Vacant Northgate Playground

5/13/14 Platinum Carbon ink, brown ink mix, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Only one thing makes an annoying errand tolerable: squeezing in a sketch opportunity along the way.

Before going to Northgate Mall for the annoying part, I stopped at the Northgate Community Center, which I thought would give me another chance to sketch a lively playground for this week’s Urban Sketchers Flickr group theme. It was about the same time of day as yesterday – early afternoon – and today was even warmer, so I expected it to be mobbed with kids. To my surprise, it was completely vacant – not a single soul of any age was on the playground (except me, of course).

Despite the beautiful, sunny day, it felt strange, even slightly eerie, to see all the swings hanging completely still on this breezeless day, the merry-go-round and jungle gym empty. I decided to do an odd take on a sketch to match the mood: I focused mainly on the shadows cast by the twisty slide.