Bawlin’ Babes and Ho-Ho-Ho

12/21/17 Northgate Mall Santa

Last Thursday, Santa was having a busy afternoon at Northgate Mall. When I arrived, he was just getting back from his break, and at least a dozen families were waiting in line for his return.

If Santa looks a little bedraggled, it’s because the clients he had right before the girl in this sketch put him through the wringer. The elder sister was an old pro at this Santa business, so she sat patiently next to him. But despite much cajoling from dad, baby sister would not have anything to do with this bearded man. She let out some ear-busting howls on Santa’s lap as the photographer snapped away. I admire this particular Santa, who always appears jolly and friendly, no matter who’s screaming in his ear (this is my fourth year sketching him). As usual, the holidays are such a joyous time of year for toddlers.  

Merry Christmas, and may your holidays be joyous, too!

Edited 12/25: It turns out that the Santa photo tradition began right here in Seattle in the 1940s! Who knew?

Reindeer, Santa and Mobs at Swansons

12/22/17 Blitzen dozing

A Friday USk tradition since 2012, Swansons Nursery during the holidays is one of our favorite outings. We usually don’t schedule it this late in the season, however, and it was significantly more crowded than usual.

First, I had to fight my way through swarms of kids to get to Blitzen and Dasher, the reindeer who visit the store annually. 

12/22/17 Dasher and Blitzen

Then I had to fight my way through swarms of parents to get to Santa, with lots of Santa’s helpers blocking my view. (Even with my limited view of him, Santa remembered me from the time I sketched him a couple of years ago.) At least I didn’t have to fight to get to Pippin, Alex’s new puppy, who stayed relatively still chewing his leash.

12/22/17 obstructed Santa

12/22/17 Alex's new puppy, Pippin

12/22/17 banana tree

After all that, I had to break for lunch, and then I had my usual 15 minutes left before the throwdown. In Swansons’ crowded café, I had a mostly unobstructed view of the enormous banana tree growing by the koi pond. 

Despite the mobs, Swansons was still a fun way to end the year with Urban Sketchers Seattle!

Kate and Antonella

Seattle Center Winterfest

12/17/17 Seattle Center Winterfest miniature train and village

Although the Friday sketchers tend to end up in the Armory whenever we meet at the Seattle Center for one event or another, I think it’s been almost exactly five years since the main USk Seattle group has met there for Winterfest.

12/17/17 Shane the caricaturist

The Armory’s main visual Winterfest attraction is a miniature train and turn-of-the-previous-century village, whose centerpiece is a train station and clock tower that look remarkably similar to King Street Station (above).

I had a great table for sketching the train station scene that I didn’t want to lose as the Armory started filling. I looked behind me and spotted a caricaturist at work, so I simply swiveled my chair around. My intention was to include his client in the sketch, but he finished drawing her just as I had finished drawing him.

Although a little reluctant to give up my warm, cozy spot inside the Armory, I knew it wasn’t raining, so I pulled up my hood and ventured outside. Like that USk outing in 2012, it was bitterly cold and windy, so I spent no more than 15 minutes sketching the top of the Space Needle covered up with colorful tarps and scaffolding for remodeling. (Waiting at the bus stop for my ride home, I spotted the Space Needle from the opposite side, so I sketched it again as an inset. From that distance, I could see more of the construction equipment on top, plus the Christmas-tree-shaped lighting on the needle.)

12/17/17 Space Needle wearing its top-heavy hat

Even in my down coat, I was shivering and ready to retreat indoors again. At the Armory entrance, though, a pair of buskers called Fascinator Jazz Band was performing, and you know I can’t walk by buskers without sketching them. I decided that if these hardy musicians could play in the cold (the bass player kept stopping to rub her hand warmers between songs), I could shiver for another 10 minutes to sketch them. 

Considering that it’s the week before Christmas and probably the busiest weekend for holiday activities, we had a great turnout of sketchers, including Anya from Anchorage and Juliana from Londrina, Brazil! 

12/17/17 Fascinator Jazz Band

A Late Start on Santa Season

12/12/17 Two kids stop to chat with Pacific Place's Santa.

My Santa “personal best” was in 2015, when I managed to sketch him four times. Last year I decided I couldn’t break my own record, so I settled for three (and twice it was the same Santa!). This year I’ve been a total slacker: Here we are halfway to Christmas, and I’ve only just begun!

