An Urban Poet in the Irish Country Side

Good stuff from an Irishman who goes by the pen name of DaithiDublin on YouDoubled.com

Coffee Shop Sketches

Kiersten had a rare weeknight rehearsal in prep for last Saturday's Tacoma Young Artists Orchestra concert. It gave me the opportunity to settle in at a Tully's across the street and sketch.

These two quick sketches were done in fountain pen with sepia tone ink and shaded with a water wash.

Sketching on the set of New Day (TV)

I was amazed at how nervous I got when an assistant producer announced to the audience that they would be filming what ever we had sketched during the show (as an ending to Gabi's interview about his new book). How funny that the normal activity of sketching became almost impossible because my hand was shaking so much. I literally could not even write words....What a mental midget.....

Industrial sketching

Done before Christmas, this sketch is from my car sitting in the Daniel Smith (art supply) parking lot looking south over the rail yard and 1st Avenue overpass. I'm always attracted to the linear design often found in industrial areas of the city.

Tamra followed me around the art store to see what I was interested in, then told me to stay in the car while she went back in to buy my Christmas present.

Pen and ink with a watercolor wash in the watercolor Moleskine.

View from the rental

Years ago we bought a duplex that overlooks Kent, a blue collar town located some eight or ten miles south of Seattle. One of the units recently went empty after five years and our former tenants left us a considerable mess so much of my creative time now is spent getting it back into renting condition.

Took a break from painting and sketched this view from the living room deck looking out over downtown Kent and Kent Station.

Pen and ink with a watercolor wash in a watercolor Moleskine.

Library refugees

Our power had been out for four days and the temperature in the house was a cozy 46 degrees, so we found refuge at the Kent Regional Library along with hundreds of others with the same idea. It made for good people watching and sketching. As always people aren't that active at the library.

Volunteer Park Reservoir

Getting the dates of the sketch gathering mixed up, I did this sketch of the reservoir a week before the actual sketchers gathering and big snow. It is one of my favorite views of the Needle.

Pen and ink with a watercolor wash

Seattle Urban Sketchers - January gathering in the snow

We posed for this picture after the sketchcrawl at the Seattle Asian Art Museum. This was a great turnout considering the weather. I really should have stopped to sketch some of the great scenery while hiking back to the bus, but it was cold and I'm a whimp......Frank Ching took this picture, I'm second from the right

The graphite sketch is a sculpture of a monk at the moment of enlightenment, to be honest he looks like me trying to read a menu with out his glasses.

Took Metro into Seattle to meet up with fellow Seattle Urban Sketchers and spend time sketching exhibits at the Seattle Asian Art Museum (Capital Hill) out of the weather. Though there was a just a trace of snow when I walked in, a couple of hours later there was four inches of snow on the ground and not letting up. Capitol Hill is beautiful covered in snow and I enjoyed the walk to the Metro tunnel (downtown). It was much less stressful being a pedestrian in a snow storm……..Catching a bus home was a different story.

Home-made chowder and fresh baked artisan bread

We had Tamra's family over for Christmas eve lunch/dinner. Served up home made Chowder (extra bacon and clams) and baked some rustic artisan bread courtesy of cook book from Sherri Sutton. Baked up at least six loaves and sent some home with family. Nothing better than fresh bread just out of the oven..... I will post the recipe here shortly.