Recoleta Cemetery

 

While you all were at SAM, I was hanging out with dead people in Buenos Aires, and taking a few rubbings off some old mausoleums. Evita is buried here, and draws a crowd, but the place is almost 200 years old, so lots of interesting sights - including these very peculiar trees.

Olympic Sculpture Park

Very cool to sketch (and collage) today with a bunch of WSU sophomore interior design students and their professors Bob, Kathleen and Linda. Go Cougs!

Hamilton Viewpoint Park

West Seattle has places for urban sketches too!

The Great Wheel

With a surprising lack of fanfare (as I was sketching, two locals asked me if I knew what it was), The Great Wheel, reportedly one of the biggest Ferris wheels in the U.S. at 175 feet, is supposed to be finished in June. It certainly adds whimsy to the Seattle skyline.

Crow's Nest at Magnuson Park

Like some others, I worked in my car to avoid the off and on showers. Had prepared a sheet in my sketchbook with gold gesso, so drew the sketch with watercolor crayons on that and then used 'normal' watercolors.

Portland revisited

Taking a walk down memory lane, revisiting the places we sketched at the first Urban Sketchers Symposium here in Portland. In 2010 the iconic Hung Far Low sign was still being rehabbed, so when we sketched with Lapin it wasn't here.

The Symposium was so filled with activities that there wasn't time to just sit by the river and sketch.  Still working on my sketch of the Steel Bridge, upriver from this view of the Industrial District. Of all the cool bridges here, that one feels like a sadistic final exam for some Line Drawing 101 class :)

Gabi @ SPL

 Pretty cool that with Gabi's clout we were allowed into the Library before it opened to the public. The silence was a little eerie!

Used the "Hot Teen Read" brochures to add some collage elements to the structure.

 Gabi, of course, gave a great presentation to a packed house. Never have so many Library reading attendees had a sketchbook balanced on their laps!

This is the old First Methodist Church drawn from the steps of the U.S. Court of Appeals, across from the Library on Fourth Avenue. The rubbing is a couple of Urban Sketcher motto-like words! taken from the historical plaque next to where I was sitting.

View from Smith Tower

 

Fun sketching from the Chinese Room atop Smith Tower with Peggy G. today. We had instant street cred with the gentleman handling the tickets|architectural info, as he attends the SAF auctions and remembered the Urban Sketchers work there last year!

Crush @ JM Cellars

One of the great Seattle Urban Sketcher outings, with a fascinating subject, food and coffee, and chairs.

I'm in favor of making this an annual event, and I'd love to go back to JM Cellars in the spring to sketch more of Mary's landscaping!

33rd WW Sketchcrawl

What fun to have the Portland Urban Sketchers here to swell our ranks.  Great sketches to view afterwards at Zeitgeist. I enjoyed sitting on (and taking rubbings from) Bill Will's public art facing King Street Station, and then doing a bit of collage to a sketch of the tower.

Gas Works Park

Peggy and I joined Urban Sketchers just after that early trip to Gas Works, so we made up for it yesterday. I was packing some rubber stamps and collage bits to add a little something. Lots of fun... including eavesdropping on the kite fliers, wondering if the guy providing instruction was a professional, a life coach or an overbearing friend of the other two.

WW Sketchcrawl 32

No mistaking our Fourth Ave. S. iconic Seattle view for Lisbon! As always, thanks to Gail for organizing another interesting location on a glorious summer day!

St. Spiridon

One more view of the Orthodox cathedral, though there is lots more to do in this neighborhood. Loved all the REI sale visitors asking what we were doing!

Elliott Bay Foot Bridge - 4/16/11

Kudos, as usual, to our organizer Gail for finding this great location with views in every direction; I think it's on everyone's "Gotta Go Back" list. I did this sketch on a photocopy of a 1912 map of Seattle that was featured in last Sunday's Seattle Times.

20 March 11 - Light Rail sketchcrawl

Was this our first real "crawl," moving from place to place? Whatever, it was a lot of fun and kudos, as always, to Gail for the organization. Wasn't quite as warm as we might have hoped: this first one was done (wimpishly) from the Starbucks inside the Safeway by the Othello station, the backs of the structures facing MLK Way. Loved the diversity in the signs: East African grocery, Chinese restaurant, Vietnamese...

30th WW Sketchcrawl: Part 2 (cont'd)

As Gail noted, this was a fun opportunity and Celine, the Annual Fund campaign director, really treated us right, providing not only a very interesting tour of the facilities, but also tables!!! to sketch at, which certainly helped with the watercolor set up. Geoffrey Castle moves around quite a bit, so I finally bailed on my 'static' sketch and did some just of him, both in my sketchbook and on his bio sheet that was included in the program.

double tall nonfat latte

As Gail noted, glad to be sketching instead of watching the Hawks go down. These are both from Bauhaus Coffee (enjoyed from the balcony with the always delightful Frank B).

Gabi sketches for the Seattle Times; I sketched this with the Times. The second is a "modified contour" drawing (thanks for helping me figure out what to call it, Gail!)

November 21, Jaipur Market

I was sketching in a very different market, in the Pink City instead of the Emerald City. Also, my market was about 60 degrees warmer than yours! More sketches online.

Looking forward to seeing the group at the December crawl in familiar territory.

October 16 - Hing Hay Park

Sorry I couldn't stay to enjoy dim sum with everyone. This was quite a contrast to our last ID sketchcrawl weather in February! There were two elderly men here practicing qi gong with taped music. That and a bench to put the watercolors on = heaven!!

Ballard Farmers' Market

Certified wet & organic. I sketched this produce stand from the covered porch of a little house that is now a lawyer's office. Thankfully, there was no retainer fee required. Went back later, when the sun came out, and started another view, but timed out.

Despite the rain bursts (not quite on Frank's announced schedule), enjoyed the day and then drying out with folks at The Noble Fir. I was glad we could pay back the guy there, who had come out when I was huddled in his overhang, whining to Peggy about my broken water and ink bottles, and given me a bunch of paper towels. Good scenes and good people; let's go back!