Playing Tourist

7/2/16 ink, colored pencils

Yesterday we had visitors in town, so we got to play tourists. One of our favorite places to take people who haven’t seen Seattle before is the Ballard Locks. Full of boats, aged-but-still-useful technology and a fish ladder for salmon, the Locks are a quintessential Seattle experience, especially in the summer. An old-time jazz band with vocalist were giving a 4^th of July concert in the park, so we stopped for a few minutes to enjoy the music. Usually if we’re entertaining guests, I try to restrain myself from taking time to sketch, so I jumped at this opportunity for a quick one.

Later in the afternoon we made our rounds to another favorite stop for visitors: Gas Works Park. Although I was just there a couple of weeks ago, I never tire of it – the sights of Lake Union and the downtown skyline; the rolling green knolls of Kite Hill; those crazy Gas Works that present a never-ending challenge to sketch. As we sat on a shady bench for a break after walking through the park, I grabbed the opportunity for another quick sketch, this time of a small part of the Gas Works and the TV towers of Queen Anne Hill. (I sat on the very same bench to sketch a more northerly part of the same view last month.)

7/2/16 brush pen, colored pencils, ink