The Scavenger Hunt is On!

 

7/25/26 Scavenger hunt at South Lake Union

Months ago, I viewed a YouTube video by Teoh Yi Chie showing an urban sketching bingo game that USk Singapore had put on. With sponsored prizes and a huge turnout, the game looked like so much fun that I was inspired to do something similar with USk Seattle. Bingo, however, has an element of chance; it’s not enough to simply sketch the objects – you had to get a certain number in a row. It would also be a lot of work to create multiple variations of bingo cards. I got an easier idea: An urban sketching scavenger hunt!

Shortly afterwards, I took a wander through one of my favorite sketching neighborhoods: South Lake Union. Within an easily walkable area, I jotted 20 things I saw (many of which I sketched myself). Some were specific, like the Space Needle, while others were left open to interpretation, such as “a cylindrical building” (SLU has more than one) or “something yellow.” I had so much fun developing the game!

The hunt was on! Last Saturday, a terrific turnout of USk Seattle met near the Amazon Spheres for the game: Whoever sketched the most items on the scavenger list during the three-hour outing would win. Prizes were donated by USk Seattle admins and Gabi Campanario of Sketcher Press – art supplies, sketchbooks and published art books. Thankfully, we had a lot of prizes, because I had under-estimated how many sketchers would be so successful: Eleven sketched all 20 items!

Since I had made the game myself, I didn’t compete, but I took my leisurely time sketching many of my favorites on the scavenger list. Compared to all the hard-working participants, I felt like a slacker: I even took a lunch break!

It was inspiring to see people helping each other figure out clues or find the subjects – a collaborative spirit instead of competitive. I got so much positive feedback about the game that I’d like to make it an annual summer event in varying locations!

These intrepid participants found and sketched all 20 scavenger items! (Not pictured: Ching Hung)

SLU Study (and Bonus Banana Stand)

 

5/19/26 South Lake Union

Before meeting Ching for happy hour, I arrived a little early in South Lake Union to try a color temperature/values study. One thing I really like about the area around the Amazon Spheres is the stark contrast between the harsh, glassy surfaces of buildings and the soft, organic textures of the trees and other vegetation. Influenced by Colin Woodward’s abstract approach, I tried not to think about “drawing” the Spheres and other buildings. Instead, I focused on shapes, values and especially color temperature (my usual focus, especially this time of year) using only three crayons.

Although I don’t usually like to show a photo of something I’ve sketched, since this is a study, I thought it might be useful, since it’s probably hard to tell what the scene actually looks like in the sketch. I’m planning to do more studies eventually from the photo.

A minor distraction in my study was Amazon’s Community Banana Stand (free bananas are distributed here daily to anyone who wants one). I was planning to sketch it later, but just as I had looked up, I saw that some workers had come by with ladders and a large tarp to wrap up the stand for the night. It got covered so quickly that I didn’t get a chance to draw the window or any details on the stand except one wheel.

Amazon Community Banana Stand

South Lake Union Market Under the Spheres

 

9/27/25 South Lake Union

When we had planned the sketch outing to South Lake Union, we didn’t even know that the Saturday Market had moved from its previous Denny Park location (where USk met last year) to the center of Amazontown near the Amazon Spheres. It was a fun bonus to sketch some market people (and a dog).

Of course, it’s hard to ignore the Spheres themselves. I sketched them in my own sketchbook, but I also sketched them in the traveling sketchbook (below) that is circulating among USk chapters across the country (thanks to Kate Buike for coordinating USk Seattle’s and USk Tacoma’s participation). South Lake Union seemed like an appropriately iconic spot in Seattle to represent in the book.

My contribution to the traveling sketchbook.

Despite the day starting out with iffy weather, we still had a fantastic turnout and were rewarded with sunshine in time for our throwdown!

(I’m interrupting my Portland series with this post; back tomorrow with more from Portland.)

Art and Bananas at Nitro Plaza

 

8/6/25 Nitro Plaza, South Lake Union

My sparkling wine flute from dinner afterwards.

Gage Academy has been sponsoring free pop-up art events this summer in South Lake Union. With big tables spread with markers, pencils and still life objects at Amazon’s Nitro Plaza, the events encourage the community to sketch and interact while promoting Gage’s programs.

Natalie, Ching and I met there last Wednesday to check it out. We had a great view of both the Amazon Spheres and the vintage Elephant Car Wash neon sign. The sticker from Gage was a fun addition to my page.

In case you’re not familiar with Amazon’s “community banana stand,” the company has long operated a kiosk outside the Spheres offering any passerby – employees as well as the general public – a free banana. The kiosk was closed by late-afternoon when we arrived, but Ching had several to spare in her bag. A banana was just what that space on my page needed. (And how about that pop of bright yellow on dark blue?)