Around noon Tuesday at Pacific Place, Santa didn’t have any customers, and his helper was so bored she was scrolling her phone. I circled the mall a couple of times to find a good angle, and the one I liked best was the one I used last year: from directly above.

I started sketching Santa, thinking that if he got some customers, they would sit next to him on his bench-like chair, and I could put them in. After I was nearly done, a couple of brothers came by, but they were there only to chat with Santa – no lap sitting, no photos. No other kids came by. 

It may have been a slow day for Santa, but at least I got a start on Santa Sketching Season.

Better Than Sliced Bread

12/12/17 Princi bakery's bread slicer and a case filled with croissants.

Starbucks has been in the news lately with its recent opening of a new Reserve Roastery in Shanghai, which is apparently many times larger than the one in Seattle. In addition, the Seattle Roastery recently added the Italian bakery Princi to its store, and from everything I’d heard, the pastries were worth a trip up the hill. So despite the many times I’ve sketched there, I decided it was time to make another visit.

With the addition of the bakery, more seating was also added, including a large community table and some stand-up tables, just like in Europe (where people don’t like to take their coffee “to go,” but they also don’t always take the time to sit). When I first came in, a large group was meeting at the community table, but they left just as I was thinking about starting a sketch from a stand-up table. I zipped in and grabbed a seat at the large table as soon as it opened. Luckily for me, the view I wanted was straight ahead: a bright red bread slicer behind rows and rows of croissants.

Yes, the Nutella-filled croissant I had was worth the trip up the hill. Worth the premium price I paid for it? I scarfed it down so fast that I didn’t have time to ponder the price. 

And here’s one more thing I purchased there without much thought: A lovely wooden pencil box with a sliding top, filled with matte black pencils (stamped with silly coffee sayings). Alas, I’m a sucker for more than over-priced pastries.

Product Review: Akashiya Keicho Double-Sided Brush Pen

12/6/17 The Akashiya Keicho's black and gray tones were used for different areas of shading.

In the interest of my ongoing quest to simplify and lighten my sketch kit, I recently got a new brush pen: the Akashiya Keicho double-sided pen. With black ink on one end and gray on the other, it would take care of most of my monochrome shading needs, all in one compact pen. I’ve tried many, many brush pens with the same type of spongy, formed, non-hairy tips, but this one was new to me.

Akashiya Keicho double-sided brush pen

I haven’t been using the Akashiya long enough to mush down the tips – a frequent problem for my heavy hand with most spongy-tipped brush pens – but I’m optimistic because the material looks very similar to those that hold up well. They flex a bit, but in general, the tips are firm.

The gray side is significantly smaller than the black side. Since all brush pen tips can be held vertically to get a narrow stroke and held more horizontally to get a wider stroke – a variable motion I’m accustomed to from using fude fountain pens – I’m not sure why the gray side is smaller. I sometimes need a broad gray stroke, and the smaller tip is a bit narrower than I would like.

 

Black tip

Gray tip

As is true for most brush pens I’ve tried, the Akashiya Keicho contains water-soluble inks. Especially when sketching people, it’s handy to use a water-soluble ink that I can swipe quickly and easily with a waterbrush for soft shading, and I enjoy using the Akashiya this way. I also like to use the black brush to draw, and then use the gray side for shading – another fast and easy approach.

Ink scribbles and waterbrush swipes made on Stillman & Birn Alpha paper.

11/11/17 Black brush used to draw, then washed with
water for shading. The drinking glass was drawn with the
gray brush pen. (detail)

I wish Akashiya made the same type of double-sided pen with waterproof inks for the times when I want to also use watercolor pencils. My current sketch kit contains a couple of gray tones of Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens (I’ve been using them more since I took Don Colley’s workshop) for those times, but one brush pen performing double duty would be even better. 

Unless the tips end up mushing down over time (I’ll amend this review if they do), the double-sided Akashiya Keicho is a keeper in my bag for its compact versatility. 

12/2/17 Black brush washed with water for shading. (Detail)

12/7/17 Black brush used for drawing; gray brush for shading.

