I noticed a couple days ago that there are Kwanzan Cherry Trees by the Vietnamese Catholic Church in Tukwila . With better weather today, I went over to sketch. I’d say they are at peak.
Kwanzan peak later than the Yoshino and are pinker. They are equally showy.
My sketch kit:
The church is still under construction. Note the workers on the lift high up on the right tower.
Not. At best, here in the Seattle area, we were only going to see 20% of today’s total solar eclipse. But, nope. Nadda. Nothin’.
This was our view:
Clouds and drizzle. But there is a hummingbird in it’s usual morning spot!
Last night I finally found the round toit to sketch more dogs from the Kitsap Humane Society’s Instagram page. I’d done this for years but haven’t done any in a year. The puppies on the right were done in March 2023. Now I’ll pack them all up and mail off to them.
Not the UPS you might be more familiar with….Urban Sketchers Tacoma met at the University of Puget Sound this past Saturday. There is a beautiful campus.
Most of us enjoyed the shelter provided by the Wheelock Student Center. It was chilly, windy, and had started to drizzle. Fortunately, there were large windows with good views.
I chose the food court tables to sketch a bit of reportage…the banner hanging from the balcony.
The title has more than one meaning. I sketched one of Renton’s dragons today along with some of it’s friends. And I was sketching there with friends. I hosted a small, ad hoc, outing today in the glorious spring weather. I made a one page handout with the locations of the other dragons in town. Two sketchers went to find the dragon in a private yard.
As I’ve written before, Renton has 5 dragons but only 3 are open to the public. I’ve sketched 4 of them already but one is no longer on display. I decided to sketch this play structure in Jones Park along with it’s friends. When Himself looked at it, he thought it was a sea serpent. Could be, given the frog and fish.
I thought I would just stay in the park for the half hour before our throw-down so I sketched this flowering bush and part of the massive wisteria which covers a structure. I challenged myself to use pen with only watercolor pencils.
Throw down and group photos.
I think everyone enjoyed sketching the wide choice of subjects which could be seen from the relatively newly renovated Colman Ferry Dock.
I liked this view from the north end of the large plaza next to the ferry terminal. This is the fire boat “Leschi“. Two freighters are anchored out in the bay. And the Olympic Mountains are glorious in the sun.
I used the opportunity to explore a little further away. This is a newly opened pocket park on the beach next to the ferry terminal. It is a small, delightful spot. It’s not very quiet, though, as it’s next to a busy city street. It is Pioneer Square Habitat Beach.
I very much enjoyed meeting new sketchers and having some good chats with several others.
I discovered that the Detail Mafia were back at the Museum of Flight. I was surprised they are here this time of year as they come in the summer. So I hurried over to do a sketch today. It was a short notice plan and only a small crew of experienced details were scheduled. They are organized by Renny Doyle of Detailing Success.
They already polished the Electra and she really gleams. Here they are working on the Crusader.
More on their visit last summer.
Urban Sketchers Tacoma met at the Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) this morning. I took a quick spin through but decided on sketching more cherries. These small trees are across the street in Tollefson Plaza.
Yesterday I organized a short notice sketch outing for Urban Sketchers Seattle to the University of Washington cherry grove in the “quad” . After a few days of record breaking heat (70 degrees in mid-March) the cherry trees were suddenly at peak bloom. It was a glorious spring day.
I decided to take on the panoramic view from the top of the stairs.
Then with about a half out left in our outing, I chose a more restricted view but I always want to include the UW’s neo-Gothic buildings.
I took the lightrail in to avoid parking in the U district. The businesses around the station were all decked out for the cherry blossom season.
Tina’s photo of our group but there are at least a few missing.
Red Harp Arts 