urban crawl

On Saturday Feb 27 a few of us gathered for WorldWide SketchCrawl 26 at the Washington State Convention Center. Weather was drizzly and sunny in turns! We had the best of both.
Here's my sketch looking down Union Street to Elliott Bay, from the balcony on the second level.

Seattle Center in October

Sorry I'm slow in getting uploaded. Thanks everyone for another fun sketch gathering!


The Center House north entrance


Turkish Bazaar in the Center House


The Rides

I enjoyed drawing with everyone. What a nice group Gabi has put together!

Turns out you can see a couple prehistoric creatures through the fence at the Pacific Science Center- I never looked before. Fortunately none were meat-eaters:

Drawing this structure accurately would require all day, and a sharper eye than I have. I think that seagull was mocking me:

Queen Anne Hill is very charming, as long as you don't have to climb it:

No kids riding the Orca's backs today. Even bronze whales like a rest every now and then:

See you all at the International Sketchcrawl, November 21!

October SketchCrawl at the Center

I look forward to our monthly gatherings and the huge learning experience they provide me. Beth, I'm going to try the black paper next time. It was great to meet newcomers Clarence and Ann, hope they plan on being regulars. Gabi, thanks for the effort you put in organizing these events.

More from Seattle Center - 18 oct

I saw this building, which houses Pottery Northwest and some sort of garage facility for Seattle Center as I was walking to join the sketchcrawl. So, once I'd taken care of the popcorn truck, I went back to check it out. Loved the window, old Rent a Truck sign, the cobalt blue doors and the hanging flowers, each in a new pot presumably created inside.

Murphy's Law of Sketching was in effect: I was sketching propped on a Seattle Center truck parked across the street. Half-way through, the driver of course appeared to drive my seat away. He was very sweetly apologetic.

I stayed on after the official sketchcrawl to see the VanGogh movie at IMAX, and as I was leaving about 3.15p, it was actually sunny! So, one more sketch facing Queen Anne.

October sketchcrawl at the Seattle Center

It was great seeing familiar and also new faces (hi Ann and Clarence!) at today's sketchcrawl. I took the opportunity to experiment a little bit with a mix of media, pencil, gouache, a brush micron pen and the regular micron pens —including a 05 sepia color—, and even some color pencils.


I figured I had to draw the Space Needle at least once, so I decided to get it over with on my first sketch.


I had never paid attention to the writing next to the whale's tail sculpture: "A long time ago in the land of Chief Seattle whales used to pass from Elliott Bay to Lake Union." Interesting!




I want to come back and draw this entrance to the Center House with some more time —even though I never seem to have patience to sketch for more than 20 or 30 minutes. The the art-deco features and the eagles are really cool.


An attempt at a more painterly style was my last sketch of the day.



This is a slide show of a set on flickr with photos from the day. Don't miss Mark's customized tripod-easel and Will's versatile sketching kit.

Everyone has fun at the Food Circus!

For those of you who were not here in Seattle in 1962, the Center House used to house the Food Circus and the Bubbleator (prompting the eternal joke, "What happened to the tourist lady who visited the Seattle World's Fair?"), a clear spherical acrylic elevator that moved people slowly and futuristically from the first floor to the second -- and back! For some of us, the Food Circus will always be with us....

It was great to see all of you sketchers and your beautemous sketchbooks of wonder. Here are the leaves I came to paint today!