Tribute to Peggy Gloth

I just learned that Peggy Gloth, one of Urban Sketchers Seattle early adopters, passed away on Christmas Eve. I met Peggy In the early days of Seattle Urban Sketchers, when we were just getting started. Peggy was a regular — always ready with a warm smile and an encouraging word.  

She was kind and generous and seemed delighted with the opportunity to get together and explore the world through sketching. More than once, she offered me a place to stay in her home, knowing I was an “out-of-towner”.  After retirement Peggy and her husband spent some time living in Europe and shared her travels on the blog. 

 I hadn’t seen Peggy in a few years, but I had brief contact with her in 2024 when we put together the 15 year Anniversary book. She sent in the following images. We were only able to include one.

Peggy helped shape the spirit of our early sketching community, and her presence left an imprint on our community. Those of us who had the privilege of knowing her will remember her well. 

Peggy will always be part of our story. 

 

 

Georgetown Posters

I really like sketching Georgetown. Sturdy brick buildings + grunge. Something about contrasts. This past Sunday, a grey-but-not-so-rainy day I met the Seattle Urbansketchers at the Georgetown Elysian Brewery. It was a wonderful space but I chose to venture out.

Color is usually the thing that catches my eye the most and other than the characters on the streets,  the layers and layers of posters on the telephone poles boasted a colorful contrast to the old brick buildings and grey skies.

I aborted my first attempt, something I don't usually do Instead I started over. So the left side page was a messy blotch of smeared watercolor and pencil; the right a more finished sketch. The next day I went back to Georgetown, found a pole with old posters. (I promise I didn't tear up anything posted after December 2018.) Keeping with the poster theme I decided to plaster my sketchbook with poster samples.

I moved on searching for another inviting scene and again the plastered posters caught my eye. Coupled with telephone poles and wires, freeway overpass and more brick buildings, it seemed if not quintessential, at least emblematic Georgetown. When we met up as a group I only had the line work done. I added color later.

The best laid plans - sketching with New York City Urban Sketchers

After several months of planning to spend a few months in warmer weather this winter, we changed our plans and decided to stick around the northwest. January was going pretty well, then a family emergency called me back to the east coast right in the middle of their deep freeze.  It went from -6 on Thursday Jan 31 to 60 on Feb 5.

That burst of spring was very short lived. Saturday it was back down to 25. The New York City urban sketchers, however had scheduled a perfect location for a winter outing that day. And since family matters had settled down I was able to spend the day with them. We met up at the former Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House now Smithsonian's National Museum of American Indians in lower Manhattan. 

I was able to sketch a couple of fellow subway riders on the way before finding the massive building in Bowling Green near Battery Park and Wall Street.

Joy Hecht, an urbansketcher from Newfoundland who uses collage as her medium, and is about to teach a 10x10 class, lent me her glue for the logo (the red square says "National Museum of American Indians".)

NYC urban sketchers meet from 10 to 3 every Saturday (!) so we broke for lunch and I found this peek-a-boo view from the restaurant window. 

After lunch I braved the twenty-five degree afternoon to watch folks lining up in front of the Charging Bull. The sunshine helped for the fifteen minutes I stood there as did two down coats and my Uggs and fingerless gloves, but it was a quick sketch.  

I went inside to thaw and watch the people watching the exhibitions. 

The "afters" was held at Murphy's pub around the corner where, New York USK style is to have everyone present their sketches show and tell style. Since I had missed their portrait party the previous weekend so I thought I'd throw in a belated offering, my tablemate, Linda Moses who had come to join urban sketchers for the first time. 

So the best laid plans of wintering in the tropics has had many bright spots and hopefully more to come.  

Birthplace of Fado

I'd never every heard of the music genre Fado before visiting Portugal during the Porto Symposium. My first live encounter was at our third sketchwalk at Sé, Porto's Cathedral that sits atop a hill with a commanding view of Porto. I sat and drew the trio below. Afterwards they came over to see my drawing and I asked them to sign it. They did but they hid the signatures not wanting to "ruin the picture".



 I gave them my card which has the USk blog and manifesto on the backside, so they could see other sketches from the symposium. When I returned home I got an email from them asking if I could send a scan so they could use it for their next cd cover. I love it when these unexpected encounters happen as a result of urbansketching.

After the symposium I, like several other sketchers, stopped for a few days in Coimbra, home to one of the oldest universities in continuous operation in the world. It was first  established in Lisbon in 1290, maybe with a different name, and then relocated in Coimbra in 1537.  I ran into this group from the university, just after Tina Koyama had sketched them. 

