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| 11/19/22 Wallingford Center behind trees |
Located inside the restored Interlake Public School building, Wallingford Center is a spacious retail and business venue that
was originally built in 1908. Now on the National Register of Historic Places,
it’s an ideal winter meetup location for USk Seattle because it offers shelter
if the weather is bad and an old surrounding neighborhood if the weather is
hospitable. On a brilliantly sunny but cold Saturday, a strong turnout of urban
sketchers bundled up for the morning, though I must say that not many were
hardy (or hardcore) enough to sketch outdoors.
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| Taekwondo Institute building |
Chilled the whole time, even while standing in the sun, I’m
not sure I qualify as hardy, so I must be hardcore. I started out with a sketch
of an old building at the corner of North 45th and Burke Avenue
North, which is currently the home of the Taikwondo Institute (at right). The building is
actually blue and yellow, neither of which I have in my secondary triad
palette, so I looked at it as a study in cool and warm by using dark violet and
orange.
Needing to warm up, I went inside Wallingford Center, where
the majority of sketchers had smartly and comfortably settled in. I think some
of the center’s boutique shops didn’t survive the pandemic; I saw several
shuttered spots and not many shoppers. In fact, I saw almost no one besides
sketchers! At the end of one corridor, I found a beautiful, quarter-round-shaped
window in the wall between the main hall and a stairwell. It was just the kind
of thing I like to take on with a small value study. |
| Inside Wallingford Center |
After that short break, I put my down parka and gloves back
on to venture outdoors for one more sketch. The entrance of Wallingford Center with
columns was mostly in shade, but from across the street, I got a good view of
the airy, orange tree in front (top of post). I wanted to be sure to get the open
panel truck, so I put that in first, and sure enough, it drove off shortly
thereafter.
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| The hardy... |
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| ... and the cozy! |
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| Not exactly mobbed with shoppers. |
Looks like a cosy indoor space for sketching. What a shame there isn't much business going on.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's sad... but no one seemed to mind that the place was filled with sketchers! :-)
DeleteGreat work! I really love the composition of the one on the orange paper. The window frame, the perspective, and the plant at the front add so much depth. The trees and colors in the top sketch are also very nicely balanced.
ReplyDeleteThank you! The one on orange paper was my favorite of the day!
Delete