Gingerbread Village



12/7/12 Sailor Sei-Boku ink, watercolor, S&B Gamma sketchbook

As an auxiliary weekday sketchcrawl, Seattle Urban Sketchers Kate, Peggy, Carleen, Nilda and I met downtown to sketch a couple of festive holiday events. Our first stop was the Teddy Bear Suite, a benefit for Seattle Children’s Hospital, at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. Overrun with toddlers getting their photos taken, the venue was fun to see but too crowded for sketching. While we chatted in the lobby, I managed a quick sketch of a chandelier.

 

We walked a few blocks to the Gingerbread Village at the Seattle Sheraton Hotel. Designed by local architects teaming up with the Sheraton’s bakers, these gingerbread castles are extravagantly detailed creations with themes like Narnia’s Snow Queen Castle and Ariel’s Underwater Castle. I spotted a chair and table where I could comfortably sketch the back side of Alice in Wonderland’s heart-studded castle.

 

Over lunch, we decided this was so much fun that we’d plan more auxiliary sketchcrawls in the new year.

 

12/7/12 Caran d'Ache Grand Canyon ink

(Technical note: The gingerbread sketch was my first try at using waterproof Sailor Sei-Boku Pigmented Nano blue/black ink with watercolors. It’s one of several blue inks I’m trying out. While I enjoy using water-soluble blue ink with a wash, I’m not sure using waterproof blue ink with watercolors makes sense. Unlike neutral black or brown, the blue comes on a bit strong. Or maybe it was just the wrong choice today: it was too cool against all the warm cookie and holiday hues. In hindsight, I wish I had used Platinum Pigmented Sepia.)