Two Entrances to the Burke-Gilman

 

9/6/22 Burke-Gilman Trail from Burke-Gilman Park

A few weeks ago I learned that the pocket park abutting the Burke-Gilman Trail is aptly called Burke-Gilman Park. Since it’s conveniently located just behind Metropolitan Market where I occasionally shop, I stopped for a sketch a few days ago. This time I turned toward the biking/running/walking trail, which was streaked with light. I tried to capture all the bits of backlighting on the trees and even blades of grass.

The 27-mile-long Burke-Gilman Trail occupies an abandoned railway corridor that starts in Kenmore, crosses Seattle and ends at Golden Gardens Park. That afternoon during a meeting at Third Place Commons (where I’ve sketched many times with Urban Sketchers and on my own), I learned that I could easily walk from there to the Burke-Gilman. Near the entrance to the trail, I found Lake Forest Park’s Northshore Fire Department’s Station 57. I didn’t have much time, so instead of looking for a sketch on the trail, I made a quick one of the station.

Northshore Fire Station 57

Although I have walked on bits and pieces of the trail, the only part I’ve sketched is the scenic stretch along the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Fremont. It was an unusual coincidence to sketch near the trail twice in one day.

Bye-Bye, Burke

3/29/19 Old Burke Museum building being demolished.

While I’ve been eagerly awaiting the opening of the brand new Burke Museum this fall, I somehow missed the news that the old Burke building, built in 1962, was being torn down. I thought it would be cleaned up and repurposed – or maybe that was just wishful thinking. In any case, as I walked across the University of Washington campus last Friday on my way to the cherry blossoms on the Quad, I was flabbergasted to see that the old Burke was being demolished. While the gaping foundation still stood in the background, an excavator was building a mountain of debris in the museum’s former parking lot.

As many times as I have sketched the skeletons and other natural artifacts inside the Burke, especially on rainy days while my car was being serviced nearby (it was my favorite way to kill that oil-changing time), I had never sketched the building itself. And all those years that I had walked by the Burke when I was a UW student suddenly flashed before my eyes. Filled with regret, I felt obliged to at least sketch its remains even as they were being heaped into dump trucks.

I must admit, though, that sketching an excavator helped to ease my grief. In fact, I decided that’s where all the action was, so I sketched it again with a bit more detail.

3/29/19 Where the action is!

A Rainy Morning at the Burke

3/15/15 Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble colored
pencils, Iroshizuku Asa-gao ink, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Planning a sketch outing in March is always iffy. Chances are good that it will rain, so scheduling an outdoor location would be pushing our luck. But chances are just as good that it will be warm and dry enough to sketch outdoors. At the Burke Museum on the University of Washington campus, we could hedge our bets: If the sun shone, the cherry blossoms on the Quad would be irresistible. If it rained, the Burke would be full of sketchable treasures.

I can safely say that all 20+ (maybe close to 30?) Seattle Urban Sketchers chose to sketch inside the Burke this morning, resulting in many delightful sketches of dinosaurs and human history artifacts.

By now I think I’ve sketched all of the Burke’s complete animal skeletons in the regular exhibits (someday I’ll finish every skull, femur and other individual bones), including the enormous mastodon. The first time I sketched it was nearly two years ago (which, according to my blog that day, was one of the first sketches made with my now-favorite Sailor fude pen). About a year ago, I sketched just its head and amazing tusks.

3/15/15 Caran d'Ache Museum pencils, Iroshizuku Asa-gao ink

Today I spent the bulk of my time sketching a slightly different angle of the mastodon, and instead of my favorite pen, I tried colored pencils. As usual, I didn’t scale my sketch accurately, so I ran out of room for its feet! Like the time I sketched the stegosaurus and had to put its tail tip on a separate page, I decided to start a new sketch and give the mastodon’s feet equal time.

To kill the last 20 minutes before our sharing time, I went out to the main reception area to sketch a long view of the Paraphysornis brasilienis. It may be one of my favorite prehistoric skeletons at the Burke; with a nickname like “Terror Bird of Brazil,” who could resist?

Many thanks to the Burke Museum for sponsoring Seattle Urban Sketchers’ visit today!

