Seattle Obon

7/16/16 Zebra brush pen, Zig markers

I look forward to Seattle’s Obon festival each July. A Buddhist event to honor ancestors and loved ones who have died, Obon (also called Bon Odori) is a time of celebration that includes dancing in the street, literally. 

Here’s the back story: Long ago, a man was grieving his mother’s death (forgive me if this story lacks detail; Sunday school was a long time ago). He was informed that his dead mother had reached Nirvana, and his grief turned to joy. So happy was he that he began dancing in the street (well, I’m sure it was a dirt road back then).

7/16/16 Kuretake brush pen, Zig marker

I don’t know if I got all of that story right, but I do know that the Obon tradition has managed to survive in many Japanese American communities. This fact astounds my Japanese friends and relatives, who see the tradition rapidly dying away in their own country. They find it hard to imagine that such an archaic, quaint festival is being kept alive in places like Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

When I was a kid, Obon was all about socializing with friends as we dressed up in traditional garb, participated in the choreographed folk dances and ate shaved ice. Back then, shorts and T-shirts were strictly forbidden; after all, it is a religious event at its core. In recent decades, though, rules have loosened to be more inclusive, and people of all races and religions join the fun. Baseball caps and jeans dance right alongside brightly colored kimono. A local taiko drumming group always performs, a highlight of the evening. You can still eat shaved ice and noodles, but you can also sit in the beer garden and listen to reggae or jazz.

7/16/16 Kuretake brush pen, Zig marker

As an adult, I still enjoy Obon as an occasion to see old friends and sometimes even join in the dancing. This year I enjoyed it even more because I brought my sketchbook to try to capture the color and energy. 

7/16/16 Zebra brush pen, Zig markers

May – July Sketchbook

My May - July sketchbook is bound.

Often it seems that my favorite sketches are those that I’ve done when I’m out sketching on my own instead of with Urban Sketchers. Maybe it’s that I’ve chosen the locations myself, so I already have more interest in the subject matter. Or maybe it’s just that at group outings I spend more time socializing and less time focusing on a composition.

As I picked out the sketches to put on my newly bound sketchbook’s covers, however, I realized that two of my favorites during this period were both from USk outings. One was done on a drizzly May morning at King Street Station. The other was made at Fishermen’s Terminal when USk Seattle celebrated its seventh anniversary.

In other sketchbook news, I know just last week I said I was going to fill the Stillman & Birn Alpha softcover book that I started that day. I lied. As soon as I put the sketches from that day on my scanner, I remembered that the Alpha paper is less opaque than I like, and I’ve been spoiled by the 140-pound Canson XL I’ve been using the past couple years. I switched immediately to my softcover Beta – and remembered how much I enjoyed that paper back when I was using it more regularly. This one I will definitely fill.

Summer at Last at Lincoln Park Beach

7/15/16 inks, colored pencils

It was only 55 degrees when I got up this morning. When Urban Sketchers Seattle met at Lincoln Park, several of us were toting Polartecs or raincoats, just in case the weather changed the wrong way. (We joked that Seattle beachwear always includes Polartec.) But sitting in the blazing sun to make these sketches, all of my layers came off right away, and I was glad I wore a tank top. It’s finally summer!

I was almost finished sketching the pink and lavender vehicle parked next to some driftwood when its driver came by and drove off, so I had to fake some of the shading. The Vashon ferry in the background, which I was afraid would also pull out before I was done, took a lot longer to unload and load its long lines of cars. 

7/15/16 ink, colored pencils

Amazon Spheres, Take 2

7/14/16 inks, colored pencils

The last time I sketched the Amazon spheres, I stood on the Seventh Avenue side of Lenora Street. The balls’ amoeba-like skeletal structure was still entirely exposed. This morning, two-and-a-half months later, I chose the Sixth Avenue side where I could stand a bit closer. Though still visible, the skeleton is now almost completely covered with a glass skin, and a few workers were way up at the top installing the last of it. 

Above them was one of the ubiquitous cranes towering over the north downtown/South Lake Union area.

Seeing the Bigger Picture with The Northwest School

7/12/16 ink, colored pencils

“At The Northwest School, students experience the exhilarating chemistry between academic disciplines and the arts. They learn to see the interdependence of all aspects of life in the real world. A bigger picture comes into focus. The school day becomes less about isolated subjects—and more about dynamic, interwoven concepts and ideas.”

Before today, the statement above was all I really knew about the Northwest School, because that’s the philosophy I read on its website. But this morning I got a brief look at what exactly that philosophy means – and wished that I had been exposed to such a philosophy when I was in grades 6 through 12!

David and Roham

The school and the Seattle Architecture Foundation invited Urban Sketchers Seattle to visit Lily Hotchkiss’s design/architecture-based art class to introduce the kids to urban sketching. In this summer session, the students are learning to design different elements through sketches and models. “I thought it would be great to start out by learning how to see buildings and sketch them,” Lily said. “I love Urban Sketchers and think this will be an exciting way to begin!”

David Chamness and I talked briefly to the five students, ages 10 through 15 and from several countries, in the classroom about our experiences sketching from life and showed them our sketchbooks and sketch kits. Then we all spent the rest of class time sketching in the area of Boren and Pine in the heart of downtown.

As I expected, the kids didn’t need us at all J – they all jumped into urban sketching with gusto. Engaged and enthusiastic, some were impressively aware of art, design and architecture in our urban world. Those bright young people will someday be our architects and urban planners – and hopefully urban sketchers, too. Like I said, I sure wish I’d had the Northwest School to attend when I was their age!

Instructor Lily Hotchkiss and two of her students

In true Urban Sketchers fashion, we all threw down our sketchbooks to share at the end of class!

Musical Hat in Georgetown

7/10/16 ink, watercolor, colored pencils

For the second year, Urban Sketchers Seattle took part in the Georgetown Garden Walk, an annual event that culminates with music and art in Oxbow Park. While I enjoy gardens as much as the next sketcher, I knew from last year that they would be crowded and difficult to sketch in, so today I went directly to the park instead. Like last year, I couldn’t resist another sketch of at least the hat part of the legendary and historic Hat ‘n’ Boots. Even better, a jazz band was performing under the hat (and unlike my lunchtime experience yesterday, this band was fantastic)!

In addition to us sketchers, lots of plein air painters also found Hat ‘n’ Boots to be an inspiring subject. I loved looking around the park and seeing sketchbooks and easels everywhere.

7/10/16 ink, colored pencils

Are They Still Tuning Up?

7/9/16 ink, colored pencils

When I go to farmers markets and other free venues to sketch buskers and other musicians, I don’t expect or need the music to be good; my entertainment comes from sketching them. That said, the jazz band that performed this noon at the Shoreline Farmers Market was probably the worst we have ever heard. As we ate our lunches from the food trucks, we kept asking each other, “Are they still tuning up? Or have they started?” They sounded like they had never played together before (and, we can only hope, will never again)!

Still, who am I to criticize? My entertainment comes from the sketching, and that part was still fun.