Good to Be Back at West Seattle’s Farmers Market

 

10/4/26 West Seattle Farmers Market

Checking my blog, I think the last time I sketched at the West Seattle Farmers Market was all the way back in 2017 during USk Seattle’s weekend pity party! It was fun to get back there with USk again, especially in Sunday afternoon’s beautiful sunshine.

Buskers are always a favorite subject at farmers markets, and this one had plenty to choose from. Although I only caught a man on ukulele and a teenager on saxophone, I saw and heard at least two more musicians elsewhere in the small-ish market. I managed to catch a few dogs, too!

Bruun Idun at Lincoln Park

 

8/23/25 Thomas Dambo's troll Bruun Idun at Lincoln Park, West Seattle

Lincoln Park in West Seattle is one I rarely get to: It’s an inconvenient drive, especially with this summer’s highway construction projects, and parking there is an ongoing challenge. But I knew that one of the Thomas Dambo trolls is in residence at beachfront Lincoln Park, and I’d been wanting to sketch Bruun Idun for a long time, so I was happy when co-admin Kim initiated leading a USk outing there.

According to the legend:

"In the night, there was a storm, there at the beach where she was born
And Idun felt a feeling wrong, and so she walked there in the dawn
And in a flute, the magic horn, a tune so passionate and strong
She played for them an orca song to ask them where they all had gone"

Naturally, most of the sketchers that day were attracted to Bruun, and for more than the obvious reason: Although temps on Saturday morning were already in the mid-80s and trending upward, the dense shade around the troll made the beach nearly chilly. We all had a comfortable time even as the rest of the city sweltered.

After finishing my main color sketch, I had to waste some time moving my car from one time-restricted spot to another. That left time for only a smaller sketch of the troll with a sketcher and the serene and shady “fairy ring” of trees near the parking area where we did our throwdown.

After the outing ended, I needed to use the facilities down at the beach, so I used the opportunity for a couple more quick sketches: Cars boarding the Vashon ferry and one of many beach fishermen we saw bringing in an abundance of salmon.

visions of vashon

This weekend, as y'all were drinking at the brewery, 5 ladies (including our own Swagatika and April!) and I were exploring Vashon & Maury Island on an overnight art retreat across the water. It was my first time on the island. Props to them for organizing such a good getaway, it was super fun and we saw a ton (including orcas in the Puget Sound!!) while also having lots of time to sketch/journal and relax. 

 

Arriving early, we had about 20 minutes waiting on the West Seattle ferry deck before departure. It was so scenic from there, it was difficult to choose a subject! I settled on a small view of the houses along the (private) beach and the long-trunked conifers surrounding them. I noticed a sliver of red peeking out....and realized this modern home was indeed flying the Confederate flag. It seemed really smug to me, waving to us from afar, and put me in a bad mood. I guess we should thank them for putting their racist flag outside so we can know what kind of people they are 🙃

I made several paintings on this trip, but I kinda like the quicker/looser marker sketches I did in my sketchbook more than the more developed watercolors. 

We spent a good long while at Snapdragon in central Vashon, and it had really good vibes. The prices were fair and the portions were extremely generous! 

Lately, I'm finding myself attracted to really blown out scenes; like, when the light is so bright outdoors that everything inside is reduced to near-silhouetted shapes with minimal detail, and the dark areas are very close in value. It's almost hard to look at, but it gives a very specific atmosphere. 

Just before we had to get to the ferry on Sunday, April, Swagatika and I stopped at KVI Beach for a bit, where I was compelled to capture the red and white radio tower. I subdivided divided my page into smaller boxes to fit the super-tall composition as well as to fit the limited time we had there. Looking around from my spot lying in the sand, I captured some vignettes of the scenery, and continued filling in the boxes until we reached the Seattle side of the water.

I recently bought a 48 marker set of Kuretake Zig Calligraphy pens (since apparently they're not sold in singles anywhere any longer...at least I can't find them). Having so many colors is such a luxury. I've been taking a few out at a time, somewhat at random, and making these limited color sketches. I like the simplicity of this system, compared to the infinite possibilities of watercolor. 

No Right Angles

4/27/18 Top Pot Doughnuts, West Seattle

After a phenomenal week of sunshine and record-breaking heat yesterday, today dawned cloudy with a chance of rain, which normally would have been disappointing for our sketch outing in West Seattle. I was eager, however, to apply the concepts I learned last week in Andika’s workshop, so I didn’t mind staying indoors at Top Pot Doughnuts.

It was only after I sat down with coffee and an apple fritter and looked around the room that I began to realize something strange: Top Pot has no right angles! The walls, the almost-L-shaped bar, the funky, partially rounded ceiling trim – everything is slightly askew.

