Sunny Fremont

5/30/14 Platinum Carbon and Diamine Grey inks, water-soluble colored pencil, watercolor, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Those long months of rain and gloom all winter and most of spring suddenly become worth wading through on a day like today: temperatures in the high 60s, sunshine and a clear blue sky! And just as suddenly, I realized I hadn’t sketched in Fremont since last August (well, except when the Friday sketchers met at the Fremont Coffee Company). It was time!

My first stop was the topiary dinosaurs, which I have been meaning to sketch ever since I saw the Seattle Sketcher’s sketch of them a couple of years ago. Rescued from destruction after a Pacific Science Center exhibit, the dinosaurs were put in Fremont, where the ivy covering them has been growing slowly since the late 1990s. When Gabi sketched them in October 2012, a large part of the mama dinosaur’s head and neck framework was still exposed. Today I could see the exposed framework (and eyeballs) only near her face – she’s nearly covered at last. In fact, her baby looks like he could use a haircut – his head is looking a bit shaggy.

5/30/14 Platinum Carbon and Diamine Grey inks, watercolor, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

After I finished the dinosaurs, I walked a short distance along the Lake Washington Ship Canal to the Fremont Bridge (which I had sketched last year). I actually walked back and forth a couple of times, trying to find a good view of both the bridge and the canal, but it’s hard to see past all the tall poplars growing along the shoreline. I settled for a partial view of the Aurora Bridge (blocked by the base of a power line tower similar to the one visible in the background of the dinosaur sketch). Just as I was sketching, the bright blue Fremont Bridge opened and came up – so half of it made it into my sketch after all.