Catching up.

To fit everything I liked about this view at Bothell Country Market into one drawing I had to do some squishing. Might be time to get a landscape sketchbook with longer pages, but then habits die hard.

I gave a private lesson at Suzzallo Library at UW. My student and I sat side-by-side and drew this view at a comfy table. 

This view of Suzzallo was drawn with my class from Gage Academy as a demo.

The atrium across the street from the market on Winslow Ave in Bainbridge, drawn a few weeks ago with Urban Sketchers Seattle.

Sitting on a blanket with my partner, as we drew The Shelter on the east side of Green Lake.

A sketch from behind an antique shop in Wenatchee, where I'll be giving an Urban Sketchers-themed "sermon" at the Unitarian Church this Sunday, followed by a workshop at Radio Station Gallery and Pub.

Cloudy but Warm Welcome from Bainbridge

6/30/18 Awkward Grace at Bainbridge Farmers Market

6/30/18 Sue and Natalie on the ferry

Going to Bainbridge Island always feels like a little vacation, even if it’s only a 30-minute ferry ride from Seattle across Puget Sound. Although I might have chosen a sunnier day for such a vacation, the welcome from Bainbridge Island USk was warm for our first joint sketch outing since BI USk formed its own chapter.

The last time we sketched on Bainbridge was nearly a year ago for our Mega Pity Party – three consecutive days of sketching (during the weekend that would have been the West Coast Sketchcrawl, had it not been cancelled). Saturday’s celebration was a bit cloudier, though I daresay we still got a strong turnout from both groups.

As it did last year, hunger drove me to my first sketch of the morning – the Bainbridge Farmers Market just a few blocks from the ferry terminal. I found a delicious chocolate croissant to munch while sketching the folk group Awkward Grace entertaining the crowd.

6/30/18 Eagle Harbor Congregational Church

Fully fortified with carbs, I went out looking for Eagle Harbor Congregational Church, which Paula Ensign (co-admin for BI USk) had told me about. The fully overcast sky made it hard to see which direction the sun was trying to shine from, but I did my best squinting to find a few shadows.

6/30/18 downtown Winslow

For my last sketch before the throwdown, I warmed up with a cup of coffee as I captured a couple of girls having lunch.

That wasn’t my last sketch of the day, though. Waiting for our ride, I did a quick one of a ferry moored near the terminal. Then on the ride home, I made a tiny panorama of one of my favorite views of downtown Seattle – the one that can be seen only from a boat.

6/30/18 Moored ferry at the Bainbridge terminal

6/30/18 downtown Seattle from Puget Sound

Toghether again

Congratulations to Urban Sketchers Bainbridge Island for their relatively recent approval as an official branch! To celebrate, we planned a joint outing. This was the second time we've done so. Many of the Seattle sketchers rode over together on the ferry. I did not so I have not sketches or photos to share.

The Bainbridge Island Museum of Art was our base. We gathered there upon arrival and then again to share sketches.




I already had a sketch location in mind from the previous visit. I liked the model of the Eiffel Tower and the sign. Of course, cars parked in front, blocking most of my view. But I'd gotten the basics down beforehand.




As I walked around the charming central town I noticed this spot. I returned there to do my second sketch of the outing.

Mega Pity Party Weekend!

8/11/17 Part of Calder's Eagle at the Sculpture Park

When we heard that the 5th Annual West Coast Sketch Crawl in Vancouver, B.C., had been cancelled, many of us in Seattle were very disappointed. I had a great time in Tacoma last year and in San Diego the year before, and I had been looking forward to another terrific long weekend of sketching in that lovely Canadian city to the north.

The USk Seattle admin team decided that we weren’t going to cry over lost sketching. For the same weekend that would have been the Sketch Crawl, we scheduled an extravaganza of outings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Not intended to be a formal replacement for the cancelled event, it was just a way to give everyone as many sketch outing options as possible as we move toward the waning days of summer.

8/11/17 Space Needle

On Friday we met at the Olympic Sculpture Park, which has become something of a summertime staple. Although I sketch Calder’s Eagle just about every time I visit (last year, twice in 2014 and in 2013), I was magnetically drawn to it yet again. This time, however, I chose a partial view, and as I sketched, I remembered fondly Calder’s similar but much larger Flamingo in Chicago.

