St. James Cathedral

10/14/21 St. James Cathedral

Completed in 1907, St. James Cathedral is one of my favorite old buildings in Seattle. I admire its twin towers from Interstate 5 whenever I’m downtown. An appointment brought me to First Hill last week, so I used the opportunity to sketch one of its bell towers from Ninth Avenue. At 8:59 a.m., a half-hour after I began this sketch, the bells started chiming. By that point, I was dang cold on that gray, drizzly morning, so the bells cheered me up until I finished a short time later.

Despite the Roman Catholic cathedral’s architectural complexity, which continues to challenge me, I have attempted it many times over the years. My favorite sketch might still be my very first brave attempt in 2013 (shown below) when I had been sketching for only a little more than a year. Sometimes I think I had more courage then than I do now!

1/24/13

St. James Cathedral

1/24/13 Platinum Sepia, Diamine Chocolate Brown inks, watercolor

I dashed into the Frye Art Museum to catch a small exhibition of fascinating works by Helmi Juvonen that I knew was ending soon. Unfortunately, the rest of the museum was in transition between shows, so there wasn’t much else to see.

 

Wanting to make better use of my trip downtown, I strategically parked my car in Frye’s lot so that I had a clear view of St. James Cathedral, or at least its towers, down the street. I heard that the Seattle Urban Sketchers would be sketching inside St. James next month, but I’m probably going to miss that ‘crawl, so I’m happy that I got to sketch at least part of its exterior.

46th World Wide SketchCrawl at the Frye (Plus St. James Cathedral)

1/31/15 Platinum Carbon and Super 5 Frankfurt inks, watercolor, Caran d'Ache
Museum water-soluble colored pencil, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Even though I was the one who had suggested the Frye Art Museum as the location for the 46th quarterly World Wide SketchCrawl, I have to admit I wasn’t very inspired. Not that the art wasn’t interesting – some of it was – but I found most of it to be unsketchable. In addition, some of us pen sketchers felt constrained by the museum’s media restrictions. I made a valiant attempt at capturing a cage-like structure made of bamboo, part of Jessica Kenney’s exhibit, “Anchor Zero,” with colored pencils.

After a couple more walks through all the exhibits trying to find something to sketch, I gave up and went out to my car across the street in Frye’s lot, where I had strategically parked facing St. James Cathedral’s twin towers. The first time I had sketched those towers from nearly the same position was almost exactly two years ago. (I’m not sure my architectural drawing skills have improved much, but maybe my color is a little better.)

1/31/15 Caran d'Ache Museum pencils

A small but enthusiastic group of Seattle Urban Sketchers gathered in the foyer to share sketches. We barely got a group photo taken before we were shushed – a tour had just begun! Welcome to new members Magdalena and Ryan!

Left to right: Magdalena, Darsie, Ryan, Michele, Frank and Tina

First Hill Churches and a State Bird

6/8/18 One of St. James Cathedral's twin towers

6/8/18 Trinity Parish Episcopal

Despite the spitting that turned to drizzle and then full-on rain, USk Seattle made a strong turnout for a sketch outing in the First Hill neighborhood, which features two classic churches.

I wanted to sketch both of St. James Cathedral’s twin towers, which I last sketched several years ago from the Frye Museum’s parking lot. That former lot is now another high-rise construction site, so that view will soon be gone, but I didn’t see a spot where I could sketch from without getting drizzled on. Under cover of a small awning, I settled for just one of the tower pair.

The rain was getting worse, but I was determined to try for the second of the two churches – Trinity Parish Episcopal – only a couple of blocks away. I see its Gothic spire often from the freeway and have always wanted to sketch it. I found a fully leafed tree to duck under that gave me a view through the trolley wires.

Feeling damp, I went into the Frye’s café for coffee and cake (several other sketchers had the same idea). I grabbed a window table where I could see a bright yellow “Washington State bird” behind the Frye’s cylindrical building.