3/15/15 Diamine Sargasso Sea ink, Caran d'Ache Museum pencil

Lightning Sketches

6/16/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Take-Sumi and Diamine Grey inks, Sailor pen, water-soluble colored pencils, Canson XL 140 lb. paper (Arboretum)

We’re having fun playing tourist this week while a guest is visiting from out of town. This is when being able to sketch fast comes in especially handy. I let the others get a little ahead of me while I sketched, and then I caught up with them. Except the top sketch, which took about 15 minutes, all the rest took literally a few minutes each.

Yesterday morning was wet and cold, so we explored the Burke Museum’s many natural treasures (yesterday’s post has one more sketch from the Burke, which took about 10 minutes). We took advantage of the sun in the afternoon to visit the Washington Park Arboretum and Seattle Japanese Garden.

Stay tuned for more lightning sketches.

6/16/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Take-Sumi and Diamine Grey inks,
water-soluble colored pencils, Zig marker (Japanese Garden)

6/16/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink,
Sailor pen (dried seahorse,
Burke Museum)

6/16/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink
(fish skeleton, Burke Museum)

6/16/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink
(ginkgo leaf fossil, Burke Museum)

6/16/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink
(sabertooth foot, Burke Museum)

Exploring the New and the Familiar at the Burke

11/30/15 colored pencils (rear end of 12,000-year-old giant ground sloth)

The Burke Museum is one of my favorite winter sketching locations. Our thermometer read 30 F degrees this morning, and that’s plenty wintry for me. The Burke was an ideal place to meet up with Laurie from the Bay Area, who is visiting Seattle this week. (I met Laurie when I sketched with Urban Sketchers SF Bay Area a few months ago.)

Although I’ve sketched most of the Burke’s large skeletons by now, the one I’ve been missing is the 12,000-year-old giant ground sloth, which was discovered in 1961 during construction of Sea-Tac Airport. I’ve considered it several times, but it’s difficult to get a good angle on the whole skeleton in the relatively narrow space where the sloth is exhibited. Today I decided I would get behind the sloth, one way or another.

11/30/15 colored pencils (Iatmul mask)

Next I went downstairs to the human history area. Because I’m usually so completely engrossed in animal skeletons, I rarely even make it downstairs at the Burke, but there are lots of fascinating human artifacts to sketch. Today I focused on an Iatmul dance/clan mask of Papua New Guinea, which has interesting fibrous textures that were fun to capture with colored pencils.

With only five minutes left before the sharing time, I went straight to my all-time Burke favorite: the “Terror Bird” of Brazil! I seem to sketch that scary guy nearly every time I visit. (Once again, my Zebra double tip brush pen served me well in getting the big bird done in a couple of minutes flat.)

Most of us went to lunch later at the University Book Store (with art supply shopping there afterwards, of course), and Michele was the only one who had the patience to sketch her food before eating. (If you’re sketching, you’re at risk of being sketched yourself. J)

Thanks for joining us, Laurie!

11/30/15 Zebra brush pen, colored pencils
(Terror Bird of Brazil)

11/30/15 Zebra brush pen (Michele sketching)

Thanks for joining us, Laurie! (back row, second from right)

The Burke’s Irresistible Skeletons

 

1/4/26 Columbian mammoth, Burke Museum

I’ve sketched at the University of Washington’s Burke Museum many times, both at the old building and the current one, and I never seem to tire of the paleontology area. Who could resist the skeletons of huge creatures that have been extinct for literally eons? Apparently, no one: The prehistoric animal skeletons were by far the most-sketched artifacts at Sunday’s USk Seattle outing.

Although I’ve sketched the Columbian mammoth nearly every time I’ve visited the new building, it’s not necessarily because it’s my favorite (although it is one). Many of the smaller skeletons are backlit by the Burke’s floor-to-ceiling windows, which makes them harder to draw. I really wanted to use my black sketchbook that day, so I walked around to get the lighted side of its skull and amazingly enormous tusks (top of post).

Walking down to the lower-level entrance where the Burke’s mascot mastodon greets visitors (another favorite exhibit that I’ve sketched many times), I looked up at the Baird’s bearded whale skeleton hanging high above us all. I didn’t scale my sketch very well to accurately show how huge it is compared to Andika, who was sketching the mastodon on the floor below.

