Hat 'N Boots and Montlake Music and Arts Festival

Yesterday was a full day of sketch related events.  In the morning I went to Georgetown for the monthly Urban sketchers meet up and sketched the Hat 'N Boots at Oxbow Park.  This was originally built for a Georgetown Gas Station in 1953 making it one of the most successful Gas station in Washington State.  Years later it was abandoned and in need of renovation.  The Georgetown Community saved it and relocated it to the Oxbow Park where is now resides.

In the afternoon I was part of the Montlake Community Music and Arts Festival.  While I had 5 sketches exhibited I watched and listened to some great groups that have some affiliation with Montlake.  Here are a couple of sketches I did over pages I had used for testing watercolor. 

Layered System

Mother Pluckers

Set up At Montlake Music and Arts Festival

Carriage House Across the Street

Sketched on Mothers Day in a Stillman & Birn  Epsilon Sketchbook.  Used a twig and Chinese ink then did quick washes with watercolor.

Gifs vs Jpgs

I just learned something today.  The .gif format sometimes changes the color of an image.  I just posted a .gif of a sketch I did  this morning and saw that the reds were dulled down.  I looked at the jpg of the same sketch and it retained the reds.  Something to consider when posting sketches.
Here are the two versions.

JPG Colors are more true.

GIF format dulled down the red and yellow colors.

Mother's Day Sketch

I had a couple of hours to take a walk this morning and find a place to sketch while Mother's day brunch was being made at my house.  I found a spot not too far from my house.  It was in the Holly portion of the arboretum.  The lighting was great and it was an interesting view with the hill sloping to one side.  I sketched and painted but you always need to know when to stop!  I read somewhere that this one painter would stop at 70% complete and wait to do the final if it need it.  That is a great idea because there is a tendancy to over work.
This one was fine at one point and then I thought I needed more darks but you have to be very careful and us  the right brush.  I used a brush which was too large and covered too much area with darks.

Here is the view I sketched. After finishing, I thought the trees were too dark and drew too much attention to the shadowed areas.

This is the sketch having lightened up the shadowed area.  I think it is better.  But still need to simplify!

Regional Sketch Outing at MOHAI

Today we met with Sketchers from Portland Oregon,  Pullman WA,  Tacoma WA, Vashon WA and Seattle WA.  We met at MOHAI to see the Drawn to Seattle Exhibit one last time before the exhibit closes on May 26th.

Historic Ships at MOHAI

VIRGINIA V AT MOHAI ON OPENING DAY

VIEW OF SEATTLE AND MOHAI, STRETCH LIMO WAITING FOR A WEDDING PARTY.

26th Ave. East Garbage Pickup Day

Again a great morning with great light.  Here is a sketch on 26th Ave. East  on Garbage Pickup day.

Garbage Day on 26th Ave. East

Early Morning Light

During spring time the light in the early morning is fantastic.  It is bright with strong shadows and you have the colors of spring.  I found this view when I walked my dog this morning. So I had to get back there to sketch and do a quick watercolor.  I drew the underlay in pencil and then added watercolor after.  Working in pencil, you have to depend on value and color to separate shapes.  Lines will disappear.  It is a good way to force working in values.

Washington Park Arboretum in morning light. 

Blue Green Vase

We have two blue green vases that are glass and make great studies on how to paint transparent glass objects.  Here is a study I just did tonight.  I was able to get the transparency and the back lighting of the glass.  It got a bit overworked.  I will have to try it again.

Sketching in Tacoma at the Antiques District

Sunny, cold, rainy and hail.  That is what we got today. So you catch sun when you can and then run for shelter  when it starts coming down.  Got two sketches in.  One at Opera Alley before it started to hail.  Luckily I had taken a picture to record the light and color.  Second in the warmth and haven of Tully's coffee.

Opera Alley, Tacoma WA

Tully's Coffee, 9th and Broadway, Tacoma WA

Sketcher In Residence at MOHAI

I was sketcher in residence at MOHAI today for the Drawn To Seattle Exhibit.  Had a great chance to talk to people who came by to see me sketch.  A lot of people go away saying "Oh I should take a class on watercolor ....or sketching!"  It is something anyone can learn and is a skill and passion you will always have.
Here is the sketch I did to day.

View from MOHAI 04262014

Line to Color Workshop Weekend in Pullman

WSU Bryan Clock Tower

I am recuperating from the long weekend giving the Line to Color Workshop in Pullman Washington on the WSU Campus.  Frank Ching and Gabi Campanario were the other workshop leaders.  Frank's session took place in downtown Pullman and focused on the basics of perspective and composition in setting up a sketch.  Gabi's focused on drawing people in the urban environment capturing individuals and groupings of people and the activities people are engaged in.  Mine dealt with approaches in applying color to a sketch starting from how to work with watercolor, mixing colors, finding values.  The participants range from college students in the Design and Construction department to local residents and professionals.  We also had people who came from Spokane,
Tri-Cities as well as Seattle.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.  Crisp and cold in the mornings but it warmed up in the afternoons.  It gave us great sun for observation of shade and shadow.   We had 43 participants not including the student and faculty staff helping organize the overseeing this event.  We started the planning in the fall and have been working on it since then.  It is nice to see this come to fruition.  It was the result of a lot of team effort.  We thank all the students who helped and Associate  Professor Bob Krikac and Carrie Vielle for their leadership in this event.
Also a big thanks to our sponsors Stillman and Birn, Canson and Royal Talens for sketchbooks and watercolor palettes.  This was so well received by the students and help make this workshop for them possible.

