This Time, Lenin and the Bridge

 

5/23/26 Fremont Bridge and Lake Washington Ship Canal, Fremont neighborhood

Sketching in the Fremont neighborhood is always a game of “choose your icon.” The Troll, JP Patches & Gertrude, Lenin, Saturn, the Rocket (bonus points if you can get both Saturn and the Rocket in the same composition), the Fremont Bridge, the topiary dinosaurs – did I miss any? USk Seattle hit them all last Saturday on a cloudy afternoon.

Although I’ve sketched all of them multiple times, I picked an icon that I may not have sketched as often. It was breezy and chilly by the Lake Washington Ship Canal, but I wanted to start with a peek-a-boo view of the brilliantly blue Fremont Bridge.

After walking around Fremont for a while to warm up, I ended up at the statue of Lenin, where several other sketchers were already settled in at the former Soviet Union leader’s feet. Always a bit daunted by the formidable monument, I walked across the street for a more distant view. I chose a purple and green palette that would contrast strongly with Lenin’s red hand.

In fact, the red hand was just what I needed to fill the short time remaining until our throwdown, when the sun finally came out.

Statue of Lenin

Fitness Walking Through Fremont

 

5/2/25 Fremont neighborhood

This chunk of the Berlin Wall stands outside Milstead & Company Coffee.

Now that the weather is improving, I’m hoping to take more fitness walks in other neighborhoods. Fremont was the first to come to mind: While it has plenty of fun things to sketch, it’s also a bit of a pain to get to because parking is scarce. My solution was to park in Wallingford, where the neighborhood streets offer plenty of free, unlimited parking, and then walk the easy 20 minutes to Fremont.

In addition to sketching a couple of my favorite Fremont icons (the Troll and J. P. Patches & Gertrude), I discovered a small P-Patch that’s difficult to see unless you climb up to the Aurora Bridge pedestrian overpass.

The highlight was taking a break at Milstead & Company Coffee, which has outdoor seating with a fantastic view of the Aurora Bridge. I wished I had left more than a couple square inches of space for it on my sketchbook spread, but I also didn’t want to start a fresh page and break the continuity of the “story.” I’d like to come back some day to sketch the same scene larger, but Milstead must be the only coffee shop in Seattle that doesn’t offer decaf! I suppose I’ll have to make a special trip first thing in the morning.

Overall, the afternoon was ideal: Good weather, fun sketches and fitness walking achieved!

Scale

In both of these sketches, a human conveniently
walked by just as I was looking around for something to indicate scale.

Every now and then, someone will see a sketch I’ve made of a tree, for example, and ask why I put a car in next to it: Did I have to put the car in to make it an official “urban” sketch? I think most subjects are more interesting when their context is clear – that’s usually where the story is (I wrote a post about context about a year ago). But often the context has an even more important role: It provides scale.

Without humans climbing all over him, the size of the
Fremont Troll would be difficult to gauge in this sketch.

Many times, the story of an urban tree is how big it is – its wide crown providing shade; its powerful roots buckling the sidewalk; its height and fullness growing in the way of power lines. Without a car, house, or human next to it for scale, it could be a stalk of broccoli. Showing context that humans identify with in terms of size is important for both the story and scale.

Although I’ve shown the full sketches in previous posts, I’ve clipped them here to emphasize the objects I’ve included for scale. I’ve added a few comments in the cutlines.

Cars are the easiest (and most ubiquitous) way to indicate the relative size of a tree.

Without these e-scooters and the tree for scale, how big is the rock?

This page shows how I taught myself what I needed. I sketched the dog at right first. Then I realized that I had to label it "tiny dog" because it's not apparent in the sketch. But why use words when I can show it? I sketched it again at left, this time with its attached human. 

Sketcher Fest Auxiliary Events

 

7/18/24 Gas Works Park

After the ice cream cruise, locals were eager to show out-of-towners the cool places to sketch in Seattle. Gas Works Park was a popular choice, and rightly so. Its unique structures and great views of Lake Union, the Space Needle and downtown make it my favorite Seattle park to take visitors to. In addition, since we had all just seen the park from the water side, it would be fun for them to see it from the ground.