Inside the Spheres Again

 

3/28/25 Waiting for coffee inside the Amazon Spheres.

Shortly after they had opened, a friend who works at Amazon invited Greg and me to visit inside the company’s amazing Spheres. That was back in 2018, and although I have sketched the geodesic domed buildings many times from the outside, I hadn’t been back inside since then. As good fortune would have it, Ching works there now, and she invited Natalie and me to sketch inside with her. (Although the buildings are open to the public at certain times, you can only enter as part of a guided tour. When accompanied by an employee, you can wander and stay – and sketch – as long as you like.)

It’s still a wondrous terrarium of green; in fact, many of the plants had grown, so it seemed even more jungly than before. On a cold, wet afternoon, the warm, humid interior climate felt comforting. (I was so eager to get on with sketching that I forgot to take photos this time! Please see my 2018 post for lots of images of the interior.)

It was jam-packed with employees trying to work while many visitors ooh-ed and ahh-ed while taking selfies. (Not that I know anything about the latter.)

After all that fun, we adjourned to happy hour at a nearby pub, where I had a personal celebration. This time, it wasn’t for a downsizing accomplishment. Instead, I had just gotten good news from my doctor. All my bone-building exercises, a calcium-rich diet and meds had paid off!

3/28/25 King Leroy pub, South Lake Union

The Shapes of South Lake Union

 

4/27/24 South Lake Union

Spheres selfie

Although the wind and drizzle made Saturday morning feel colder than 51 degrees, USk Seattle made a good turnout at South Lake Union. With rain in the forecast for the throwdown time, I was glad I had gotten a tip from Gabi about The Stumpery, which has a large sheltered area. Part of Amazon’s Urban Arboretum near the Spheres, The Stumpery is a collection of old-growth cedars that originated in the Olympic Peninsula. Some as old as 500 years when they died, the stumps attracted several sketchers (one made a cameo appearance next to the Space Needle in my sketch).

The star of the sketch outing was the vintage Elephant Super Car Wash sign. Amazon received the sign from car wash owner Bob Haney after the business closed in 2020. A beloved Seattle icon for more than 60 years, the elephant gave several sketchers an opportunity for a pop of pink.

In my favorite way lately, I walked around the South Lake Union area dominated by Amazon buildings and tried to capture a variety of small shapes and textures (top of post). Although the Amazon Spheres were another favorite subject among sketchers, I had sketched them often enough in the past that I didn’t feel compelled to sketch them again. Instead, I made a selfie reflected in the Spheres’ geodesic glass panes.

By the time I filled the spread, my gloveless hands were starting to complain. I retreated to Kitanda Coffee to warm them up and finish writing the captions on my urban sketching comic page.

Ameya, Natalie and me at Shake Shack.

After the outing, Natalie and I stopped for lunch at Shake Shack, where we met Ameya. He had missed the throwdown, so it was fun to share sketches over lunch and do a little more sketching as we chatted.

4/27/24 Shake Shack with Natalie and Ameya. (In case you're wondering, SLUT stands for South Lake Union Trolley.)

Despite the cold and rain, it was a terrific day of sketching with my tribe in a part of downtown that’s full of dynamic urban shapes.

Sixth and Lenora

3/20/21 Sixth and Lenora, downtown Seattle

As I did three weeks ago for his first shot, I dropped Greg off for his second dose at the Virginia Mason/Amazon SuperVax site, then parked a short distance away to wait. This time I found a spot facing Sixth and Lenora, where I caught a glimpse of the Amazon Spheres. In the foreground, protected by a row of orange stanchions and a fake picket fence, is a large tent used for outdoor seating by nearby restaurants. The tent occupies a traffic lane that has been closed to accommodate it. As before, it’s not a composition I would have chosen if I’d felt comfortable standing on the sidewalk, but it was still a treat to be downtown.

Sketching from my car is not a tactic new to the pandemic; I use my mobile studio every winter. Sometimes it’s frustrating because I know much better compositions would be available, if only I could get out and move a few feet. Other times I enjoy the challenge of looking for an interesting view within my parking limitations.

By the time I finished the sketch, he was done. It seems deceptively simple for a life-saving solution to take so little time to receive.

Ninth & Hennepin Donuts

6/4/19 Regrade Farmers Market

The Seattle Sketcher’s recent column about pop-up farmers markets downtown reminded me that I had wanted to check them out last summer but never got around to it. On Tuesday, I hopped on the bus to the Regrade area, where a market had popped up right next to the Amazon Spheres. Before exploring the market, I sketched a few tents in the shadow of the Spheres from across the street.

Yukon Potato Cake Donut with chocolate ganache glaze!

