The Park at Bothell Landing

9/9/25 The Park at Bothell Landing

Right on the shore of the Sammamish River, the Park at Bothell Landing is an urban oasis of nature and history. Dodging the rain that had threatened earlier forecasts, USk Seattle enjoyed a chilly but fun morning exploring this park’s gems.

First, there’s the river itself. Despite being a short distance from Highway 522, it’s a quiet spot where kayakers and ducks share serene water surrounded by green. Walking on the trails immediately made me feel like I was in a forest instead of in the middle of a suburb.

Then, there are several sketchworthy buildings, especially the log cabin school house that was built in 1884! On the City of Bothell’s historic register, Hannan House was built by Andrew and Augusta Beckstrom. The Bothell Historical Museum is also housed in a fun-to-sketch building.

Finally, a timber-truss pedestrian bridge over the river leads to the Sammamish River Trail. These are just the things I chose at this new-to-me location, but I saw several other sketchable subjects that other sketchers jumped on. Noted for next time!

Process notes: After using colored Uglybooks consistently for more than two years, I started feeling kind of flabby: I always let the colored paper do the heavy lifting of the midtone. Inspired by some diary comics Roy had made, I brought along blue and sepia Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Dual-Tip Markers to use in a white Hahnemühle sketchbook (during the throwdown, I noted that I was the only sketcher who didn’t use any green!)  The blue was intended to be the midtone while the sepia was for the darks, but I later thought the blue was a bit too dark as a midtone. I loved working this way, though, so next time I’ll bring a lighter shade of blue. You’ll be seeing more of this!

The ancient log cabin school house