Tina’s Top 10 Memorable Sketches of 2014

King St. Station

Jumping on the media bandwagon of listing the top 10 news events of the year, last year I started a personal tradition of listing my top 10 sketches. As before, my selection is based not on what I consider to be my “best” sketches (I don’t like to evaluate sketches that way) but instead on how memorable they are to me. (Clicking the title of the sketch will take you to the original post.)

March 16, King Street Station: The day after taking Stephanie Bower’s “Good Bones” workshop, I sketched this interior scene of King Street Station and congratulated myself for finally “getting” perspective!

MOHAI

March 29, young sketcher at MOHAI: During one of my three stints as a sketcher-in-residence at the Museum of History and Industry, I made this quick sketch of an enthusiastic girl drawing at the gallery window. It was so much fun interacting with participants who came to see Gabi’s “Drawn to Seattle” exhibit, and it made me proud to be an Urban Sketcher!

Cannon Beach

May 19, sea stars at Cannon Beach: I made lots and lots of sketches of Haystack Rock and the seashore at Cannon Beach, Oregon, but my most memorable were the ones I made while beachcombing during low tide – because of all the swarms of annoying sand flies I had to battle while sketching!

Green Lake

June 30, Green Lake: On a beautiful summer afternoon, I skipped my yoga class to sketch at the lake instead! For me, it was a celebration of the good sketching weather ahead.

July 8, Lake Washington floating bridges: These bridges were

Lake Washington bridges

an important icon in my childhood, and this was the first time I had had the opportunity to sketch them. This dramatic viewpoint made the sketch especially memorable.

Lake Union

July 25, Lake Union from the top of a house boat: Sketching from a Lake Union house boat was definitely one of my most memorable Friday sketch outings. The weather, the water, the rare, unique opportunity – that’s hard to beat!

Copacabana

Aug. 24, Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro: On our first full day in Brazil when we were still recovering from nearly 24 hours of flying to get there, we decided to do nothing more ambitious than lounge on the beach. Under an umbrella, sipping a beverage, a soft breeze occasionally blowing in from the surf – heaven!

Paraty

Aug. 29, horse carriage, Paraty: After seeing Ch’ng Kiah Kiean’s magical use of an ordinary twig to sketch amazing scenes, I was stunned. I picked up a twig from the ground, borrowed KK’s ink, and had my eyes opened to a new way of sketching that I am still exploring with fascination.

Aug. 31, closing symposium sketchwalk, Paraty: OK, I couldn’t

Closing symposium sketchwalk

resist one more sketch from our trip to Brazil (definitely among my most memorable travels). This one was made on the last afternoon of the Urban Sketchers Symposium when all symposium participants as well non-attending sketchers gathered in Matriz Square for a final sketchcrawl. Standing on a bench to sketch this, seeing hundreds of sketchers sketching and socializing as the light began to fade, I was thrilled to be among them.

Pike Place Market

Sept. 27, Pike Place Market: I had been somewhat intimidated by this much-photographed, iconic scene – people from around the world who have never visited Seattle have probably seen it – but I sketched it anyway. I was happy I did; the experience gave me a fresh look at the familiar.