Leschi Nostalgia

8/23/19 Leschi Market in the Leschi neighborhood

On warm summer days when I was a kid, my older sister and I would walk the half-mile or so from our home to Leschi Market, where we’d buy popsicles or ice cream bars. Then we’d spread a blanket on the grass at the adjacent park to eat our treats with a view of Lake Washington and the marina. Of course, when I was eight years old, that view that others would call “breathtaking” or “sweeping” (especially when Mt. Rainier was out) didn’t impress me much. We had the same view from our livingroom window. I took it for granted. It’s only now, many decades later and no longer enjoying such a view in Maple Leaf, that I realize how fortunate I was to grow up in the Leschi neighborhood.

8/23/19 Leschi Marina

Indulging in such reminiscence while I sketched was a rare treat for me with USk Seattle today. Although Leschi Market is not a storefront I would choose to sketch under any other circumstance, I did, purely out of nostalgia. While nearly everything about the area has changed since I lived there, that store still remains (though I’m pretty sure they didn’t offer organic chickens when my mom shopped there).

Next I wandered over to the marina, which apparently inspired many sketchers. I walked partway out on a rickety dock that made me a bit seasick when the water suddenly went rough, but I liked the composition of the boats with the I-90 bridges behind them.

Cool boats, hot day.

After riding my bike from Greenlake I should have known to sit in the shade, but this was the view that called me. I burnt the back of my neck pretty good and still had to ride home. The things we do for a sketch.













And here's the sketch from the West Seattle Junction:

grand collections, sketcher in residence at the MOHAI

the Virginia V

Grand collection of boats, planes, folk and great public space.

the 'mother' ship.

Fisherman's Terminal

            This weekend, I found myself in the vicinity of Fisherman's Terminal and took the opportunity to sketch this Seattle institution. I can remember as a child how exciting it was on the rare occasion that my family would eat at Chinooks and then walk on the docks. There is the hustle of fishermen preparing for their next expedition, the beauty of the wooden sailing boats and the luxury of the private yachts.

            On the day I visited, the docks were quiet since it was Saturday afternoon. I wandered about, sketching several of the boats and the Fisherman's Memorial. Families and bicyclists were the main visitors, though a deck hand stopped and talked with me about sketching. I left as the temperature plunged around 4:15 and a stiff breeze began to blow off the harbor.

40 Minute Sketch

 

 

20 Minute Sketch

5 Minute Sketch

 

 

1 Minute Sketches

Still waters

Susan Miller and I were able to spend a warm, reflective afternoon at Fishermen's terminal this week. Having spent many a shivering hour there before, this was a rare treat.

Signs, Symbols and Halibut at the Terminal

...I thought about Mondrian's frustration this as I drew this Boat.  It is a Halibut Longliner built 100 years ago in the Nordic style. I haven't reduced its wooden form into some angular derivative, not retreated fully into crude romantic scribbles. I think this idea, this meaning distilled in form, is part of third way that is a balance between objectivity and subjectivity.  Schjeldahl would have readers believe that quality in Art proceeds in evolutionary shifts, as in from cubism to suprematism.  I however believe them both, in their classical rigidity and wispy sipirtulism, to be the Scylla and Charybdis  through which quality must pass...

Catching Up on Sketches

Here's a bit of catch up for me with a few sketches. I'm planning to see you at the Ballard market!

....Fisherman's Terminal in August, a beautiful fun day with sketchers...
.....the Woodland Park Zoo in March with sketchers, brisk weather, but another favorite place...
.....an escape to Bandon, OR, one of my most favorite places, in March, fresh sea air, rocks, exquisite scenery there...
.....a plane trip to Texas to visit family in April, what else could I draw?...
.....a side trip to the Wichita Mountains, OK in May, a wildlife refuge for bison...

One more for Seattle Waterfront

A pretty day at the waterfront! Very lively and colorful. It reminded me how much I enjoy our best summer days.

Since I've started sketching, I've been interested in structures like the one in my view. Does it have something to do with the concerts there? Many boats are docked in that marina. I chose the one that seemed to be smiling.

Center for Wooden Boats

Another good day for sketching with good company. I've always loved tugboats. They seem more like a toy than a workhorse to me. I looked up Foss and they have a nice history. "Founded in 1889, the Foss story is a quintessential example of the American Dream: Thea Foss, a young Norwegian immigrant and her husband, Andrew, turned one rowboat into what eventually became a world class fleet of tugboats." www.foss.com/about_history.html

sailor take warning

Seattle Plein Air has been going to Fish. Term. every Wednesday for a few weeks now. The weather even let us out today! I think it's due to my friend Leigh's good karma. Most of the morning the sky was a little friendlier than this, but right over these boats it was quite grumpy.

A big fishing reel

I've been going to Fishermans' Terminal for (umm...) five decades -- we had many family birthday dinners at the "Wharf" restaurant -- but I'd never made a picture there before. There are more pleasure craft now and fewer working boats, but here is one.

Here is Gabi looking intently at his subject!

Here is the famous sculpture "Architects on a Bench":

Here is Beth painting.

And here we are sharing sketchbooks, which was eye-opening in all kinds of wonderful ways!



It was a great show-and-tell!

Our first crawl - Fishermen's Terminal

Here are the lovely urban sketchers! It was wonderful to meet you all and see your astounding work. Hope to see it all up here soon so I can look at it often!

fairhaven shipyard

Got to go up to Bellingham a couple weeks ago with my husband, whose ferry was in the Fairhaven shipyard there. While he worked 12 hours I hung out around the shipyard sketching and painting.

Here's my morning view from the public boat launch down the road. The ferry is in the background center right.

Here is a view of the parking lot across the railroad tracks, from the loading dock where I trespassed to get this sketch.

And finally, here is my oil sketch of the boat launch water view. I was sketching practically on the railroad right-of-way and had to get out of the way of a few trains! Really a great place.

seattle's fishing fleet and working docks

Okay, everyone, when are we meeting at Fishermen's Terminal? I can't wait. This is my 8x8 oil sketch from last time, with Frances!

I keep waiting to see new sketches from you all up here, hope you'll post some!

Sketching at Fishermen's Terminal

This was one of the seemingly hundreds of fishing boats docked at Fisherman's Terminal in Seattle Washington on a recent sketching trip with a couple of artist friends. Hope to go there again soon.

Fishermen's Terminal

Many thanks to Gabi and Dave for getting this party started! Here are a couple sketches from a day at Fishermen's Terminal a couple weeks ago. Don't know why this place isn't crawling with artists! 360 degrees of irresistible sketching!