Elegant Union Station

 

1/8/25 Union Station

I don’t know why it took USk Seattle so long to get back to Union Station after the pandemic (the last time was in 2019), but it was high time we did. In fact, it should definitely become a wintertime mainstay – elegant, challenging, fun – and we always seem to have the place to ourselves!

Last used as a functioning train station in 1971, Union Station now houses the offices of Sound Transit, which operates our light rail system. It’s also rented out for private events on weekends and evenings, but during weekdays, the huge space is open to the public. Other than the security guards, sketchers seemed to be the only occupants on Wednesday afternoon. We certainly took advantage of all the tables and chairs! (I forgot to take photos of the whole interior, but my post from 2019 includes one.)

In my usual on-location comics style, I tried to capture a variety of parts and pieces of the station to tell the story of the beautifully restored Union Station. I was impressed by the number of sketchers who took on that daunting domed architecture! (I kept my attempt to a 2-inch square.) 

a station without a train

Stepping into Union Station on Friday Morning, a building I have walked past without a thought dozens of times, I had that feeling of "wow! I didn't know this was here!" It was dazzling walking into the white tiled Beaux-Arts space, lined with parlor palms in perfectly spherical planters.

Inside is a generously sized, open public space with immaculate restrooms. As others mentioned, there's no café here, but true free public space in Seattle is so limited I think it's nice to not have an obligation to buy anything. It's a waiting room for nothing. A relic of the old days of the ample rail-based public transit in the city, so much of which is gone/disused/buried in the asphalt now. 

And naturally, Seattle's homeless/mentally ill folks congregate in public spaces like these, for good reason...I'd certainly come here too. While we were sketching, a man entered shouting and ranting, the sounds bouncing off the tiles & the vaulted ceiling, amplifying his unintelligible anger into an echoing roar as everyone hunkered down and tried to ignore it. Eventually he was guided out by a security officer. it reminded me of the outsized impact of a relatively small number of homeless and transient people in Seattle, and the how most of us notice these sad situations, feel bad about it, and move on with our lives in our different spaces. I wondered where the man ended up going after he was escorted out.

On the other side of the space, another man quietly read a newspaper on the pew, surrounded by plastic bags stuffed full of things.

I was trying out the Viviva Color Sheets, which are like swatches of dry watercolor pigments that come bound in a little book. The color from them is like...wow! Quite saturated! I asked the rep who sent these to me about their lightfastness, because they remind me of liquid watercolors (dye-based pigments that look SUPER bright like these, but they fade fast) ...haven't heard back yet.

After the sketching meetup & errands, I went up to my studio in Belltown. But first, I needed to abate my caffeine headache, so I got an americano at nearby Bedlam Coffee - one of those lovely places stuffed full of whimsical, curated junk! I wanted a window seat but they were all taken. Instead my view was of a muttering bearded man sipping one out of several paper cups. He was curious about my drawing but also shy; I don't know what he would have thought if he realized I was drawing him. Two ladies chatted in the sunshine by the window, and next to me I listened in on a painfully chipper corporate interview.

After finally getting work done, I went out for a beer with an artist friend, Sarah. Ah, the simple pleasure of consuming alcohol at an establishment at the end of a work week! Pike Brewing, as we know, is another of these Curated Junk places that you can discover many fun details through sketching. There really is an insane amount of Stuff here. 

One last social sketch: my studio coworkers have a plein air club, and I went out to their meetup on Saturday. We sketched a bit at King Street Station, then walked over to Zeitgeist Coffee for more. Again, those Viviva color sheets are SO much more saturated than I'm used to (see: bright red table). Jackie, left, struggled with the Sketcher's Conundrum: sketching food but also wanting to eat the food, and then getting distracted and forgetting not to eat it. 

One more time at Union Station

We met again at Union Station. At one time, this was a train station but now it is the headquarters for Sound Transit.  

Union Station was constructed between 1910 and 1911 to serve the Union Pacific Railroad and the Milwaukee Road. It was originally named Oregon and Washington Station, after a subsidiary line of the Union Pacific. It was built in the Beaux-Arts Architectural style. From Wiki: After nearly 30 years of sitting idle, the station finally experienced an expansive renovation supported by Nitze-Stagen with financial backing from Paul Allen. The Union Station renovation was the winner of the 2000 National Historic Preservation Award.

By the time for the throw down, a goodly number of sketchers had gathered.


 
Thanks to Sean for the group photo.

On my way in, the train wasn't too crowded so I could sketch.  Two sketches on the light rail train ride into Seattle.


Field Notes Signature Sketchbook

A sketcher reported that there were more sketchers over at King Street station next door.  There seemed to be some confusion about at which station to meet.  So I went over and found a couple there. I also decided to get another sketch for the USk Flickr group's weekly theme, which is "vending machines". This is an AmTrak ticket vending machine. It might also do for next week's theme of "trains and train stations"!


Strathmore Mixed Media 5x8

I had a little time left, so sketched this detail that is repeated all over the upper level.  The "O W" initials refer to the station's original name, Oregon and Washington Station.  We were curious about the meaning of "OW" so I looked it up after I got home. 


Stillman & Birn Beta pocket sketchbook

My main sketch of this location was a small section of wall. It was the Beaux-Arts era lamps that attracted me to this view.


Strathmore Mixed Media 5x8

More photos here.

