Pacific Place and Nordstrom Santa

12/7/18 Nordstrom Santa

On a cold (29 F) but sunny morning, Nilda and Natalie met me at Pacific Place for some holiday sketching. As a warm-up (literally and figuratively), I walked up to the second floor, where I had a good view of the café below. (You can see blue-haired Natalie sketching near the center.)

Unknown to us, a big renovation was going on, and I was disappointed that Santa was no longer on the second-floor thoroughfare as he has been in previous years. I’ve enjoyed sketching him several times from the floor above looking straight down over his head or from the front. This year he was sequestered in a retail shop right next to a gift-wrapping service, so I didn’t have a good view without standing in the way.

Undeterred, I marched across the street to Nordstrom, where Santa sits inside a big show window. His voice is amplified so that people on the sidewalk can hear him chatting with the kids and ho-ho-ho-ing. I stood right next to the window, where I had a great profile view of Santa and his clients. I would have liked to sketch all the toys and other decorations, but 15 minutes in the cold was all that I could stand.

12/7/18 Pacific Place main floor