Boots at Oxbow Park

This is the 2nd time I've sketched the boots which are now located at Oxbow Park. I get lost walking around the neighborhood every time I try to find them. The Hat and Boots remind me of my dad because he used to like to stop at the gas station where they originally were when I was a kid. I think I'm going to try to find some just like them to wear. Today there were a lot of kids running around  the park and people who took turns sitting on the boots. While I was sketching I heard a sound behind me like a water fountain and discovered a little 3 or so year old boy had decided to reenact the Brussels Peeing Boy fountain and was using me as a target. Almost had an unusual bit of mixed media but managed to just miss the line of fire.

 

I'm also reposting the sketch I did the first time in August 2012. 

Parked in the Georgetown Trailer Park

It was a rough weekend, so I almost didn't show up today.  But the weather turned out to be beautiful, and Georgetown is full of cool stuff to sketch!  A small group of us sat in the parking lot at the Georgetown Trailer Park Mall and watched as the shops slowly opened and the place came alive.

Georgetown Trailer Park Mall.

A perfect morning for a sketch crawl! And one could draw at this location many times and never repeat a drawing. With Fantagraphics and strong coffee only an eraser's throw away. I plan to draw here again. Good turn-out. Always happy to have joined in the fun.

Sketch outing around Georgetown

We really lucked out on the weather for Seattle Urban Sketchers outing to Georgetown.  Rain and thunderstorm was predicted but we had warmth and sun.

I went straight to the Rock House on Flora Ave.  I will return to sketch other views, but I liked the arched entry.  There are several old and interesting houses in this neighborhood.



Then I went a couple blocks over to sketch the traffic circle at Warsaw & Carleton, just next to the Carleton Ave. Grocery. 



I started this sketch of the Fantagraphics building before the outing started and finished adding color after.  It might not be obvious, but there is a "Dog on Duty" in the upper left window!  Or so the sign says.



There were 18 of us with, I think; 8 first-timers and one out-of-town visitor.  Gail had to leave early so she's not in the photo.



We shared our sketches on a bench outside the coffee shop.



All my photos from the day are here. 

Georgetown Trailer Park

Zipping along Airport Way I noticed the parking lot full of trailer campers and immediately knew this would be my sketch spot. The life crept in throughout the morning as the owners setup shop and opened for business. The Beamer was just a shameless excuse to stare at this masterful composition of chrome, glass and red metal!

May Sketch Outing

Sunday, May 18th

Georgetown and Oxbow (Hat and Boots) Park

10:00 am to 12:30 pm

Meet at  All City Coffee

1205 S Vale St, 

Seattle, WA 98108

New Playground

I read that a new accessible playground will have its grand opening tomorrow.  I'll be at MOHAI tomorrow as the "sketcher in residence".  So I thought I would go find it to sketch today, thinking that it was probably already open.  I thought it would be a good addition for the Urban Sketchers weekly theme on flickr. 

It wasn't open.  They were still working on it so wouldn't let me in to sketch.  I was able to get this view from outside the fence. I also got sprayed a bit when they tested the sprinklers!

Meadow Crest Playground, the new Renton Accessible Playground: 

Fremont, Seattle.

During a day-long bike ride around Seattle with Donna, we stopped for a cup and a sketch in Fremont. I think I'll add color, but I like these black and white stages, too.

UK & Ireland Travel Sketches

Back in Seattle after a few weeks traveling through the UK and Ireland. I had a blast sketching. So much to be inspired by - I could do this all day everyday!

 Blarney Castle, Blarney, Cork, Ireland

 

Gothic Church at Kylemore Abbey, Connemara County, Ireland

 

Alley in City Center, Cork, Ireland

 

Temple Bar Pub, Dublin, Ireland

 

  

London Eye, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben on the River Thames, London, England

grand collections, sketcher in residence at the MOHAI

the Virginia V

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

the 'mother' ship.

The recent Regional Sketch Outing was a lot of fun for me for several reasons. I came from Puyallup by bus, then took the trolley on Westlake to Mohai. It was my first time on the trolley and all I could see the whole trip was 'future sketches'. Being insecure about my transportation options, I came an hour early, so I had enough time to sketch the Center for Wooden Boats before official 'sketch-outing starting time.' During the outing--sketched from inside MOHAI:

 Over lunch it was a thrill to begin planning with Darsie Beck and others for a group sketch-outing on Vashon Island. More news on that is pending.

Sketching the fire boat Duwamish at MOHAI on a blustery Friday morning

Just can't stay away from MOHAI! Even though I was here last Saturday with the Urban Sketchers, I knew I had to come back and not just because I am passionate about history and all that MOHAI represents but it is my passion for all things maritime that excites my creative juices. The fact that is is an urban setting only adds fuel to my creative fire.