Baird's beaked whale's tail and Andika

In the time remaining before the throwdown, I needed something I could capture relatively quickly. From the stairway landing below the third floor, I looked up again, this time spotting the Elasmosaur replica hanging from the ceiling.

After the outing, I joined a few friends for lunch at nearby Café on the Ave. I was too hungry to sketch my food (which was a delicious salmon eggs Benedict made with a croissant instead of the traditional English muffin; regrettably, I didn’t even photograph it), but after I was full, I caught my friends.

Lunch at Cafe on the Ave

An Urban Sketching Event at the Burke

4/18/15 Sailor Doyou  and Iroshizuku Kiri-same inks,
Caran d'Ache Museum colored pencil, Canson XL

Urban Sketchers Seattle enjoyed sketching at the Burke Museum so much in March that we went back for more. This time we were invited by the Burke to create an event that would encourage other visitors to sketch at the museum, too. The Burke provided sketching materials and a clothespin line where participants could hang their work. It was tough competing with 65 degrees and sunshine outside, but the museum managed to entice a few visitors indoors.

As usual, I spent most of my time hanging out with the bones – a sabertooth cat, a polar bear skull, and my favorite, the Brazilian Terror Bird. I also captured a girl sketching at a table near our clothesline “exhibit.”

Thanks to all the sketchers who volunteered today, and many thanks to the Burke for inviting us to this event! (For more photos of the event, see my post on the USk Seattle blog.)

4/18/15 Diamine Chocolate Brown and Iroshizuku Kiri-same inks, Museum pencil

4/18/15 Iroshizuku Asa-gao and Iroshizuku Tsukushi inks, Museum pencils

4/18/15 Caran d'Ache Museum pencil,
mix of gray inks

4/18/15 Iroshizuku Take-sumi and Kiri-same inks, colored pencil, copier paper
(I left this sketch of a skull fragment hanging in our "exhibit"!)

The Burke Nearly to Ourselves

 

2/14/24 Mastodon replica, Burke Museum

2/14/24 Columbian Mammoth

The last time USk Seattle met at the Burke Museum was right before the pandemic hit, so it was high time for us to visit again. I started on the top floor where all the paleontology labs are and some of the museum’s best specimens, like the Columbian Mammoth. I’ve sketched it from the other side before, so this time I focused on the skull and those incredibly long tusks (at left).

Next I looked through one of the lab windows to sketch a grizzly bear skull (below). A former Woodland Park Zoo resident, the bear was being cleaned and preserved.

2/14/24 Grizzly bear skull

My last stop was the Mastodon replica. The first time I sketched it was from the staircase above. Spotting Janet in a corner, I went to the opposite side of the gallery so that I could capture her in the composition and show the scale of the enormous beast (top of post).

On most visits, the museum has been filled with young students on field trips. On this Wednesday afternoon, we sketchers had the place nearly to ourselves, which was an unusual treat. The Burke is back on our list as a winter-weather standby!

The Burke on a Rainy Saturday

3/1/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Sailor pen,
Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Planning to meet a friend in the U-District, I put a little extra time on my parking meter and ducked out of the rain into the Burke Museum. I generally avoid going there on Saturdays, when it’s filled with hundreds of kids. Given the rainy weather, today it was filled with thousands of kids, maybe millions, all apparently working on a scavenger’s hunt.

I managed to find a quiet spot right under the tusks of a mastodon, which I had sketched almost a year ago from a different angle. Then as I sketched, a Boy Scout troop hammed it up near the mastadon’s legs as their fathers took photos. My neck was sore by the time I finished.

With only a few minutes left, I made a quick sketch of the head and part of the neck of an Elasmosaur, a marine reptile that lived more than 80 million years ago. If you think the part I sketched is scary enough, you should see its entire skeleton – so large that it’s going to be difficult to sketch in one shot. I’ve got to get back to the Burke again soon – not on a Saturday – and figure out a vantage point to sketch the whole thing. (Edited 3/7/14: See the full skeleton sketched later.)

3/1/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Sailor pen

Actually, there’s at least one other good reason to get back to the Burke: It will soon be the home of an 8 ½-foot-long mammoth tusk that was found in Seattle a few weeks ago at a construction site. The tusk hasn’t been carbon dated yet, but it’s thought to be between 22,000 to 60,000 years old. 

