City Hall Sakura

 

All of a sudden the Yoshina cherry trees at Renton City Hall have peaked!

Boon Boona

A hardy five sketchers met in Renton this morning. One, coming from Edmonds, even had to shovel out from the snow.

Most sketched inside the Boon Boona coffee shop. I went out in my car to sketch a house that I've had my eye on. I admired the vine arching over the porch. 

We also saw Ellie's show at the cafe.

 

Yoshino Cherries

 

Today was another beautiful afternoon for cherry tree sketching. My second favorite place is the small grove of Yoshino Cherry Trees at Renton City Hall. The flags are at half mast in honor of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. She died this week at age 84.

Overflowing

 It's been 4 weeks since our last trash pick up.  First it was the snow storm.  Now it's a strike!  I did avail myself of the company's offer to drop off garbage at a truck in a park last Saturday.  But now we're running out of room for recycling. Most of the neighbors are in worse situation.  At least all our bins close, for now. The last phone message was to leave the bins out until picked up. 

These are the neighbors across the street.  The crows are having a feast!

Autumn

 Ahhh, it's finally Autumn.  I do not like what has become our long, hot, dry summer.  With the equinox today, I was eager to find some fall colors.  The trees in my area haven't quite turned yet.  

Yesterday I went looking for pumpkins and found a very nice display at my local hardware store.  

I also met the display designer, who is a multi-faceted artist.  I enjoyed seeing photos of his work in so many media: paint, jewelry, fiber, paper, etc. 

Today I went to my favorite local garden: Soos Creek Botanical in Auburn.  I didn't even get out of the parking lot area before I plopped down to sketch the very tall sunflowers. 

There were also many flowers still in bloom. It started to sprinkle just as I finished so I didn't do another sketch.  I might go back tomorrow to sketch them. 

Blog-versary

Today is my 9th blog-versary, when I was invited to be a blog correspondent.  Fortunately it was perfect sketching weather so I went out looking for fall color.   Gene Coulon Park, along Lake Washington in Renton, is one of my usual places to find brilliantly colored trees. It's still a bit early for the best color but I did find some.

I sat at the side of the street to sketch the view across.  Bicyclists and the occasional police officer waved at me. 

I found a spot looking back across the beach toward the Interface statue, with some Canada geese. 

In the 'burbs

During an early morning drive to Trader Joe's, I saw this road side abandoned couch. Such items are one of Tina's favorite subjects . Later this afternoon I went back out to sketch it.

I drove around some more in my area, which I refer to as "Kenton" as it's on the border of Renton and Kent (WA...suburbs south of Seattle).

I saw these Torch Lilies next to a driveway.

I turned in to a side street with the intention of going around and back out on the main street in another direction. Then I saw this and pulled over. A guy in a great big truck stopped across the street from me, almost blocking the view. I made sure he could see I was painting from my car as I think he was trying to figure out whether I was a threat. Me??

In all of these I heavily edited the scene, not including a lot of background and distracting content. In this way, my main interest doesn't get lost in the clutter of detail.

Double Double-takes

 

I found two oddball subjects to sketch today. After a rainy and blustery night and morning, it cleared for the afternoon. It's perfect sketching-from-the-car weather.

My first subject was going to be a new sculpture in central Renton. However, there is still so much street construction that I couldn't get a good place to park for a view of it.

As I drove back out of the central part of town, I spotted this odd little vehicle. I turned right back around to park to sketch it. The label on the back said ScooterFactoryUSA.com . And there was a symbol on a round door at the back that indicated it was electric.

When I went to the website, it resolved to a different URL which is a mobility scooter company. This little guy is called a "mini-car mobility scooter".

Next I drove to a neighborhood near my home where, while on my way to an earlier errand, I did a double take on this little tree. It's a highly pruned stubby little tree or bush that's desperately trying to lend some holiday cheer with these large bulbs.

Of the Post Office and Dinos

 I drove out this morning for another session of windshield sketching.  I needed to drop something at the Post Office so checked around back for any mail trucks.  They did keep coming and going so I sketched these quickly.  I also found a sign on the fence. That and the PO logos on the trucks are bits of collage. 

The sign says, "the Eagle always faces forward". 

Then I drove to the central part of Renton with the plan to sketch more houses but I happened upon an event that was perfect for the USk Flickr group's weekly theme:  "masks".  The Chamber of Commerce was giving away PPE to small businesses.  They had some people in dino costumes to attract attention!  However, they moved a lot and then packed up and left before I was finished.  So my sketches of them were very quick.

