The Onions of Pine Island, NY

I was back in New York from August through mid-October and had some time to explore the area and learn a little about the local lore. One story that I actually heard on Planet Money podcast last February referred to the small town of Pine Island, NY which is just up the road from my daughter's house in Warwick. Pine Island is sort of unremarkable.  However it sits in the Warwick Valley which is renown for it's black dirt. And what grows best in that black dirt? Onions. Move over Walla Walla.

The Planet Money story told of a Pine Island onion farmer who figured out a way to corner the onion market, first locally, then all over the country. You can hear the 15 minute listen: Episode 657: The Tale of the Onion King

I didn't get a chance to draw the onion fields, which are definitely black. But I saw plenty of onions.


In bags:

In bins:

And corn, tomatoes, peppers etc. etc etc.

You can read more of the story on my blog, Olysketcher.com

Resurrecting the Western Flyer

The Western Flyer  - John Steinbeck's escape into environmental science

The shipyard next to Boat Haven Marina in Port Townsend is a health and fitness clinic for big boats. The Hawaiian Chieftan sits on drydock. Rumor has it that Pete Townsend’s yacht comes in for check-ups. Big cabin cruisers, a shiny  sky-blue 80 foot sailing yacht, a ginormous rusty metal fishing boat all scatter the boatyard. The star of the show these days, however, is the Western Flyer.

This eighty foot wooden former sardine fishing vessel, originally named the Gemini, was the home of authorJohn Steinbeck and biologist Ed Ricketts back in 1940 when they embarked on their 4-month long journey documented in the book Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research. "The boat itself is an historic artifact—"a symbol of adventure, freedom, camaraderie, or perhaps even refuge for John Steinbeck," (Western Flyer Foundation) who was at the time under public attack for his novel Grapes of Wrath and it’s depiction of America during the depression.

Steinbeck and  Ricketts hired Anton "Tony" Berry and his fishing vessel. Once in the Sea of Cortez, habitat to an unmatched collection of sea flora and fauna, Steinbeck’s attention was fastened to what he saw. He documented the unqualified inter-dependence of sea-life, unwittingly writing the first supplementary textbook for the study of ecology. The book documents the scientific findings and tells the story through Steinbeck’s narrative.

Built in 1937 as a purse seiner, the Western Flyer, first fished for sardines out of Monterey Bay. After the epic journey documented in the book it returned to Monterey and continued sardine fishing until the early 50’s when it went to Alaska as a fishing vessel. In the 60’s it fished in northwest waters, then caught crabs in the 70’s. It changed hands several times during the next few decades ending up in Anacortes where it hauled salmon to canneries.

In 2013 it was salvaged from the dregs of Puget Sound where it had sunk twice during the previous winter. Several entrepreneurs made plans to revive it for moneymaking purposes. Finally in 2015 it was purchased by a geologist, John Gregg, with the dream to restore the vessel exactly as it had been when it made the historic voyage that became the birth of today’s science of ecology.

It’s an awesome sight to see the work being done by Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-Op to restore the boat to its original state. Remnants of the original hull are stacked near the warehouse. The skilled boat builders work long hours, steaming wooden planks to shape the boat’s hull. Countless school field traipse through the shipyard learning about the history of the boat and it’s role in exposing our planetary interdependence. The owners expect the ship to be finished in 2020 and hope to use it as a floating classroom for the study of marine biology. If you get a chance to visit Port Townsend check it out. The site is open to the public and welcomes visitors.

Ganges, Kanaka Bay on Salt Spring Island, B.C.

Indigenous people have been in the area for over 3000 years; the town’s name has a connection with the holy Ganges in India. The counter culture is alive and, as one writer said, spiritual healers have become an invasive species. Seaplanes roar in and out of the harbor. There are loads of contrasts on this, the biggest town on the biggest of British Columbian’s Gulf Islands. But I was curious about the name of the bay - Kanaka.

It’s Hawaiian; it means “person” or “man”. But why this Hawaiian name here, in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia? It turns out back in early days of white settlement Many Hawaiians came to work for Hudson’s Bay Company as immigrant laborers. Here in Salt Spring they were contracted for a term and then free to do what they pleased after the term was complete.  Some stayed right here in Salt Spring. I tried to find evidence of the Hawaiian culture beyond the name of the bay. A local told me down in the town of Fulsome, there are gravestones with shells on them. “And Oh yes,” she told me there are the Hawaiians themselves. “

So no Hawaiian artifacts, but the island lifestyle is definitely evident. Lots of tourists, lots of boats, lots of music in open air bars and restaurants. One of the more well known is Treehouse Café, with live music nightly, indoor and outdoor seating and a giant tree growing right through the roof.

