Queen Anne Sunshine

 

7/1/23 Space Needle, downtown and Mt. Rainier from Kerry Park

Like last summer at Lake Union Park, Seattle urban sketcher and Traveler’s Company rep April Wu and Art Toolkit developer Maria Coryell-Martin invited USk Seattle to a Travel & Sketch event with fans of the materials they represent. This time they chose Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill, and they couldn’t have picked a better morning for it: The huge crowd of sketchers (along with lots of tourists) enjoyed a clear sky and 70-degree weather.

It’s hard to resist the picture-perfect postcard view (literally) at Kerry Park, so I got it out of my system right away (above). A year ago when USk Seattle had an outing at the same location, I indulged in a full-on, detailed skyline panorama. On Saturday I went to the opposite extreme: A much-simplified view of Mt. Rainier and the Space Needle with downtown Seattle’s buildings fully abstracted.

What was significant to me was that it was my first sketch mixing watercolors with watercolor pencils, and I used each medium in ways that suit my approach best: Direct watercolor for the abstracted buildings and colored pencils for the detailed areas. I like the result, but the jury is still out as to whether I would do this indefinitely. I still don’t like having to haul an additional tote to carry the painting gear, and I could do it at Kerry Park only because I happened to snag a bench (at a premium that morning).

West Highland Drive

That scene out of the way, I walked in the direction of the much quieter Betty Bowen Viewpoint. Along the way, I sketched one of the many huge, beautiful homes along West Highland Drive. Then at the viewpoint, I made a small sketch of the curve in the street lined with globe lights. It’s another irresistible scene I’ve sketched a few times before (here’s one from 10 years ago, probably my first).

Maria (left) and April talk about the products their
companies sell and gave brief demos.

With the combined communities of Urban Sketchers, Traveler’s Notebook users and Art Toolkit users, the throwdown was one of the biggest I’ve seen! It was a fun opportunity to meet new sketchers and chat about the tools and materials we all love.

Photo courtesy of April Wu

Yellow is the new white!