Gallery display of Gabi and Frank's work.

Gallery Display of Frank's and Gail's work.

Sign in on Saturday morning

Sign in on Saturday morning.

Saturday Morning group's work.

Saturday morning's watercolor session group

Saturday Afternoon group.

Before Sunday sketchcrawl

Sunday Sketch Crawl

Tulip Study

Getting ready for WSU Line to color workshop, I am making some demo samples.
This is again of the tulips in a vase but trying to reveal the stages of the watercolor.  From the first light wash, to areas where the midtone second layer is applied and then the final dark layers of value put in on the last stage.

Tulip study

Tulips with a Brush Pen

Just sketched these this morning using a micron brush pen.  I am testing out the microns because they are waterproof.  You can sketch with them and immediately add watercolor over the line drawing with out any bleeding.  The brush pen gives you a calligraphic line. as you can see below.

Signs of Spring

This week we have had signs of Spring.  The sun is shining and the skies are blue.  Flowers are blooming.  Here is a sketch I just finished of daffodils in a vase.  Just another sign of Spring.

Egg Cups

Finding something to sketch and paint. I discovered in the back of our cabinets these ceramic egg cups which I sometime use as votives.

Process

Getting ready for the WSU Line to Color workshop, I took the opportunity to document my process of adding color to a line drawing. This was a line drawing done of my nephew's climbing gear. I sketched it while in California and then took a picture of it so I could add color later.

First stage line drawing

Second stage the lights, and colors you want as pure hue.

Third stage, overlay mid values and some darks.

4th stage add darks, shade and tied together with background color and suggestion of shadows

Seatac Airport Sketch

The Seatac airport is an interesting place to sketch if you have time.  The open structure has a grand light airy feeling and the wall of glass visually opens the space to the out doors.  I have sketched this area of the food court a couple of times this is from the last time I traveled to California.

Food Court by Hudson News stand.

Travel Sketches from California

Last week I went to California to visit family and friends.  What is nice about the Urban Sketchers group is that you make friends with people from other places.  And this is so with the correspondent Shuhita from San Jose California.  Suhita had come up to Seattle a couple of years ago and she contacted me to see if we could get together to sketch.  The next time I saw her was at the Symposium in Barcelona and we had opportunity to sketch together at Casa Mila.  Before I left for California I contacted her to see if she had time to sketch since San Jose is near Fremont where I was staying.  Luckily timing worked out and we set up a sketchouting at the Niles Historic Train Depot in Niles, California.  I have sketched Nilesniles-historic-train-depot-niles-ca.  htmlniles-historic-train-depot.html before but one never tires of it. You can see Suhita's post from that day "a-mini-sketchcrawl".

Our Sketches

Our sketch tools

What we saw:  Niles Train Depot

Niles Boulevard

Suhita and her niece Mohini sketching

Sketch from the "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet"

If you have read the book "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet", the story described life in the ID district during WWII with the Panama Hotel as a significant player in the book. This last Sunday the Seattle Urban sketchers sketched the ID district. I sketched in the Tea and Coffee House at the Panama Hotel with a few other sketchers. This sketch has been posted on Flickr as well as Facebook and has gotten a lot of interest. It may be that the warm cozy feeling of this historic building touches people in many ways.

Line to Color Workshop at WSU in Pullman Washington

Frank Ching and I will be doing our Line to Color Workshop at Washington State University in Pullman Washington  April 18-20th.  We have also pulled in Gabi Campanario to give a workshop on capturing the event and people in the sketch.  Gabi will be giving a talk the first evening on the Urban Sketching movement.  There will be three workshops happening during the weekend,  evening talk, panel discussion and a final sketchcrawl.  Looking forward to encouraging the next generation of sketchers.  This workshop is also open to the public to register.

If you are interested in signing up for this workshop email Bob Krikac:  rkrikac@wsu.edu 
for more information.

We want to thank Stillman and Birn,  Royal Talens and Canson for their generous sponsorship of this workshop.

Sketching at Seattle Bouldering Project

Our February sketch outing this morning was at the Seattle Bouldering Project. It was a good thing we were indoors!  Though the morning started sunny and dry, it quickly turned to rain. Seattle Bouldering was the perfect spot. There were bouldering rooms on two floors and a mezzanine over look to one of the rooms with great options for views. The sketches generated from this outing were quite varied in content.  And what an opportunity for figure drawing.  Movements were slow and most people held poses long enough that you could quickly get the gesture down.   A great success!

Sketcher in Residence

Today I was sketcher in residence for Gabi Campanario's exhibit at the Mohai.  It was a fun afternoon I got to talk to a few people about Urban Sketchers and encouraged them to join us at a future sketch outing.  Between sketching and talking I was able to complete the following sketch of the Space Needle with the 12th man Flag a top of it.  Go Hawks! This was using Stillman and Birns Beta 9x12 sketchbook.  I am getting use to the paper and liking it more and more.

A young boy Tommy came by and was able to finish a sketch of a house from his memory.  Let's hope he continues his enthusiasm for sketching!

12th Man flag atop the Space needle.

Tommy a next generation sketcher.