Category Archives: Urban Sketchers

Panorama

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The Seattle Urban Sketchers met last Sunday at the Olympic Sculpture Park. Since I had already sketched there a number of times, I was looking for a new vantage point and found one at the southern end overlooking the waterfront. The panorama begins with downtown Seattle on the left, moves north along the waterfront, and ends with a view of Magnolia on the right. To the right of center stands the newest addition to the park, Echo, a 46-foot tall sculpture by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa.

The first sketch is a quick study of the overall composition I did before attempting the final drawing. Because there was too much visual information for the small two-page spread, I had to abstract quite a bit of what I saw.

Drawing Quickly

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Often when traveling with a small group, we don’t have an hour or more to do a drawing. So if we want to capture a scene, we have to be able to draw quickly. My strategy is to first establish the structure of the overall composition and then, depending on the amount of time available, add whatever details I can to try to capture the spirit of a place. While drawing these very quick 10- to 20-minute sketches in Rio de Janeiro, I was accompanied by my friend and fellow urban sketcher Norberto Dorantes of Buenos Aires, who is a master of flowing lines.

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Many thanks to Glaucia Augusto Fonseca for being such a gracious and generous host during our short visit to Rio de Janeiro. The setting for the city is truly stunning.

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Stadium High School

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On the last day of the Tacoma Line to Color Workshop this past weekend, we gathered at Stadium High School for an informal sketch crawl. This historic landmark, designed by Hewitt and Hewitt for the Northern Pacific Railway Company in 1891, was intended to be a luxury hotel but became instead a storage facility as a result of the Panic of 1893. After a fire in 1898 gutted the building, the Tacoma School District purchased the structure, which was renovated according to plans by the Federick Heath. Bassetti Architects and Merrit Pardini Architects undertook a major renovation, historic renovation, and seismic upgrade in 2005.

Thanks to my co-teacher Gail Wong and all of the participants in the workshop who endured a lot of hard work facing challenging scenes but displayed amazing progress over the course of the weekend. Their love of drawing and the wealth of sketching sites offered by Tacoma made the weekend both enjoyable and gratifying.

Baia de Paraty

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The morning before the symposium in Paraty started, a group of urban sketchers took a boat tour of the Baia de Paraty. Many thanks to Marilia Inke, who graciously arranged the pleasant outing on short notice. Even though it was a slightly overcast day, it was enjoyable to see the beautiful coast line around Paraty from another perspective. Perhaps what was most striking to me were the way the mountains formed a backdrop for the numerous islands seeming to float in the bay.

Igreja de N. Sra. do Rosário e São Benedito

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Arriving in Paraty a day before the 5th Urban Sketching Symposium started gave me a chance to walk around the town and do some drawing. This church attracted me because of its situation at the end of a street, where it commanded the intersection. To the left is the tourist information office and to the right is a self-serve gelato shop. Between the tourist information office and the church, you get a peek at the entrance to the Pousada do Sandi, where we were staying.

Urban Sketching Symposium Paraty

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imageA view of Capela de N. Sra. das Dores in Paraty, Brazil, during the 2014 Urban Sketching Symposium. This will be one of the many sketches that will be sold tomorrow evening in a silent auction to benefit the Urban Aketchers organization. I’ve completed two workshops and have a third scheduled tomorrow morning. Great participants, enthusiastic and appreciative in a beautiful colonial village on the Bay of Paraty.

Lief Erickson

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Here is a quick sketch of a statue of Lief Erickson at Shilshole Bay Marina, overlooking Puget Sound. The bronze sculpture was given by the Lief Erickson League to the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962 and installed at the marina when it opened that same year.

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The words are from a plaque on the statue’s base and refers to Lief Erickson’s assumed birthplace of Iceland. The famous Norse explorer (ca. 970–1020) is believed to have been the first European to reach North America five centuries before Christopher Columbus. To commemorate the legacy of Scandinavian immigrants who settled in Ballard, surrounding the statue (but not drawn) are stones containing names of local immigrant families, the year they arrived, and their community of origin.

Off to Brazil tomorrow for the Urban Sketching Symposium in Paraty

Shilshole Bay Marina

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A view of Shilshole Bay Marina, captured when the Seattle Urban Sketchers group met this past Sunday morning. It was challenging but fun to try to convey the number and density of watercraft, masts, and equipment, as well as their reflections in the water.

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Owned and operated by the Port of Seattle, Shilshole Bay Marina is located in the northwest Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, next to Golden Gardens Park on Puget Sound. While the waterfront location was deeded to the Port in 1931, the marina itself was not operational until after its dedication during the Seattle’s World Fair in 1962. It has more than 1400 slips for boats ranging in size from skiffs and kayaks to ocean-going yachts, and the facility includes a public plaza, fishing piers, and public boat launch

Tacoma Workshop

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Gail Wong and I will be offering another Line to Color workshop, this time in Tacoma September 12–14. As in our two Seattle workshops last year, we’ll begin on Friday evening with an introductory sketching session followed by dinner and presentations at the historic Swiss Pub. On Saturday, we’ll work at the Tacoma Art Museum and in the Museum District. Then on Sunday, we’ll work in the Theater District and Antique Mall District. As always, it should be fun. And beginners are certainly welcome!

For more information and a complete schedule, visit <http://workshops.urbansketchers.org/2014/07/join-us-for-our-line-to-color-workshop.html>.

Waterworks Studio

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This is a view of the large, airy, and daylit space that connects the several structures that house the home and studios of Christine and Darsie Beck, who were wonderful hosts during our recent Vashon Island outing. Christine is a potter and photographer, and Darsie is an artist, author, and teacher. For more information about their work and Waterworks Studio, visit <http://www.waterworksonvashon.com>.