Sketching with Bay Area Urban Sketchers

Euclid Avenue. Berkeley California

The nice thing about Urban Sketchers is the ability to connect with other sketchers around the world. Knowing I was going to be in the Bay Area I contacted a couple of Urban sketchers in the area to see if I  could join them on a sketchcrawl.  They graciously rearranged their typical sketch date so I could meet them.  We sketched together on the northside of the UC Berkeley Campus where Euclid Ave. meets the campus.   There are wonderful turn of the 20th century building still standing and in use...giving this street a quaint historical feel.  The scale is so human.  Here is a link to the Bay Area Urban Sketchers Blog.

Mission San Jose

Side door of Mission San Jose,  Fremont, CA

Took a quick tour of Mission San Jose in Fremont, CA.  It was founded on June 11, 1797 by the Franciscan order and was the 14th Mission built in California.  I was under an olive tree sitting in the middle of the courtyard.  Chose this spot because it was one of the only places with shade.

NIles Historic Train Depot

Niles Historic Train Depot

Covered walkway at the Train depot looking out towards the rolling hills of Niles and the Train.

Niles Historic Train Depot, Niles, CA

Niles California founded in 1850 is where Bronco Billy owned a film studio Essanay Studios and stars like Charlie Chaplin were filmed  during the 1910s.  This town has been saved as an historic district.  It is a wonderful place to sketch which I have done a couple of times when visiting my sister in Fremont CA.
http://nilesmerchants.com/historyofniles.html

My Sister's Back Yard

 In California the one thing you notice is yellow hills with a few Oak trees dotting the grassy rolling hills.  So different from our lush greens in Seattle, but just a beautiful.
This is a sketch of my sister's back yard.  She had peaches growing on the tree in the back.

Seatac Airport on the way to California

SeaTac Airport Food Court

Last week I went to California with my son to visit family.  When you get to the airport two hours early you end up having to kill a little time.  Here is a sketch I did at the food court while the sun was setting.   There was amazing color change as the sun went down.  From the plane the sky at the horizon was bright red moving toward a rich blue sky.

Gas Works Park on a Beautiful Sunny Day

Panorama's give you a wide expansive view.  Last Thursday I had my students try sketching panoramas from two different places at Gasworks park.  First down by the platform viewing area ....but we were interrupted by a wedding in the middle of our sketch.  Then we moved up to the top of kite hill.  To sketch at a higher location with a higher eye level.  Here is my sketch from that day.

Gas Works Park Play Barn

Last thursday I went to Gas Works Park with my Architecture Students.  While waiting for them to arrive I did the following sketch.

Richard Serra's Wake Sculpture

Richard Serra's Wake Sculpture

Sunday I sketched with California Urban sketcher Suhita Shirodkar.  I have greatly admired her work and contacted her because I will be in California. She was coming up here as a stop before Alaska.  We went to Olympic Sculpture Park which is a wonderful place to sketch.  Here was the sketch I did of Richard Serra's Wake.  I love the negative spaces this sculpture creates giving you peekaboo views of surroundings framed by the edges of the sculpture.

Union Station Tacoma Washingtion

Union Station, Tacoma, WA

This is the view from Washington State History Museum looking directly at the Union Station Building. Why are there so many railroad stations named Union Station?

Sketching in Tacoma

Saturday the Seattle Urban Sketchers met up with two other groups the Portland sketchers and Whidbey Island sketchers for a regional sketchcrawl.  It was a great day for sketching and nice to meet sketchers from the Pacific Northwest.  We look forward to more regional meet ups.

Here is the first sketch I did on the Bridge of Glass that links the Tacoma Museum of Glass to the Museum District on Pacific.

Getting a simple line

Yesterday my sketching class met at Olympic Sculpture Park.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to have them throw out their concerns about perspective and just have fun doing drawing with a continuous line.  I tried to have them do blind contour drawings of sculptures and space.  It is so hard to let go and not try to get that perfect perspective.  But I wanted them to concentrate on the quality of their lines.

Olympic Sculpture Park cushions

Here is a sketch I did while waiting for them to return.  I wanted to test out what I had asked them to do. 

After adding the greenery.

Jefferson Park View

This is what the fuss was all about!  The opening of the Park.  Here is a view of the park from the vantage of the Beacon Mountain Lookout. I was looking towards the fields, skate park, kids park and driving range...behind me which is not in the sketch was the zip line and the water park.

Beacon Mountain Outlook

Map of the Park

Taiko Drummers

Taiko Drummers

Jefferson Park Jubilee Taiko Drummers performing for the Grand Opening Celebrations.

36th WW Sketchcrawl and a Jubilee

Yesterday was the 36th WW sketchcrawl.  Seattle sketchers organized a last minute sketchcrawl at the Jefferson Park Jubilee Celebrating the opening the this new park.  The park is located on top of two lidded reservoirs.  Great views and a beautiful park.  Here is a sketch from the opening ceremonies.  A parade of Japanese Bon Odori performers,  Taiko Drummers and Samoan Cricket players added color to the festivities. 

St. Ignatius Chapel

Today my architecture sketching class met at St. Ignatius Chapel.  So far we have had great weather each year we go there.  Today my friend Cindy Esselman taught and demonstrated Watercolor to the students she was guest lecturer,  which gave me time to touch base with each of them and talk to them about their progress so far.  Cindy and I arrived early and were able to get in a sketch before the class met.  Here is my sketch. I was trying not to subdue the colors and brighten then up. Also practiced water in the reflecting pool.