Strolling through town I passed the Courtyard.  Bagels hung on string across the counter window. Who can resist hanging bagels? Not just any bagels, these were Montreal bagels.  They look more like bialies that I saw on the lower east side of Manhattan. I ordered one covered with lox and cream cheese. It came with a yellow and orange pansy sitting on a hand hewn wood cheese board. Absolutely delicous.

The bagel shop was a recent addition to the gallery, Hiro, the owner told me. “ We just opened it 2 weeks ago.” Hiro, is a Polish trader who commissions woodworked objects in Indonesia and brings them to sell in his gallery here on Salt Spring. His Japanese wife, Miro, manages the Montreal bagels. Hiro and Miro.

Just across from the Courtyard is a shiny new airstream mini, the home of Salt Spring Soft Serve. The owner Chris told me, “I mix cocktails for a living.”  He and his family moved to Salt Spring from Vancouver B.C. two years ago. “We didn’t want to raise our kids in downtown Vancouver.” For a while he commuted then just two months ago, after testing recipes for his dairy free, coconut and oat milk based soft serve, he opened his ice cream truck. “It wasn’t hard to go from mixing cocktails to mixing sundaes,” he said.

We really just tapped the surface of this interesting Canadian town and I hope to visit again.

SLO Town, Slab Town and parts unknown

It's been over 36 years but we used to live in San Luis Obispo on the Central Coast of California. We still have good friends there and periodically meet up here, there  or somewhere in between. In late May I had a good couple of weeks in the area staying with a friend and putzing around the county and points south.

Our friends own Sauer Adobe one of SLO's historic sites sitting just across the street from the Mission and just around the corner from the city's historic Chinatown district. Chinatown now consists of 3 buildings - Ah Louis Store, Mee Hung Low Restaurant and the brick candy store (now a real estate office.) The historic roots - Chinese, Native American; Spanish, of these few square blocks tell the story of San Luis Obispo.

Montage of SLO Historic Chinese District - not to scale

Chinese arrived in the area in the 1800's providing manual labor for two converging railroads. At one time there was a sizable Chinese population, but time and racism drove most of them out. The main identifier is the old Ah Louis store, founded in 1874  by Ah Louis of Hong Kong, as a grocery and general merchandise store, employment office, bank, post office and pharmacy for the Chinese population. Currently it serves as a retail outlet for an events producer.

The Del Monte Cafe is another charming site, sitting directly across the street from the Railway Station. The building opened as a barbershop in 1919 then served as the neighborhood grocery before a local family turned it into a thriving restaurant.

                                                                                                                         

My friend and I took a mid-week drive up to Cambria, originally a Chumash Indian site that sits between San Simeon/Hearst Castle and Morro Bay. When logging and mining populated the area, the settlement was known as Slabtown because its first buildings were made from rough slabs of wood. Now named Cambria, probably after a Welsh town,  its a lovely village attracting visitors from all over the world.

There's been a lot of development for better or worse since we've lived in SLO. This little shopping center hosts the usual Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, a few little cafes but it was a perfect spot out of the cool spring wind to sit on a sunny bench and sketch. 

The other fun thing I did while in my old hometown was meet with some local sketchers. There isn't an official USk chapter there yet, but stay tuned.  I think we may have stirred the pot for the makings of one. 

Palace of the Pacific

The Showbox turns 80 this year. It opened on July 24, 1939 as the Showbox Ballroom and it is legendary for it's history of performers who have graced it's halls and helped put Seattle on the music map. This past Saturday, I joined several Seattle Urban sketchers, including some I haven't seen in a while.

It started as a bright sunny day and I chose a shaded spot almost directly under the sign so it wouldn't be blocked by the spring foliage, lovely, but not my focus. After getting the basic lines on the page, I was shivering. So I retreated to a coffee shop to warm up.

After the throwdown and lunch I emerged into a much warmer afternoon. Thinking about my upcoming workshop, People in Places, I plopped down my stool on the entrance to Pike Place and thought I'd do a quick sketch, this time in the sunshine. Quick on an A-4 sized sketchbook soon becomes a longer sketch. I have to learn to break up the page. 