Since I’ve sketched at the park many times, I thought about what I wanted this story to be about – our visitors – and that’s what I focused on.

My lunch between Gas Works  and the Troll

After Gas Works, Kim and I decided that visitor Joel shouldn’t leave Seattle without seeing and sketching the Fremont Troll (below). Although I have sketched the Troll numerous times, I realized I hadn’t since the attraction had gotten a makeover last year. A new stairway was built to make it easier to climb the Troll, a favorite selfie location.

Fremont Troll with new stairway

Art Walk Edmonds, a Sketcher Fest sponsor, invited USk Seattle to see the exhibits and sketch along the way that evening. After the long day, I started to fade before the throwdown, but not before a relaxed dinner in Edmonds with a few friends at Fire & the Feast, at a lovely sidewalk table.

Dinner at Fire & the Feast, Edmonds

Giving Joel a ride back to his hotel, I thought our sketching day was over – until we saw that Her Majesty was out! I remembered Joel mentioning that he wanted to sketch or at least see Mt. Rainier, so we made a stop at Maple Leaf Park. The golden hour is a time of day that I rarely see Her Majesty, let alone sketch her, so it was a fresh view for me, too. After a long day of nonstop socializing (fun but challenging for this strong introvert), the quiet sketch I made there with Joel was my favorite moment of the whole day.  

Mt. Rainier from Maple Leaf Park

Troll fans

Photo by Kim Roberts

A quiet moment for introverts with Her Majesty

15 Years of Sketching with My Tribe

 

7/17/24 Fishermen's Terminal for our 15th anniversary outing

Dave at Fishermen's Terminal

Although I slept in my own bed each night, I felt like I had been traveling last week – in fact, it felt like I had traveled to an Urban Sketchers Symposium! It was Sketcher Fest, which was all the exhilaration and intensity of a symposium but none of the jetlag – and we had perfect weather, to boot.

Before things got underway in Edmonds, though, we had an unrelated event that was timed perfectly as a lead-up to Sketcher Fest: USk Seattle’s 15^th anniversary celebration! We chose Fishermen’s Terminal, the site of the very first Urban Sketchers outing ever (in Seattle or the world) on July 19, 2009. The late-afternoon outing was followed immediately by a drink & draw across the street at Figurehead Brewery. Both were well attended; in fact, the Terminal turnout of 50+ may have broken previous attendance records. Included were four of the original attendees from 2009: Frank Ching, Dave Morris, Mark Ryan and Gail Wong. (Sadly, Gabi couldn’t join us because he was too busy getting ready for Sketcher Fest!)

Figurehead Brewery drink & draw, where I did more chatting than drawing. Featured in my sketch are Mario Linhares' family (Portugal) and Suhita Shirodkar (Bay Area), all in town for Sketcher Fest.

15th anniversary commemorative sticker
(top, featuring the Fremont troll) 
designed by David Hingtgen

Laurie Wigham, visiting from the Bay Area for Sketcher
Fest, joined us at our celebrations. That's me in the middle of her sketch!

To commemorate our milestone year, we published a retrospective collection of sketches from members arranged chronologically year by year. It’s amazing to see how some parts of Seattle have changed significantly during the last 15 years, while others have not – all recorded by our sketches.

I’m republishing below the introduction I wrote for the book (co-edited by Jane Wingfield and myself and designed by Ellie Doughty). The book is still available for purchase (suggested donation $20).

Building Community One Sketch at a Time

Drawing and painting what we see on location has occupied artists for centuries. The activity we call “urban sketching,” however, began in 2007 when Gabriel Campanario first created a Flickr image-sharing group. Gabi, a journalist and illustrator who had recently transplanted to Seattle, named the group Urban Sketches. He primarily intended the online group as a common place for sketchers around the globe to share their work. He didn’t know then that a major benefit of that initiative would be a way for sketchers to connect in person.

Like many of the best ideas, that connection began spontaneously. Frank Ching, well-known University of Washington professor of architecture and acclaimed author of books on architectural drawing, contacted Gabi. Seeing Gabi’s then-new Seattle Sketcher column in The Seattle Times, Frank had mentioned his own passion for drawing on location. After getting together at Fremont Coffee Company (a meeting that became a Seattle Sketcher blog post), they agreed to sketch together the following month at Fishermen’s Terminal.