I wandered around the park a long time, simply enjoying the not-too-hot sunshine and not feeling particularly compelled – until I saw the Space Needle peeking over some buildings. Then with only a few minutes before the throwdown, I made a quick sketch above the amphitheater with Richard Serra’s Wake in the background. The empty space on the page was a good spot to hold the badge that Kate had playfully given to participants.

8/11/17 Amphitheater and Richard Serra's Wake

8/12/17 Sketcher on the ferry

For Saturday, Day 2 of our extravaganza, we chose Bainbridge Island for an entire day of sketching. Meeting up on the ferry, most of us started sketching right away, and I spotted a woman I didn’t know who looked like she was sketching, too. When we talked to her later, it turned out Martha was aware of Urban Sketchers but didn’t know we would be on the ferry that day. A life drawing student, she simply enjoys sketching people on the ferry. Imagine meeting a sketcher in the wild who isn’t part of Urban Sketchers while we’re on our way to a sketch outing!

After the initial meetup in Winslow, I headed for the Bainbridge Farmers Market, where I was lured by music and the smells of good foods cooking. I had to leave the house so early to catch the ferry that I had skipped breakfast, so I ate a big piece of carrot cake while sketching Good Karma Blues, a lively band with a terrific vocalist.

8/12/17 Good Karma Blues at Bainbridge Farmers Market

8/12/17 Eagle Harbor

That was a lot of fun, and I could have stayed all day sketching nothing but the market, but I was on an island, after all, so I found myself gravitating toward the water. At Eagle Harbor, the sun started to break through the overcast sky as a few lazy boats knocked against a pier. 

After the sketchbook throwdown, the group split up – some going to Rolling Bay to take part in the art studio tour and some staying in Winslow for lunch and whatever. I opted for the latter, and after a leisurely lunch of symposium gossip, half the afternoon zipped by on island time. A few of us went to the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, where local artist Bill Hemp has an exhibit of pen and ink drawings of island locations. Interestingly, the pieces are reproductions of his sketchbook pages that look like they are torn right out of a spiral-bound book.

While I often have opportunities to sketch ferries, I see them only when they are either stopped briefly at a dock or a long distance away where it’s hard to see details. I took advantage of a moored ferry near the Winslow terminal to squeeze in one last sketch before hopping on the ferry back to Seattle. I think being able to take my time to observe and draw all the details on this one will help me fake it a little more realistically next time I need to sketch a ferry on the fly.

8/12/17 Washington State Ferry at Winslow terminal

For our third and final day, we chose the West Seattle Farmers Market, one of Seattle’s few neighborhood markets that are open all year round. As I was driving across the West Seattle Bridge, the drizzle on my windshield started looking like it could be “measurable” rain, which made me wonder if we had finally ended our record-breaking spell of consecutive dry days. I also started wondering if our sketch outing would end in a soggy mess. As it turned out, we did end our dry streak with 56 consecutive rainless days, but I needn’t have worried about sogginess – the measurable drizzle stopped as quickly as it had begun, and it was my favorite sketching weather – a comfortable temperature, not windy, the sun darting in and out of clouds just often enough to provide shadows or light, whichever you need at the moment.

8/13/17 Bluegrass band at West Seattle Farmers Market

I hardly sketched any people in Chicago, so today I made up for it. A lively bluegrass band, a young cellist, and a guitarist standing in front of a huge mural all provided the tunes for a fun morning at the farmers market.

8/13/17 guitarist and mural

8/13/17 cellist at the market

8/13/17 Junction Plaza Park near the West Seattle Farmers Market 

Despite the iffy weather, we had a small but stalwart turnout for our pity party finale. And Sue and I get the prize (each other’s respect!) for participating on all three days!

Stalwart sketchers at the Day 3 finale

Sue and I made it to all three days!

Bainbridge Island

Many of us would have been attending the 5th Annual Urban Sketchers West Coast Sketch crawl this weekend. However, several months ago it was cancelled. So we in Seattle decided to have a weekend of sketching anyway! This was the second of 3 intensive days held yesterday, August 12th.  