Bolstered by the afternoon sunshine I went back to the Showbox to finish my sketch. As I sat on the sidewalk next to the bus carrying that evening's entertainment, the Jesse James band and their entourage, a few people approached. One a photographer, Peter Arthur, who is documenting Seattle's streets and asked to take my photo.




We chatted about Seattle's streets and urban sketchers. Soon some roadies emerged from the truck and met up with their co-workers who told them Brandi Carlile and Dave Grohl had just been busking at the market. I missed the epic spontaneous performance by just a few minutes, but finished my sketch. Priorities.

Winter sketching

Oddly enough, and in spite of all my grumbling I've filled over two sketchbooks and then some since January 1. They aren't all beautiful or even finished sketches. Lots of exploration, trying out new materials. Just keeping the engine running basically.

This past week, however I've had two sketching sessions that made me think I either deserve a medal or a mental exam. Admittedly, I wasn't in the midst of the polar vortex, but still... it was pretty cold. Here's a couple of examples:

McMenamins Olympic Club, Centralia, WA

Century Theatres, Ruston Point, near Tacoma WA

 You can read more of my recent adventures here. 

Weekend sketches

Last Saturday  I was in Magnolia, an area of Seattle that I'm not so familar. Wide streets, tall, deciduous trees glowing gold despite the gray skies panoramic views--it was all lovely and impressive.  Most of the 10x10 teachers met to begin planning for next year's 10x10 classes. Yep, 2019 will be here before we know it. After the meeting I Yelped for a nearby restaurant and fund Mura Asian Eatery. It was between lunch and dinner so the restaurant was quiet. I had few distractions while I made these quick sketches. 

The next day, Sunday I want to the Farmer's Market in Olympia where the fall colors were just as evident and the people just as enticing as they waited  for their lunch. 

Diwali - Festival of Lights; Feast of Color

I've always grouped Diwali with the other autumn/winter festivals - Hannukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa - but I've never had any direct experience with the event. As soon as I entered the Seattle Armory I was delighted with the color and vitality that was just beginning to build. The armory stage was the main focus. I saw the performers but soon I spotted the staging area where performers waited for their turn. I was enthralled. Sitting on my fold-up stool against the concrete walls of the armory I could watch, unimpeded and largely unnoticed as a rainbow of performers chatted, stretched, practiced, watched and waited. 

Later I went upstairs and found cooking lessons, a delightful puppet show, an art room and an enthralling view of the light-filled kandeel (lanterns). 

Hindus in earlier days set kandeels afloat high, a gesture to invite the spirits of their ancestors moving around to come back home and be with them during the festival time; hence the name akasha deepa (lantern of the sky) or AkashaKandil. Wikipedia

As the sunlight flooded the banners it looked to me like they couldn't help but fulfill their purpose. 

Three USK 10X10 workshops in October Part #2: Jane Wingfield and Eleanor Doughty

[Read  Part 1 of this series, on Andika Murandi's workshop]

The second of my three Fall 10x10 workshops was Jane Wingfield' People in Places, scheduled for October 14 in the Pike Place Market.

I started the morning by getting lost in the labyrinthine market with all its small shops, stairs, hallways, alleys, which don't seem to follow any meaningful spatial organization. I had to stop at a shop and ask for direction. The shop owner didn't seem very impressed with my capacity to follow his instructions (go to the end of the hallways, pass the glass door, turn left, cross the alley by the gum wall, find the wood staircase and so on), but I finally made it to the Atrium.

Jane had prepared nice booklets with the course handout and a folder with Manila paper for each of us, so that we could freely and loosely sketch people without feeling concerned about wasting paper or making a pretty sketch.

She started by showing us many examples of how other urban sketchers depict people in their sketches, from Suhita Shirodkar, to Jim Richards, Melanie Reim, Jane herself and many others.
Jane introduced several techniques to capture the gesture in posture and quickly sketch people with markers, brush pens, or directly with watercolor. After practicing for a while, we ventured in the very crowded Market to sketch people in context. Below are my manila paper sketches practicing Jane's instructions and tips.

A collage of my people sketch practice during Jane Wingfield's workshop. We tried several techniques and took inspiration from the many examples from Jane's printouts.

Below some pictures from the workshop, including our throw-downs and Jane fearlessly standing in a corner of the market for a demo.

