Checking out our own sketchbooks

Jennifer, Tina, Michele and Judy

We made it! Judy Gowdy and I got to the Sketchbook project around 1pm today. I drove from Marysville and Judy from Bellevue. We met Tina Koyama, of USk Seattle, who walked up from Pioneer Square after sketching with the ad hoc group this morning. Tina is lightning fast, and posted her account way ahead of me. :) (see link with her name)

We also met someone new, Jennifer Smith, an artist with a studio at Inscape Arts, the former INS building. She walked over to see what the Sketchbook Project was all about and struck up a conversation with us.
Here we are with our own sketchbooks that we all checked out, plus a random one apiece. We found a nice bench in the shade and traded them around. That way we got to see 8 sketchbooks! Jennifer's were chosen by the librarian, since she doesn't have a book in the project yet.

We would have gotten more books, but the check-out system is a bit challenging. So if you get over there before it ends tomorrow, give yourself a generous amount of time.

One book, that Judy got, was from a New York artist who illustrated the history of the handbag. The sketchbook was beautifully hand bound, with 3-D attachments and patterns for the construction of classic handbags on some of  the pages. At the end, there were tiny drawings of over a dozen classic bags, all in gold ink! Artists are phenomenal, aren't they?

PS I didn't see the food truck today, but I did see a school bus.

See the Sketchbook Project in Seattle with us on Friday

Remember the highly encouraging suggestion I gave during watercolor class last year about joining the Sketchbook Project 2014? :) Did you do it?

Get ready to see the results! Judy Gowdy and I plan to visit the Mobile Library Tour at the downtown Seattle Public Library, on Friday, July 11, at 1pm. The Mobile Library (and a food truck) will be parked on 4th Ave. It will be open from noon to 4pm.

Update: I just discovered that if you are planning a visit to Brooklyn Art Library or one of the Mobile Library events, you may use the Digital Library’s ‘Queue’ function to start your own list of books that you want to check out in person.

The library is running a related program from 1-2pm on the 4th floor, with materials provided by Daniel Smith. It's all three days of the tour, July 10, 11 and 12.

Tina Koyama, of Urban Sketchers Seattle, and I thought it would be fun to meet up, check out our own sketchbooks and get our pictures with them. If you plan to meet us there, please let me know!

Even if you aren't able to join us, let us know your name, city and theme of your sketchbook so that we can check it out! (You can put that information in the comments below or email them to me.) We don't want to miss anyone.