El Diablo #3

This was my third time drawing at El Diablo Coffee, on Queen Anne. The first time, several years ago, I went alone and drew the students studying (below).


The second time was with Urban Sketchers Seattle and was the first time I met Tom Ettel. We sat together and chatted as I drew the cluttered counter (center). We have since become good friends and frequent sketching buddies.

This time, Tom, is brother Peter, and I headed to El Diablo again to find it had relocated a couple of buildings north. We sat upstairs and, after disturbing a couple of newly accredited therapists having an intense discussion about their new practice, we got to work. After all the walking around and chatting, I didn't have to finish on site (above).

I'll increase the contrast and add some hatching later.

Potpourri

Café Javasti, Wedgwood Neighborhood

Suzzallo Library, with Location Drawing Class

Café Racer "Dune Night"

I recently moved to Wedgwood and have begun sketching my new local coffee shops in the mornings.












An in-class demo drawn for my Gage students during class.



















Drawn at the bar of Café Racer during the monthly drawing jam, held the third Tuesday of the month, from 7-11pm. All the drawings are then collected into a zine called Dune.

I have a show of a dozen large watercolors at Phinney's Herkimer, where I sat and drew the view from the corner window.

I'll be giving a book talk and signing at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park on the 7th at 7pm. I went to scope out the space and drew this found still-life in the same room where I'll be chatting. I hope you'll come out for it so I'm not left talking only to this clay frog.

New book cover

Up On The Roof

Twenty years living in Seattle and I'd never been to the Freeway Park. Thanks for the impetus, Urban Sketchers!

Pike Place Market, take three.

Students in my 10x10 workshop had good results sitting against the wall across from the donut machine so I followed their example. About 20 minutes into my sketch a tour group set up camp almost in my lap so I had to move. I joined Liz and Anjl to draw the busker near the pig but the crowd was even more distracting. I finally sat across from Deja Vu and drew the intersection, thinking I'd be safe there. Then halfway through this sketch the flower shop opened and they rolled a large cart out, blocking my view of the right side of my scene! That's why it's a bit vacant on the right. I had hoped to include the news stand but I cut my losses and added more bricks instead.

Better late than never?

I'm behind in my USk posting. Let me catch up:

 Drawn with USk at MOHAI. Too cold for brushes and ink wash! I used markers and red Uniball.

 

Pike Place Market drawn for USk 10 x10 workshop

With USk at Grand Central Bakery but I forgot my sketchbook, so I did this in my lined journal

This was a commission from his girlfriend for the owner of Al's Tavern in Wallingford

First drawing from inside my new-to-me 2012 Prius

 Chocolati in Wallingford

 My dishes drying in the rack

Fisherman's Terminal at Interbay

 Drawing at Guitar Center in South Lake Union while Donna browsed

  

Hanging in the UW gift shop during Donna's lunch break

Sorry if this is overkill, I'll try to be better about keeping up. See you at SAM!

Stimson-Green Restroom

The Stimson-Green Mansion had a lot of good viewpoints to choose from, and I was tempted to sit downstairs in the musty kitchen because of all the hanging pots and pans, but decided to save it for next time. Instead I went for the restroom upstairs. Although it looks like I'm on the throne, I sat on my camping stool in the doorway should anybody need to get in for more legit reasons. No one did.

Swanson's, Roy Street, and Seattle Sound Repair.

As usual, I was drawn to this neglected pile of nursery clutter. I know I can't improve on the beauty of flowers, but maybe I can give this sad little corner of the nursery some attention and respect.










I met with the gang for the show-and-tell, but had to run to get to my location drawing class at Gage Academy. Five brave students and I met at Roy Street Coffee on Capitol Hill to sketch inside the dark and crowded coffee shop. I wish I could post their drawings here as well because they were terrific.

I've been recording my experiences from my Improv class in comic form. Those daily graphic-novel style pages are my focus right now, though the audience is completely different than my USk friends. To cross-over, I tried to apply some of those more high-contrast graphic techniques at Roy Street. It's quicker than the ink washes I've come to rely on:

I discovered Seattle Sound Repair while walking by the store front on Stone Way. I complimented Marie on the beautiful clutter and set up a drawing time, but when I arrived, she had "helpfully" cleaned everything up! Not to be deterred from drawing chaos, I swiveled my chair to draw parts of the shop she hadn't thought to tidy. If you look closely, you might see owner Marie herself in one of these drawings.

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:

Getting Some Distance

I tried something different (for me) on this outing to the Amgen Helix Bridge. Determined to get it all done on location, I quickly gestured in some darks to place the objects, and used those blobs as guides for the contours, which were also thrown on quickly.

The results are not nearly as refined as usual, but it was such a freeing session, and all finished in just over an hour, that I plan to continue with this method for a few more crawls.

Lincoln Park Foliage

I challenged myself to draw something besides man-made geometry and piles of clutter. Extremely difficult to find an inroad to a scene without platonic solids but a good opportunity to stretch. Next time I'll draw the play structure or the camping sheds.

Miri's Snack Shack (Again)

I drew this little coffee/dessert stand when it was called Camelita's on Shilshole during a Seattle Urban Sketchers meet-up a couple years ago (?). On a bike ride yesterday I saw it had changed owners and name so I set up my stool to draw it again. That's Donna drawing a comic in the shade of the awning.

Terminal

It was very quiet where we sat at the far north end of the terminal. Normally I listen to my earbuds while drawing but I left them at home this time. Donna, usually preferring to work in silence, allowed herself to be pulled into my chatter. We didn't realize how well our voices carried, and as we drew Donna and I got into a pretty heavy and far-ranging conversation. A fisherman working on his boat called out to us, joking, "No serious discussions while on the docks!"

Visible Light Sources

I usually compose horizontally, but the tall ceiling at the King Street Station and the ornate detailing pulled my gaze upwards so that's what I chose to draw from the hard wooden pew-like benches in the main room. Determined to get it all done in two hours, I dove in with no pencilling, racing to capture as much detail as I could. The only thing I added after the time ran out were the dark reflections on the shiny floor.

Coincidentally, the day before I had drawn another vertical sketch at Fuel Coffee in Wallingford, and noticed another similarity- the visible light sources. I do a lot of squinting at my subjects now, trying to reduce the visible info to tone only. Color can be eye-catching but it's not part of my current self-imposed curriculum.

A Show Of Urban Sketches at Seattle's Irwin's Neighborhood Bakery in Wallingford.

 

The Anchored Ship, Ballard

In the movie, Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon's character says going out for coffee is as arbitrary as going out for a handful of caramels.
But it feels odd to sit for an hour or two drawing in a coffee shop eating caramels.

At Irwin's Neighborhood Bakery in Wallingford, for the month of April, I have a show of Urban Sketches drawn on location at coffee shops and cafés around Seattle.

The Bounty, Stone Way and 45th

Café Umbria, Pioneer Square

Vios Café in Third Place Books on 65th.

Planet Java Café, Pioneer Square

Planet Java Café, Pioneer Square (again)

Donna gets a tune-up.

I'd planned on joining the gang at Drunky's, but obviously Donna took precedence. Donna and I spend a lot of time doing our own things while in each other's company, so hanging out and drawing while she read or played on her phone was not far removed from an hour in a coffee shop. I did have to teach the night after her surgery at the Gage and managed this in-class demo though my mind was not entirely on the class.