We took the ferry together to Bainbridge Island. A couple people drove on but most of us walked. We all gathered at the front of the boat to enjoy the ride together.   It was a short walk up a slight hill to the main village on Bainbridge Island, formerly known as Winslow. There were also local sketchers from the island and other(s) from Port Townsend.  

Our base was the Bainbridge Museum of Art. It is a beautiful place with interesting exhibits. The front desk volunteers were so friendly. They were interested, even excited, to have us there.  We gathered there in the morning and then for the sketchbook throw down in the afternoon.

I wandered through town a bit. I just didn't seem enough time to do justice to the number of sketching choices. I settled down on a patio to sketch this restaurant sign that caught my interest. I struggled with the sketch to the point that I really didn't like the result and almost wasn't going to post it. I've cropped it to show the part in which I was most interested. I learned (again) to decide on the focal point and zoom in on that.   I also think it might have been better had I left some areas unpainted
. 


The sign under the fork and spoon is a bit of collage.  



Harris is missing from this photo. 

After we gathered for sketch sharing, I stayed in the Museum while others went to see a Studio show further out on the island. I enjoyed the show of sketches by Bill Hemp, "Bainbridge A to Z". Later I sketched the roof top garden.

Bainbridge to Pike Place

I started early Sunday morning on Bainbridge Island at the tail end of a vacation. I hit Pegasus Coffee shop just after 7:00 am and by chance met a group of old salts who meet there every morning. They invited me to join their conversation (because I happened to be sitting in their group spot at the shop). One of them was just off the boat having sailed from Hong Kong then met up with another of the group in Hawaii to sail home. After I left and sketched the scene next door -- a take off on one of Frank Ching's sketches -- to learn the art of composition. Learn from the masters. 

I took the ferry over to the Market to meet up with the afternoon post-sketch workshop group. Tried my hand at Post Alley again. 

It was a full day of sketching and I still have a little more color to add to one more and scan another. I love full days of sketching in such great weather and interesting locations. 

Happy 4th of July

Had a great 4th of July on Bainbridge Island.  Here is a sketch of the table  while having drinks and hummus with pita chips.  We had an extra treat coming back.  Caught the 10:30 Ferry and we were right there to see the Bainbridge Island Fireworks display from the Ferry dock.

Bainbridge Island pencil sketches

The sun never broke through the clouds during our escapade to Bainbridge Island, so I didn't miss my watercolors much that day. In fact, I decided to focus on pencil sketching, something I've been wanting to do for a while.

Frank Bettendorf makes a few appearances in the drawings I did. We took the same bus to Seattle and I drew him before, during and after the outing around Winslow. I had a blast sketching with Frank, who hardly ever misses a gathering of the group despite living two hours north of Seattle. His enthusiasm for sketching is inspiring. My sketches don't do justice to his cheerful attitude and sense of humor. Of the first one I did, he said: "Unfortunately, it looks like me ... You can take it home, put it in the garage and it will keep all the mice out of the house."

Bainbridge Island Outing

We had a good group of people who showed up for our excursion to Bainbridge Island on Sunday.  Good sketching, eating, great company of people and a few even got to do a little wine tasting before running to catch the next ferry to Seattle.  Here are my sketches for the day.

View looking from Grace and Co. Paperie (Card Shop) on Madison Ave. Bainbridge Island, WA.

Eagle Harbor Inn on Bainbridge

Ferry ride to Bainbridge

Thanksgiving on Bainbridge Island

We have a great tradition of going to Bainbridge Island for thanksgiving. It has now been twenty six years since we have done this with dear friends we made in graduate school. As my son says thanksgiving is not just one day but a whole weekend! Over the years people have come and gone, kids have been born and grown up, extended families have been added to our table.

After a good bit of eating through out the day and evening, we go for the traditional thanksgiving walk (it is usually pitch black outside...but with flash lights it is okay). This preps us for the grand finale....dessert!!! Before our dessert we go around the table and everyone shares what they are thankful for this year. Then we chow down on pies that have been made by young and old. Apple, raspberry, blueberry, pumpkin, lemon chiffon, chocolate mint, chocolate truffle three inch high, sweet potato....this year we had 12 pies. Not bad for only 18 people. You can see why we needed the walk!!!

Here are sketches I did while I was there.