Encouraged by some World Wide Sketch Crawl events he had attended, Gabi wanted to invite others to join them. He used the Urban Sketchers Seattle blog he had recently launched to announce a gathering at Fishermen’s Terminal on July 19, 2009. Thirteen sketchers showed up that day. That was USk Seattle’s first outing, and we’ve been meeting regularly ever since.

Initially gathering monthly, we now meet as often as weekly during the best weather months. Even cold, wet winter gatherings can bring out a hardy dozen or more, and beautiful summer days can attract upwards of 30 sketchers. The USk Seattle Facebook group, now 1,700 strong, has been growing steadily. (Meanwhile, the worldwide Urban Sketchers community has grown to tens of thousands.)

“Urban Sketchers came out of my love for drawing and wanting to discover Seattle,” Gabi says, who had moved to the Seattle area with his family in 2006. Although his initial intentions weren’t necessarily focused on the social benefits of urban sketching, “To put together an idea that inspires people all over the world is humbling,” he says. “Making connections through drawing is a privilege.”

Indeed, it is. And all of us who form this community are both honored and proud to show the world what Seattle looks like, one sketch at a time. This publication is a small collection of the many sketches Urban Sketchers Seattle members have made during the past 15 years.

July 17, 2024

North Fremont

 

6/9/24 North Fremont

When most people think of Fremont, the troll, Lenin, and the monument to JP and Gertrude probably come to mind. That’s what I think of, anyway, and that southern end of Fremont is the only part I’ve spent any time sketching. On Fremont’s northern edge, though, where the neighborhood butts up against Phinney Ridge, it’s a little less “Center of the Universe-y” and more working class or maybe just more neighborhood-y.

To celebrate a friend’s birthday, we decided to meet at Uneeda Burger, which is housed in a building that must have been a garage at some point. The sunny deck in front was an ideal spot to devour messy, drippy burgers (both animal- and plant-based and taller than they were wide) on a lovely Sunday.

Arriving a little early to make time to sketch (and finished after lunch and a fun visit to the Fremont Sunday Market), I captured a few other buildings visible from the intersection of North 44^th and Fremont Avenue North. The oldest was probably the Fremont Abbey Arts Center, a 1914 brick building that was originally St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.

Process notes: Like my old apartment building, none of these buildings struck me as particularly sketchworthy. The lighting wasn’t great on any of them, and let’s face it, I’m generally not a fan of sketching buildings just for the sake of sketching buildings (unless I’m in Amsterdam, Coimbra or Kyoto, of course). I’ve noticed, though, an interesting change in my attitude about architecture since I began making on-location comics. Because each sketch tends to be no more than thumbnail size to fit several on a comic-style spread, it’s much easier and faster to draw any building, even if it doesn’t interest me much. I look at each as simply a part of the larger story – in this case, an intersection in north Fremont – and it has become much more enjoyable to sketch these sometimes ho-hum structures. I don’t worry about getting angles or perspective right; I just choose a building’s corner and simplify it enough to fit into 2 or 3 inches. And I end up liking these small sketches much more than building portraits that I might fuss over for much longer. That’s a huge, unexpected benefit of embracing comics!

Iconic in Fremont

6/24/22 J.P. Patches and Gertrude (sculptor: Kevin Pettelle), Fremont neighborhood

As many times as I have sketched in the Fremont neighborhood, I’m still always torn when I visit. On the one hand, Fremont is full of so many beloved icons (the Troll, the Fremont Bridge, the topiary dinosaurs, to name just a few favorites that I’ve sketched multiple times) that I never tire of sketching. But I also feel like I should branch out once in a while and sketch something less iconic or at least previously unsketched. Last Friday with USk Seattle, I couldn’t resist three icons, but at least I attempted one new subject.