A Friday Anniversary at Gingerbread Village

12/8/17 With an emphasis on Seattle's waterfront, this exhibit includes the Big Wheel and an octopus.

Six years ago this month, five urban sketchers wanted to sketch the Sheraton’s annual Gingerbread Village exhibit, but we knew weekends would be mobbed, so we decided to have an ad hoc outing on a Friday. That was the first of what became the bimonthly ad hoc Friday USk meetups, and the group has been growing ever since. To celebrate our anniversary, we met at the event that initially inspired us: Gingerbread Village.

Kathleen sketches the exhibit featuring Ballard.

For this annual fundraiser, Seattle’s major architectural firms team up with local chefs to design elaborate, theme-based dioramas made of cookies and candies (voluntary donations to the event somewhat ironically benefit type 1 diabetes research). Now in its 25^th year, Gingerbread Village moved from the Sheraton to US Bank City Centre – a much better venue. Instead of displaying the exhibits all in one row, the confectionary creations were spread throughout City Centre’s main floor, dispersing the crowds into small clusters instead of a single line, which made the displays easier to see (and sketch).

Although I had a better view, I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed. Unlike previous years that had strong visual themes like Harry Potter, Star Wars (my favorite), Christmas carols, sailing ships, and fairytale castles, this year’s theme was less defined: “25 Years of Cheer: A Celebration of Seattle.” Each exhibit focused on a geographic area of Seattle and included images of the nostalgic past or the imagined future. The most visually fun was a fat sailor riding an orca in an homage to Ballard’s Scandinavian heritage. While colorful and sometimes kinetic, most of the exhibits left me scratching my head as I tried to understand the theme’s interpretation.

 

I went up to the second floor to sketch this rotating
exhibit of downtown, including the Smith Tower.

Regardless, I enjoy sketching this event not so much for the elaborate sweet creations as for the people of all ages who come to see them. Although I had space to step up close to the exhibits, I decided to hang back as I usually do and focus on the viewers. 

Ummm. . . a Norwegian sailor in Salmon Bay?

A future Seattle waterfront.

Throwdown from a great turnout of Friday sketchers!

Rotating city!

Jammin’, Part 2: Unwitting Models

12/2/17 Drawing Jam participants

Instructor giving a demo.

I had so much fun at Drawing Jam sketching the excellent models that I didn’t spend as much time looking for unwitting models – the other participants, instructors giving demos, musicians, and other live entertainment in every studio. But sometimes when I finished a drawing early and didn’t want to keep picking at it until the model’s time was up, I’d draw the other participants instead. 

Once I had an ideal situation: An instructor was giving a demo of portrait painting just behind me. Whenever the models took their five-minute breaks, I would turn my chair around to sketch the instructor. When the models were back, I’d turn back around again. I sketched the instructor a few minutes at a time over the course of an hour, and his pose was nearly as motionless as the models’!

Boots to the Moon performing for Jam participants.

Jammin’, Part 1: Models

12/2/17 Awkward foreshortened pose!

I probably say this every year, but Drawing Jam just keeps getting better and better! The annual all-day drawing festival sponsored by Gage Academy is something I look forward to all year (this was my sixth consecutive year participating). With nude and costumed models, demos by Gage instructors, live music, busts and still life arrangements, self-portrait stations and plenty of art exhibits by students and faculty, it’s the most fun a sketcher can have on a cold and rainy December day.

I spent most of my day at Skinner Auditorium sketching costumed models. Although I missed the Seattle Seafair Pirates and Comic Book Characters for a Cause who have modeled in previous years, this year we were treated to four drag queens instead! Fantastic dancers, they took turns performing for us while the others posed. 

The rest of the time, Gage’s usual lineup of stellar models posed two at a time on a platform, which made it easy for the large crowd to see one or the other from anywhere in the room.

Shown here are sketches of the program models (mostly 15-to-20-minute poses); tomorrow I’ll show sketches of the unwitting models.

