Supermoon and Reflex Sketch

7/12/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuyu-kusa and Diamine Grey inks, Stillman & Birn Gamma

During my busy weekend attending Shari Blaukopf’s workshop, I did a couple of sketches just to relax without the pressure of trying to apply concepts I was learning.

One was done around 10 p.m. Saturday night as the “supermoon” was rising. (Not exactly an urban sketch – I viewed it from our front deck, but it was too dark to sketch out there, so I went into the house and sketched it from memory.)

7/13/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Canson XL
140 lb. paper

The second was late yesterday afternoon after I finished my last workshop exercise. I sat back (well, as much as one can “sit back” on a three-legged camp stool!), took a couple of deep breaths and then sketched Ashley and Peggy finishing up their sketches before the final critique. I think this is the type of sketch that Liz Steel would call a “reflex sketch”: something that can be done without hurting my brain too much and that feels relaxing even when it’s challenging. 

Blaukopf Watercolor Workshop

7/13/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Lanaquarelle pad
(primary triad)

Values.

If there’s one thing I learned from Shari Blaukopf’s two-day watercolor workshop, it’s the importance of clear, distinct values – light, middle, dark – in a sketch or painting. Contrary to what might seem intuitively true, if you get the values right, the overall sketch will “read” right, even if the hues aren’t exactly what you see.

This hard lesson was practiced with much difficulty in Ballard yesterday. Shari started the day with a two-and-a-half hour demo, during which she articulated every compositional decision and every paint stroke she made. Hearing her explain each choice as she made it was so much more helpful than just watching her in action (which was also very educational; there’s nothing like seeing a master handle a brush with complete confidence).

Seeing and understanding values and then putting them on paper can be confusing when also trying to mix hues, so after a challenging first exercise, Shari gave us a new exercise in which we painted the values in a scene using only a single hue. I found that exercise much more informative in helping me understand values.

7/12/14 watercolor, Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook
(monochrome value study)

Day 2, which was in gritty, noisy Georgetown, started with another demo, this time using only a triad of primary colors. We practiced one sketch using a triad of our own choosing. Although I had difficulty making a sufficiently dark dark using only French ultramarine, alizarin crimson and lemon yellow, I actually found it easier to manage a limited palette rather than having too many color choices. After the afternoon demo using an unlimited palette, we tried our hand at the same thing. The values lesson was a bit easier for me to grasp by the second day, and while the continual traffic noise was tiring, I felt I was finally beginning to “get it.”

Many thanks to Shari for coming to Seattle and bringing us an outstanding workshop!

7/13/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Lanaquarelle pad
(unlimited palette)

7/12/14 watercolor, Stillman & Birn Beta
(A disastrous first try at understanding value
while also trying to obtain realistic hues.)

7/12/14 watercolor, Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook
(monochrome value study)

Shari giving a demo in Georgetown.

Thanks for a great workshop, Shari!

Pioneer Square

7/11/14 Platinum Carbon, Diamine Chocolate Brown and Grey and mixed green inks, Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble colored pencil, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

In the nearly three years since I’ve been sketching, I’d never sketched in Pioneer Square, the birthplace of Seattle and a must-see for most visitors. It was high time – and the ad hoc Friday sketchers couldn’t have asked for a sunnier morning to meet at this quintessential Seattle location.

7/11/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink,
Museum pencil

Although it’s been done and overdone by many sketchers and artists, I couldn’t resist sketching the Victorian wrought iron Pergola, Pioneer Square’s most iconic structure. Next I sketched the bust of Chief Seattle, our city’s namesake. Both have been in Pioneer Square Park since 1909.

With the historical icons taken care of, I spent the rest of the morning sketching my favorite subject – buskers!

Welcome to several sketchers who joined Seattle USk today for the first time, including Yan, an active Singapore Urban Sketcher!

7/11/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink

7/11/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink

7/11/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink

Front row, left to right: Kate, Donna, Jennifer, Frank, Tina. Back row: Steve, Chris,
Gloria, Nancy, Linda, Yan.

The Sketchbook Project Comes to Seattle

Jennifer, Tina, Michele and Judy check out their own and others' sketchbooks.

The Sketchbook Project mobile library is in Seattle through tomorrow! This traveling exhibit of sketchbooks from around the globe has been here before, but not since I became a sketcher. I participated for the first time in 2013, but that collection of sketchbooks didn’t come to Seattle. I wasn’t going to participate this year, but then I heard that the project was going to tour the Pacific Northwest, so I couldn’t resist.

After the Friday sketchers sketched in Pioneer Square, a few of us walked up the hill to the Seattle Public Library to meet up with Michele and Judy, who came over from Anacortes and Bellevue to see their sketchbooks. We all checked out a few books randomly from other Sketchbook Project participants, too.

See all the pages in my Sketchbook Project sketchbooks in these Flickr albums:

2013 Sketchbook Project

2014 Sketchbook Project

The Sketchbook Project mobile library

Morning and Evening Shadow Studies

7/10/14 7 p.m. Platinum Carbon and Diamine Grey inks, Stillman &
Birn Beta sketchbook

Last night after dinner, I noticed interesting shadows on the house across the street, so I went out on our front deck to sketch a study. Then early this morning, I went out there again to sketch the same house.

(It’s such a treat to have a run of clear blue skies for more than a week! And next week, too! Hallelujah!) 

7/11/14 7:53 a.m. Platinum Carbon and Diamine Grey inks, Stillman &
Birn Beta sketchbook

St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church

7/10/14 Platinum Carbon, Diamine Grey and Chocolate Brown inks, watercolor, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

On my way to lunching with friends on Eastlake, I took a short detour into the Montlake neighborhood to sketch the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church. (I don’t find myself in that area often, so a few weeks ago when I was driving through and spotted it, I put the church on my ongoing sketching nemesis list to come back to later.)

Built in the early ‘60s, according to Wikipedia, the church was praised by Architecture/West magazine for its ingenuity in “adapting materials and techniques of the 20th Century to a church that follows early Greek Orthodox architectural forms.” I regret that I got the proportions wrong on the early Greek Orthodox form of the striking tower and its beautiful windows. Those seemingly simple lines and rounded shapes are annoyingly complicated to draw. But on a warm, sunny morning, a cool breeze on my neck, anticipating a nice lunch with old friends – who cares?

Geese at Green Lake

7/9/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown, Grey and Pilot
Iroshizuku Tsuyu-kusa inks, Caran d'Ache Museum
water-soluble colored pencils, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

As ubiquitous as seagulls, pigeons and crows, Canada geese are not necessarily my favorite birds. These poop machines generate so much product that they can be a nasty nuisance at city parks like Green Lake where they like to hang out. (It seems like they don’t leave in the winter as they are supposed to – why go through a tedious, tiring migration when you can stay fat and happy in a moderate climate like Seattle’s?) But I have to say that Canada geese make excellent life-drawing models. They move constantly, but not very fast, and although they spook if a dog comes by, they have no fear of people. This morning as I quietly stood very close to these geese, they barely gave me a nod. In fact, when I opened my bag for a waterbrush, they must have thought I had food; several gathered even closer, eyeing me expectantly.

They give the impression of being clumsy when they run, but they walk with style and grace. After spending an hour sketching them in as many poses as I could and simply enjoying their elegant movements, I took a longer view to put them in the context of the park.

On my way back to the car, I stopped for one more quick sketch, this time of the lake and the neighborhood beyond it.

7/9/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink

7/9/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink

7/9/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown, Grey, Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuyu-kusa and mixed green inks,
Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble colored pencils, Canson XL 140 lb. paper