Notes From Underground

As part of my New Year's Resolutions and efforts towards general well-being, I'm on a bit of a tech-sabbatical. I deleted Facebook and Messenger from my phone and rarely check my email. It has been a welcome relief reconnecting with the real world and my flesh-and-blood friends in real time.

I haven't slowed down on the drawing however, and have some catching up to do on posting, so here are a few drawings from the last month.

I took my On Location students from Gage Academy to Wallingford Center and drew this scene as a demo. I took a dozen in-progress photos as I worked but I'll spare you all but one.

I'm often asked about my "no pencil" policy, and for the sake of transparency here is the kind of laborious and pains-taking pencil plan I create before inking. As you can see, a long time was spent on this stage (about 30 seconds).

Another scene drawn at Wallingford Center, completed in short bursts between consulting one-on-one with my students who were scattered around the building.

It's a welcoming location where I'll also be teaching my 10 x 10 class on St. Patty's Day.











    













The class also visited King Street Station with the assignment of finding a viewpoint with detail and depth, and to use atmospheric perspective to suggest distance.

Stimson-Green Mansion is good for students interested in architecture, but the rooms are dimly lit. The spaces with the most natural light tend to be the bathrooms and the kitchen- not the most historic of settings.

In my drive to get students to put down their pencils and draw directly in ink, I did this quick silly drawing of a librarian at Suzallo Library. I wanted to show that a wobbly drawing done as a modified blind contour isn't fatal. I was grateful that the librarian seemed unself-conscious about me staring at her for 20 minutes while I inked my way through this bland setting, trusting that my undisciplined pen lines would add up to something.



 

And the US Bank building corporate arch-thingie, where I was gently hassled by a security guard who asked me to put my chair back and move along.

If you'll be in Georgetown anytime during March or April, I'll have a show of a dozen large color drawings (17x23) at All-City Coffee. Not technically urban sketches, but using the same technique:

Exteriors (finally!)

Glo's Coffee Shop on Capitol Hill. Solo outing.

Tree in garden near Marshall Park, drawn with USk

Several shops across the street from the Funeral Home. Drawn with USk

Des Moines Farmers Market with Urban Sketcher Anjl Rodee.

Veterans Day To-fer

Fran's Chocolates was a beautiful space (and yummy samples) but just not cluttered enough for me, so I headed over to the Trailer Park Mall. Even when they're closed, there's always plenty of yummy eye candy there.

After yesterday's record-breaking heat, I was underdressed, and didn't realize how chilled I was until it came time to wrap it up.

Then it was off to teach my On Location class. We met at Café Ladro on Capitol Hill. To help my students overcome the anxiety over perspective, I dove in without pencilling and pushed the wonkiness to extremes. Check out the lower left shelf. Proportion schproportion.

Abandoned House

This house, two blocks away, caught my eye soon after we moved to our new place near Greenlake, but I waited for a sunny day to draw it. It's clearly abandoned and overgrown, yet it's on a prime corner overlooking Green Lake. Curious as to how such potential just goes fallow.

Bothell Country Village Mall

An overcast day so the lighting wasn't optimal, but a great turn-out with many new faces, including students from both my classes at Gage, and from my on-line class.

Main Street Gyros

I've had my eye on this former Taco Bell (you can see the old bell logo design in the stucco) for a while, and meeting the sketchers in Pioneer Square was the perfect opportunity to knock this out. Somehow this little eatery has survived many incarnations and is now a Mediterranean/Greek place. It reminds me of Edith Macefield's place in Ballard, dwarfed by modern towers and busy traffic. It was a bright sunny day and over the hour and a half I sat near the curb drawing I sunburned the backs of both my hands.

Vera's Diner, Ballard, Seattle

Donna and I had breakfast at Vera's in Ballard and lingered long enough to each do a sketch. Here's mine:

Trying not to get caught sketching these folks at Elliott Bay Bookstore.

Lunar Rover

Sat in the darkened room with the landing simulator games and drew the lines of this Rover while listening to the audio loop: "We got some guys turning blue, thanks for restoring the oxygen. We got some guys turning blue, thanks for restoring the oxygen. We got-" and so on.

The guard watched me and said, "I draw, but I never show anybody." I convinced him to show me his drawings on his phone, and they were beautiful detailed urban sketches in pen and ink! I hope he follows through on his promise to look us up.

I finished the ink wash afterwards from the trophy photo at left.

Five-Day Challenge

Tandem Sketching

On Christmas day Donna and I drove up to our family's place on Green River. Donna and I sat across from each other at the old table in the cabin and drew the knick-knacks we found there. My take is on top.

We did it again at the Neptune Café in Greenwood. Again, I'm on the top. What a pleasant way to while away an hour or two, sipping java and chatting. Or sipping java and not talking at all.

Lincoln Elementary Computer Lab

I subbed for a couple days last week at APP Lincoln, just a few blocks from my house. The kids had earned, according to the lesson plans left by their regular teacher, an hour in the computer lab. When a student asked if she could go back to the room to get her sketchbook, I told her to grab mine as well, and I drew the kids as they played games. I rarely draw people because they move too much, but I was captive with nothing else to do. When I finished, they asked me for a copy so I printed one out for their room.

November in Jingdezhen, China.

You You Ka Fei Shu Ba. Coffee and book bar.

Olga's from Spain and her boyfriend is from Shanghai. This is their living room.

There are acres and acres of these 3-story, abandoned buildings, made entirely from crumbling brick, with irregularly sized doors, and tiny rooms filled ankle-deep in rat turds and dead bats. I get different stories depending on who I ask: it's new and for sale; the developer went bankrupt and committed suicide; they're waiting to be finished. In America you would see graffiti and signs of squatters and teen parties, but these erode ignored and unmolested.