Autumn at Danny Woo Community Garden

9/27/19 Sixth Ave. South, Chinatown/International District

The Danny Woo International District Community Garden is a favorite of USk Seattle during the transitional seasons. If the weather is on our side, we can sketch the terraced gardens and distant views of downtown Seattle, but if not, we can duck into the cozy Panama Hotel Café across the street. Today we lucked out, and the chilly morning eventually yielded to sunshine in time for the throwdown.

9/27/19 entrance to Danny Woo Gardens

Happy that I wore my down parka, I was still cold with the brisk wind coming up behind me from the Sound as I sketched the view looking down Sixth Avenue South from Kobe Terrace Park at the top of the garden (left). The row of bright yellow trees punctuated by the ID’s iconic red street lamps caught my eye (and as soon as I finished, I realized the perspective of those lamp posts was way off!).

My self-photobombing aim was a bit off, too.

After getting some hot genmaicha from the Panama Hotel Café to warm my hands, I pulled up my hood and went back out – and immediately saw the next view I wanted to capture: It was the trellised entrance to Danny Woo Gardens framed by more yellow trees (above).

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Today's outing was planned to coincide with the Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration at International District Chinatown. The day started quite nice with a little bit of sunshine. We met up at Hing Hay Park just as the celebration kicked off with firecrackers and the famous lion dance. One of my goals was to catch and sketch the dancers, but I just couldn't get a good view amidst all the people who got there before me. After a few failed attempts, I decided to walk around the block and came across the Chong Wa Benevolent Association's building. I figured a quick sketch of the roof and brick details would be a good warm up to start the day.

Chong Wa Benevolent Association, ID Chinatown, Seattle

The weather started to turn as the sun disappeared behind thick cloud. Throngs of people started to fill the streets. I stood in the middle of King Street looking west to capture the festivities. As you can see, sketching to me is much less about accuracy or precision, and more about capturing the essence of time and place. 

S King St Looking West, ID Chinatown, Seattle

I went back to Hing Hay Park and sketched the scene around the pavilion and the main stage. At this point it got fairly chilly and my fingers started to get numb. I finished a quick one and joined fellow sketchers to warm up and share sketches at a nearby coffee shop. Gong Xi Fa Cai from Urban Sketchers Seattle family!

Hing Hay Park, ID Chinatown, Seattle

Home from Portland

Whew! The Symposium was exciting, intense, tiring and very inspiring. Many talented people who were thrilled to be with so many others who also understand the joy of sketching. When we looked at the work displayed on the last day, there was that delightful recognition that we all had been in similar settings but expressed them in so many different ways. 

Many thanks to Gabi for organizing it all and the amazing instructors and correspondents, some of whom came many, many miles to be there.

Here are a few of my sketches.  Portland was a perfect setting with endless possibilities.

 

Yes, indeed, Susan and I did sneak off for  a visit to the Lu San Chinese Garden and it was exquisite. I settled for trying to capture the mood.

And this from a session on urban line drawing with Lapin in China Town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My lesson from the urban architecture session with Frank -"Think about foreground."

Chinatown Gate

I braved the cold today and did a sketch of the Chinatown gate in Seattle. I haven't done much watercolor before, but I decided to experiment with it in my sketchbook so I could capture the nice colors of the gate.