The Saturn Building

First up was the sculpture of J.P. Patches and Gertrude, which I had not sketched since 2012, so I felt that a second sketch was long overdue. Since I had initially sketched it from J.P.’s side, this time I went around and took on Gertrude’s side. Probably only natives and long-time locals are familiar with J.P. as the host of a live-broadcast children’s TV program back in the ‘60s. Gertrude, J.P.’s sidekick and “girlfriend,” was actually a man. (Who knew that a man in drag would host a children’s TV show? Quite progressive for the ‘60s, even in Seattle!)

A water tower I hadn't sketched before

As we both sketched the sculpture, I discovered that Paul is also a Seattle native, so we chatted about all the local children’s TV shows we had grown up with. He went to high school with Stan Boreson’s son! I have had no such brush with fame, although my Brownies troop did appear on J.P.’s show once.

Feeling happy and nostalgic, I made a couple of quick thumbnail studies for my 30-day challenge: the Saturn Building, which I had sketched only last month, and a water tower visible from the J.P. sculpture, which I had not sketched before. There – something previously unsketched and less iconic!

6/24/22 Statue of Lenin

The meetup location was the statue of Lenin, which I have sketched several times. Although I wasn’t planning to sketch him again, I had about 15 minutes to kill before the throwdown – just enough time for a small portrait.

So the icons won again. It’s a losing battle in Fremont.

Just for fun, I’ve included below my first sketches of J.P. (from 2012) and Lenin (from 2013).

4/17/13 My first sketch of Lenin

8/9/12 My first sketch of J.P. and Gertrude

My childhood hero, J.P.

Drawing Jam Goes Virtual

 

12/12/20 Model Shawna at virtual Drawing Jam (I did this
15-or-so-minute pose without any shorter warm-ups... ooof!
It's never a good idea to suddenly sprint without at least
stretching.)

In the Before Times, I looked forward to Gage Academy’s Drawing Jam all year long. I’ve been attending annually since 2012. The event included life drawing of all types, instructor demos, studio tours, art and craft for sale, live music, and free art supplies donated by local stores. When the day of the Jam finally came, I would try to arrive an hour before opening time to compete for parking and then stand in line so I could storm the doors for a good space in my favorite life-drawing studio. (One year I did that even though it was 20 degrees! But that was preferable to the time it poured.) I didn’t mind waiting because it was fun to chat with other participants in line who were equally enthusiastic. I would stay until I was exhausted but exhilarated by the high energy of Gage’s lively, supportive community.

Last Saturday, I was happy not to stand outdoors for an hour – it was 36 degrees. I simply carried my coffee upstairs, turned on my laptop, and I was “there.” Sigh. I sure miss the Before Times.

Nonetheless, there was one distinct advantage to Jammin’ on Zoom: The instructor demos were so much easier to view compared to crowding around an easel, peeking between other attendees’ shoulders. Typically, I spend most of my Jam time in various life-drawing studios and only catch demos when I happen to get a good spot. This year it was the other way around: I popped my head into one life-drawing session for a few minutes, but the majority of time was spent taking advantage of the better viewing opportunities in demos.

I was dazzled by Kristin Frost's demo as this cardinal emerged with colored pencils
over a 2-hour period. Her excellent video quality and detailed, informative 
explanations made the demo especially worthwhile.

One was especially impressive and a medium of interest – Kristin Frost’s demo of drawing a cardinal with colored pencils. I appreciated how thoroughly and clearly she described every step as she worked. She also had good video and audio equipment, which made viewing her two-hour demo enjoyable as well as informative. I would have paid for that demo – it was that good. (Instead, I made a donation to Gage, which put on Drawing Jam free this year.)

Although virtual Drawing Jam wasn’t nearly as much fun as the real thing, we’re all making do as well as possible. I continue to support Gage in whatever way I can because I want it to be there when we emerge on the other side – safe to attend Drawing Jam in person again.

Kathleen Moore's still life demo

Patricia Watwood's demo of drawing a hand (Ya think I might be interested in that one?)

Gabi Campanario demos his ink and wash technique during a virtual sketch walk at the Fremont Troll. (It was fun to "see" several Seattle urban sketchers in attendance at this demo.)

Gabi invited attendees to sketch the image of the troll, found on Google Street View, along with him.

In 2013, Peggy (magenta jacket) and I froze our toes in 20-degree weather, happily waiting to storm the doors at Drawing Jam. Ah, the good ol' days.

