Rainy Day at the Ballard Farmers' Market

Wasn't too sure how this day would work out, (since it was raining cats and dogs) but we had one of our largest groups.  Probably around 18 people showed up for sketching at the Farmer's Market.  We even had a visitor from Washington D.C.  join us and some new people joined us after seeing us at the market sketching.  Hard to miss 18 people sketching and painting in a down pour!

It was Urban Splashing Northwest style.  You didn't need to pre-splash your water color paper, the rain did it for you!  Despite the challenge we had a great day and the sun finally showed up at the end of our session.  I was actually able to get a quick sketch of a veggie stand before we regrouped.

The Veraci Pizza stand was an interesting experience. This is the authentic way to bake pizza in a wood burning stove.  It is the real Neopolitan Style Pizza...thin crust.  While I was sketching it started to rain on me and the watercolors ran.    I ducked under the canopy and had to pat down my sketch with napkin.  Came back later to add more color to the sketch.

Sundodger Invitational

Saturday, September the 18th was University of Washington's Sundodger Invitational Cross Country Meet.  Both of my sons ran in the meet, which was located at Lincoln Park in West Seattle.  It turned out to be a gorgeous day.  Despite showers the night before.

Lychee

Last night I went to a gallery show at Gasworks Gallery and saw the work of fellow urban sketcher Beth.
I was so inspired by all her work that I just had to come home and paint something.  Lychee look a little dull from the outside by once you open them the inside of the shell has a rich irridescent magenta plum color and the flesh of the fruit is a translucent white. 

Japanese Tea Garden

Second attempt at drawing inside the Japanese Tea Garden.  Getting depth and reflection, drawing the landscape with out having a mish-mosh is hard to do.  Practice, practice and you learn something new.

Dentist's Office Tropical Fish Tank

Went to our dentist's office this morning with my son and while waiting for him to finish, sketched some colorful fish that were in the tropical fish tank.

Bainbridge Island

Sunday Seattle Urban Sketchers took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island for some sketching, painting, eating and some did a little wine tasting.  All in all a good day for it though it always takes longer than you think when you are on Ferry Schedule.

View from outside of Grace and Co. Paperie (Card Shop) on Madison Ave. Bainbridge Island, WA.

Eagle Harbor Inn:  Quaint little Hotel on the Island.

Ferry to Bainbridge Island  with Seattle Space Needle in the background and fellow sketcher Frank Bettancourt in the foreground.

Windy day at Pioneer Square

This afternoon I met with a couple of Students from UW to go sketch at Pioneer Square.  I got to use my new urban sketchers moleskine sketchbook, the accordian style sketchbook.  The wind was so fierce that it grabbed the edge of one of the pages and blew it totally open almost to the street and partially ripped the page I was working on.  Luckily we were able to pull it all back in. Here is the sketch.

Interlaken Bridge over 26th Ave. East

I love how bridges create these framed views.  I have been wanting to paint this bridge for a long time.
It is located where Interlaken Blvd. crosses over 26th Ave. East which is along the bike trail through Montlake.  This is an old bridge that creates a gate way into Montlake on the bike path.  The yellow decidous trees on the other side of the bridge sparkle on a sunny day as you are looking through the bridge.

Montlake Bridge

This sketch was started in April and was never finished because it started to rain.  So it took a few months for me to finally get back to finish the drawing and put some watercolor on it.  It was a great day for it.  It is 90 degrees outside...of course I seek out the shade.

Japanese Tea Garden

Thursday some students from the UW and I went to the Japanese Tea Garden to sketch.
It was a challenge to sketch landscape instead of building and urban spaces. I will have to try that more.

Under Construction

Hi,
This blog is under construction. Come back soon when we are up and running.