Anderson School Greenery

 

7/28/21 McMenamins Anderson School patio

The green oasis of McMenamins Anderson School turned out to be a challenging but rewarding opportunity to experiment with a primary triad again. USk Seattle has met at Anderson a couple of times now since the historic school building was turned into a hotel by the McMenamins chain. Both times, I shied away from the forest of foliage surrounding the large central dining patio. On Wednesday, however, when I met up with Roy and Kate there, the cool, dense shade was too inviting to resist. I decided to take on all that greenery head-on. I even opened up a full spread – something I rarely do anymore – to go big.

In retrospect, I wish I had spent more time making the shaded foreground foliage darker. I’m also still working on the balance between Lemon Yellow and Phthalocyanine Blue to get the green values I want, and I went a little easy on the intense Purplish Red, which tends to take over. Otherwise, though, I had fun working with this Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle primary triad again (the same one I had tried recently in the backyard).

Waiting for our lunch table was an ideal time for sketchwaiting.

Another mini sketch outing!