Two New Books to be released at Sketcher Fest Edmonds

 Mark your calendar! The public release of my two new photo books on plein air and travel sketching takes place on July 19-21 at Sketcher Fest Edmonds.

I will give a 15 minute presentation with Q&A about my books at the Sunday Sketchbook Fair and Art Market at the Edmonds Waterfront Center on Sunday, July 21 at 12:30pm. Purchased books may be signed upstairs at table #18 throughout the day.

The Sketcher Press Bookstore at Graphite Arts Center will have copies for sale July 19 & 20.

A walk along the lake shore with sketchbooks

After packing up and cleaning our rooms, we had breakfast, met in the classroom for a few tips and then took a nature walk along the lake shore to find a spot for skeetching.

Stopping to admire all the greens there are around us.

The excursion boat leaves ripples in the lake

The dappled shade from the surrounding forest was welcome on an unusually sunny and warm day.

While we're studying trees, an otter is discovered. Bronze sculptures are to be found throughout the grounds of the North Cascade Institute.

A salamander is caught basking on a warm rock. -photo credit Marvin Yamaguchi

My watercolor lesson on trees; single and in a group

Everyone settles in for sketching in their nature journals

On location with a palette like Wyeth's

Watercolor in my "Perfect Sketchbook" - on location on Camano Island, Feb 2015.

Whether it's intentional or not, certain paintings of mine will look Wyeth-influenced. I sat in my car on Russell road and painted this while rain pattered on the roof. The limited palette, both from nature and by choice from my watercolor palette, give this piece its somber mood. The texture comes from drybrush technique, easily achieved on the 140 lb. paper of my Perfect Sketchbook.

EXPLORED AGAIN! Wow! This one was picked by Explore from my Flickr Photostream. I am very pleased!

Day 21, Wind in the Trees

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Wind in the trees, Day 21 for #worldwatercolormonth I just wanted you to hear them whispering in the wind. 

Wind in the Trees

These are the trees I planted 40 years ago with our children. Squirrels scamper up and down the trunks and a hawk uses the tallest ones as a lookout. Hummingbirds rest on the twigs, looking over my garden for something to sip. Here's a link to my 11 second video.

As usual, I am playing fast and loose with the "daily" prompts for WorldWatercolorMonth. I acutally just finished painting this today! 7/23/2017"Getting Wet"--I see there's still time, so I might find a way to add that one in as well. :)

May Challenge Options for the Indecisive

I just have to post this option for those who want to join a drawing/painting challenge in May. Charlie O'Shields over at doodlewash.com offers a set of unique prompts---textures. Something to capture the interest of the watercolor artist.

Hmm, maybe I will see how many of these I can combine with the ones Jutta Richter has on Flickr for EDM Every Day in May.

Can you do it? Be sure to add #worldwatercolorgroup if you post any of your efforts online! And have fun!

Catching up on my EDIM Sketches-Day 11

A bucket-Day 11 of EDM-I finally have time to catch up on some of the "daily" sketches for the month of May.
My #periscope Broadcasts have been few and far between, which I mean to remedy, starting tomorrow, Thursday.

Here are a few progressive shots. 

This bucket came from an antique shop. A similar one is in the shed. It was used by my husband's grandmother to milk the cows on her farm in Arkansas.  

Sketching at Cabela's

After visiting Tri-Dee Art Suppliers in Mt. Vernon and a few other favorite spots, we took our two grandchildren to Cabela's, an outdoor outfitter in Marysville. My granddaughter and I sketched the lobby ceiling display while sitting in comfy chairs.

Kenya sketching in the lobby at Cabelas

Part of a fun day out with our grandchildren 

Kenya drew the two salmon in her new Pentalic Aqua journal. ....and I sketched the Orca getting ready to eat them. 

Quick Sketch Break

Looking down Spring Street

I took a quick sketch break at 5th and Spring Street between classes today. 10 minute pen drawing and then watercolor later in the day.

