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| 5/4/13 Platinum Sepia ink, watercolor, Zig markers, pencil, Stillman & Birn sketchbook |
On our way to the Sand Point Metropolitan Market this
morning, we saw a disproportional number of heavy machinery moving slowly
around a small lot on the corner of 25th Northeast and Northeast 75th
in Wedgwood. I think the lot has been empty for a while – perhaps a gas station
stood there at some point. It didn’t look like anything was being built, nor
being torn down, and there were so many pieces of equipment in such a small
space that it seemed to me that they could hardly maneuver.
Curious, and with this week’s Urban Sketchers Flickr group theme “People on the Job” on my mind, I went back this afternoon to
find out what was going on. It turned out to be environmental cleanup activity,
according to the worker I asked.
Technical note: I’m constantly switching out various art
materials in my daily bag to minimize its weight and bulk while maximizing my sketching
options. Since I had rarely used it, I recently replaced an orange Zig marker with something else. As I stood on a noisy, dusty, highly trafficked
street corner, I regretted not having that bright orange marker, which would
have enabled me to add the important color to this sketch quickly without
having to get out my watercolors to mix the orange. Given that “construction
orange” is always a prominent color in the urban landscape, I guess I’d better
put that marker back into my bag.
For the first time i have seen someone fascinated with the construction work going along side the road and making a sketch of it and even writing a blog about it. It makes me amazed.
ReplyDeleteConstruction Equipment Parts
Hi Bruce! It's hard not to be fascinated with those big machines! But for me it's more about trying to sketch whatever is around me and becoming more aware. Construction is such a common sight everywhere that it's easy to block it out. It's part of urban life, and I enjoy the experience of capturing it.
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