Not Cosplay

Last night we didn’t really have a cosplayer, we had an actual medical student posing in her professional clothes/uniform and with her equipment.  And she has been a participant in our drawing group, when she had time!  So she’s both scientist and artist.

The 1-2 minute sketches.  She liked the lower one with hands behind back.  I also rather like the one above, head and shoulders, looking up, wearing glasses.

The 3-5 minute poses. The top right doesn’t look like her at all.  But the lower right is, I think, the best likeness of the night.

Next, 5-8 minutes. Lower one is done with my usual permanent Carbon Black ink, but I applied the waterbrush before it could dry to do some shading.

Lastly, a 10 minute pose.  Again used ink and then applied just a little watercolor.  Her white med student coat and clothes were mostly black, white, and grey, so I didn’t bother with more watercolor.  Not sure what happened there with the chin area… I guess an attempt at shading.

First Day of Spring!

It could not have been a more perfect day for sketching on the First Day of Spring. Urban Sketchers Tacoma gathered near the Union building on the campus of the University of Puget Sound and we all sketched outside. It was a cloudless, warm day. Did we set another record?  The past two days have been the warmest ever recorded for the date.

At least 3 people left early.

I’ve sketched here before so I wanted to find something different. This is my second sketch, done on 10×10 Bockingford watercolor paper. It is Oppenheimer Hall and I was most interested in the sundial at the top of the building.

My first sketch, on an 8×5 sheet of Stonehenge Aqua watercolor paper.

SeaTac Botanical Garden

Today was very spring-like. I was outside in the afternoon with just a light fleece jacket and there was some sunshine. It was the perfect day to explore a park new to me: The SeaTac Botanical Garden.

This small treasure under the SeaTac airport flight path encompasses several garden styles. There are the Elda Behm Paradise Garden, Woodland Shade Garden, Daylily Garden, Iris Garden, Rose Garden, Fuchsia Garden and the Sensory Garden. Of course, none of those flower gardens were in bloom. In addition to these, there is a community garden on site.

But today I focused on the Seike Japanese Garden. There is more information on the garden’s web page:  http://highlinegarden.org/explore/seike-japanese-garden/

I sketched the Earth Bridge (Dobashi). Though it is constructed of non-traditional concrete, this small bridge is styled after a traditional garden bridge, which would have been made of earth and gravel packed over a base of small logs.

More photos

Kent Seniors

Once again I joined an informal, local sketching group in Renton as we went a bit further south to the Kent Senior Center.  It’s a very nice place with lots of windows and art.

After my primary sketch of the day, I had a few minutes so I moved about the common room, sketching faces.

For my main watercolor sketch, I liked this window with the blue glass.  I had the perspective all messed up so I started over, taking careful note of the relationship between the large shapes.

 

Lucky’s

Yesterday I had an errand in Tacoma. After that was accomplished I searched out a place I wanted to sketch. I’d seen a segment about the location on a local TV show. Lucky’s Drive-In has a 1955 Metro bus as the seating area!

It was further than I thought it would be as it was in Parkland. I sat all the way in the back and sketched the interior while I ate a burger for lunch.  It was quite the perspective challenge.

 

Journal part 2

This is a four part workshop: “Journals and Journal Pages – Mixed Media – Drawing on Inspiration” with Janice Berkebile of Daniel Smith Seattle Store.  It’s still possible to join for the last two sessions!

After making our journals during session one, today’s second session was about embellishing the covers and pages. “Grounds & Decorative Paper. Laying the journaling foundation”

We used light molding paste and stencils to create relief images on the covers. As always, Janice was generous in letting us use her own supplies. She had so many stencils.

I used one of hers, one of mine and one of another workshop member.  Later we painted over them with watercolor.

Next, we glued in ephemera, using Golden Fluid Matte Medium as the glue. Janice recommends that over other glues or Modge Podge! She also brought her collection! I didn’t add any to my journal but I found some to use in the “secret project” journal.

Final Move

There’s been too much of good things and I’m behind in posting. On Monday, I spent the entire day in a workshop (more on that in another post). A couple days before, the Museum of Flight posted on social media that the B-52 would be moved to its final location in the Viet Nam Memorial Park on that same Monday.

Drat! I’ve been working on a sketch series about “Project Welcome Home” since early last year. I didn’t want to miss the event but I had the workshop. I made the assumption that the move would start early in the morning and arrived at the Museum at 0830, hoping to see some action before I had to leave for the workshop.

I wasn’t completely disappointed. The work had begun but I didn’t see the aircraft move very far. There were two TV stations there but only one had a reporter.   You can see the Channel 7 coverage here:
https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/centerpiece-of-vietnam-veterans-memorial-park-moved-to-permanent-exhibit/929441466

I did do a sketch which included the not yet completed platform and the aircraft. This raised platform will also be the memorial wall.

After the workshop, I stopped in again and saw that the move was completed.

Project Welcome Home

More Photos.

Union Station

Urban Sketchers Seattle met at Union Station. At one time, this was a train station but now it is the headquarters for Sound Transit.

Union Station was constructed between 1910 and 1911 to serve the Union Pacific Railroad and the Milwaukee Road. It was originally named Oregon and Washington Station, after a subsidiary line of the Union Pacific. It was built in the Beaux-Arts Architectural style. From Wiki: After nearly 30 years of sitting idle, the station finally experienced an expansive renovation supported by Nitze-Stagen with financial backing from Paul Allen. The Union Station renovation was the winner of the 2000 National Historic Preservation Award.

By the time for the throw down, a goodly number of sketchers had gathered.

Thanks to Sean for the group photo.

Two sketches on the light rail train ride into Seattle.


Field Notes Signature Sketchbook

A sketcher reported that there were more sketchers over at King Street station next door.  There seemed to be some confusion about at which station to meet.  So I went over and found a couple there. I also decided to get another sketch for the USk Flickr group’s weekly theme, which is “vending machines”. This is an AmTrak ticket vending machine. It might also do for next week’s theme of “trains and train stations”!

Strathmore Mixed Media 5×8

I had a little time left, so sketched this detail that is repeated all over the upper level.  The “O W” initials refer to the station’s original name, Oregon and Washington Station.

Stillman & Birn Beta pocket sketchbook

My main sketch of this location was a small section of wall. It was the Beaux-Arts era lamps that attracted me to this view.

Strathmore Mixed Media 5×8

More photos here.

Andrey

Drink and Draw last night was fun.  Andrey brought his guitar but it was more than a prop.  During the long poses he also played for us.

Three of my favorite pages:

3 minutes.  And in the one at the top left, with the guitar behind his back… he still played some pleasant chords!

4 minutes

10 minutes

 

Vending

First, a sketch I did mostly from a photo last weekend.  I stopped by Elysian Brewing Taproom in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle to reconfirm our sketch outing there in a couple weeks.  I noticed this cute little beer truck.

I met a friend at the mall to see Apollo 11.   I planned to arrive early enough to do a sketch of a vending machine in an interesting spot.  The weekly theme on the Urban Sketchers Flickr group is “vending”.  I don’t always do a new sketch for the theme but this time I had the time and opportunity to do so.

BTW, Apollo 11 was really good.  It had a lot of never before seen footage from the mission.  There was no narration….all the audio was also from the mission.  It’s well worth seeing.  And it’s in IMAX.