Truck experiment

Big truck parked next to my driveway which is under construction. Jacob brought Jared back to help him prep for the concrete pour tomorrow. Preparation included picking up the big rocks, smoothing out new gravel, wooden sections, and laying rebar. It didn’t seem like the truck was used so perhaps Jared had worked elsewhere and just drove it here for the last job of the day. It was the same truck that he used when he cut up the driveway almost 2 weeks ago.

The experiment was direct to ink, no pencil, and using water soluble ink which I then used a water brush to create shading. No pencil, so I ran out of room on the right side.

BTW… even bigger truck tomorrow as the cement mixer comes to do the pour!

Portrait practice

This is practice done from a newspaper photo. I didn’t use any pencil but started with ink, using a Lamy Joy 1.1 nib. I like the watercolor, too. Quite happy with it.

Big Machine

For over a year the central streets of my suburban city have been torn up. There have been constant detours and slow traffic through town. This is the first location that’s been really convenient to sketch, though. So I’m channeling Tina and sketching a big machine.

Opposites

From precision military flying to a now legal drug. One wouldn’t want to be high on weed when flying high, doing aerobatics!

I’d read on the curator’s Instagram account that this aircraft was being prepared for shipping. It’s a Fiat G.91 PAN that was used by the Tricolor Arrows, Italy’s national aerobatic team. Museum staff came by to look at my sketch. I asked him where it was going and he replied, back to Italy.

Outbound, I noticed this sculpture on the south side wall of a marijuana dispensary. On the way back I stopped to sketch from the car. The Have a Heart dispensary has a heart inside a green apple for their logo. I can’t find any info on that on their website. The artist turned it into a 3-D mural. The same artist did this as did the now painted over mural on the north side: Charms Won. There is an Instagram account but it’s mostly memes and only one or two images of murals. This one is included but no info.

Water is hard

Urban Sketchers Tacoma met at Point Ruston today.  The day started cloudy and cool so perhaps fewer people were interested in sketching.  But it warmed and cleared as the morning advanced.

I chose two views of the spray area with spouting water fountains.  Liz found a dry spot from which to sketch and I sketched her sketching there!  I find painting water a challenge and these did not end as I had envisioned. I might try again from my photo(s), just for the practice and to further problem solve.

—post by Kate Buike

Bloedel Reserve

On Friday I made a reservation for today to visit Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, using a complimentary ticket I’ve had for a while. Wouldn’t you know today was the first rain we’ve had in a month!

It was just sprinkling but enough to make sketching difficult. I managed to get the drawing due while it was dry for a few minutes. I didn’t explore the entire garden but did enjoy the serenity of the Japanese Garden.

The OG and the Fifty

Today was Urban Sketchers Seattle’s 12th Anniversary.  We met back at the place where it all began, Fisherman’s Terminal.

From that first outing, 12 years ago: 

Today’s group photo, courtesy of Stephanie Bower.  She counted about 50 people representing what is likely our largest gathering ever!

These four artists were at that first outing and have continued to participate over the ensuing dozen years.  Unfortunately, our founder, Gabi Campanario, was unable to join us today.  

 Frank Ching, Gail Wong, Frances Buckmaster, Mark Ryan

Oh, right.  I did do a sketch today.  Many people picked the Vernon as their subject and all of them are different. 

A day of contrasts

Yesterday started with heavy equipment working on our driveway. Jake brought in a machine to break up and remove the sections of the driveway that Jared cut up the day before. He also brought another man and they both had trucks with trailers to haul it all off to the concrete recycler.

While they made their first trip, I got this sketch of the machine. In front of it are big roots which likely caused the damage to the driveway.

It took a number of back and forth trips to get this one down.

Then we left for Himself’s appointment. I was sketch-waiting in the quiet and serenity of Bellevue Botanical Garden.

I’d wanted to sketch this sculpture when I was there recently with Urban Sketchers. The bench with a view was in the hot sun, though, and it’s more interesting with people on the bench in front of it.

Finally, I relaxed mit kaffe und kuchen while I sketched this view of a solitary sun flower. I did some more negative painting for the background and textured it with splattered water.

When we arrived back home, Jake was just packing up after having cleared the whole drive of concrete slaps. Next week…pouring concrete!

Big Machine

We have to replace our damaged driveway. The first step is cutting up the concrete into sections for removal. Jared came today to get it done. The truck uses water to keep down the dust and it’s vacuumed up into the tank so it doesn’t go down the storm drain. It wasn’t that noisy, though I wore ear protection and a dust mask.

The driveway is so big we could park 9 cars easily. So this is going to cost a lot. I figured I might as well sketch the process.

Another visit to the Detail Mafia

I returned to Museum of Flight to give them the original of the sketch I did yesterday.

I had time so I stayed to sketch more. I wanted to do one closer in and found an optimal spot from which to sketch Matt polishing the B-29.

Then there was the group doing “sequential polishing” of Air Force One.

I got them all to sign the sketches near their likenesses.

Photos here.