Sign of the Primes

Dozens, maybe a hundred, parked Amazon vans may be a sign of this Quarantime.

This is another spot where I've wanted to sketch for a while now. I first noticed all these Amazon Prime vans a few months ago. They are in a large, otherwise empty, lot on the edge of the center of my suburban city. There must be at least a hundred of them! With more people not going into stores, we're buying on line for delivery. Amazon is obviously a big part of that. In addition to the gray Prime vans, there are dozens of white Herz rental vans.


On my way back from an errand, I decided to stop to get this sketch done. I found a nice shady spot to park the car with a view of this line of vans. From there I did a "windshield" sketch (tm Steve Reddy). I didn't get a hero shot as the vans all got driven away before I'd quite finished. As I often do, I didn't think about doing an in-progress photo when I saw the drivers gathering. It was a good thing I didn't plan on putting a lot of detail into the further vans as I'd only just gotten the first wash laid on when they all drove away!

Weekly Theme

Are you looking for a source of drawing prompts? While we can't yet meet up for a sketch outing, we can still draw together. Gabi Campanario started Urban Sketchers on Flickr and there still is a global USk group there. Each Monday a weekly theme is posted. I've done this, on and off, since 2012. It is found in the discussions section of the group: https://www.flickr.com/groups/urbansketches/discuss/ 

Even if you aren't on Flickr, you can share your sketch of the weekly theme on our Instagram at #uskseattle or Facebook groups.  There's also no reason why you can't explore past weekly themes and post your sketches. 

Here is my very first weekly theme sketch, which was boats.  I hadn't done any drawing in about 40 years at that point! (Throw back to Stephanie Bower's challenge from USk Talks!)



This week's theme is "your nearest public transport stop ". I did a dashboard sketch (thank you, @steve_reddy for the term) from the safety of my car.  The parking lot behind the bus stop is for a gas station, coffee stand, and a food truck.  It was just a little too busy for me to want to sit outside to draw.  

Census is coming

Because of "an abundance of caution" and because it's raining again, I did some sketching from the car this morning. 

My suburb has more than one sign about the upcoming Census.  It's important that everyone complete it! 

Church without its doors

There has been some drama in Renton. It all happened while I was on my epic driving trip across the country. **  

Renton is a suburb of a little over a 100,00 and is in the top 25 most diverse cities in the USA. 

The United Christian Church is just a few blocks away from where I live. I read about what happened while I was  gone.  From the article: "The church put up six doors reading 'God’s doors are open to all,' in honor of LGBTQ+ Pride month, a symbol that is part of a greater city-wide message of visibility this year." The doors were in the colors of the Pride flag.

And the doors were vandalized. Twice. The FBI is now involved as the second attempt involved possible arson and an explosion.   The good news is the citizens of Renton banded together to replace the doors. A local social media group to which I belong put out a call for replacement doors and several were offered.  The display was refurbished after the first attack. 



Once back from my long trip, I went over this morning to sketch the doors. They were all gone but in their place was a single door, giving thanks to the community. Dee, a member of the church, stopped by to talk to me while I was sketching. She explained that the church members who put up the doors were away when the second vandalism happened so the doors were not replaced.

While these are discouraging events, there is the silver lining of a larger, supportive community.  Love Wins.



Happy Pride, indeed. 

UCC of Renton website.  I encourage you to look at the graphic on the home page!
Seattle Times article on the vandalism.


** I'm still working on my post(s) about the trip.

Color at Coulon

After a slow start to the day, I had some errands to do about noon.  Once home, I decided to go out again, this time with my sketch kit.  It was a beautiful day:  not a cloud in the sky and 65 degrees.  It was a Pperfect NW autumn day.

Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park is well known locally for the vibrant maple trees that line the street.  That was my destination as I wanted to sketch the trees again.There were so many people there, taking photos of the trees and also making family portraits with the trees as glorious background.

Something for Everyone: The Renton Public Library

11/27/15 Renton library interior

Librarians will tell you that you can find just about anything you want to know at a public library. This sketcher would say that you can also sketch just about anything you want at a library – at least at the Renton library.

11/27/15 Cedar River running under the library

First of all, how about a scenic river? The Cedar, which runs right under the library, is comfortably sketched through wide windows on either side of it, along with trees and even a traffic bridge.

Need some perspective practice? Look in any direction in the wide-open, naturally lit interior space, and you’ll see lots and lots of parallel ceiling, window, shelving and wall lines all converging on those mythical vanishing points. Rows and rows of neatly squared chairs and tables will also keep you busy.

