Catching up.

To fit everything I liked about this view at Bothell Country Market into one drawing I had to do some squishing. Might be time to get a landscape sketchbook with longer pages, but then habits die hard.

I gave a private lesson at Suzzallo Library at UW. My student and I sat side-by-side and drew this view at a comfy table. 

This view of Suzzallo was drawn with my class from Gage Academy as a demo.

The atrium across the street from the market on Winslow Ave in Bainbridge, drawn a few weeks ago with Urban Sketchers Seattle.

Sitting on a blanket with my partner, as we drew The Shelter on the east side of Green Lake.

A sketch from behind an antique shop in Wenatchee, where I'll be giving an Urban Sketchers-themed "sermon" at the Unitarian Church this Sunday, followed by a workshop at Radio Station Gallery and Pub.

Steve Reddy's Workshop at Wallingford Center

3/17/18 Steve Reddy's students at Wallingford Center

Steve Reddy’s “Confident Contours” workshop today was first out of the gate in USk Seattle’s10x10 program this year. I hopped over to Wallingford Center this morning to see how the workshop was going. His students were all focused and hard at work learning composition and values in the retail center’s corridor and among the colorful displays.

Steve helping a student.

There's no place like home.

I took the bus downtown and walked from Pike Place to south of the viaduct, back up through Pioneer Square and Belltown. Then took the bus back to Wallingford to wander along 45th to the University district (where I bought for $3 a second-hand copy of Saul Bellow's Herzog because of a review in the current New Yorker), finally through Ravenna and around Greenlake. In the end, I came home and drew my studio.

Diva Espresso, Wallingford Neighborhood.

Rough pencil and beginning contours.

Ink wash.

72nd Street Café, Seattle

Just another coffee shop interior, this time 72nd Street Café, Greenlake, Seattle, where I settled to read my recent library book, Ben Lerner's Leaving Atocha Station, which I'm loving.

Lincoln Elementary Computer Lab

I subbed for a couple days last week at APP Lincoln, just a few blocks from my house. The kids had earned, according to the lesson plans left by their regular teacher, an hour in the computer lab. When a student asked if she could go back to the room to get her sketchbook, I told her to grab mine as well, and I drew the kids as they played games. I rarely draw people because they move too much, but I was captive with nothing else to do. When I finished, they asked me for a copy so I printed one out for their room.

Café Days

I've been enjoying hanging out with Donna exploring the many coffee shops Seattle has to offer. We read the paper, sketch, I rough out my next comic-diary page and often just before leaving, capture the scene around us. Here is a sampling:

 Chocolati, Green Lake.

 Bauhaus Coffee, Green Lake

 Fremont Coffee, Fremont (duh)

 Revolution Coffee, Green Lake

Sunlight Café, Roosevelt

Zoka's in Tangletown near Greenlake.

Since moving a mile south of our old place, Zoka's has become our morning stop on the 2-mile walk to the gym. They've already memorized our orders, and often give us multiple punches on our frequent-flyer cards. Most importantly, the music is low-key and the atmosphere library-like, though the many bookshelves are oddly empty.
I drew the interior years ago with the Sketch Pistols, another Seattle area drawing group.

Bedlam Coffee, Belltown, Seattle.

Too wet to draw outside, Donna and I took the bus to Belltown to draw at Bedlam Coffee, a favorite place to draw. I've drawn here a couple of times before:

Edmonds, WA

Pet-sat in Edmonds over the weekend, and drew this during a coffee break near the central fountain.

South Lake Union

 

Donna's parents visited from Connecticut and stayed at the Residence Inn on South Lake Union. I drew the view from their balcony as we watched the sun set.

Gasworks Park

When the group met at Gasworks last week, Donna and I arrived early and set up before the rain started. I had the basic lines drawn before the rain drove us away. Props to those sketchers who stuck it out. I went back this week to finish the drawing in the sun.

Seeing Double

I drew the first sketch of my cousin's campsite while seated next to a smoking fire at our family reunion on Green River. Then yesterday I painted the view from in front of Herkimer Coffee on Phinney Ridge. After posting them, I was struck by how, as tiny thumbnail images on my phone, similar in composition and color they are: the heavy right side; the white left side; the tree and the telephone pole; the trike and the bike; the blue cubes. I guess my mind was kind of stuck on this particular layout.

Carmelita's Coffee Trailer

Met the Seattle Urban Sketchers at Shilshole Marina, Seattle and set up my stool at Carmelita's Coffee and Desserts, next door to Surf Ballard. The owner of this little coffee trailer gave me a latté after seeing the drawing. Thanks, Maria!

Green River

My extended maternal Irish family meets every August on Green River for our annual reunion. I drew this between inner tubing the easy rapids and cooking s'mores.

House in Ballard

Commission for the owner of this house, arranged as a gift from his tenant, a sweet yoga instructor who saw my work hanging in the Ballard Starbucks.

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.

Mass and Space on Vashon Island

Sketching with another artist who has different preferences for subject is a challenge. I like to draw dense clusters of objects, while Donna focuses on the play of light in the spaces between objects. Urban Sketchers Seattle met on Vashon Island Friday. Having never been there before, Donna and I spent way too much time wandering around, comparing locations. We finally settled where she had a view of the Sound, while I drew the nearby clump of mailboxes.

The Pioneer Square Mission

I'd had my eye on this building for a while, but the weather hadn't cooperated when I'd made the trip in the past- overcast skies not giving me the high contrast shadows I use to define my subjects. When I heard the Sketchers were meeting in Pioneer Square on a sunny morning, I knew exactly what I wanted to draw.

Pepperdock Burgers

A beautiful morning on Alki Beach, with a good turn-out of Seattle Urban Sketchers with several new faces. I wasted about 40 minutes of drawing time waiting in line at Tully's, and the scene I wanted to draw was unappealingly backlit, but I still managed to get something down on paper. The owner of Pepperdock sent an underling out to ask if they could have the sketch, but I told him I only sell prints and gave him my card. After the sharing session and a chicken lettuce wrap at Fat Burgers, I went back and finished up the drawing (even though the shadows had all changed from my initial ink washes), only getting a little sunburnt on the back of my neck.