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.....

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

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.

Eat Less Move More.....

A friend recently told me that losing weight was easy - "Move more, eat less". It seems that LA Fitness wants to help - they took out a grocery store to put in a new gym in our neighborhood.....

The Fremont Troll

A sketching trip back to the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. One of my favorite sites in town is the Troll that lives under the Aurora Bridge. Amazing how many people stopped by here while we were sketching. It's also amazing how stupid people get while climbing around and on top of this 20'-25' sculpture. I watched a dad encourage his child to get closer to the edge of the top of the forehead so he can get a better picture......

Weekend in Leavenworth, WA

We spent President's Weekend at a time share in Leavenworth, WA. It's a touristy place that has decked itself out as a Bavarian transplant since the 60's. Beautiful weather and scenery were dampened only by my coming down with the flu bug.

Am closing in on the end of the Marty Sketchbook - This was straight watercolor a rarity for me, looking out our back deck at the Leavenworth Golf Course and Cascade Mountains.

New Year's Day - South Park, Seattle

To start the new year off right, I headed out to spend this beautiful day sketching. I ended up in South Park and found this great industrial site just off the Duwamish waterway. The barge in the middle ground is the Gold Seeker out of Ketchikan, Alaska.

It was eerie how quiet it was because of the holiday, I've been down here on a work day and there is no way one could set up and sketch without being in someone's way.

Pen and ink, watercolor in the Marty Book.

BC War Memorial

My Ryan ancestors arrived here in the states via Canada from Ireland. Tamra through her genealogy efforts discovered a few years ago that I had a great uncle who served in the Canadian Military during World War 1 where he was killed in action shortly after arriving in France.

World Wide SketchCrawl #28 (7/31) - Lake View Cemetery

A cold and grey Saturday in Seattle was the background for our sketchcrawl at Lake View Cemetery (next to Volunteer Park). Met up with Tim Taylor, David Hingtgen, Allison and Sara and we spent just under three hours sketching the monuments and trees of this cemetery founded in 1872.


Yes, I did come across Bruce and Brandon Lee's Memorial site. Lots of flowers and well wishers gathered around.

A great new sketchbook!

A huge thanks goes out to my friend Marty Bauer who hand made me a beautiful leather bound sketchbook complete with sturdy watercolor and fountain pen friendly paper. This is a sweet book to sketch in and it seemed logical that a 'Jet City' sketch be the first. The horse is from a child's rocker.