9/20/15 inks, colored pencils |
9/20/15 ink, colored pencils |
The Danny Woo Community Gardens in the International District offer a fascinating
cross-section of urban Seattle. First there’s the interesting mix of
architecture – new, boxy apartment buildings stand in the same line of sight as
the stately Smith Tower. Scrappy-looking vegetation grows right next to tidy
gardens and stands of trees that make you forget you are still in downtown
Seattle. Gardeners weeding their P-patches look slightly askance at homeless
men who, in turn, look askance at the sketchers occupying their favorite benches.
And then there are the chickens (which I sketched last year, too). It’s an ideal sketch outing location for Urban Sketchers Seattle because no
matter what your subject interest – architecture, trees, plants, people, fowl –
you can find it there.
9/20/15 inks, watercolor |
My favorite sketch of the morning is the one at the top of
the page – the stone lantern (a 200-year-old gift from Seattle’s Japanese sister
city, Kobe) marking tiny Kobe Terrace Park,
which is your reward if you climb the gardens’ terraced hillside. A Japanese
maple was just beginning to turn behind the lantern. Asleep nearby on the
stone wall was a homeless man, covered in blankets.
9/20/15 brush pen, ink, watercolor |
These all have such a nice feel to them. It must be the serenity of the Japanese garden coming through. Nicely done! I really like that first sketch of the stone lantern.
ReplyDeleteAs you indicate, the stone lantern sketch is wonderful but the tree is spectacular. I love the way you handled the foliage, giving it a very Japanese art feel. --- Larry
ReplyDeleteThanks to you both, Joan and Larry! The gardens and trees and even the chickens were inspiring. ;-)
ReplyDelete