San Diego Maritime Museum

Russian sub and vintage wooden ships at the San Diego Maritime Museum.

Vintage Cycle and sidecar

1967 BMW with Stieb sidecar ('30s) drawn at last Saturday's Tacoma gathering - Harley-Davidson in Fife.

Pen and ink in a Stillman & Birn Zeta series sketchbook.

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.

February Sketch Gathering - Melrose & Pike Seattle

Went into town with Tamra and had breakfast at the Corner Cafe (1000 Madison St.), great food and staff. Walking down to the gathering I came across this view and went back to sketch it after the morning meetup.

Our daughter had a music performance at CWU (Ellensburg) that afternoon, so getting back for the afternoon sharing wasn't possible.

Pen & ink with a watercolor wash in a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.  

Sketcher's Gathering Seattle Center - Winterfest

How nice it was to be able to sketch outside in December and then meet inside when my whimpy self got cold. I saw a post yesterday from a European Urban Sketcher blogging about putting alcohol in their watercolor water so the liquid wouldn't freeze while painting in minus13 degree weather. Yes, I will shut up now about being cold.

I did this sketch of the dormant popcorn booth called Popcornucopia. It has been part of the International Fountain landscape for as long as I can remember.

Pen and ink with watercolor in a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.

Post Alley Busking Duo

Though there was an Urban Sketcher event going on in the Bus Tunnel, my girls were going to a concert at Benaroya Hall a bit later so we decided to commute in together. A brisk beautiful fall day in Seattle made for a busy Post Alley and often making the subject matter dissapear. The young entertainer was quite good and his dog would sing on command.

I had tested a new ink pen (disposable) on paper before I did this sketch - no bleeding. What I didn't do was test in on the watercolor paper of my sketchbook. With the exception of the door, I was going to have to be satisfied with shading using water and a brush pen.

Pen, ink, watercolor pencil in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2nd Annual West Coast Urban Sketchers Gathering - Portland

With Seattle sketcher Gail Wong, I rode a Bolt Bus down to Portland for the day to participate in this annual event. It was my first real trip to spend any time in downtown Portland and was impressed with the architecture and culture of the city. I definitely will be back.

This building caught my eye because of the color around the windows of what seemed like a warehouse, only to be told by a passing mail courier that in 2012 it was the site of MTV's 28th season of 'The Real World', probably one of the original reality shows.

There were over a hundred sketchers attending the event and I met many great sketchers whose work I've enjoyed online and can now put a face to. I went back to Seattle that night on the bus, a bit much for one hot day (90+). Next time I'll stay for the weekend and why not, Portland has a lot to offer a sketcher.

Sketching with the gang at Alki

The June sketcher's gathering took place on or around Alki Beach at West Seattle. Beautiful weather, too nice maybe, by the time I did my urban hike back to the truck I was quite burnt - the forgotten sunscreen still sitting on the bathroom counter.

Pen and ink with watercolor in a Stillman & Birn watercolor sketchbook.

Urban Sketchers Gathering International District - Seattle

It was cold and wet, hell all of March was wet. The green awning is the Fortune Garden Restaurant I believe. Pen and ink with watercolor.

Urban Sketchers Gathering - Craven Farms

Okay a bit late, this was done last October on a crazy packed Craven Farm in Snohomish. Ok for a sketch, but lacks a focal point and the subltle sky and clouds washed out. Next time.

Watercolor in a Stillman & Birn watercolor sketchbook.

The Seattle Urban Sketchers January Gathering at MOHAI

The Museum of History and Industry. Toe Truck second time around. Pen and ink with a watercolor wash in a Stillman & Birn Alpha series sketchbook.

Toe Truck - Seattle's Museum of History and Industry

My wife works for the Puget Sound Blood Center who had their annual awards and holiday dinner at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI). If you grew up in or around Seattle, you surely saw (on your way to the Seattle Center) the pink Lincoln's Toe Truck parked just off the Mercer exit.

That blast from the past now resides just inside the entrance to MOHAI and for this event, the backdrop to a no-host bar.

Pen and ink with watercolor wash.

Kickstarter Launch for NOW WHERE WAS I?

Hey, Everybody! After the gratifying requests I received to make a book, here it is. Please pass this link on to your friends and ask them to pass it on so I can get this labor of love printed and into your hands. OH YEAH- Check out the short video made by my talented friend Deborah Libby. (All the good parts were her ideas!) Thank you thank you!

Click here:   KICKSTARTER!

New England Marina

On a recent trip to Boston we got to hang out in New Bedford, some sixty miles south of Bean Town. This sketch was done from Knowles Beach looking back to the nearby village of South Dartmouth.

Pen and ink with a watercolor wash in a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.

Kennedy Space Center

This sketch was done just outside the Saturn Rocket exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center. The taller building is the vehicle assembly building and is the world's tallest single story building at 525 ft and covers 8 acres. This is the place where space shuttles and Saturn rockets were assembled. 

The weather was partly cloudy, windy and warm and in the time it took me to do this sketch I managed to get a painful sunburn, hey I'm from Seattle, we won't see the sun for two more months.....

March Gathering

When you walk into Emerald City Trapeze Arts you are ask to remove your shoes, it was the variety of foot wear that initially caught my eye. That and they weren't swinging back and fourth and doing back flips.....

Pen and ink with a watercolor wash in a Moleskine.

Port of Tacoma

My daughter had back to back music days in Tacoma which gave me the opportunity to sketch this one day and color it the next (yes, I'm that slow...). Mother Nature also was kind and though she spared the rain, she did provide some finger numbing temperatures - yeah, yeah I know it's January, but I'm old.

I don't know what building this is, it's old, boarded up and is in need of someone's big wallet to get her back into shape. Let's hope that happens, it's still a grand structure even in it's current condition. 

There are a number of mills in the Port of Tacoma and most all have their steam/smoke stacks going. They provide their own cloud system even on the nicest of days.

Don't know if I would do this tall format again, doesn't bode well for computer viewing.

Pen and ink with a watercolor wash in a moleskine sketchbook.

Tacoma Regional Sketch Gathering

This sketch was started while participating in last month's Regional Urban Sketch Gathering in Tacoma. I chose to sit next to the Pantages Theater looking north across 9th Ave. to the triangle building that houses Tully's and other retail shops. It took me a while to get back to Tacoma to finish this sketch hence the late posting....

Pen and ink with a watercolor wash in a Moleskine.

World Wide SketchCrawl on Beacon Hill

This is actually three different scenes melted together. The car was a warm up sketch at the bus stop, at Jefferson Park there was a Samoan cricket match going on, and in the background a sketch of the Beacon Hill neighborhood looking north to the Seattle skyline.

Pen and ink with a watercolor wash.

Took a break from the rental project to spend lunch time at Dash Point on Puget Sound just south of Seattle. Pen and ink  with a watercolor wash in a 4"x4" Handbook Sketchbook.