Sketching with WSU students



Sonic Boom Sculpture







Mural Amphitheater







 

Student Sketches

  

Enjoyed coming out to the Seattle Center and sketching with the WSU interior design students.  We met up before with a small number of Urban Sketchers, showing them our sketchbooks and explaining what we normally do with a Sketch Outing.  Off the students went to find a place to sketch and I saw them scatter all over the grounds.  After an hour we got back together to share what we did and I was very impressed with all the sketches they drew.  There is definitely a lot of talent in their group and many were surprised at what each other could produce (they need to share more often to learn from each other).  I encouraged them all to keep sketching because it will be a valuable tool for them in the future communicating their ideas to clients.  Hope to see another group in the future and join them for sketching again. 

Hidden Treasures at the UW Botany Greenhouse

Even though the weather wasn't great, it didn't matter when Tina and Kate and I met at the UW to explore the greenhouses just across the road from the Medicinal Herb Garden.  I wonder how many UW students you would have to ask before you found one who ever heard of the existence of the gardens and greenhouses!  As far as I'm concerned, it's a GREAT best-kept secret!
There were so many interesting things growing in the rooms, and, it seemed, in every nook and cranny.  But this bunch of drying sunflowers spoke to me.  As usual, I'm the slow sketcher, so I was only able to get one sketch, BUT, I promised myself, I WILL go back very soon.
And the views outside, stunning, with the foreground of  unique things growing in the gardens, and some of the traditional Gothic buildings in the background.  Or, you could sketch the blue wheel barrel  against the garden shed!  Perhaps I'll see you in there someday!

Portrait of a Youth ~ Boehms Candy Store, Issaquah

This month's sketchcrawl at Boehms Candy Store in Issaquah included an interesting tour of the store led by our gracious host clad in a Swiss-type outfit. It was my birthday that day so this open book to the page, "Portrait of a Youth" caught my eye. My favorite part about this back corner of this upstairs room in the Chalet was the back wall, the window glass, and the red lamp. I didn't even notice the little green baby girl until I sat down to draw. I thought I should stop and leave out the wooden figures on the back of the wooden nook, and leaving them out would probably have made for a better overall sketch, but something wouldn't let me They seemed like they were watching over the little green girl, looking back on their own lives, wondering why they let some of their dreams fade away, why they worked so hard pushing their carts and taking care of their livestock, and why they got so fat drinking the beer from their barrels.

Urban Sketchers: October Exhibits in Edmonds

Urban Sketchers share a feast of Pacific Northwest sketches in a pair of exhibits throughout October at Gallery North and Cafe Louvre in Edmonds, Washington.

Celebrate with the artists at the opening reception, Sunday, October 6, 2013, from 1 to 4 pm at Gallery North, 401 Main Street, and at Cafe Louvre, two blocks away at 210 Fifth Avenue South. Come out for Edmonds Third Thursday Art Walk, October 17, from 5 to 8 pm, to see both of these shows and meet Urban Sketchers in action!

Inside Versailles' Galerie des Glaces

I'm still going through sketches from this past summer, and I see others are too!

It took weeks to get the letter--special permission to sketch inside the château of Versailles! In late July, I battled the massive crowds and made my way up to...that's right, you guessed it...the Hall of Mirrors...straight to the most difficult but most iconic space to draw.

I showed my letter to the guard, who read it many times and made several phone calls until finally, her boss arrived.  She granted me permission to set up my sketching stool INSIDE the cordoned off area at the end of the hall.  So feeling very self-conscious, I climbed over the barrier, sat down, looked up, and felt totally overwhelmed.

It took a long time to do these sketches, and it was so fatiguing, my brain was mush by the end of the day...but I loved the challenge. There was just so much visual information (very hard to figure out how to edit), not to mention the many hundreds of people passing by my right ear.  Of course I couldn't pull out my paints (can't get watercolor on the silk!), so the sketches were painted later.

Versailles, France. Galerie des Glaces. I was grateful to get special permission to draw inside the château.

Versailles, Galeries des Glaces

Versailles, Galerie des Glace, detail.

Lucky Charms and Miss Moon Cricket at the Seattle Waterfront on Hempfest Day

The August sketchcrawl just so happened to be on the same day as the Seattle Hempfest...the same day the the Seattle Police Department's Public Affairs Office gave out Doritos with a sticker on the package highlighting the details of the new Washington marijuana legislation I-502 (See: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Duuude-SPD-to-hand-out-Doritos-at-Seattle-Hempfest-219637441.html). As I walked the waterfront looking for a good sketch subject, I passed these two. Their sign said, "We need Like Seven Dollars." I gave them 10, and asked if they minded if I sat and sketched them. They told me their names were Lucky Charms and Miss Moon Cricket. While I was sketching, two Seattle Park Rangers came by and told them some tourists told them that the two were shouting profanities. Lucky and Miss Moon yelled over to me to ask me to confirm that they hadn't said anything profane. I said, "No, I didn't hear anything," and proceeded to talk for a bit to the Rangers. After they left, Lucky asked me, "Do you know what our sign means?""No, I said." "Like Seven Dollars - don't you get it?" "Ah, yes I get it!" Miss Moon told me to please make sure to draw the Xs on the eyes of "Herald the High Owl" and Lucky mentioned that Herald and his little pink friend's "Feed Me" sign, does not really pertain to actual food. Lucky Charms and Miss Moon Cricket were in Seattle from Portland for the Seattle Hempfest.

