A Brief Quad Hanami

 

3/26/26 University of Washington Quad

On a jam-packed day, I barely had an hour to squeeze in at the University of Washington Quad, but how could I miss sketching peak cherry blossoms with USk Seattle? Arriving an hour-and-a-half late, I quickly singled out one tree so that I’d have a sketch to throw down (above). Of course, it was magnificently much wider than I allowed room for on the page.

After the throwdown, I went back into the throng for one more quick one: A gnarled, moss-covered branch as thick as an entire tree trunk itself and happy hanami participants enjoying the sunny (but cold) day.

Obligatory sakura selfie

A Joyous Celebration of Pink

 

3/30/25 UW Quad

Although USk Seattle meets at the University of Washington Quad every spring to sketch the glorious cherry trees, this year felt very different to me. Even the heavy crowds on a dry Sunday morning didn’t bother me as much as they sometimes do. With so much disgusting “leadership” going on in our country, and tragedy, horror and devastation elsewhere in the world, it was truly uplifting to be part of this joyous celebration of nature. Everyone seemed so happy! It was impossible to walk among those trees, even bumping into each other, without feeling a bond with humanity: All of us brought together by tiny pink blossoms.

Thank you, brilliant cherry trees, for giving us such joy.

At upper left, I tried to show some cosplay characters being photographed, but my sketch doesn't show them well. See photo below for what they actually looked like.

These are the characters I saw being photographed. In addition, several groups of choreographed teenagers were being video'd, probably for their TikTok channels.

So much exuberance everywhere!

Don't forget the UW Quad in Autumn!

 

Everyone crowds into the Quad at the University of Washington to see the cherry blossoms. So it astonishes me how empty it is during the fall when those very same cherry trees burst into flames. The tree trunks - as always - make for interesting sketching but the colors were the big draw for me.

Lots of folks - students, tourists, all kinds of folks - stopped by to comment and chat.  It was a gas.  I'd recommend it!

Pink, White and Lavender at the UW Quad

 

Scheduling our annual USk sketch outing at the University of Washington Quad was dicey this year. The cherry blossoms were finally close to 100 percent, but the forecast was iffy. We picked the day most likely to be dry, and the mobs showed their appreciation with their presence.

I’ve sketched blooming trees at the Quad so many times now that I try to use different media or approaches each time, and it’s always a challenge capturing that spectacular sight. This year I brought along a 9-by-12-inch watercolor pad to see if it would help to have larger paper (at right). I splattered on some pink gouache, but I’m not too pleased with the way it came out. I think I do better when I stay small.

I like the one I did in my usual A5 Hahnemühle sketchbook better. A girl dressed in a shimmering lavender quinceañera gown was having a photo shoot. Although I knew my cherry tree would look too much like a jacaranda, I took inspiration from her gown for the blossom shadows. (The fact is, the variety of cherries at the Quad has blossoms that are nearly white, not pink, so everyone who sketches them takes liberties with their hue.)

I spent the rest of the sketch outing time (which was short, since I had arrived late) taking in the wondrous fairyland that appears on the UW campus for a few short weeks each year. 

In the Pink at the Quad

3/22/22 University of Washington Quad

Do we know how to pick ‘em, or what?

We’d been watching the University of Washington cherry blossom live cam for weeks and the weather report for several days. Today seemed ideal for both the weather and peak blooms – USk Seattle’s cherry blossom outing was on!

The last time the group met at the Quad was in 2019. Knowing that the fleeting blossoming of the iconic sakura trees draws crowds of thousands, the UW had discouraged visitors the last two springs when most people were still unvaccinated. This year, the UW welcomed petal peepers back – and it was truly wonderful to be back.

Most years, I’ve shied away from the Quad’s buildings and stayed close to the trees. This time I pulled back – partly for a different view and partly to stay out of the dense crowd. It was a good opportunity to put in some of the campus’s oldest and most beautiful buildings.

I daresay spring has sprung! 

We know how to pick 'em!

Nearly Peak Experience at the Quad

3/29/19 UW Quad

Between the weather and peak blooming, timing an Urban Sketchers Seattle sketch outing at the University of Washington Quad is a tricky matter. Today we hit it just right: While the cherry blossoms weren’t quite at 100 percent, they were close enough, and the sunshine on a cool morning was a bonus.

