Unfinished Business at Suzzallo Library

1/20/ 19 Suzzallo Library (incomplete)

It’s been a few years since USk Seattle met at Suzzallo Library on the University of Washington campus, and I haven’t sketched inside it since, so I was looking forward to finding some new views. Strangely, though, I found myself inexplicably drawn toward the quiet reading room and its Gothic arches like a lemming over a cliff. I’ve suffered this same fate during at least a couple of previous visits: I bravely march inside with the intention of giving the daunting scene a shot, I make a few marks or lines, and then I abandon them. This time I got as far as a thumbnail (see below) and a few block-in marks, then lost heart.

This thumbnail is as far as I got on
the reading room's Gothic arches.

Just outside the reading room, a long hallway and rows of bookcases lead toward the connected Allen Library. Attracted to two tiny points of light at the end of the hallway, I wished dearly that I had brought my toned sketchbook, which would have made my job go a lot faster than applying all this graphite to the page. As I was getting to the fun part of erasing out the highlights, I got a phone call, and I had to leave the outing earlier than planned. The sketch was still a murky mess, but I had to abandon it, too.

Oh, well. I guess it was a day for unfinished business.