Sentimental Journey

I was out early this morning to sketch the B-17 at Museum of Flight. It’s flown by the Commemorative Air Force on the “Flying Legends of Victory Tour“. They are here for the weekend. Museum volunteers got an inside tour this morning. Tomorrow they start giving rides to the public. The price range is $475 to $850!

From the website: Sentimental Journey was originally manufactured and delivered to the U.S. Army Air Forces for war service in 1944 where she flew missions in the Pacific Theater. After the war she flew for training, testing and at-sea rescue missions and was eventually sold for surplus and used as a fire bomber. In 1978 the aircraft was purchased by a Commemorative Air Force (CAF) member and donated to the newly formed Arizona unit of the world-famous CAF. She was meticulously restored and is today maintained in tip-top condition and operated by all-volunteer crews from the membership of CAF Airbase Arizona.

Nine B-17’s in the US are airworthy.

I had hoped to tour and sketch their B-25 aircraft. But it was grounded in Walla Walla due to the need for new tires. Those are custom made!

I had a very fun morning talking to crew and to other museum volunteers. Once the sketch was done the pilot and co-pilot signed it. On the right is the pilot in command, Brian. On the left is the co-pilot, George.

Good to see Museum volunteer Jessi in her Living History Rosie the Riveter garb. She usually hangs out near the Museum’s B-17 in the Aviation Pavilion.

The pilots signed the sketch. Top is the pilot; bottom is co-pilot. Drawn on the right is the refueling truck. I decided not to color it so as not to distract from the aircraft. The nose art is a photo-applique.

More photos

Too Much Pink

Earlier this morning I was watching last night’s local TV show “Evening” when they mentioned that a Hello Kitty sales van would be at Southcenter today. So I gathered my sketch kit and drove over.

Oh. My. It was barely after the 10 am opening time and the line was hundreds of people. I wondered how that little van would have enough stock for all those people. Perhaps they had a truck nearby.

I sketched standing in the shade. But I didn’t stay to color as I was feeling a bit out of sorts. Later in the afternoon I was fine (old GI problem). I thought I overworked the painting, but after a couple hours I changed my mind a little.

I’ve never been interested in Hello Kitty. And I hate pink. But I thought it would make an interesting experience. It was a bit like the Barbie van last year. .

Garden & goal

If I’m not going out to sketch on location, I’ve made a goal in the Sketchbook Skool session to do what the host called “TV sketching”. I have a lot of images saved that I want to sketch. Most are my own but this one was from a magazine. I wanted to practice how to render the grasses behind the flowers. I worked on this as we watched a Marvel movie last night. I wasn’t very invested in the film so I could look at this throughout.

Drawn with ball point pen on Fluid 100 cold press.

It’s from the Sunset “garden issue 2022”. No photo credit on the page I saved.

Top Golf

Over the past several months I watched from afar as this was built on former Boeing property. Recently I saw the huge nets go up and realized it must be a driving range for golf. Sure enough, it opened last week. This is the company’s first Washington facility. It’s called Top Golf.

It took some driving around several of it’s parking lots to find a view that conveyed how tall these nets are. The driving platforms are 3 stories high! There is a lot of capacity and on this Thursday afternoon, they were all full with a short waiting time! There are some small vehicles that sweep up the balls. This one was moving the entire time I sketched.

I have absolutely no interest in this or playing golf. I’ve never played, except for perhaps once playing putt-putt golf decades ago

Ann Frank

The subject for today’s Sketchbook Skool “Draw with Me” was Ann Frank. It was on this day in 1944 that she and her family were arrested.

Danny Gregory lettered her quotes. I did an ink and ink wash sketch with some quotes. I rather like “Paper has more patience than people”.

They were in hiding for two years. Their perseverance and fortitude are an inspiration to me as I continue to deal with a certain amount of self imposed isolation due to the pandemic. Especially after vaccines and boosters, my (our) risk is nothing compared to what they endured. All but the family father died in concentration camps.

RIP

The world lost another inspirational person this weekend. Nichelle Nichols died at 89y/o. As a teenager, I was a big fan of Star Trek as I watched the Original Series when it was first broadcast. One year I was very annoyed that it changed day and time because catechism conflicted. I would rush home but still missed the first 10 minutes.

Fair seas and following winds.

Moth week

Today was another YouTube Live “Draw with Me” by Danny Gregory of Sketchbook Skool.

It’s National Moth Week so he offered 3 images of moths. I chose a colorful one.

I’m showing you the watercolor sketch I like. The first one, done during the on-line meeting, was on different paper and the drawing was wonky. I don’t know why I couldn’t see how lopsided it was while I drew it!

While it was watercolor paper, it wasn’t 100% cotton. I find it does make quite a difference.

Qatar Camel

I follow the “Virtual Ribble” group on line. While they are a real Urban Sketchers group they have an alternate online group that sketches from photos, traveling virtually around the world. Ribble is in Yorkshire.

The source image for this camel was provided by Jacquie Finney.

I’d sketched on Fluid 100 hot press yesterday using water brushes. I wasn’t pleased with the washes. Today I used real brushes and like the results better.

The camel seems to wear a nosebag. It doesn’t look large enough to be a feed bag. I speculated it might be a sort of muzzle to keep it from spitting!

Cardinal

This is another sketch of a memory. Coincidentally, it’s of another bird.

Osprey and aircraft

This morning I went to the South Park neighborhood to scout out a new park, The Duwamish River People’s Park.  It’s partially under construction but there was still a large area to explore.  Most interesting to me was the active Osprey nest.  

I always like a good juxtaposition.  My subject was thus the large nest and the aircraft in the Boeing lot across the river. 

The birds were flying and calling. I suspect there were young in the nest but I didn’t see them. Of course, I also didn’t have binoculars.

Lots more photos of the park. This was also a scouting mission for a possible group sketch outing location!

Edit 7/24 There is a chick in the nest! Photo feature in Seattle times.