Roy DeLeon invited me and three other sketchers to participate in a 360-degree sketch. The only other time I’ve done that was at the downtown library a few months ago, and it was a lot of fun, so I came armed with my panorama landscape sketchbook. As expected, hundreds of people milled about, enjoying the magical, ethereal blossoms, and some – like the three ladies in the foreground of my sketch – were having a traditional hanami picnic under the clouds of sakura trees.

Here are my fellow 360 sketchers, and below are our circle of sketches (though I see now that I got one in the wrong sequence).

Peter, Helen, Robin and Roy hard at work.

Sketches by Robin and Tina...

... Peter and Helen...

... and Roy.

Hanami, Three Weeks Later

3/31/17 UW Quad

A year ago Urban Sketchers Seattle sketched the blossoming cherry trees at the University of Washington’s Quad three weeks earlier in March. This year’s unusually cold winter pushed the blossoms back, but news reports and the photos in my Facebook feed showed that it was finally time. With today being the only dry day in the foreseeable future, I knew it could be my only opportunity.

The mild temperature and even some sunshine dodging between clouds brought out hundreds of people to the Quad to see the magical explosion of pale-pink-nearly-white blossoms. Families picnicked under the trees in true Japanese hanami style while casual strollers paused for selfies. It really felt like a celebration of spring, at long last!

And wouldn’t you know it – as I sat on a bench sketching, Kate spotted me! She and Feather had had the same idea about taking advantage of the weather. We made our own selfie, urban sketchers style!

Feather, Kate and Tina found themselves at an ad hoc sketch outing!

Sakura, Sakura

When I lived in Japan many seasons ago, we used to sing a song in honor of the sakura, cherry blossoms. So when I stepped outside of Suzallo last Sunday and glanced up at the Quad, it was a magnetic attraction. Despite the pouring rain and cool temperatures, there were so many people milling among the trees. They defied the Seattle norm with their colorful umbrellas and bright yellow and red rain jackets. I wedged myself under an arched entryway with a spot of dry ground. It was an odd angle. I would have preferred to get a nice perspective of the angling paths of the quad, my fingers got stiff from the cold, and wished I had brought my water-color paper and ink and twig. 

By the time I was done Suzallo's interior seemed much more welcoming. And then...a brief spell of sunshine. 

That building in the background by the way is, I believe, the UW Art Department, my old haunt back in the day. 

Cherries in the Nick of Time

3/13/16 University of Washington Quad

Knowing that Urban Sketchers Seattle was planning to meet at Suzzallo Library on the UW campus today, I’d been hoping all week that we’d get enough of a reprieve from the rain to sketch the cherry trees on the Quad. On Tuesday The Times had reported that the blossoms were “still a week away from full bloom,” so I knew they would be close to peak by now.

3/13/16 Rainy campus from Allen Library

The morning started out as wet and gloomy as ever, so I spent the sketchout inside Suzzallo and the connecting Allen libraries, staying warm and dry. From one of Allen’s large windows, I captured a rainy scene, and from Suzzallo’s upper level, I caught Dan sketching the stairway.

After the sketchbook sharing, a few of us were chatting, when suddenly we all saw it, coming through Suzzallo’s high stained glass windows: Sunshine! I knew it was now or never. Kate, Michele and I dashed out to the Quad, where hundreds of people milled around, delighting in the nearly white blossoms. Stomping through puddles, posing for portraits with cameras on the ends of selfie sticks, this was our version of hanami, the Japanese tradition of celebrating the onset of spring.

As I put the last swipes on my sketch, a few drops of rain hit the page, and a minute later the deluge and high winds were back. Caught those cherries in the nick of time.

3/13/16 Dan sketching on one of Suzzallo's majestic stairways.

3/13/16 Suzzallo Library's stacks

Looking down Rainier Vista on UW Campus on a stormy Sunday afternoon.

University of Washington Quad and Burke Museum

It was another great gathering. So interesting to see how many different ways people represented the Cherry Blossoms. I learned alot! It was a bit wet but that's what we get for living in the Northwest. It created another opportunity to draw and paint at the Burke Museum.
That was fun and they even provided a chair.

Cold but lovely

It's a challenge to sketch on such a day. I was feeling a frustrated until I saw what others had accomplished. There were some wonderful images of the campus buildings and the gentle abundance of those trees in the quad. I found a cherry blossom stuck to my palette.. This is a sketch of the smaller trees near the library - some color added when I got home.