Or maybe people are more your thing? Jackpot – they are everywhere, so completely engrossed in their PCs, books, newspapers and phones that they will be oblivious to your steady, head-on gaze – even if it lasts for 20 solid minutes.

I don’t know about the other Friday sketchers who met today at the Renton library, but I found just about everything I needed there.

11/27/15 busy patron

11/27/15 yet another

11/27/15 another busy patron

Keep Clam!

Clam Lights is a holiday tradition in Renton.  It is a display of Christmas lights along a path in Coulon Park, next to Lake Washington.  My favorite display is the dancing Clams, made famous by Ivar's, a local seafood restaurant.  This video shows them in action!  It was sunny and 58 degrees so I sat on my stool in the park to sketch the Clams during the day.  It's fitting that there is an Ivar's fish & chips shop within view.




They are a version of  "Clem the dancing clam", who first appeared in 1985.  "Keep Clam!"

I got an early start to the day.  I thought it would be safe to make a trip to the mall just as it opened and before it got too crazy.  The Santa stage was facing the opposite direction from previous years, making it easy to sketch from the floor above.  Santa didn't have any children visiting yet.

Apple Cup

Ever since I learned about the group of women who dress up the Interface sculpture in Coulon park, I've gone down at each holiday to check.  There was nothing at Halloween.

Today, however, I was pleased to see them dressed as I drove past.  I'd expected to see some variation of Thanksgiving Pilgrim garb.  But they were in ordinary  sweat pants and shirts.  Huh?  As I got closer, I realized the center figure was dressed as a referee and the two others each wore a university sweatshirt.

Then the light dawned!  Apple Cup!!  Rivals University of Washington (UW Huskies in Seattle) play Washington State (WSU Cougars in Pullman) on Saturday!



Hope you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving. 

Renton Series

I've nearly completed my series of Renton public art. Stiltwalker was the one I couldn't find a couple months ago!  Its head is literally in the tree.  This was completed in 1984 by Ray Jensen and is in the park behind Renton Library.




On the same day, I went  to the Piazza (in the middle of downtown Renton) to sketch "Summer Breeze"  It is by J. Demetro and was dedicated in 2003.

Strathmore Large watercolor Visual Journal (9x12); Daniel Smith watercolors, Lamy pen with Carbon Black ink.

It's a small world

I had a telephone interview this morning with the Renton correspondent for the KOMO News  blog.  Here's the link to her post.

She contacted me a few days ago and I coordinated with Gail about it, who then reminded me I could also post here now that the interview has been published.  Apparently the reporter found my work on the Renton Facebook page, though I wasn't able to find it.  I thought it might have been the sketch I did of the Renton Chamber of Commerce as the staff came out and photographed the drawing to put on their Facebook page.

This is that sketch, done back in July.  Maybe it's what started the chain of events that led to this interview.

Introduction - Kate Buike

This is my first post as a brand new contributor to Urban Sketchers Seattle.  I'm Kate Buike.  I just found Urban Sketchers on 21 February 2012 when Gabi Campanario appeared on a local show promoting his book, The Art of Urban Sketching.  Right then and there I said to myself, "That's what I want to do".  That Sunday, 26 February, I attended my first Sketch Crawl with this wonderful group and I've missed few since.

I just retired in August 2011.  Though I have a couple volunteer activities and lots of interests and hobbies, there was room for more.  Urban Sketching has brought me back to the practice of art and sketching that I enjoyed when I was young(er).  I had a some training and showed my art a little but after getting my first SLR camera in 1974, all my artistic expression went into photography.  Until now. It has been decades since I drew or painted and I am enjoying renewing my skills.  I especially am enjoying this group!

I was born and raised in Michigan.  I’ve also lived & worked in England, Germany, Southern California and now Washington. I have a Masters Degree in Social Work and I’m a medical Social Worker with a past specialty in Oncology.  I've been married for 32 years.  My husband is a computer professional. 

I live in south King County and have been showing a bit of my area of Puget Sound in my sketches.  I chose this one to post here first not because it is my most recent one but because it represents where I live and it amuses me.  This is a Boeing 737 fuselage on a train, presumably headed for the Renton Boeing plant.  I often see trains like this passing through town.  The first time I saw one, I thought it looked very funny.  I had time to draw this as the train was waiting for cars to be towed! It was during Renton River Days and somehow some parked cars were blocking the train's passage. 

Plane on a train:

My Blog: Red Harp Arts
My flickr page:  RedHarp