St. Ignatius Chapel, Seattle University

Useless Bay Cafe

Useless Bay Cafe

After sketching at the Whidbey Island Fine Arts Studio Demonstration booths,  I went to Useless Bay Cafe for lunch.   This is the garden patio out side with a stage for music in the deep background. 

Choochokam Arts Festival

Saturday we took a day trip to Langley on Whidbey Island.  We were invited by the Whidbey Island sketchers to sketch at the Choochokam Arts Festival.  It was a great day with a lot going on.  The whole town of Langley becomes one big arts festival. 
The Whidbey Island Fine Arts Studio has put on arts demonstrations for the last three years.  Live models sat for artist to paint, sketch and sculpted.  They also raffled off art pieces done by locale artist.  I used my last $5.00 to purchase a raffle ticket.  Sunday I found out I was one of the winners!  What a windfall!

Choochokam Arts Festival Whidbey Island Fine Arts Studio demonstration Booths.

Up at the Top

View at the top of Whistler Mountain looking down at Whistler Village and Green Lake and Lost Lake below.

The last sketch from Whistler. This is the view from Whistler at the top of the mountain.  The stacked rock man was the 2010 Olympics symbol.  Lines of people gather around to take pictures with the view behind them.  Pretty astounding vantage from up here.

Peak 2 Peak

We took the Peak 2 Peak Gondola at Whistler  which gave us an incredible view at the top of the mountain.  The span from one peak to the other was amazing and frightening as well.  The woman in the sketch couldn't look out.  You just hope that the engineering and the clamps on the Gondolas were designed well!  According to Wikipedia "Peak 2 Peak holds records for the highest and longest unsupported cable car span in the world."  The ride took exactly 11 minutes and 27 seconds.

Exterior view of Squamish, Li'l Wat Cultural Centre and Istken Pit House

Squamish Li'l Wat Cultural Centre

Istken Pit House

Squamish Li'l Wat Cultural Centre

 Squamish & Li'l Wat  Cultural Centre, Whistler BC

This is a wonderful Museum in Whistler BC  exhibiting the cultural artifacts of two Canadian Tribes.
The Li'l Wat tribe was the tribe living in the mountainous area of Canada and the Squamish tribes living by the water.  Designed by TRB Architects  it is a LEED Certified Development.

Village Stroll At Whistler Village

Village stroll....or the Main Street in Whistler Village.

I really wanted to focus on the bridge in front of this building.  However, I didn't pre-plan the sketch well....It is a lesson to learn... that you want to lightly set the extents of the image on the page so you can include all you intend to in your sketch or make the appropriate adjustments. I started with the blue building and didn't leave enough room at the top or the bottom.  This was unfortunately cropped. 

Olympic Plaza @ Whistler Village

Whistler 2010 Olympic Plaza

The signs of the Winter Olympics are still around Whistler Village.  This was the main outdoor plaza that was built for the 2010 Winter Olympics.  It is an open grassy area with a covered outdoor stage surrounded by the Village.  While I was sketching a 7 year old girl from Chilliwack BC came by to watch me sketch....she saw me sketching her parents in the middle of the field and ran back to sit with them so I could put her in the sketch.  Her dad was there for the Tough Mudder event (Obstacle Course race) in Whistler. 

My favorite Bridge @ Whistler

Bridge along the Fitzsimmons Trail

From our condo to Whistler Village was a short walk  across this bridge that crossed over the Fitzsimmons Creek.  Through the bridge you can see the Rebagilati Park and the Peace Park and hear the sound of rushing water amplified in the bridge. 

Whistler Village Town Plaza

Sketching on the Village Stroll in Whistler Village everything is so picturesque.  While sitting and sketching this view of the Village Town Plaza a group of middle school kids stopped by to watch and an older couple also stopped by.  The older man was also a painter and was interested in the water brush I was using to paint with.  This view was not one I  intended to sketch.  Notice the top of the building is chopped off and there was another group of buildings to the right that I wanted to include but poor pre-planning did not leave me enough room.

Whistler Village Town Plaza along the  Village Stroll.

Sketches from Whistler BC

Base of Blackcomb Mountain

Last week we had an opportunity to spend time in Whistler, BC.  Our son was taking a photography workshop up at Whistler, which gave us an excuse to go up for a vacation.  I spent my time sketching and painting different places.  It was an interesting experience.  It is so rare for people to see someone sketching that you always have someone come up and talk to you. 

This was the first sketch I did sitting at the base of Blackcomb Mountain. During the summer this area turns into a family fun center.  During the winter ski season this is the base where the chair lifts take you up to the mountain for skiing.  I was sitting sketching and met a mom and daugther who were waiting for their son/brother to finish skiing on the glacier. She was interested in my sketching because her 14 year old son has a passion for sketching.  I told her to have him keep it up!   

Seattle Aquarium

More sketches from the Seattle Aquarium as we visited on Garfield's Parent night. Here is a sketch that I started at the Aquarium and didn't have time to watercolor.  So I did it from memory later.  I did several passes trying keep myself from over painting. So I am showing the different stages of development from ink to watercolor.

Third pass adding value to the concrete structure and shadows.

Second Pass Adding people in the foreground.

First pass focusing on the view from the windows.

Linework

Another view of the Fishtank at the Seattle Aquarium

Last night was Garfield's Parent night at the Seattle Aquarium.  All the students take Marine Biology this semester were to take their parents around and show off their knowledge about Marine biology. So our son was our tour guide.  Here is a sketch from yesterday.

Memorial Day Sketches

I spent some time at the Seattle Aquarium on Memorial Day with my son.  He needed a ride there so he could do a Marine Biology project.  He knows I am always game to go to some interesting place to sketch....I also had the car.  Click to see second sketch.