Drizzly Lake Union Park

 

8/25/23 1904 Swiftsure docked at Lake Union

You can’t keep USk Seattle down with a little drizzle! OK, the drizzle eventually turned to rain, which I happily welcomed if it would clear away the smoke. In any case, we had a good time at Lake Union Park on Friday morning.

I found some cover that gave me a good view of the 1904 lightship Swiftsure, which I’ve sketched at least twice before – it’s hard to resist the red hull and yellow masts. My previous sketches were more detailed, but I don’t think I scaled the ship accurately either time. Standing fairly close, my goal was simply to scale it as accurately as possible on my small A6-size page. I still couldn’t get all of the center mast in, but I resisted drawing it shorter just to squeeze the top in.

By the time I finished, the drizzle had turned to rain, but that was when my walk around the park brought me to a view of the Space Needle. It’s apparently a mandatory subject for me whenever I see it.

8/25/23 Space Needle from Lake Union Park 
(Pentel Tradio Pullaman brush pen)

Pen note: I had just gotten a brand-new Pentel Tradio Pulaman brush pen the day before the USk outing, so I couldn’t resist grabbing it on the way out the door. Of course, I didn’t test the ink (or even read its features) to see if it was waterproof, which the rain tested immediately. No matter, though – it’s been a while since I used a water-soluble brush pen, and now that I know it is, I’ll have fun doing some washes with it.

According to JetPens, the Tradio has an “arrow-shaped tip” rather than a traditional brush tip. It makes a fairly good range of marks, though perhaps not as wide a range as some other hard-tip brush pens I’ve used. It might be better suited for calligraphy than sketching. In any case, I really like its stout, cigar-shaped body. Bonus: Unlike most brush pens I’ve been using, like my favorite Uni Pin and Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Fude Pen, the Tradio is refillable. I’ll write a full review once I see how long the tip lasts under the leaden weight of my drawing hand.

Oh, so this is where all the sketchers were hiding out to stay dry!