Then this one in Lisbon. 

Read more about the Fado singers and my new summer dirink discovery on my blog: olysketcher.com. 

Bring on the people!

Some people are bothered by crowds. Not me. I love them. Lots of activity, movement and color. Bring on the people and bring out the sketchbook. 

Now that summer travels have wound down, it's the perfect time for more Seattle 10x10 workshops. I'm excited to be teaching two different classes this fall with two variations on the people theme. Sue Heston is also teaching a people class that you can check out here. 

My first class, Sketching People from the Inside Out,  is coming up on Saturday September 15 and just sold out. This class is about people as the focus--standing, sitting, moving--they are the dominant subject, the setting is there but secondary. We're going to start with some very basic exercises to get everyone used to thinking about the insides of people and how we move from the inside out. This isn't a technical class where we learn about skeletons and muscles; instead we're going to work with movement, impulse, anchor points, gesture and mass. 

I've bee warming up this summer as I visit markets and gatherings. 

People in Places

While the first class focuses on people first then the background; the second class we will focus more on the places with people as a part of the scene. We'll look at several examples of different ways sketchers draw people and play with different approaches. We'll work on ways to 'put people in their place' and I'll share some tips on making the scene fluid and believable.

I'm looking forward to having some fun! 

You can find details on how to sign up for any of the Seattle 10x10 classes on Brown Paper Tickets. 

Poor People's Campaign 2018

I went down to Capitol Campus today to catch the tail end of the Vietnam Vets / Legacy Vets Memorial Day Ride but I was too late. Instead I happened upon the beginning of the weekly rally for the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, a 50 year renewal of the campaign started by Martin Luther King before he was assassinated. Monday's rally is the third of six weekly demonstrations at the State Capitol. The theme was The War Economy: Militarism and the Proliferation of Gun Violence.

Veterans for Peace were out in full force, wearing peace dove helmets on t-shirts and flags. Representatives from several groups spoke including clergy from various faiths.  

People waited in the wings for their turn to speak or just to listen and support. The Raging Grannies sat waiting patiently for their turn to speak their minds in song. 

 

The Raging Grannies promoting social justice

Since I was prepared for a totally different scenario of veterans and motorcycles, I was surprised and intrigued at the demonstration. It was deja vu back to the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the late 60's when the campaign was first started.

This excerpt of one King's last Sunday sermon sums up the yet to be fulfilled cause: 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But if a man doesn’t have a job or an income, he has neither life nor liberty nor the possibility for the pursuit of happiness. He merely exists … We are coming to ask America to be true to the huge promissory note that is signed years ago. And we are coming to engage in dramatic non-violent action, to call attention to the gulf between promise and fulfillment; to make the invisible visible." - Martin Luther King

The Poor People's Campaign will continue for four more weeks with the following themes: 

Week 4 (June 3-9): The Right to Health and a Healthy Planet: Ecological Devastation and Health Care

Week 5 (June 10-16): Everybody’s Got the Right To Live: Education, Living Wages, Jobs, Income, Housing

Week 6 (June 17-23): A New and Unsettling Force: Confronting the Distorted Moral Narrative

Saturday, June 23, 10:00 a.m. EDT10am: Global Day of Solidarity and Sending Forth Call to Action Mass Rally in Washington, D.C.

Now that I know the rallies are happening I'll be watching more closely and hope to get down to a few more. 

Lively First Steps Lead to Fun-Filled Workshop

Michele Cooper’s quick wit and lively banter made her Seattle 10x10 workshop: First Steps in Visual Journaling a really fun way to spend Saturday morning. Grand Central Bakery Arcade again served as a perfect meeting place with indoor tables and relatively few early morning customers.

After sharing a few tips about sketching in public, collecting and using memorabilia, and selecting sketchbooks, Michele started with first things first—something everyone could feel comfortable with: letters. “Lettering can be expressive” according to Michele, it’s another opportunity to play and express yourself. She introduced 5 basic styles as seen below.

Next Michele reviewed different tools – pens, pencils, erasers, different sharpies, fountain pens, water brushes, showing how to use each one and allowing students to try out those that were new to them.

 

“Your sketchbook is your guilt-free zone; a place to play” Michele told students guiding them to select something simple as a second step. “Stay away from  the “P” word (perspective) to begin with. It complicates things too much.”

Michele demonstrated her “six steps to drawing people” using a water brush and crayon d’arche water colors- a simple yet effective way of  drawing people. 