As Amazonites on their lunch break poured out of nearby buildings, I started strolling around the vendors to check out their wares. Suddenly, my nose led me to the tent of 9^th & Hennepin Donuts, where two guys were making donuts to order! On the menu that day were Yukon Potato Cake Donut with chocolate ganache glaze, Applesauce-Hazelnut Cake Donut with cinnamon sugar, Filled Brioche Thumbprint with strawberry custard and vanilla bean glaze, and d’Anjou Pear Fritter with a local honey glaze. It took me a while to decide, but that chocolate ganache called to me. I considered sketching it . . . but the thought was fleeting, and I scarfed it down while it was hot.

After sketching the donut shop with the warm sun at my back (it was 68 degrees with a soft breeze), I brought home the first local strawberries of the season. I wait nine months in the year for a day like that, and it’s worth it.

Incidentally, I asked the owner if Hennepin was the one in Minneapolis (Twin Cities native Greg has taken me there), and indeed, it was. He said the shop is named for the Tom Waits song in which donuts are referenced. (Urban sketching teaches me so many things!)

And not so incidentally: Happy National Donut Day!

6/4/19 9th & Hennepin Donuts 

Dry at Last!

1/11/19 Amazon Sphere and Space Needle in South Lake Union

Café Suisse is a cute venue in the South Lake Union neighborhood. Filled with lots of fun, colorful décor in a Swiss theme, it also offers a wide variety of pastries, including many that are gluten-free. Greg would have loved all the GF goodies, but I was there without him (he didn’t miss out; I got him some muffins to go) to meet Natalie and Kathleen.

1/11/19 Cafe Suisse

Right outside the café, I spotted a peek-a-boo view of the Needle near the Amazon Spheres. It was chilly but dry! After being rained in for what seemed a long, long time, it was wonderful to sketch outdoors again.

After that, I needed a warm-up. I dashed into the café, where Kathleen and Natalie were already settled in. I had planned to sketch other patrons, but in the direction I was facing, the chairs remained unoccupied. Although many decorative items filled the space, I simplified the composition significantly to focus on the challenging perspective of the tall chairs. Sketchers often bemoan the perspective difficulties of architecture, but personally, I find interior perspective to be just as difficult.

And speaking of simplification, my minimal kit is working out well so far. The limited palette is forcing me to make choices I otherwise wouldn’t think to make (like the purple and orange Space Needle). It’s hard for me to be imaginative about color otherwise, so this challenge is good for me.

Minimalism!

New group selfie technique!

Tina’s Top 10 Memorable Sketches of 2018

3/27/18 Amazon Spheres

I have a few year-end traditions on this blog, and one is to review my most memorable sketches of the year. As always, these are not necessarily my “best” or “favorite” sketches; they are ones that evoke the strongest memories and remind me of what I love so much about sketching. (Click the title of the sketch to go to the original post and full-size images.)

Here are links to my most memorable sketches from past years: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.

March 27, inside the Amazon Spheres:

Exploring and sketching inside Amazon’s remarkable Spheres was certainly one of my most memorable experiences this year. It lived up to all the curiosity and wonderment it aroused during the years that the facility was being built.

5/3/18 Dutch Colonial

May 3, Dutch Colonial:

This sketch is one of my favorites in the neighborhood architecture series that I started this year. While sketching, a contractor working inside spotted me, came out and chatted me up, making it also one of the most memorable.

5/15/18 Aaron Draplin

May 15, Aaron Draplin:

At the risk of revealing my fangirldom, I went to meet designer Aaron Draplin (co-founder of Field Notes) when he was in town giving a workshop. In addition to getting his autograph, of course I had to sketch him.

May 22, El Capitan, Yosemite National Park:

El Capitan was the first of many wondrous sights I saw when I first entered Yosemite National Park, and I couldn’t resist making a couple of quick thumbnails. I intended to eventually get back to El Cap for a full-size sketch, but I never did. The thumbnails, however, are enough to evoke the memories of seeing that spectacular monolith.

5/22/18 Thumbnails of El Capitan

7/19/18 Bajzek workshop, Porto

July 19, Porto USk symposium workshop with Eduardo Bajzek:

I’ve mentioned his name often enough since July that you won’t be surprised to hear that Eduardo Bajzek’s workshop at the Porto symposium had a significant influence on my sketching. He changed both the way I understand values and the way I use graphite.

7/25/18 Coimbra

July 25, Coimbra:

A few days after Eduardo’s workshop, I was relaxing in the small college town of Coimbra and got to practice what I had learned. After all the excitement of the symposium, this quiet sketch turned out to be my most memorable and evocative of my time in Portugal.

8/18/18 Mammoth at Bell Museum

Aug. 18, Bell Museum, St. Paul:

During a very short trip to St. Paul, I squeezed in a visit to the brand new Bell Museum and met up with a few sketcher friends there. Chatting with hilarious Roz Stendahl as I sketched this humongous mammoth (which was made of the same fur as Chewbacca!) made the morning very memorable, indeed.

