Drink & Draw at Overlook Walk

 

11/3/24 Waterfront Park Overlook Walk and Old Stove Brewing Co.

The new Waterfront Park’s Overlook Walk has been getting such an enthusiastic response that we knew it would be a popular outing for USk Seattle. We decided to try something we rarely do – an all-day outing with two throwdowns!

A quick sketch before the afternoon throwdown. At 3 p.m. the sun was already low over
Elliott Bay, but it was certainly welcome after a cool, cloudy morning.

My previous visits had been on relatively mellow weekdays, but Sunday was a whole different story. Throngs of people everywhere, yet the spacious Overlook never felt crowded. I spotted a vertical composition with lots of different shapes and textures of buildings, walkways and trees (far left, top page). What really caught my attention, though, was a smartly dressed man “casually” leaning up against a building like he belonged in a men’s fashion magazine. He certainly didn’t belong at the Overlook (or anywhere else in Seattle, frankly)! Indeed, he turned out to be a fashion model (his photographer was outside my frame). So the Overlook is already commercial photography-worthy!

After the morning throwdown, I invited other sketchers to join me for a drink & draw lunch at Old Stove Brewing Company. My intention was not to linger too long so that I could sketch more of the Overlook before the afternoon throwdown. But I was enjoying the company of Kim, Justin, Leslie and Devin so much that I ended up spending most of the remaining outing time there. Devin’s question to the group, “Why did you start urban sketching?” prompted great discussions that helped me learn more about fellow sketchers and reminded me why I love this tribe so much. Long live my sketching community!

I'm not really liking how much work it takes to get dark darks with the Faber-Castell Pitt Graphite Matt pencil that I've been using for Pencilvember. Might be time for a change-up.