Return to the troll

Lori-Louise, a new friend from Bellingham, visited with other friends visiting from Arizona. They wanted to visit and sketch the West Seattle Troll, Bruun Idun. Mike S joined us from Urban Sketchers Seattle, whom I had invited though he was the only one who came.

I’d sketched two side views the first time USk Seattle was there. So this time I tried a front view.

A lot of people stopped by and many talked to us about what we were doing. So I spent so much of the time talking that I only got the ink lines done. I added watercolor at home.

Mike, me, Sam (visiting from AZ), Lori-Louise.

I hid some stickers made from my sketch in the troll’s old flute. And I gave away a bunch to kids.

Down on the farm

Urban Sketchers Seattle met at Bellevue’s Kelsey Creek Park this morning. There was lots to sketch: barns, animals, and people.

I made a montage but started with a spot I’d noticed the first time I was there. It’s a cute bunny bench in front of a small barn.

Earlier I’d met Charlotte with her mother, Jane, when they approached our meeting place.  Mom asked whether they could join the sketching group and I assured her children are welcome to sketch with us with their adult present.  But they hadn’t brought any supplies.  As I was sketching the bunny bench, Charlotte reappeared, paper and pencil in hand!  She sat on the bench to draw so I added her to my sketch.  We shared our sketches and posed for the standard photo together! 

The rest of the montage were some of the animals and one odd flower.  I was amused by the rabbit whose name was “Cinnabun”.

No ship!

Urban Sketchers Tacoma met to sketch the tall ship, Lady Washington, but she left on an unexpected sailing! We’re flexible so we all found something else interesting to sketch. 

I sketched the view under the shade of a  Rock the Dock umbrella. One of the servers was so nice to let me sit on their patio before they opened. The Mountain is out!

 I wandered down the dock to Thea’s Park.

The Lady was back briefly but left again within about a half hour.  She was there just long enough to be in our photo. 

Working boats

Well, they’re retired working boats.

Urban Sketchers Seattle really lucked out with the weather.

I took the light rail and South Lake Union street car to the site. Sun was shining the entire trip so I was optimistic.

Flair pen and aqua brush

Thunderstorms and hail were predicted. But we had sun and blue sky the entire time, if a bit of a chill breeze. We sketched at the Northwest Seaport 60th Anniversary. It was also the Classic Workboat Show. All of this was in South Lake Union park, near MOHAI.

I first sketched the Arthur Foss, the WORLD’S oldest wooden tugboat, launched 1889! We also got to tour it.

Then I moved over to do a quick sketch of Coast Guard Cutter Comanche, launched 1934. There wasn’t time do capture the entire boat, so I drew just the mast with all the flags.

One Direct

It’s “30×30 Direct Watercolor Month”. That means people do 30 direct watercolor paintings in the month of June. Direct Watercolor means that you don’t draw in pencil or pen first, you just do the watercolor painting with no under drawing. I don’t like working in this way but I decided to do one yesterday.

This is a portion of the long bed of rose campion on the side of our house. It’s next to the utility box.

Beyond Earth

Early this morning I was one of the first to enter the new exhibit at the Museum of Flight. This was a member only, timed entry, event for “Home Beyond Earth”, an exhibit about space stations.

The segment I enjoyed most, was, of course, the Astronaut Artist, Nicole Scott. Some months ago she gave a talk at the Museum about art in space. She did the first watercolor on the International Space Station in 2009. However, she didn’t bring any images of her art! In this exhibit there is one original watercolor, “The Wave”, based on a photo taken from ISS of Isla Roques, Venezuela.

I sketched a little, doing tiny sketches in an A5 book with pencil only. I finished with a little watercolor pencil in the cafe after. We were given these mugs, too. The card on the right has a QR code that is used for the interactive stations in the exhibit.

From left to right:

Model of The Brick Moon, based on an 1869 illustration. One of the staff told me it was 3-D printed in house and Geoff Nunn, curator, did the finish painting on it.

Model of a Nuclear powered Space Base conceived by North American Rockwell in 1970. At first glance, I thought it was a tinker toy!

Wendy Lawrence’s Pingvin (Penguin) Suit from 1996. It is a Russian suit that uses elastic straps to mimic the load of gravity on the body.

Lots more photos here.

Senseless Death

This morning I heard on the early news that, again, something horrible had occurred in my suburb. Three young people had an “altercation” with a middle aged man who then shot one of them dead. As of this writing, the police haven’t released any more information about the nature of the interaction or the names of those involved.

Why does an argument involve guns? Why are we so quick to turn to such violence? A young life is gone and a man, if convicted, will probably spend life in prison. Should spend life in prison. Was the disagreement worth that?

I went to the spot to make a reportage sketch and ponder these questions. It’s all so very sad.

A6 Stillman and Birn Epsilon; water soluable Flair pen and graphite pencil.

Update: from King 5 news Of course, there is more to the story. Suspect thought teens were armed and going to commit robbery. He confronted them as he is an armed security guard elsewhere. He thought one pointed a gun at him so he shot him. Security camera footage contradicts his account.

Zoom sketching

Yesterday I made these two sketches. This fluffy dog leaning out of car I made from a photo I’d taken the day before. While he made me chuckle and I waved at him, it doesn’t seem too safe.

Then I joined an on-line sketchbook group to work together over Zoom. The group chose this image from a copyright free source. Though I’m not participating in this month’s Direct Watercolor challenge, this little sketch is direct watercolor.

Eleven Years

Urban Sketchers Tacoma celebrated our 11th Anniversary at the location where it began.  It was Tully’s Coffee then.  Cremello Cafe now occupies the place and were delightful hosts.  Several sketchers availed themselves of their delicious coffee, pastries, and food while sketching inside.   It’s a triangle building that is the Bostwick Building from 1889.

Mark got there early and scored the best table, right at the end with a view of the Pantages theater.

I first sketched the stone sculpture next to the theater.  I couldn’t find anything about it online.

Since today is the first day of Pride Month, I sketched one of the flags hanging on most of the light posts around Tacoma.

New temple

The new (Sikh) Gurudwara temple in Kent, WA finally opened at the beginning of the month. I rather wish I’d attended the Grand Opening.

I’ve watched the construction for years as it’s on a street I take to Trader Joe’s. I sketched it in May of 2021.