A St. Spiridon Opportunity

 

5/16/25 St. Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral, South Lake Union

Whenever I shop at REI, I try to use whatever time I have remaining in my hour of free parking to sketch some part of St. Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral (the opportunistic sketcher strikes again). As I was checking out, I saw that I had 19 minutes left – but that would have to include walking a couple blocks to the cathedral, walking back, and then spiraling out of REI’s tight parking ramp. Easy-peasy.

Sometimes I enjoy self-made, high-pressure situations.

St. Spiridon Revisited

6/27/18 St. Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral,
South Lake Union

St. Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral is probably one of those subjects that will always be challenging, no matter how many times I attempt it. Those onion domes are beautiful but daunting. It had been a good three years since the last time I gave them a try, so when Greg said he had some shopping to do at nearby REI, I tagged along and sketched while he shopped.

I knew I had less than an hour (REI customers get one hour of free parking, so we always try not to take longer than that), so I had to bite off a manageable composition. Last time I stood across the street for the widest view, but construction was going on there this time, so I moved closer to the front entrance. I still had plenty of onions to dazzle and boggle me.

Have a fun 4th, everyone! The weather man says ours is going to be sunny for a change!

7/4/18

A Second Crack at St. Spiridon

5/1/15 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble colored pencils, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

The first time I took a crack at St. Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral, it was chilly and I was parked illegally anyway, so I stayed in the car to sketch it. I wasn’t thrilled by the composition, though, so I wanted to come back and try again sometime.

An errand at REI brought me to the neighborhood again this afternoon, so I got my chance to sketch it properly: From the sidewalk kitty-corner to the cathedral so that I could see both entrances and most of the onion domes. I’m glad I got a little practice drawing those onions last time. They weren’t any easier this time, but they were just as fun!

Edited 4:30 p.m.: I just realized I forgot to draw the crosses on the two cupolas on the right! I guess I’ll have to sketch it a third time!

Immanuel Lutheran Church

7/22/16 brush pen, colored pencils, watercolor

Two distinctive and strikingly different churches dominate the South Lake Union area’s historic Cascade neighborhood. The most eye-catching is St. Spiridon Russian Orthodox Cathedral, with its deep blue onion domes. Since I’d sketched St. Spiridon about a year ago (and since I should have been home packing my bag instead of sketching with Urban Sketchers Seattle this morning and was short on time), I decided to focus on the second church: Immanuel Lutheran.

Completed in 1912, the church has been on the historic register since 1982. Although it doesn’t look like anything I’ve sketched in Europe, the round and arched windows evoke the same architectural details I saw on Gothic buildings in Spain and Germany. It’s exactly the kind of building that makes me freeze with the deer-in-the-headlights look if I try to go at it with a fine point pen. But with only an hour to sketch, I immediately pulled out my brush pen to hit it as hard and fast as possible. It’s probably a good strategy even when I can be more leisurely.

The rain earlier in the morning may have kept some sketchers away, but the seven of us who showed up shared sketches afterwards at Espresso Vivace. Those blue onion domes captured a lot of attention!

In back, from left: Marvin, Ching, Kathleen and Sue. In front: Tina, Anne and Natalie
(Thanks to John Pound for taking the photo.)

St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church

 

6/20/26 St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, Capitol Hill neighborhood

The only other onion-domed church I’ve sketched in Seattle (and perhaps the only other one in the city) is St. Spiridon Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Now I can add St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church to my short list. Smaller and with fewer onions, St. Nicholas on Capitol Hill was undergoing restoration when USk Seattle met there. The front (top of post), where most of the sketchers gathered, was still showing signs of age and weathering.

After I finished sketching the front, I walked around to the back, which looked noticeably cleaner (at left). Beyond one of the onions, I saw a couple of downtown buildings down the hill.

As often happens, I had a few minutes to fill before the throwdown, so I walked a few blocks to Pine Street. Capitol Hill’s iconic utility towers marked the “top” of the neighborhood, and I had more wires to joyfully sketch.

The Capitol Hill utility towers from Pine Street

Let’s Call This One Practice

3/12/15 DeAtramentis Document Brown ink, watercolor, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

As I pulled out of REI’s parking garage, I suddenly remembered a nearby subject that I had been wanting to sketch for a long time: St. Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral. I couldn’t find parking by the church, but I found a not-quite-legal spot facing the right direction. I decided that as long as I stayed in the car, it wouldn’t exactly be “parking.”

The composition wasn’t ideal – another building was blocking part of the church – but I could clearly see all of those delightful onion domes (and that’s the fun part, anyway). Someday soon I’ll go back there, stand in front of the church and get a better composition. Until then, we’ll call this one practice – and practice I need, since those onion domes are much harder to draw than they seem!