At the Danny Woo garden again

It's been years since we last met at the Danny Woo Community Garden.  It's a warren of possible sketch scenes! The garden was build in 1975 and has 101 allotments. We noticed a pig roasting pit built in 1990 by UW archetecture students.

Personally, anytime I can get either the Space Needle or Smith Tower into a sketch, I'm on it.  This one has the Tower.  I liked the sculpture and the colorful flowers.  The sketcher on the left wasn't at the throw down so I didn't get her name. 

 Sketchers spread out around one of the more open sections. 

The highest point of the garden has a view out over the city and the stadiums.

Some sketchers had left before throw down.

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).

Danny Woo Gardens and King Street Action

I didn't know much about the Danny Woo garden when we chose it for our September location. I'd scoped it out while visiting the Night Market earlier in the summer, but sitting amidst the garden patches on a bright Sunday morning I got a such a different sense of the international district. The Danny Woo Garden is a model for urban gardening that allows for cross-cultural pollination on many levels.

After meeting-up at the Panama Hotel for the sketchbook throw down, some delicious tea and interesting conversation, I met up with another my sister, Beth. We stuck together sketching King Street at the entrance to Canton Alley.

As we sat there some lion dancers snaked up the street. I got out another sketchbook to get ready for when they got closer. They stopped short, but very soon afterword a motorcade arrived with the pre-Xi Jiping delegation. The group was actually a bit larger than what I caught below; on of them stopped to look at our work. He told me he was an artist in Beijing. I was tempted to ask if he knew the artist/activist/disident Ai Wei Wei, but I held my tongue. 

Woo Garden on Sunday

Good to be back sketching with friends at the Seattle Sketchers outing at the Danny Woo Community Garden. Here's my warm up of one of the decorative lanterns. Good contrast of man made against the plants.

I was recently given a selection of watercolor pencils so I experimented with a pen & ink sketch I did of nested wheelbarrows in the garden. Also trying to appear more "casual" with the sketching.

I had a good time and look forward to the next gathering. Frank B

Kobe Terrace and Danny Woo

Sunday I spent the morning and early afternoon at the corner of Danny Woo Community Garden and the Panama Hotel.  This was a wonderful location for our monthly sketch crawl , with the sun warming us as the summer is turning to autumn.  The garden plots were still producing a lot of fresh vegetables for the faithful gardeners.  The views over the the International District, the stadiums and finally the clouds building for the early evening rain-fall.  It was great to see many of the faithful sketchers and a few new members as we convened for tea and conversation at the old Panama Hotel.

Cultivating Culture in the Middle of the City

I climbed a steep wooden staircase built on a timbered hillside next to Kobe Terrace Park.  A "mackerel sky" portended rain later in the day. A helicopter "whup-whup-whupping" overhead, the wail of a fire engine, the scent of fermented apples lying on the ground and the sound of chickens clucking; not all of these effects are usually expected right in the middle of a major modern city.

The theme that pervades the garden is "One Mind, One Spirit"

Today's outing for Seattle Urban Sketchers brought us to a unique community garden among the many that are part of Seattle's urban landscape. Danny Woo International District Community Garden is cultivated by people from China, Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Korea and other Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants who helped make Seattle the city it is today. Preference is given to those 65 and older and the average age of the gardeners here is 76. Many don't speak English. 

A few snapshots from Danny Woo Community Garden

The purpose of this garden is to enable Chinatown/International District elders a garden in which to work, to feel the earth in their hands, to plant the foods they missed from their native countries, and, most importantly, to provide social connections. This morning I was happy to exchange some smiles and nods with a few of them as they tended their garden plots. I hope they know how much we appreciate their sharing it with us.
Watch this short video presentation to learn more about Danny Woo International District Garden.

Slices of Many Lives at Danny Woo Gardens

9/20/15 Kobe Terrace Park

9/20/15 A few chickens cooped up in Danny Woo
Gardens.

The Danny Woo Community Gardens in the International District offer a fascinating cross-section of urban Seattle. First there’s the interesting mix of architecture – new, boxy apartment buildings stand in the same line of sight as the stately Smith Tower. Scrappy-looking vegetation grows right next to tidy gardens and stands of trees that make you forget you are still in downtown Seattle. Gardeners weeding their P-patches look slightly askance at homeless men who, in turn, look askance at the sketchers occupying their favorite benches. And then there are the chickens (which I sketched last year, too). It’s an ideal sketch outing location for Urban Sketchers Seattle because no matter what your subject interest – architecture, trees, plants, people, fowl – you can find it there.

9/20/15 Smith Tower

My favorite sketch of the morning is the one at the top of the page – the stone lantern (a 200-year-old gift from Seattle’s Japanese sister city, Kobe) marking tiny Kobe Terrace Park, which is your reward if you climb the gardens’ terraced hillside. A Japanese maple was just beginning to turn behind the lantern. Asleep nearby on the stone wall was a homeless man, covered in blankets.

9/20/15 Trees in Danny Woo Gardens

A TREASURE in the International District!!!

The Ad Hoc Friday Sketchers met at thew Panama Hotel in the International District today,  But before I went inside, I crossed the street, and discovered the Danny Woo Community Gardens of the I.D.  It was amazing!!  Many terraced levels full of quaint and funky gardens, stairs, bluebells, and many old cherry and apple trees, full of blossoms.  Up and up and up I trekked, marveling at the uniqueness of these gardens.  Near the top, where it levels out a bit, was a great chicken coop (pictured above), and then so much more in the "P-Patch" area of this garden.  Panoramic views over to King Street Station, as well as the Smith Tower were tempting, but, first I checked in with everyone, and told them about my "discovery" outside in the partly sunny no-rain day!!
I guess the Panama Hotel Tea Room will have to wait for another day - and I WILL go there, because it is ALSO full of character and coziness.