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| 10/5/14 Platinum Carbon and other inks, Zig marker, colored pencils, Canson XL 140 lb. paper |
On a neighborhood walk this afternoon, we discovered an
interesting project going on near Maple Leaf Park. Seattle Department of
Transportation employees were painting wide, tan-colored areas in the street in
front of the crosswalk, which is heavily used by families walking to the park. The
strong-smelling fresh paint was marked off with cones.
We asked a worker what was going on, and he explained that
Seattle is using this crosswalk for a pedestrian safety study based on work
done in New York. When pedestrians are standing on the sidewalk trying to
cross, cars have difficulty seeing them, especially when parked cars are
nearby, and pedestrians have difficulty seeing traffic. The tan-colored painted
areas, where parking will be prohibited, enable pedestrians to step out into
the street far enough to see and be seen. The paint color is called “New York
tan,” the worker informed us, after the study that is being modeled.
As soon as I heard all this, I thought it was a serendipitous
and perhaps unique opportunity to do some reportage sketching of an event
important to me as a Maple Leaf pedestrian! After all, it was unusual enough for
workers to be painting on a Sunday afternoon; it might mean they wouldn’t be
there any other day.
I pulled out my sketchbook, looked around – and was dismayed
by how non-sketchogenic the scene was. A worker was still doing something, so
there was that. . . and the bright yellow-orange cones were still in place, so
there was that. . . but to indicate the tan-colored paint, I would have to make
the rest of the pavement darker (streets are one thing I almost always leave
paper-white in a sketch). And then there were all the trees in the background,
and several parked cars, and the white-striped crosswalk (which would also
require making the pavement darker), and big shadows from the trees on the side
of the street where I was standing, and on and on. Everything about the scene
struck me as non-sketchogenic and challenging.
I got this far, and then Greg brought me an iced mocha from Cloud City Coffee a few blocks up. I
decided to abandon the sketch for the mocha. I don’t usually post abandoned
sketches, but I still think the story is interesting. (Perhaps I have a nose
for news, but my sketch reportage skills need work.)
I can relate to the dilemma you faced, TIna. Glad you shared it as it's part of what we do. Sometimes it's just hard to make something that's interesting, interesting as a sketch. Iced coffee is as good a reason as any to stop :-)
ReplyDeleteCheers --- Larry