Fremont’s Ship Canal (and Zeta Disappointment)

3/30/19 Path along the Ship Canal

Although the Fremont neighborhood is best known for the Troll, the statue of Lenin and general irreverent funkiness, one of its highlights is the Lake Washington Ship Canal. Flanked by poplars and Google’s office buildings, the walking/biking path along the water is a city jewel that makes me happy to live here – especially on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Technical note: Back when I was doing preliminary testing of my Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook for various media and techniques, I made sure the paper was sturdy enough to withstand the liberal spritzing I like to do with water-soluble colored pencils, since that’s a favorite technique of mine when sketching foliage. I forgot, though, that another way I use my spritzer is to spread water quickly onto the clean page before putting in some dissolved color for the sky (what I call the “licked” pencil technique). It’s just an efficient way to get the paper wet. When I started to use this technique for the sky in my Ship Canal sketch, I was alarmed by how the blast of water sank immediately into the surface of the Zeta paper in a measles-like pattern, and when I spread the blue with my waterbrush, the color collected more heavily in those spots. With my old Canson XL, S&B Beta and other papers sized specifically for watercolor painting, the water floats evenly on the surface until it dries. Although Zeta is heavy enough to withstand spraying and heavy washes, it is definitely not sized for watercolor painting applications.

Since I’m not using watercolor paints, this discovery was not a deal-breaker, but it was still a disappointment. I thought back to the sketch I had done the day before at the Burke Museum demolition site and wondered why I didn’t have that problem then. I remembered that I didn’t want to get out my spritzer, so I simply squeezed the waterbrush to spread a little water onto the paper. It was probably less water overall, and the day was cooler, so it evaporated less quickly. But I’ve also used the spritzer for the sky on other sketches that didn’t react with a case of the measles. Strange . . . I’ll pay more attention to how much water I use when spritzing to see if it’s just a matter of keeping it light.

Frank in the Shadow of the Troll

4/28/18 Fremont Troll

The last time I sketched the Fremont Troll, it was on a scorching summer day last year when the shade of the Aurora Bridge and a soft breeze had kept several urban sketchers comfortable.

Yesterday morning, 12 students in Frank Ching’s workshop sought shelter under the same bridge – this time from rain instead of sun. Under the Troll’s watchful eye (singular), Frank talked about “Locating, Framing and Composing Views” in urban sketching.

By the time I got there, the heavy rain had slowed to a drizzle, but the weather still wasn’t exactly hospitable. After snapping a few photos of Frank and his students, I was going to leave, but then the Troll caught my eyes (plural). Although I’ve sketched him several times, I couldn’t resist another quick one.

Back to the Center of the Universe

6/25/17 water-soluble colored pencils, Tombow marker

I worried that news reports of dire traffic conditions from freeway lane closures and Pride events would keep sketchers away from the Center of the Universe, but I needn’t have. Even predicted temperatures in the mid-90s yesterday brought a good turnout of USk Seattle to the statue of Lenin and the rest of the Fremont neighborhood’s funky environment.

 

6/25/17 ink, colored pencils

Although I knew I had sketched Lenin before, I didn’t realize until I checked my blog that it had been as long as four years ago at my first outing to Fremont (a month later I sketched him again during Gail and Frank’s USk workshop). It was high time to sketch him again, and I did it first thing while the morning heat was still tolerable.

For the high noon sun, I knew exactly where I wanted to sketch: In the cool shade of the Aurora Bridge, where the Fremont Troll waits quietly. Although a troll under a bridge is supposed to be malevolent, the only other time I sketched him, also four years ago, he struck me as more curious than scary. Yesterday I thought I saw some surprise and endless patience in his single eye (now shiny silver, though in 2013 it was apparently red) as tourists climb all over him, day in, day out. 

Speaking of patience, I was losing mine as every five minutes or so, a tour bus would come by and disgorge a pile of said tourists so they could photograph each other. The sketch took me much longer than usual because I had to keep waiting for the view to clear. Still, I was in the shade with a cool breeze blowing through. Even on the hottest day of the year, I’d rather be sketching than not.