Seeing Things at Fishermen's Terminal on USK 7th Anniversary

Sunday was a day of abundance for USK Seattle at the Ballard Fishermen's Terminal! We had sunshine, blue skies, subject material at every turn and scads of sketchers from all points north, south, east and west! At one point there were approximately 38 sketchers who shared their sketchbooks, celebrating the 7th anniversary of urban sketchers. Scroll down to see the day's previous blogposts by my fellow correspondents.

There's a cement deer on top of those blue sheds! My sketch of the yellow Beach Gang shed under the bridge..

The bluest skies in Seattle

With such an exciting profusion of subject material available, it's almost like trying to read a 30 page menu-what should I paint? and where do I even start?

It helps to have been there before. This will be the third time that I have visited Fishermen's Terminal in Ballard with the Seattle Urban Sketchers. My first decision today was to eliminate repeating any subjects I've sketched before, such as the Fishermen's Monument and the Qingdao Eagle. See previous sketches here and here. 

When you're out there sketching, you start really noticing things, including a bright yellow Corvette, seaplanes flying overhead, ladders everywhere and a cement deer. Although I asked one of the men standing under the Ballard bridge nearby, I couldn't get the story on it. Even though it was apparent that the fellow was also seeing it for the first time, he acted like a cement deer on top of a shed wasn't that much out of the ordinary. I only discovered it myself as I was sketching the "Beach Gang" shed nearby.  This time it truly was "seeing my world one drawing at a time."

Four out of Seven

Though the actual day is in July, Urban Sketchers Seattle celebrated our 7th anniversary at Fishermen's Terminal, the location of the first sketch outing.  I've been involved for a few months over 4 of those years and it's been a wonderful experience!

We had a very large group today.  There were several new people but only 2 who had been at that first sketch outing: Frances Buckmaster and Frank Ching (unless someone came later who was also there).

I had arrived early in my attempt to beat the traffic from all the events happening around Seattle today.  I found this dramatic commemorative sculpture.





On the stone base, it says:  "In Commemoration of the Establishment of Sister-Port Relationship between Port of Seattle, USA and Port of Qingdao, China on May 12, 1995.  Chang Dechuan, Director Qingdao Port Authority, China December 1, 1999"  And, presumably, the same in Chinese.

After a bit of wandering around, I chose a portion of the Darla A.  I liked the anchor on her bow.  She is out of Wrangell, Alaska.  She was a popular little boat as many sketched her.



The "throw down" of sketchbooks; seems that's what we're calling the sharing of sketches now?



Our large group:



More photos here:  https://redharp.smugmug.com/SketchOutings/2016-0624-Fishermans-Terminal/