10/5/18 Zoka Coffee

Oct. 5, Zoka Coffee:

Although there is usually nothing particularly memorable about sketching at Zoka Coffee, my usual neighborhood coffee shop, this was the first time I attempted this type of scene in ballpoint. Sketched on the fifth day of InkTober, it made me realize that I could love ballpoint after all, despite my doubts – and I ended the month with a whole new respect for the lowly Bic.

Oct. 11, Green Lake:

I walk around Green Lake at least weekly year-round and, during the good-weather months, I also sketch there frequently, so it’s easy to take for granted the sights I see so regularly. On this fall day, I felt like I was seeing its beauty with fresh eyes, and I was grateful to live so close to such a treasure.

10/11/18 Green Lake

Nov. 13, Cannon Beach from Ecola State Park:

Whenever we visit Cannon Beach, Oregon, we stay right on the beach in front of monolithic Haystack Rock. From Ecola State Park a mile or two north, that ancient boulder looks like a tiny pebble in the context of the mighty Pacific, and if I had seen myself standing next to Haystack, I would have been smaller than a grain of sand. That trip to Cannon Beach was a celebration of my 60^th birthday, and sketching this scene made me feel both whole and utterly insignificant in the larger picture. Life is good.

11/13/18 Cannon Beach from Ecola State Park

Big Scene, Small Page

4/19/18 6th & Lenora sketched in a 5 1/2" x 7" Field Notes notebook spread

Whenever I’m in the South Lake Union area, it’s hard to resist the Amazon Spheres. I’ve sketched them inside and out several times, but I’m still not tired of them.

A few days ago I met Gabi Campanario for a working lunch (we’re both members of the USk Editorial Team) by the spheres. After the meeting I stood near the same spot where I sketched this scene while taking Gabi’s Pocket Urban Sketching workshop last year. Before then, I’d always had difficulty viewing a vast scene like this and fitting it all onto a small page. A couple of simple yet important tips – such as using the vertical line of a building as a measuring unit to gauge the rest of the composition – made the task far less intimidating. I still use those tips every time I am faced with a scene like this.

Sunshine at the Spheres!

Inside the Spheres

3/27/18 A view of the top two floors

A couple of months ago Greg and I went to the Amazon Spheres visitors center, which is on the street-level floor of the bubble-shaped complex. Since it was the first time the public had access to the long-anticipated buildings, many were disappointed that they couldn’t go up into the terrarium-like space where all the amazing plants were. I knew that was off-limits to us, so I had checked my expectations, but I still hoped that we would get an opportunity to go inside the Spheres themselves someday. Recently Amazon began allowing the public inside if accompanied by an employee, so our friend Julie invited us. What a cool privilege it was to be inside one of Seattle’s most intriguing buildings!

3/27/18 A conference room "nest" atop the trees

As soon as we walked in, our glasses steamed up! The temperature is kept in the 70s and the air very humid, like a tropical rainforest. Normally I don’t like humidity, but after walking several blocks in the drizzly cold, it felt good to shed my down jacket and be instantly warm.

First Julie walked us around each level of the five-story building so we could take photos and experience the lush, surrounding green. All the exotic plants are labeled as in a botanical garden. Nothing is at right angles or has sharp corners; everything is curved or organic. Tucked in around all the plantings are small seating areas for employees to work quietly or hold meetings. (No employees have offices in the Spheres, but any can use the space whenever they want to. If I worked for Amazon, I think I’d find an excuse to go to the Spheres every day!) A concession area offers snacks to hungry Amazonites. I was tempted by the donuts, but I didn’t want to waste precious sketching time eating.

Julie had generously taken an hour and a half out of her work day to accompany us, so after our walk-through, I had to budget the remaining time carefully. So much to sketch, so little time – and all of it overwhelming! What to choose, what to choose?

3/27/18 Lush and green inside; cold steel and glass outside

I had my eye on the coolest “conference room”: the “nest” perched high in the trees. A meeting had just broken up when I started to sketch it, so I turned around to sketch the larger view of a couple of the upper floors first (top of post). When I had finished, another meeting had started in the nest, so I quickly sketched that before we moved on. The surrounding natural light made sketching delightful.

With only 10 minutes remaining, I had to think and sketch fast. I picked an umbrella-shaped tree with fern-like foliage. In the background of every view are those crazy windows that look like they should form a geometric pattern but don’t. Through the windows of the warm bubbles, you can see the cold canyons of steel and glass that seem so ordinary by comparison.

Soon enough, it was time to put our jackets on and go back out to cold reality. 

The Spheres from outside

The "green wall" is a popular selfie spot

Climbing vines on the pillars

The "nest" from below

The "nest" from above

Exotic!

Thanks, Julie, for a peek inside the fantastic Spheres!