Union Station

3/8/19 Union Station

Almost exactly three years ago when Urban Sketchers Seattle met at Union Station, I chose the fern planters and light fixtures as my subject – with a bit of the architecture for good measure. This time I was less ambitious – no architecture at all!

Although I didn’t sketch it, I did appreciate the building’s lovely restoration (backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen 20 years ago). Built in 1911, Union Station has not been used by trains since 1971. Rented out for events in the evenings and weekends, the building’s main daytime use is office space. Plenty of chairs and tables are scattered about the huge hall, but strangely, no food or beverages are available. That means that sketchers can feel free to use the space without buying so much as a cup of coffee.

Although we sketchers occupied most of the tables, the space was also taken up by some locals. To kill a few minutes before the throwdown, I sketched this man, who seemed to be transporting all of his worldly possessions in a roller suitcase and a garbage bag.

3/8/19 Union Station

Only the man at far right was not a sketcher!

Tacoma Sizzles with West Coast Sketch Crawl

8/20/16 Union Station Building

That headline isn’t really metaphorical. We’re having a heatwave this weekend in Northwest Washington that warrants an “excessive heat warning,” according to the National Weather Service. But that didn’t stop well over a hundred sketchers from showing up for the Fourth Annual West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketch Crawl in Tacoma!

8/19/16 portrait party

Festivities began Friday night at the opening reception, which included a portrait party (a few minutes to sketch someone you don’t know, then move on to another person). The highlight of the evening was, of course, the huge door prize giveaway of literally hundreds of dollars’ worth of gifts from generous art supply stores and other vendors. Many thanks and kudos to Frances Buckmaster and the Tacoma team for procuring a gold mine of donations! I don’t know which city will be hosting next year’s WC sketch crawl, but I’d say they have a pretty high bar to meet!

The weekend’s main event is an all-day sketch crawl today and a half-day tomorrow around Tacoma’s highly sketchable museum district. Although the event didn’t officially begin until 9 a.m., I was already on the sidewalk by 7:30 a.m. to get ahead of the heat. By mid-day, I had captured two sketches in the still-comfortable shade – one of the majestically domed Union Station building (which I sketched about a year ago from a different angle) and the second of the University of Washington’s Tacoma campus stairway.

8/20/16 University of Washington Tacoma campus

I don’t know if anyone officially counted heads, but here’s the photo of the Saturday mid-day sketchbook sharing!

Grand Ol’ Union Station

3/11/16 Union Station

Union Station in Pioneer Square is one of the few buildings in Seattle that I think of as “grand.” Built in 1911, it served as a train station until 1971, then stood mostly wasted for three decades. Finally Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen backed its restoration, and now Union Station is back to its full glory.

Apparently the aptly named grand hall is rented out for weddings and other events in the evenings and weekends, but by day, its main use is to house the offices of Sound Transit. Plenty of chairs and tables are scattered about, and there’s a nice, clean restroom. But other than that, it’s mostly open space – plus that beautiful arched interior.

After talking about it for years, Urban Sketchers Seattle’s Friday group finally met at Union Station this morning. I spent a full hour sketching the interior (note that I even made a tiny thumbnail in the lower-right corner! Sometimes I actually remember to plan before hitting the page)! Since the day had started out cold but dry, I was hoping that by afternoon I could sketch the station’s exterior. I should have gone out in the morning when others had; by the time we shared sketchbooks at 12:30, the rain had begun – and kept on going. I got home drenched, very happy that I had my waterproof Rickshaw bag.

Around Union Station

The Friday group met at Union Station this morning.   I'd sketched the cavernous, arched ceiling before.  I looked for an interesting detail and found it in the anachronistic pay telephone booths!  It helped that they were encased in a nice stand.


It was sunny, if a little chilly, outside so I went to find the pocket park I'd noticed before.  It was between the Vulcan building and Union Station.  There was a good view across the way of buildings, construction and the clock tower of King Street Station reflected in the slanted glass of Vulcan. 





Sketchers around the building

John took the photo

Urban Sk-egg-ing in Tacoma

4/4/15 Native American basketweaving

It had been ages since I visited the Washington State History Museum, so when Urban Sketchers Tacoma invited Seattle sketchers to join them this morning for a group-rate discount, I jumped at the opportunity.

This museum is the kind of place where I felt torn between lingering in the exhibits to take in my native state’s rich cultural and industrial heritage – or sketch. You can probably guess which I chose, but it was a difficult choice. My first sketch was part of an exhibit on Native American culture – an interpretive display of a woman teaching a young girl how to basket-weave. While I sketched, I listened to the audio program about how the craft has been handed down from one generation to the next.

4/4/15 Aerospace exhibit

For my next sketch, I went upstairs to find a view of the main floor gallery’s exhibit of the aerospace industry. That’s when I spotted Stevie – a tiny dot dwarfed by the framework of a plane’s fuselage looming over the space. (The dude at left is not real; I think he represented an airplane manufacturing worker.)

By that time the morning had warmed up a little, so I went out to do two iconic Tacoma sketches from just outside the history museum: Union Station and the Museum of Glass’s conical building. These Urban Sk-eggs took a little planning – namely, I had to bring my support materials in a cooler!

Happy Easter!

4/4/15 Union Station

4/4/15 Museum of Glass

Some Recent Sketches

What a beautiful weekend! Here are some recent sketches of mine. Gabi's Hammering Man sketches inspired me to do one too. Hopefully I'll see you all next weekend!

400 Yesler Building

King County Courthouse

Union Station

Hammering Man

-Michael