More Action at the Burke Museum

6/18/19 New Burke Museum building

A few months ago, I inadvertently stumbled upon demolition of the old Burke Museum when I was on the University of Washington campus to sketch cherry blossoms. Passing through campus earlier this week, I went to see what the site looked like now. Most traces of the old building are gone, but lots of excavators and other heavy equipment were everywhere, and the grounds (a new parking lot?) still looked rough and nowhere near completion.

In the background stands the new Burke getting ready for its grand reopening this fall. As excited as I am to visit the new, much larger natural history museum – the old one gave me many hours of sketching fun, and I’m sure the new one will, too – its new building is the type that I don’t enjoy drawing much. Clean and modern, the roofline is very subtly curved, so it ends up looking either like it was meant to be straight but my lines were crooked, or I curved it too much. In this case, it’s the latter – the roofline’s curve is more subtle than that. I hope to sketch the construction site again before it opens, so maybe I’ll do a more accurate job next time.

6/18/19 Construction worker taking a lunch break on a pile of debris.

Feeling Catty at the Burke

1/21/16 rainbow and water-soluble colored pencils

Rain poured down my hood and bounced off my now-waterproof Rickshaw bag as I dashed into the Burke Museum. I had just dropped my car off for servicing a few blocks away, and sketching at the Burke was my favorite way to kill the wait time.

Now that I’ve finished sketching all the complete skeletons on exhibit, I’m re-sketching some of my favorites using different media (see, this is another reason I need to keep mixing up the media!). The Hoplophoneus was one of the first I sketched nearly three years ago. Today I decided to give the 25-million-year-old forest cat a little color with a rainbow pencil. (It’s difficult to shade with, but it sure is fun.)

Nearby in the same exhibit is the sabertooth, which I sketched last spring in ink. Today I used water-soluble colored pencils. I was still finishing up when I got a call from the Mazda service department saying my car was ready. Darn – I could have easily killed a few more hours re-sketching skeletons.

1/21/16 colored pencils

Meow -- my favorite kitty at the Burke.

New and Much Improved Burke Museum

11/1/19 Columbian mammoth exhibit, Burke Museum

The Burke Museum has been one of my favorite indoor locations for almost as long as I’ve been sketching. Whenever I got my car serviced nearby, I would dash over for an hour or so and sketch an artifact or two; I think I sketched almost all the large skeletons at least once, sometimes more, and some small fossils. The museum had been closed for about a year while its new facility was being completed and everything moved in, and I really missed it.

Who has a bigger mouth?

The new Burke finally reopened a few weeks ago, and the long wait was worth it! Spacious, well-lighted and with many more artifacts on display than they ever had room for before, the University of Washington’s world-class museum is three floors of natural and human history exhibits focused on the Pacific Northwest. What a sketcher’s delight!

Although my sketching interests tend to stay on the animal exhibits – what is it about drawing prehistoric skeletons that is so much fun!? – but the human history exhibits of native cultures are also fascinating.  

Last Friday’s visit was only a cursory run-through so I could plan future sketching objectives. I’ll be back again soon and often. Perhaps this winter won’t be so hard to endure after all!

I recall sketching this stegosaur a few years ago and not being able to fit the whole thing in my sketchbook!

Paleontologists and other scientists at work are visible
in many areas.

Biology exhibit

Big bones!

New T-Rex at the Burke

9/7/16 colored pencils, brush pen

Paleontologists at the Burke Museum dug up a new T-Rex skull in northern Montana! It’s one of only about 15 relatively complete T-Rex skulls in the world.

I knew that the skull would be covered in protective plaster for a long time until workers could carefully reveal it, but I went over to the Burke today to sketch it anyway. It’ll make its first unplastered public appearance when the new Burke (now under construction) opens in 2019. You can bet I’ll be there then to sketch it again.

9/7/16 colored pencils

Meanwhile, to get a smaller skull-sketching fix, I went over to one of my favorite areas of the museum where a whole wall is filled with various skulls. This one belonged to a steller sea lion. (Fountain pen with wash used to be my favorite way of sketching skeletons, but lately I’m really liking white colored pencil or gel pen on my orange Field Notes.)