After a week of sunshine, our wet outing was a disappointment, but since I squeezed three slightly rain-speckled sketches out of it, I can’t complain.

6/8/18 Our state bird (no, not the pigeons)

A Prius at Frye

1/24/13 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Zig markers, Hand Book sketchbook

Now that the temperatures are in the balmy 40s instead of icy 30s, sitting in my car was still comfortable after finishing my sketch of St. James Cathedral from the Frye parking lot. Since I began my car-sketching exercises, I hadn’t yet tackled a Prius’ arched roof and broad back end, so the one parked in front of me was a good opportunity. (Reflected in the backseat window is the top of one of St. James’ towers.)

Finally Summer on First Hill

7/12/19 Town Hall Seattle

Historically, it begins the day after the 4^th of July. Following days of gray drizzle, it arrived lazily yesterday a week late. With shades and sunhats on, USk Seattle welcomed summer with a sketch outing on First Hill.

When I first scouted the meetup location a month or so ago, Town Hall Seattle, undergoing renovation, caught my eye. Built in 1916 by The Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, the Roman Revival building has been an event venue since 1998. As my first sketch of the outing, the building was a bit intimidating, so my intention was to make a value study as a small thumbnail. Fairly quickly, though, I changed my attitude to “what the heck,” and I went for a full-page sketch instead. It was a popular spot: Kate, Alice and Tim all did their variations of the same view.

Next I went to the meetup location at a tiny pocket park (defined as such by a few colorful tables, chairs and planters in the street) at Ninth and University, where the Pike Place Market opens a pop-up farmers market on summertime Fridays. With St. James Cathedral in the distance, the small, quiet market gave nearby Virginia Mason medical clinic employees a sunny respite.

7/12/19 Pocket park and pop-up market at 9th and University

Kate, Tim and Alice sketching Town Hall

A Library and a Walrus

6/9/17 ink, Tombow marker, water-soluble colored pencils (Seattle Public Library)

How many icons can a person sketch in one day? When I started out yesterday for the Urban Sketchers Seattle gathering, I didn’t know I would end up sketching several icons, including two on my “must sketch someday” list.

6/9/17 View facing east on Madison Street

The meeting place was the Fourth and Madison Building’s seventh floor terrace – a pleasant outdoor space for nearby workers to bring their bag lunches and for sketchers to catch unusual peek-a-boo views. The one I (and many other sketchers) chose was looking east on Madison Street toward St. James Cathedral at the top of the hill looking very tiny in the steel and glass canyon.

However, that’s not one of the “must sketch” icons I was referring to. For one I went down to the building’s lobby, where a large window faced the Seattle Public Library’s downtown branch. Although I’ve sketched inside this flagship library building several times, I’ve never sketched the whole building, although I’ve wanted to. Designed by Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus, the unusual and striking building has always seemed too intimidating. Yet as I gazed at it yesterday, I had the same feeling I had while sketching in Positano or the Walt Disney Concert Hall in L.A.: The architectural lines are so unconventional and unexpected, who would know if my sketch were wonky? I took it on.

By then I had only five minutes left before the sketchbook throwdown, so I quickly went back up to the seventh floor terrace for the other peek-a-boo view I’d considered: The Space Needle hiding behind the “Darth Vader” (Fourth and Blanchard) Building.

 

6/9/17 brush pen, gel pen (Space Needle and
Fourth & Blanchard Building)

However, that, too, is not one of the two “must sketch” icons I was referring to. The second one was a walrus on the side of the Arctic Building. One of few old buildings in Seattle with any kind of gargoyles or other cool exterior decorations, it has walruses all the way around, way above eye level. Luckily for me, this one was adjacent to a parking lot, so I could stand next to it instead of on the street, where I would have had to look straight up to sketch. As a bonus, the Smith Tower was right next to it! 

Whew. I think I hit my Seattle icon quota for the year.

6/9/17 ink, Tombow marker (Arctic Building walrus
and Smith Tower)