Seattle Science Center with WSU Students

           On the last sunny day of summer 2013, I went to meet with a WSU interior design studio that was visiting Seattle at the Seattle Science Center. Various sketchers shared our notebooks and stories with the students before braking up to go sketching around the Science Center.

            I had not eaten breakfast and went in search of somewhere to eat outside of the packed Armory food court. I eventually found my way to the Cherry Street Coffeehouse on Fifth Avenue, which offered bagels, coffee and red leather armchairs. 

            I particularly liked the painting on the German car repair shop across the street from the coffeehouse. Besides their fanciful lettering, the building was also covered in murals depicting various scenes from automotive history: a gas station in the 1930s, mechanics working on vintage 1950s cars, and logos from various German car companies.

            On my way back to the Armory, I stopped to sketch the Science Center exhibit hall towers. I was particularly challenged by the grid work within the towers.

            I also stopped to sketch Queen Anne over the International Fountain. This seemed appropriate as I had been sketching on Queen Anne the weekend before. I had planned to capture all three TV towers, but did not constrain my proportions enough.

Mobile Food Fight

Last Weekend was the Annual Mobile Food Fight
at Kings Garden in Shoreline.

This is where Food Trucks from all over come to sell and give proceeds to charity.   It is also a great way to sample some interesting food and give to a good cause.

The Grilled Cheese, Mac & Cheese with BBQ Ribs was quite nice!

King County Library in Shoreline

We went to the King County Library in Shoreline for their Annual Book Sale and managed 

to resist the urge to buy more by sketching.  I did find a nice set of the Lord of the Rings.

Eiffel Tower

From a sunny spot at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower at the end of July.

Electra Arrives

This was a wonderful day at the Museum of Flight.  I volunteered for the Electra Arrival event.    The Museum has obtained an immaculately restored Lockheed Model 10-E Electra, the same type of aircraft that Amelia Earhart piloted on her fateful final flight.

Thunderstorms were predicted so we were all concerned the Electra wouldn't be able to fly in.  However, it turned out to be beautiful, sunny weather all day.  The Electra arrived from Reno as scheduled.  She had been on display at the Reno air show.

For this sketch of the Electra, I waited until late afternoon when few people were left in the area.  That is the VIP event badge next to it (I wasn't a VIP level donor but I got the badge as a volunteer assisting in the VIP event).



If you are interested in more, I culled my photos down to 61 and they are all here.   There is also more info and photos in my personal blog post. 

Boehm's Edelweiss Chalet Interior

The first thing that came to mind when we toured the inside of the factory and the chalet, is that Steve Reddy needed to be here today.  The chalet was built by the owner Julius Boehm and he lived in the apartment over the candy store.  The room I chose to sketch was the Music Room (or his living room).  I was attracted by the green ceramic stove in the corner, but proceeded to move across the space trying to describe all the interesting art, furniture and artifacts of the room in my sketch.

My hope is that Steve gets a chance to spend some time in these rooms sketching because of all the wonderful objects that he is so good at capturing in his sketches...

I also wanted to get out and about Issaquah to sketch some of the older buildings that give it so much character, so after we finished at Boehms, I headed to a couple of other locations before heading home.  please go to the flickr site for my other sketches form Issaquah.

Adhoc Outings for those who just can't get enough sketching in!

Seattle Urban Sketchers have adhoc outings for those who want to meet up more than once a month.
Our official meet up is typically the third Sunday of the month.  But we have other sketch outings that happen through the month check out http://seattle.urbansketchers.org/p/adhoc-sketch-outings.html

Post Alley Sketches

A week ago Sunday, on a gloriously warm day, I biked down to the Pike Place Market, where I joined several other USk-ers who had been invited to join Gail and Frank's final class session and sharing.
Because I entered Post Alley from Stewart Street, I noticed this large tree, framing the Post Alley arch in the next block.

Fortunately, I was able to sit in the shade of the alley, and when I turned 180 degrees I was dazzled by someone's perfectly placed laundry strung across the alley - just like in 1958 England on the series "Call the Midwife!"

Sketches from Boehms Chocolate Factory

Thanks to Boehm's Chocolate Company for graciously letting us go to their factory to sketch.  We were able to tour the facilities which included the store, Chocolate Factory, Chalet (home of Mr. Boehm) and Alpine Chapel.  There were so many options to sketch, but first I was intrigued by sketching the chapel because of the light play in the interiors.  The second sketch was of the back or side entry of the Chalet and Chocolate Factory.  It was the simpler facade than the front but I liked the way the Factory overhang created a foreground element and visually led you toward the Chalet.

A Sweet Sketch Outing

Seattle Urban Sketchers met for our monthly sketch outing at Boehm's Chocolates in Issaquah, WA.

I first focused on the weather vane and upper story windows of the Edelweiss Chalet, an authentic Swiss chalet.


Then I sketched in the kitchen of the residence on the second floor:


We shared our sketches.




I took lots of photos around the grounds and in the buildings.  If you're interested, all the photos are here.