Participants at Jane Windfield's workshop People in places and Jane during the demo

The last exercise was a more complete sketch of people in context. My sketch took quite a while. There were a constant flow of people walking around, never stopping, always changing. It was mesmerizing, distracting, and a bit overwhelming, but little by little, and switching between the buildings, the  people and back to the buildings, things started to make sense.

My final sketch of the People in Places workshop. Some of the watercolor wash was done at a later time.

As I did the previous week, I after the workshop I got lunch (a "crêpe du jour" at the Crêpe de France) then I walked around the area with my sketchbook ready. My attention was caught by the iridescent building on the left of the sketch below, as well as by the never ending constructions in downtown Seattle.

Buildings and construction at the intersection of 3rd Avenue and Virginia Street on my way back from the workshop

My third and final workshop was Eleanor Doughty's From Afar: Rendering Atmospheric Perspective in Watercolor. We met at the Lynn Street mini park in East Lake last Saturday. It was a foggy, moody morning, perfect for working on atmospheric perspective. It was also humid and unexpectedly cold.

The goal of the workshop was to learn about atmospheric perspective and practicing rendering it in watercolor using composition and differences in contrast, details, tone, edges, and color temperature. Eleanor had included several examples in her handout of how talented sketchers and illustrators represented space and distance and composed their scenes.

Eleanor illustrated many of those techniques in her demo, then it was our turn to apply them to our sketches. My first sketch was a bit of a mess, but I used what I learned from my mistakes (too much water, not enough water, too many colors, colors in the background too bright, muddy mess) to make a much simpler second version.

My (second) watercolor sketch for Eleanor's workshop on atmospheric perspective. I used Daniel Smith Blue Ultramarine and Transparent Red Oxide on Arches cold press watercolor paper.

By the end of the morning the sun had come up and it was much more pleasant to stand outside. I had a chat with Eleanor, which told me about her recent trip to Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam, then walked to East Lake avenue. While I was waiting for my husband to pick me up, I sketched the view from this spot, to which I later applied a watercolor wash.

Waiting for my ride in front of the Voxx Coffee, at the intersection of Eastlake Avenue East and Lynn street.

This is all for my 10x10 Fall workshops, but if you are interested there are still 3 workshops in October and November that you might be able to attend (and if you are not in Seattle, there is a chance that similar workshops are scheduled in your area). I'm sure you'll find them fun and inspiring.

More Suzallo Arches

As I drove into Seattle, it was stunning to see the bright sunshine after our week of enclosed cold. Nonetheless I stayed inside like most of us and was thankful for the protection from the cool temperatures. 

The reading room is almost a cathedral 

and the stairway arches reminiscent of Piranesi

Eastern Washington

We went to Richland to visit relatives last weekend. The drive home on I-90 was the most stunning in the 40 years I've been making that trek. Everytime I looked up from my computer, the scene had changed. First blue sky and snow dusted mountains of the eastern dessert, the bright blue Columbia, then white out near Ellensburg, blue fog over Alder lake, sun piercing the fog and backlighting the trees of the Cascades. I couldn't resist setting up my mobile studio and making very quick sketches. They don't do reality justice, but I had a lot of fun. 

                 

       

I also snagged the Richland Icon - circa American Grafiti

Brooklyn

I visited family in Brooklyn a couple of weeks ago. Didn't manage too much sketching. Between the rain and cold and immediacy of my companions, it just wasn't conducive to much sketching. 

I did manage this quick sketch of a church in Park Slope. 

More EMP

The structure is overwhelming to draw. The colors were appealing and intense. I can hardly imagine how Gerry et. al. drew up the designs much less how the builders interpreted drawings for construction. I really like the building though. 

Too bad the guards are so fastidious. I wasn't admonished personally, probably because I hugged the wall and the railing after hearing of the lack of welcome.

Belated SAM Lobby and Gingerbread Houses

I missed the monthly sketch outing at the SAM Lobby but was able to catch up this past weekend. 

We kicked off the holidays by volunteering at the Gingerbread House display at the Sheraton. It's an annual fundraiser sponsored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and a holiday tradition for thousands. After our volunteer time slot I sat and drew this sketch editing out about 300 more people that were in the frame. 

Vetrans Day sketching with the Stumptown crew

I was in Portland visiting a friend on Sunday and decided to meet up with the Portlanders on Monday while they sketched in the Belmont neighborhood. Thought I'd capture the city's namesake.