sketchcrawl

Attended my first ever sketchcrawl - the 4th annual West Coast Scketchcrawl in Tacoma, WA this year. I was only able to attend one session, but it was SO fun seeing all those sketchers spread out over the city (over 100 sketchers from southern CA to Vancouver BC). My 2 hours of sketching yielded these two:

drawn w/ fountain pen in Stillman & Birn Alpha 9x6

drawn w/ fountain pen in Stillman Birn Alpha 9x6 (over the gutter)

both drawn in Canson mixed media notebook w/ ink & watercolor

The 2 above are from our  recent camping trip to Salt Creek near Pt. Angeles,WA. Relaxing & fun but too cold to call it a perfect trip.

some recent sketches

I've been sketching. No earth shattering revelations or epiphanies, just practice.

at my local beach about 10 minutes from the house - Seahurst Beach:

haven't added the watercolor yet

beachcombing finds

at Seattle Art Museum free evening concerts:

 the iconic Calder sculpture with the city in the background

Georgetown neighborhood Oxbow park:

LOVE this tree! sketched in my 4x6 pentalic book

sketched in my 4x6 pentalic bk on way home from work

drawn standing in the midst of the pea patch garden looking toward the boots & hat in 4x6 bk

And, around the yard:

geraniums on the deck

our sundial but mostly I wanted to practice rocks

Thanks for looking - all comments, critiques, or helpful tips are welcome!

alaskan cruising recap

We took a week long cruise to AK a couple weeks ago. I managed to do some sketching while on the ship and off - the sketching was done quickly, paint added on the ship...

St Michael's church, Sitka with Mt Arrowhead looming behind.

The reference photo ........

The atrium in the center of the ship that spanned a couple of floors. This was TOUGH! I spent a couple hours sitting and sketching & trying again on those angles. Not great but I feel a sense of accomplishment none-the-less.

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On the Lido deck for breakfast about 7am. Not many people about which is good.....I could sit at a table and sketch uninterrupted.

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Sketching from on board the ship through a window.... (my shoes the most colorful part of the view)

Pencil sketch of the famous Red Dog Saloon in Juneau. Dan had his first LEGAL drink here at 19 in 19.......72! Yikes, it's like it was yesterday.

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Creek St in Ketchikan - this street is famous for once being a street of brothels; now it's all tourist souvenirs stores.

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Our last port of call was in Victoria which I'm more familiar with but found this pretty archway at the side of the Empress hotel. You'd think it was spring instead of mid summer.

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A last view from the ship - a mountain in the distance as we leave Ketchikan.

The one thing I realized at the end of the cruise is that I didn't sketch or even photo any of the food! What an oversight! But, there was plenty of delicious and well plated food. And some mediocre meals. Overall, a great, relaxing week.

some urban sketching

My sketching practice continues:

A random building on Las Olas Blvd, Ft Lauderdale  (watercolor painting, 2nd for #worldwatercolormonth)

On my walk I passed a house with these wonky, beat-up, old birdhouses poking up out of the front hedge......a perfect sketching opportunity! And those angles! Oh my......

The train yard on 4th Ave just south of Costco.....perfect sketching place with a railing to prop my sketchbook!

I went to my 4th monthly urban sketcher get together last weekend. We celebrated the 7th anniversary of the first Seattle USk meeting by gathering at Fisherman's Terminal again, like the first time. There were about 35-40 of us spread over the area. Once again some absolutely beautiful sketches were created. I'm in awe.

Here are my efforts (boats are HARD!), Drawn across the spine in Stillman & Birn Alpha with Platinum pen, carbon ink, watercolors.

After completing the above one, I had a little time so did a couple smaller ones in my 4x6 Pentalic bk.

A sculpture of an eagle (my somewhat sad attempt) and a beautiful tree on the marina walkway.

Hope you're having a creative week!

urban sketching at King St Station

I attended my second get together of the Seattle urban sketcher group on Sunday. We met at the King St train station which has been SO beautifully restored.  There's a wealth of detail, lighting challenges, and most of all, perspective challenges.

I sketched here for the first time a couple months ago at the end of my perspective workshop and it was SO difficult.  This time I knew what to expect and thought I'd approach it differently, maybe just focusing on a particular detail.  But, no, I was once again sucked into trying to capture some of the grandeur.  This time I challenged myself to include some of the ceiling.....

After spending a chunk of time on the interior, I decided to head outside even though it was drizzly and wet (such a typical Seattle spring day).  I found this undercover waiting area and wanted to see if I could correctly capture the row of planters AND actually include a person.  Moved back inside to add the watercolor.

The sharing time is SO interesting as you get to see what everyone else drew.  There was everything from beautifully rendered interior sketches (including one that focused on the flooring pattern!) to grand outdoor vistas, to sketches focusing on the people in the station.  So much fun!

I loved this people sketch - unfortunately, I don't know enough of the participants to know whose it is, but isn't it great? There were LOTS of cool sketches!

If you have any interest at all in sketching with a supportive group (it helps reduce the pressure of sketching in public when there are others around), look for the urban sketcher group in your city - they are everywhere!

sketching continues

Didn't do as many sketches last week - will have to try to do better this week. I did finally invest in some artist quality watercolors for the first time so was eagerly awaiting my Dick Blick shipment this week.  I changed up my palette and added the new colors, then had to draw it!

I also ordered a couple of new sketchbooks - ones that seem to be favored by most of the urban sketchers I've been reading.  I got a Pentalic small 3x5 one (below) and then a larger one with heavier paper more suited to watercolor, a Stillman & Birn, alpha series (above).

I sat on my deck after work and drew this little sketch of my yard into the neighbor's.  We have a gorgeous red maple shrub that dominates this viewpoint.

We went to Virginia City to visit family - Dan's mom will be 93 in a couple weeks.  We stayed with his brother and wife and they have this lovely yard - tough to sketch, but I gave it a shot.  First time I painted on site in real time.  And, I did it all with no yellow - I totally ran out of yellow paint so couldn't get some of the greens I wanted, but.......the overall capture is fine.

Hope you're in the midst of a creative week!  Practice, practice, whatever your interest ---- do more of it!  :)

seattle skyline & taking a walk

Continuing my sketching.  After work on Friday, the weather was so pretty I decided to go to west Seattle and try a broader cityscape type sketch. It seemed like it should be easy cuz it's all rectangular shapes.  Well.......

then a touch of color & some darks

the reference photo:

 I cropped out the fence in the photo, but actually it was easily half my view. Also, I made a major error in scale calculation so totally ran out of room to get all the buildings.  However, the exercise was good, it was fun to do, and I was so engrossed that time just flew by.

Then I stood up and focused on a single element of the scene.

This weekend I went for a walk & did 2 quick sketches. My goal with both of these was to draw them quickly, while standing, pretending I was short of time but wanting to capture a view. I just read a Marc Taro Holmes blog post where he talks about the value of being able to simplify and sketching quickly that I found inspiring.      (this boat below hasn't moved from the yard in the 3 years I've been walking this route) The dark shadows are the blacks showing through from the other sketch.

(color added when I got home) - funny, I don't even remember seeing that arrow sign, yet I drew the tree behind it. :)

Marc also wrote about seeing & using darks which I tried to keep in mind with this sketch. By the way, his website has all sorts of tips and instructions about urban sketching - definitely a valuable resource.

Paint & shadows bleeding through from other side. Guess I shouldn't be so cheap and not draw on the back of the pages......

Hope you all have a fabulous and creative week!