Technical notes: I’m still thinking about minimalism and my personal challenge to slim down my kit again. As I was leaving for Drawing Jam, instead of my usual DIY sketchbook, I grabbed my tan Stillman & Birn Nova, which I knew would be a nice, warm color for life drawing. It wasn’t a true test of minimalism because I still had my usual full assortment of materials with me, but I consciously kept my choices narrow. At the end of the day, I reviewed what I had used: my Sailor fude fountain pen; a double-sided Akashiya brush pen containing water-soluble inks (black on one end; gray on the other – more about this handy pen sometime soon); a waterbrush; one graphite pencil; one water-soluble graphite pencil; one white colored pencil; one red water-soluble pencil. One sketchbook and seven tools – not bad for a full day of sketching. I think something like that easily could be my minimal sketch kit in January when I put myself to the full challenge. 

It’s been so long since I’ve done regular life drawing (either formally or while urban sketching) that I’d forgotten how much I like S&B’s paper sizing and texture (Alpha, Beta and now Nova) with a simple ink wash. That’s still one of my favorite ways of achieving soft shading on people’s faces.

Rusty at Zoka

11/21/17 Warming up

I’ve been spending so much time this fall focused on my graphite drawing class (now completed) that I haven’t done much people sketching at all – usually my primary subject as soon as the rainy season begins. Last winter and spring it was the same thing as I worked many hours with colored pencils instead of having fun at coffee shops or at life-drawing sessions. As much as I’ve enjoyed and learned from the intensive classroom study, I’ve missed drawing people – and I’m feeling very rusty.

According to my blog, I hadn’t been to Zoka Coffee, my favorite coffee shop for sketching, since March when I was feverishly trying to get through #oneweek100people. Since then, the signage and some décor had changed and, remarkably, their already delicious blueberry scones had somehow gotten even better! Or maybe I had just missed them, too.

Feeling very creaky, I warmed up first with a brush pen (above), just like I do at life-drawing sessions.

The guy below was drawing too, but not urban sketching. He kept his eyes pinned to his sketchbook and never glanced up long enough to notice that I was drawing him. He kept twisting himself into interesting, challenging-to-draw pretzel positions. His hands were always moving, but I tried a couple of details anyway.

11/21/17 Sketchy

Dripping wet when he arrived, Mr. Hoodie never removed his jacket as he stared at his laptop all morning.

11/21/17 Drippy

Mr. Fidget kept me busy trying to keep up with his three arms.

11/21/17 Fidgety

Foreseeable Future

11/18/17 Wedgwood neighborhood

Yesterday was the only rainless day for the foreseeable future (10 days, according to my weather app). Not only was it rainless, it was sunny enough for this piece of heavy equipment in the Wedgwood neighborhood to cast a shadow. I’m guessing it will be noisy on this block come Monday.

Year Five at Gingerbread Village

11/29/16 brush pen, rainbow pencil, colored pencils

Having read only the first book and having seen only a couple of the films, I can hardly call myself a Harry Potter fan. (I can’t tell Gandalf from Dumbledore to save my life.) But I am a fan of sketching at Gingerbread Village, the annual holiday fundraising event hosted by the Seattle Sheraton. Local architectural firms team up with the Sheraton’s chef to create truly marvelous edible confections. The term “gingerbread house” hardly describes the colorfully lighted, kinetic, three-dimensional depictions of the Harry Potter books.

Last year the theme was Star Wars, and since I’m definitely a fan of that franchise, I spent a lot of detailed time sketching the candy-and-cookie depictions of my two favorite films. Since I didn’t have much personal connection with the theme this year, I decided to focus more on the visitors. My favorite was the young child (gender uncertain to me) wearing a teddy bear hoodie and pulling a bright green wagon. His mom, obviously a huge Potter fan, was snapping as many photos as she could while also explaining to her kid, who apparently hadn’t seen the films yet, what was going on in the scenes. Mom was running back and forth too much for me to capture, but the kid was all I needed in the sketch.

11/29/16 brush pen

Early enough in the season, I didn’t get mobbed this morning, so it was relatively easy to make gestural sketches of people of all ages (including the chef himself, who came out to greet visitors).

This was my fifth consecutive year sketching Gingerbread Village, a tradition that began in 2012 as the first outing of Urban Sketchers Seattle’s Friday group. It started getting too crowded for us to sketch comfortably, so after a couple more years, we stopped, but I miss that festive gathering. I think we just have to go earlier in the season as I did today (and Kate did last week).

Here are my posts from 2013 and 2014. 

11/29/16 brush pen, colored pencils

11/29/16 brush pen, colored pencils