A Wet Ballard Troll

 

10/15/23 Frankie Feetsplinters outside the National Nordic Museum

The public and media alike have been falling in love with the giant trolls of Way of the Bird King, an art installation by Danish environmental artist Thomas Dambo. The sixth and final troll in the Pacific Northwest was installed last month. Made of reused, natural materials, the sculptures celebrate “the human experience of art by amplifying the connections of cultural heritage between Coast Salish tribal communities and Scandinavian traditions.” 

While some sketchers like Kate Buike and Allan Andoy Carandang have already finished sketching all five in the Puget Sound area (the sixth is in Portland), I hadn’t gotten around to any yet. Happily for me, the last one was in Ballard outside the National Nordic Museum – a terrific location for a USk Seattle meetup last Sunday.

Ballard neighborhood

My weather app said rain would be starting an hour or so after the outing began, so I arrived a bit early to get a head start on Frankie Feetsplinters. It’s a good thing I did, because sure enough, it started spitting by the time I finished. The spitting turned into full-on rain shortly after, but intrepid USk Seattle members kept right on going, some with umbrellas to protect their sketches (see below)!

Dodging the rain for the rest of the outing, I found a doorway of a closed business across the street from a gorgeous maple I had been eyeing. It was an ideal test of my new standing watercolor palette (more on that soon) and the paints I’m using for the watercolor class I just started with Kathleen Moore (more on that soon, too).

I did one more sketch outside, this time while standing in the rain! Why? Coming up! (This post seems to be more about teasers than current content!)

Finally, I ended up where most other sketchers did, too – inside the lobby of the Nordic Museum, where I used the last few minutes to capture Alex sketching the lobby. Many thanks to the museum for graciously allowing us to have a dry throwdown there.

Alex sketching in the Nordic Museum lobby

Intrepid sketchers!

Mandatory troll selfie