Michele led everyone outside to have students choose items in the environment to create montage drawing. She reviewed the environment pointing out interesting architecture, signage and shapes. She also demonstrated drawing sky shapes to get the basic shapes of buildings in the surroundings.

A bit later, Michele demonstrated “thinking within the box” to draw a car. To wind up we pulled together four turquoise tables, laid down the sketchbooks while Michele pulled out scissors and glue sticks for students to use and gave tips on how to pull the pages together with lettering, memorabilia and color.

Winding up with a group photo at the end, the students, all smiles, laid down their drawings as evidence of what they has soaked in from the fun-filled morning.

And her's my summary of what I learned - simple objects, memoribilia, 6-step people and pulling it all together.  

Determined Enjoyment

Sometimes weather conditions are not the most conducive to enjoyable outdoor sketching. This past Sunday was such a day. I haven't been to a sketch outing since January so I was looking forward to Sunday's sketch outing at Westlake Station. I figured the indoor/outdoor option of the light rail station would offer a safe option, protected from left-over wintery winds. However when I met the cool air funneling up from the light rail station, my assumption dissolved. Thinking street-side might have the possibility of added sunshine, I headed up to the street.

I did a thumbnail or two of the Westin Hotel with the Monorail in the forefront - a classic scene, but the best angle was from the middle of 5th avenue, so I kept scouting. I was determined to enjoy a morning of sketching even if it was through chattering teeth.



When I entered Westlake Center to warm up I noticed City Dog's hot dog stand sitting across the street. I'm a sucker for bright colors in a sketch scene, so I gave it a shot.


Actually two shots, one from a distance and one closer-up.

By the time I was finished I was shivering so I treated myself to a white chocolate mocha before meeting up with the group again. Sometimes enjoyment of Seattle's spring weather only comes through determination . . . and a little coffee.

Later I popped in to Seattle Art Museum. While listening to the docent tell the story of a remarkable show, "Figuring History", I sketched the visitors.

Take Two: Women's March 2018

Last year's march had such a huge thrust of energy behind it. This year the tone was less volatile, more measured, yet still powerful.

In Olympia, we met again at the Washington State Legislative building. What better place to address the governmental power. We arrived well past the initial 11 o'clock start time and speeches were in full swing, continuing for enough time for me to get several sketches at that site.

The focus had changed a bit from angry reaction to last year's election to strategic planning for upcoming voter opportunities -- the midterms. 

 Pink hats dominated, but there were lots of colors. And, being the rainy northwest, plenty of umbrellas.

 
We marched from the Capitol Campus which sits on a hill, down a switchback path to Capitol Lake where booths representing organizations focused on anything from LGBTQ issues to voter registration.

 I wrote down some of my favorite signs and chants I heard:

• Not buying the selling out of America
• We want a leader; not a creepy tweeter! 
• All these incredible women... and we got Trump?
• I fight for equality for my daughters. 
• Women Own 2018
• I support Planned Parenthood
• And my favorite because it's DOABLE: GRAB HIM BY THE MIDTERMS! 

It will be interesting to see what this coming year brings to our country politically, but one thing seems certain, the pink hats are here to stay for a while longer. 

Tinseltown

Hollywood is the kind of place you love to hate, unless you're a sketcher. When all you Seattle sketchers were down at King Street station on the 24 Hour Global Sketch Crawl earlier in November, I was braving the sunshine and 70 degree weather with the Los Angeles sketchers in the middle of Hollywood.

Here are a few of my sketches from that visit:

For more  of the story about my visit to Hollywood see my blog. 

Voices of our City

Many of you know I've been in Santa Monica for the past 6 weeks and will be for the next couple of months. It's been great fun getting to know a new place. One of the things I love is finding out about all the local events. 

Last Saturday I popped into a concert at the Santa Monica Public Library. Billed as a "Homeless Choir", the San Diego based group put on a rockin' good show for a smattering of folks in the auditorium.

A few solo vocalists stole the show and after the performance they sat down in front of the stage and we all had a conversation about homelessness.

Not only do they sing as a group but they advocate for themselves any way they can. They have influenced the San Diego city council to adopt more helpful policies towards the homeless and they have helped find housing for several families. They are building support and community amongst themselves and spreading hope to the greater homeless community.

Not all of the group members were experiencing homelessness. At least three were organizers and advocates that have devoted their lives to making friends, finding solutions and promoting justice for those who are experiencing homelessness.

Whatever the details of their lives may be, they put on a really inspiring and rockin' good show.

See my personal blog for more sketches and info.