Fortified with fat, sugar and caffeine, I attacked the room, grumbling and occasionally muttering, What would Andika do? I had planned to put at least some of my doughnut into the sketch, but it took me a full two hours to do the sketch, so the doughnut didn’t have a chance.

Mega Pity Party Weekend!

8/11/17 Part of Calder's Eagle at the Sculpture Park

When we heard that the 5th Annual West Coast Sketch Crawl in Vancouver, B.C., had been cancelled, many of us in Seattle were very disappointed. I had a great time in Tacoma last year and in San Diego the year before, and I had been looking forward to another terrific long weekend of sketching in that lovely Canadian city to the north.

The USk Seattle admin team decided that we weren’t going to cry over lost sketching. For the same weekend that would have been the Sketch Crawl, we scheduled an extravaganza of outings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Not intended to be a formal replacement for the cancelled event, it was just a way to give everyone as many sketch outing options as possible as we move toward the waning days of summer.

8/11/17 Space Needle

On Friday we met at the Olympic Sculpture Park, which has become something of a summertime staple. Although I sketch Calder’s Eagle just about every time I visit (last year, twice in 2014 and in 2013), I was magnetically drawn to it yet again. This time, however, I chose a partial view, and as I sketched, I remembered fondly Calder’s similar but much larger Flamingo in Chicago.

I wandered around the park a long time, simply enjoying the not-too-hot sunshine and not feeling particularly compelled – until I saw the Space Needle peeking over some buildings. Then with only a few minutes before the throwdown, I made a quick sketch above the amphitheater with Richard Serra’s Wake in the background. The empty space on the page was a good spot to hold the badge that Kate had playfully given to participants.

8/11/17 Amphitheater and Richard Serra's Wake

8/12/17 Sketcher on the ferry

For Saturday, Day 2 of our extravaganza, we chose Bainbridge Island for an entire day of sketching. Meeting up on the ferry, most of us started sketching right away, and I spotted a woman I didn’t know who looked like she was sketching, too. When we talked to her later, it turned out Martha was aware of Urban Sketchers but didn’t know we would be on the ferry that day. A life drawing student, she simply enjoys sketching people on the ferry. Imagine meeting a sketcher in the wild who isn’t part of Urban Sketchers while we’re on our way to a sketch outing!

After the initial meetup in Winslow, I headed for the Bainbridge Farmers Market, where I was lured by music and the smells of good foods cooking. I had to leave the house so early to catch the ferry that I had skipped breakfast, so I ate a big piece of carrot cake while sketching Good Karma Blues, a lively band with a terrific vocalist.

8/12/17 Good Karma Blues at Bainbridge Farmers Market

8/12/17 Eagle Harbor

That was a lot of fun, and I could have stayed all day sketching nothing but the market, but I was on an island, after all, so I found myself gravitating toward the water. At Eagle Harbor, the sun started to break through the overcast sky as a few lazy boats knocked against a pier. 

After the sketchbook throwdown, the group split up – some going to Rolling Bay to take part in the art studio tour and some staying in Winslow for lunch and whatever. I opted for the latter, and after a leisurely lunch of symposium gossip, half the afternoon zipped by on island time. A few of us went to the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, where local artist Bill Hemp has an exhibit of pen and ink drawings of island locations. Interestingly, the pieces are reproductions of his sketchbook pages that look like they are torn right out of a spiral-bound book.

While I often have opportunities to sketch ferries, I see them only when they are either stopped briefly at a dock or a long distance away where it’s hard to see details. I took advantage of a moored ferry near the Winslow terminal to squeeze in one last sketch before hopping on the ferry back to Seattle. I think being able to take my time to observe and draw all the details on this one will help me fake it a little more realistically next time I need to sketch a ferry on the fly.

8/12/17 Washington State Ferry at Winslow terminal

For our third and final day, we chose the West Seattle Farmers Market, one of Seattle’s few neighborhood markets that are open all year round. As I was driving across the West Seattle Bridge, the drizzle on my windshield started looking like it could be “measurable” rain, which made me wonder if we had finally ended our record-breaking spell of consecutive dry days. I also started wondering if our sketch outing would end in a soggy mess. As it turned out, we did end our dry streak with 56 consecutive rainless days, but I needn’t have worried about sogginess – the measurable drizzle stopped as quickly as it had begun, and it was my favorite sketching weather – a comfortable temperature, not windy, the sun darting in and out of clouds just often enough to provide shadows or light, whichever you need at the moment.

