Tubs



5/20/13 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook

After a good night’s sleep, I had recovered from the intensive weekend of nearly non-stop sketching during the “Line to Color” workshop, and I was ready to take on challenging subjects again.

 

Last week I mentioned Tubs in the University District when I sketched a nearby construction site. Tubs, a long-closed and embarrassing reminder of the hot tub ‘80s, has turned into an ever-changing gallery of street art (check out this video of time-lapse photography of how the façade has changed over time). For a while the graffiti appeared surreptitiously at night, as most graffiti does, but at some point the property owner began allowing street artists to paint the building’s walls “officially.” Soon to be torn down, the building is now fenced in front, but the graffiti continues to evolve.

 

With all the cranes and wrecking balls all over town, I didn’t want to drive by one day and realize it had been demolished without my sketching it. Some think it’s an eyesore; I’m going to miss it when it’s gone.