Wishing I Had More Markers at Hmong Festival

11/8/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi ink, watercolor, Canson XL 140 lb.

With all those festive, colorful outfits in the photos online, I figured the Hmong New Year Celebration would be a fun sketching opportunity. I put the call out for an ad hoc sketch outing, and Anne joined me at the Seattle Center Armory, where we weren’t disappointed. Fringe, neon colors, sparkling coin-like tassels and the most amazing headgear!

Sitting in the audience of the main stage would have put me too far away from the action, not to mention being blocked by lots of heads. So I kept walking around until I found a spot at stage right, which gave me an excellent view of most of the performers. 

My only regret for the day was that I didn’t bring more Zig markers. I used watercolors when I could, but I don’t have anything in my paint box that would mix the right shades of hot pink and neon green! (And yes, I do have plenty of markers in those colors that I almost never get to use while urban sketching!)

Markers notwithstanding, Anne and I had fun comparing sketches of all those great hats!

11/8/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink

11/8/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi ink

11/8/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown

11/8/14 Take-sumi, Zig
marker

Tina and Anne after sketching lots of colorful hats.