I’m a Magnet for Heavy Equipment

4/26/19 former Key Arena under renovation

Ostensibly the Friday sketch outing was scheduled for the Cherry Blossom and Japanese Cultural Festival at the Seattle Center’s Fisher Pavilion. An indoor venue, it was a safe bet for these iffy spring days. My secret intention, however, was to sketch outdoors as long as the weather was hospitable, and it was. In the sunshine, I would even go so far as to call it “warm”!

4/26/19 at the foot of the Space Needle

In all directions, the Seattle Center is full of things to sketch, but I just followed my ears to the noisy commotion at the former Key Arena, which is undergoing a major renovation. Sitting on the edge of the International Fountain, I caught a crane and a few smaller machines doing their thing. The only problem was that from that distance, I didn’t realize the crane was standing on a lower level, so I couldn’t see most of its base. It looks like a crane without an engine. (Still, I’m pleased that I was able to get both the crane and the arena in the same composition while maintaining the correct proportions on both – all on a 5½-by-8½-inch page. I credit Gabi Campanario’s Pocket Urban Sketching workshop for that.)

I seem to be a magnet for heavy equipment – no matter where I go, I find some. (I realize that’s not a challenge in this city.) At the foot of the Space Needle, I found a machine with nothing to do, but its tire treads made an interesting study of light and shadow, as did the Needle itself.

Happy sketchers in the sunshine!