Springtime, and the Sculpture Park

As I walked into the Pavilion at Olympic Sculpture Park, I saw this magnificent view of the Sound with 3 sculptures in view, so it was a second reason to simply stay inside and sketch where I had a chair, and a table!  The first reason? - I was a wimp about going outside cuz it was gray, cold, and quite windy!!  It's a double-page spread, which means I can only make it so big, but we noted that it did work as a diptych also.  This was my first sketch in the Pentallic W/C sketchbook, and I really loved the way the paper handled my watercolors!
I'm fortunate to be able to look out the window above my kitchen sink across the street to this rather lovely view of a huge, graceful Hawthorn tree.  Had to sketch it!!

Wedgwood house

If houses could talk... this house built in 1939 has had two owners. My parents purchased this in 1952 when the Seattle city limits were at 85th street. My dad paid $9100. There were empty lots for us kids to play in and plenty of neighborhood parties. We could walk down to Matthews Beach through the woods and cross the railroad tracks before it became Burke-Gilman trail. We had bicycle parades with playing cards clothespinned to our spokes. We dragged wooden hydroplanes behind our bikes and could even hear the hydroplanes roar during the Gold Cup.  Our house heard music sung by my dad (tenor) in the shower or accompanied by mom on the piano. Every first day of school my brother, and sister and I stood outside in the yard for mom to snap a photo. My dad taught all he neighborhood kids how to play "kick the can". It was a phenomenal neighborhood to grow up in with window painting contests at McVicar Hardware and rollerskating down the next block on the "smooth street". The Easter bunny, tooth fairy and Santa always found us.

As urban sketchers, we often paint the structures in the communities where we live. But it is the memories that connect us to tradition in these communities which remain close to the heart.

(Sketched today before rain squall and plumber's truck caused a delay. Dad just signed papers to put the house on the market and at age 88 is happy to have moved on. May the next family create as many memories as we all have!)

Ad Hoc Friday at the Sculpture Park

Wellllll, I messed up.  I suggested this outing thinking we'd get to see the new sculpture.  As far as I could tell from the website, it had been installed in the Sculpture Park.  I even watched a video of the construction.  Turns out, it is not yet in place and that video was filmed somewhere else!

Still, we avoided the rain and were able to sketch outside, though it was still chilly and windy.  I escaped the wind by sketching below the hillside near Wake by Richard Serra (2004)



I moved a few feet up the path to get this view of the Space Needle.


By then an hour and a half had passed and I was cold.  The last sketch was inside the PACCAR Pavilion with the view from the 2nd floor.


We shared our sketches. 

Clockwise from upper left: Tina, Natalie, Julie, Kate, Sue (x2), Peggy H

Kneeling is Julie; Kate, Natalie, Sue (from near Stockton, CA), Peggy H, Tina (photo taken by Sue's husband, Ray)

We talked more with Sue, from near Sacramento, CA.  She's visiting her daughter, Julie, who lives here.  She shared her tiny sketchbook!






A few more photos are here.

A Blustery Olympic Sculpture Park

5/9/14 Richard Serra's Wake

When the Friday ad hoc sketchers met at the Olympic Sculpture Park last August, I had noted in my sketchbook that it was sunny and 68 degrees – ideal sketching weather. When we met there again today? Not so much. In fact, the morning was looking so blustery and rain-imminent that I almost bagged it, but ultimately, I was glad I didn’t. We met urban sketcher Sue Carroll and her family who joined us all the way from California, and if a Californian could stand to sketch in this gusty, drizzly weather, I guess I (reluctantly) could, too.

My first sketch was of Richard Serra’s Wake (you can see a Seattle Times video of the piece being installed and an interview with Serra), which I chose as a subject mainly because I could stand where the Paccar Pavilion building would block most of the wind. (In the background is the Cell Therapeutics Inc. building.)

5/9/14 Alexander Calder's Eagle

After that, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I headed straight back to the Pavilion – and it started sprinkling even as I dashed into the building. The Pavilion itself was our indoor fallback sketching location in case it rained, and I hadn’t been too excited about sketching inside the building itself, but I didn’t realize what a great view it offers from its walls of windows. Cozy and dry, I could still sketch Alexander Calder’s Eagle in the distance.

Kate, Natalie and I decided to stop for lunch and more sketching at Romio’s Pizza across the street. I got another chance to sketch that bright red Eagle – right over Kate’s shoulder.

5/9/14 Kate (with Calder's Eagle over her shoulder) and Natalie