Unseasonable Snow for 100 People

 

3/13/26 Bellevue Square

We all woke on Friday the 13^th, the final day of the annual One Week 100 People drawing challenge, to the season’s unseasonable first snowfall! (This is the challenge's 10th year, and I've participated for 10 consecutive years!) As I’m skittish about driving if I see even one flake falling, I gratefully accepted Kim’s offer of a ride to Bellevue Square retail mall. It’s become an annual tradition for USk Seattle to work on 100 People there. Despite the joint outing with Eastside Sketchers, the snow must have kept many away, as we had a small turnout.

I apparently can't count while I draw!

The mall is always a fruitful location for drawing people – so many small stories. It’s also just a fun place to people-watch. So different from Seattle, the women really dress to the nines in Bellevue. I especially enjoyed the formidable challenge of sketching people walking up and down stairs, which was easy to see through the transparent walls of the stairwells.  

People Are More Fun with People

 

As I have annually since 2017, I’m participating in the One Week 100 People challenge initiated by Marc Holmes and Liz Steel. Here are sketches No. 26 – 58, which I did today with USk Seattle. Meeting at Northgate Light Rail Station, we enjoyed a sunny morning with temps in the balmy mid-40s!

A year ago, USk Seattle met at the same station to sketch people for the challenge, but only two of us showed up. This year we tried something a little different: We held two outings simultaneously – Northgate Station on the northend and Tukwila Station on the southend – hoping to make it easier for more sketchers to participate. I’m happy to say that Northgate got a good turnout. It’s always more fun to sketch people when you sketch with other people! And I think all of us put together sketched way more than a hundred people.

The previous day had been a good warmup, and by today I hit my stride capturing lots of tiny gestures. Every year I’m reminded of how much fun it is to sketch lots of people this way – I don’t know why I don’t do it more often!