8/13/17 Bluegrass band at West Seattle Farmers Market

I hardly sketched any people in Chicago, so today I made up for it. A lively bluegrass band, a young cellist, and a guitarist standing in front of a huge mural all provided the tunes for a fun morning at the farmers market.

8/13/17 guitarist and mural

8/13/17 cellist at the market

8/13/17 Junction Plaza Park near the West Seattle Farmers Market 

Despite the iffy weather, we had a small but stalwart turnout for our pity party finale. And Sue and I get the prize (each other’s respect!) for participating on all three days!

Stalwart sketchers at the Day 3 finale

Sue and I made it to all three days!

Summer at Last at Lincoln Park Beach

7/15/16 Lincoln Park beach

It was only 55 degrees when I got up this morning. When Urban Sketchers Seattle met at Lincoln Park, several of us were toting Polartecs or raincoats, just in case the weather changed the wrong way. (We joked that Seattle beachwear always includes Polartec.) But sitting in the blazing sun to make these sketches, all of my layers came off right away, and I was glad I wore a tank top. It’s finally summer!

I was almost finished sketching the pink and lavender vehicle parked next to some driftwood when its driver came by and drove off, so I had to fake some of the shading. The Vashon ferry in the background, which I was afraid would also pull out before I was done, took a lot longer to unload and load its long lines of cars. 

7/15/16 Vashon ferry

Happy Birthday, Elvis!

1/8/16 Ken sketching outside Top Pot.

If the Friday sketchers hadn’t met at Top Pot Doughnuts this morning, I probably would have gone through the day unaware that today is Elvis’s birthday. But thankfully we did meet at the shop’s West Seattle location on Alki Avenue, where the “hand-forged” doughnut company was recognizing what would have been the King’s 81^st birthday. I decided to pass on the King’s Rings (maple-frosted doughnuts encrusted with thick squares of bacon), but there was plenty else to sketch in the large yet cozy space.

During a typical 2.5 hour sketch outing, I tend to do two or three sketches. Today I felt like doing a series of small sketches. I even ventured outside the store for one sketch of the street, but that didn’t last long (my phone weather app said it was 37 F).

The last time I sketched Elvis was three years ago at Drawing Jam. Thinking that the King’s Rings might prompt an appearance, I was ready, but no Elvis was sighted. Maybe next year.

1/8/16 Top Pot's counter

1/8/16 Alki Avenue Southwest

Jack Block Park

On a very early sketch crawl, years ago, the Seattle Urban Sketchers met at Jack Block Park. Donna had the idea to visit there on Memorial Day, as she'd never been. It was cool and breezy and perfect for sitting for a couple hours in the zone.

Chinese Garden - Seattle

Great day for sketching, beautiful location and good turnout. The Garden is a work in progress and it will be fun to come back here to sketch and paint the new amendments and completed construction.

Pen and ink with watercolor in a Moleskine sketchbook.

Sketching at Seacrest Park

On the last sunny day of winter, I decided to go for a walk through West Seattle. I stopped at Seacrest Park to eat at Marination, a fun restaurant that serves Hawaiian food.   

Besides their food, Marination also has a stunning view across Elliot Bay to downtown Seattle.

I have drawn this view of downtown Seattle several times and decided to draw a view focused on Marination instead. 

Marination is housed in the Seacrest boathouse, which was built in 1989. Besides Marination, the building also features a canoe and kayak rental shop, public restrooms and hosts the annual Tengu Club Fishing Derby.

The dock outside of the boathouse is the West Seattle stop for the Elliot Bay water taxi.

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.

Hamilton Viewpoint Panorama



8/30/13 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Zig marker, Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

One of the many sketchbooks I received from sponsors at the Barcelona Urban Sketching Symposium was a Moleskine accordion-folded (Japanese style) sketchbook containing watercolor paper. (More about the book on my personal blog.) When I saw that the book folds out into a single, 23-panel page, I knew I wanted to use it for a panoramic landscape sketch. In the past when I’ve done skyline panoramas, I’ve used a landscape-format sketchbook to capture as much as I could in a double-page spread. At Jack Block Park, I got only from the Smith Tower to Queen Anne Hill.

 

I finally got an opportunity to give the Moleskine book a try yesterday at West Seattle’s Hamilton Viewpoint. Since I’m left-handed, I turned the book upside-down and started sketching from the right side of the view (again at the Smith Tower) and continued in the northerly direction until I couldn’t see any further. This time I got all the way over to Magnolia, filling seven panels (the green masses at the sketch’s bottom are trees that were partially blocking the water view).

 

Shown below are the scanned panels. From top to bottom, they show the skyline from north to south.