Two sketches from last weekend's Seattle Urban Sketchers Gathering at the Seattle Chinese Gardens located on the South Seattle Community College campus. Warm beautiful day!

Pen, ink and watercolor in a Moleskine watercolor book.

In transit

Took Light Rail into Seattle to attend a Photoshop lecture at the Adobe campus. These sketches were done on the commute.

Pen, ink and watercolor in a Moleskine watercolor book.

Sketcher's Gathering Seattle Center - Winterfest

How nice it was to be able to sketch outside in December and then meet inside when my whimpy self got cold. I saw a post yesterday from a European Urban Sketcher blogging about putting alcohol in their watercolor water so the liquid wouldn't freeze while painting in minus 13 degree weather. Yes, I will shut up now about being cold.

I did this sketch of the dormant popcorn booth called Popcornucopia. It has been part of the International Fountain landscape for as long as I can remember.

Pen and ink with watercolor in a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.

Post Alley Busker

Though there was an Urban Sketcher event going on in the Bus Tunnel, my girls were going to a concert at Benaroya Hall a bit later so we decided to commute in together. A brisk beautiful fall day in Seattle made for a busy Post Alley and often making the subject matter dissapear. The young entertainer was quite good and his dog would sing on command.

I had tested a new ink pen (disposable) on paper before I did this sketch - no bleeding. What I didn't do was test in on the watercolor paper of my sketchbook. With the exception of the door, I was going to have to be satisfied with shading using water and a brush pen.

Pen, ink, watercolor pencil in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

Where Did I park That Jet?

This was a January sketch, which means my whimpy backside didn't get out of the car. I drove around south Seattle for a while and ended up in the parking lot of the Museum of Flight. From where I was sitting it looked like the jet was brought in by just another soccer mom with a slightly higher budget than most...Yea I know. Three engines on one side, two on the other. I'm not just whimpy, I'm lazy.

Pen and ink and watercolor wash in a Stillman & Birn sketchbook.

Sketching at Alki

The June sketcher's gathering took place on or around Alki Beach at West Seattle. Beautiful weather, too nice maybe, by the time I did my urban hike back to the truck I was quite burnt - the forgotten sunscreen still sitting on the bathroom counter.

Pen and ink with watercolor in a Stillman & Birn watercolor sketchbook.

Urban Sketchers Gathering International District - Seattle

It was cold and wet, hell all of March was wet. The green awning is the Fortune Garden Restaurant I believe. Pen and ink with watercolor.

Urban Sketchers Gathering October - Craven Farm, Snohomish, WA

This was done last October on a crazy packed Craven Farm in Snohomish. Ok for a sketch, but lacks a focal point and the subltle sky and clouds washed out. Next time.

Watercolor in a Stillman & Birn watercolor sketchbook.

The Seattle Urban Sketchers January Gathering at MOHAI

The Museum of History and Industry. Toe Truck second time around. Pen and ink with a watercolor wash in a Stillman & Birn Alpha series sketchbook.

Toe Truck - Seattle's Museum of History and Industry

My wife works for the Puget Sound Blood Center who had their annual awards and holiday dinner at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI). If you grew up in or around Seattle, you surely saw (on your way to the Seattle Center) the pink Lincoln's Toe Truck parked just off the Mercer exit.

That blast from the past now resides just inside the entrance to MOHAI and for this event, the backdrop to a no-host bar.

Pen and ink with watercolor wash.

Abslut Hot Dog Stand - Pioneer Square, Seattle

After the Seattle Urban Sketchers Gathering on the Seattle Waterfront - I walked south to Pioneer Square where there is a new (newer) food stand near the pergola and the Chief Sealth statue. Every half an hour of so I would have to take a break while all the people doing the Underground Seattle tour stood in front of me listening to their guide go over the story of the great Seattle fire of June 6, 1889.

Emerald City Trapeze Arts - Seattle

Last Sunday was the March gathering of the Seattle Urban Sketchers group and we found ourselves sketching at Emerald City Trapeze Arts - a teaching and practice facility for all things trapeze located in a classic old industrial building just south of downtown Seattle. They kindly let us sketch while a class was going on overhead and there were many interesting objects decorating the interior.

When you walk in you are ask to remove your shoes and it was the variety of foot wear that initially caught my eye. That and they weren't swinging back and fourth and doing back flips.....

Pen and ink with a watercolor wash in a Moleskine.

Albro and 13th - Georgetown (Seattle, WA)

This sketch almost never made it to the blog due to a 'senior moment' on my behalf. On a sketch trip to the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle, I left my Moleskine sketch book sitting on the outside ledge of a window sill of a home design store called Le' OBJECTS. I didn't realize the book was missing until I went to scan this sketch. I lucked out that the owner of Le OBJECTS Tim De Clue had found the book and sent me a note letting me know he had it.

Very grateful to Tim for giving me the opportunity to get this book back, there are a number of sketches done recently I was very fond of.

This sketch is of the Ro Ro Tavern somewhere near Albro and 13th Ave. Right at the north end of Boeing Field.

Dash Point, WA

Took a break from the rental to spend lunch time at Dash Point on Puget Sound just south of Seattle. Pen and ink in a 4"x4" Handbook Sketchbook.

Tully's before a Holiday Concert

Tamra, Kiersten and I went to the United States Air Force Band of the Golden West concert at Benaroya Hall (Seattle) last night. What an outstanding event with a huge variety of music (and free to the public). The sketches here were people and things I came across on my way into town. The other unexpected pleasure of the evening happened at Tully's when a gentleman sat down and started (with great skill) to play the grand piano that sits near the entrance.

Trying to do a watercolor Moleskine sketchbook without using pen and ink. We'll see.......

The Fin Project - Urban Sketcher's Gathering

I came across this art installation at the eastern tip of Magnuson Park. Made from de-commissioned nuclear submarines these stabilizers are supposed to represent a pod of orca whales. This was also an Urban Sketchers gathering and despite the rainy grey day we had a great turnout.

Urban Sketchers at Stimson-Green Mansion - Seattle

This sketch is from the February Seattle Sketcher's Gathering at the Stimson-Green mansion. The building is beautiful inside and out and yet I chose to sketch the pathway between the mansion and staff quarters. Sometimes I look back at creative decisions and scratch my head....

A touch of watercolor, pen and ink in a watercolor moleskine.

Seattle Triptych

I've started to mix sketch scenes together, mostly out of frugality - watercolor moleskines are kinda pricy. An interesting musician that plays in my daughter's jazz group with a background consisting of a window display in downtown Seattle. Not comfortable with the fact that I placed a homeless guy selling newspaper so close to a young girl playing the flute. The last scene is on the #150 going to Seattle from Kent. Though I didn't represent it well, the big guy in the middle had this wild flowing hair topped with a fur hunters cap.....drawing on a moving vehicle is tough for me - I turn a little green.

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

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.

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