst enemy that way: If I perceive that I’m avoiding it, it means I need to do it.

7/11/15 Tacoma Union Station

Granted, there was a lot to avoid: The ornate Beaux-Arts rotunda, all those elegant curves, figuring out perspective in rounded objects. Ick. But I parked my sketch stool across the street from the station and yelled, “Bring it!” (OK, I didn’t really yell that, but I wanted to, since I face all architectural sketch challenges as personal battles.)

The three-day Urban Sketchers weekend culminated today with the Georgetown Garden Walk. Although I did pass through a couple of gardens quickly just so I could feel like I was officially part of the walk, I actually wasn’t planning to sketch in any gardens. Instead, I had my eye on one target: Hat ‘n’ Boots. A little more than a year ago, I had time to sketch only the boots half of this legendary landmark at Oxbow Park, and I’ve been wanting to go back to get the whole thing ever since. Cultural organization Cross Pollinate had invited artists and musicians to sketch, paint and perform throughout the day. It was so much fun to look around Oxbow Park and see easels and sketchbooks everywhere!

7/12/15 Hat 'n' Boots at Oxbow Park, Georgetown

Hat 'n Boots at Oxbow Park

I have always wanted to sketch the Hat 'n Boots and remember driving by it when it was at its original location.  I don't think it was a working gas station at that time.  I'm glad they saved this 1953 icon.  There was only one spot in the whole park where I could get both the Hat and the Boots in the same view.  From most other points in the park they were either too far apart or you couldn't see the two boots and the hat together.  Here is the sketch I did and a photo of the park with my set up in the foreground.