Saturday at Pike Place Market on WW Sketch Crawl Day

 Waiting for the elevator on the 4th floor at Pike Place Market parking garage.

It's the 51st World Wide Sketch Crawl Day and I'm meeting the Seattle Urban Sketchers up on the main level, outside by Rachel the pig.

A fishmonger shouts and a 30 pound salmon flies through the air across a mountain of ice and is deftly caught by the man behind the counter. A semicircle of onlookers holds cameras and smart phones overhead, capturing the spectacle. 

I had to sketch the "flying fish" action in increments: the hands and fish, the face, the swirl of the white lab coat.

The scent of fresh, hot sticky buns swirls in the air as a man in a silver white ponytail and a floppy hat rolls up his sleeves. He flicks his hands with a flourish and plays modern classical music at his piano on wheels.

Across the street a wide shadowy freight doorway reveals a technicolor display of spring flowers. A flower vendor's head seems to float among fragrant bouquets wrapped in white paper.

After sharing our sketches in the atrium and getting a group photo outside by the newsstand, some of us sketched our way through lunch at the Sound View Cafe. 

Upper right: Marvin and Tina sketching at lunch

We had our choice of all our typical Pacific Northwest seafood; salmon chowder, clam chowder, barbecued salmon, or the seafood pasta  extravaganza. The pasta extravaganza has king salmon, tiger prawns, halibut, crab meat pan sautéed and served over pasta with choice of marina, pesto or alfredo sauce PLUS soup and salad bar! Tempting, I know, but I wanted to stay sharp for more sketching in the afternoon. As you see, the barbecued salmon sandwich was quite sufficient. I'm having the other half for lunch tomorrow.

Adding the final sketches of the day to my accordion sketchbook over thick hot aromatic Turkish coffee.

I would say that Seattle provides more than enough inspiration to last all the way through this 51st World Wide Sketch Crawl Day.

Wait. Did I see that fish move?

While I was sketching the Pike Place Fish Market, I caught a practical joke in the making. One of the fishmongers hooked a long golden chain to the monkfish, then disguised it with a pile of ice and more fish. Unsuspecting victims got a jolt when they came in for a closer look.

Playing "Hop Sketch" in Seattle

There is such a thing as a "sketch crawl". What Tina, Kate, Feather and I did today was anything but a crawl. We met at 10:00am at Husky Station, sketched for an hour, then hopped on the new Link Light Rail to Capitol Hill, Denny and Broadway Station. We warmed up at the Oddfellow Cafe, having lunch while sketching, hopped over to Dick Blick Art Supply for a bit, then back to sketch at the new Denny St Station for more transit sketching. I have coined the expression "Hop Sketch" to fully describe this game. But that's not all!

After sketching outside the new Denny and Broadway Station, sharing our sketches on a bench on the underground Link Platform, and getting a trophy shot, one of our party, who shall remain nameless, shivered her way home. That left three. We hopped on one of the new streetcars and rode the line down to 5th and Jackson, near Uajimaya and King Street Station. During the ride, I sketched the commuter with the hat pulled over his eyes. The stationery department at Uajimaya beckoned. As we ogled the gleaming display of Lamy pens, my husband called from Kng Street Station with an invitation to dinner. What? Who can be hungry surrounded by pens, inks, paper, and socks with funny  sayings embroidered on them, such as "My Favorite Vegetable is Wine" and "I Love You" (above the ankle) and "Weirdo" (below the top line of the shoe).

But then, we had to part ways. The new Amazon store at University Village was calling my name. That left two. Where they went from Uajimaya, I don't know. They may still be there.....sketching with their new Lamy pens, wearing their witty socks.

Bonus Sketch Meetup at the Burke Museum

Sunshine and shadows this morning at the Burke Museum entrance

Seattle Urban Sketchers arranged an Ad hoc meeting this morning to accompany Laurie W., a visiting sketcher from San Francisco. On a cold, frosty November morning, it was so nice to be indoors, discovering something to draw in the current exhibit. Kate sketched everything, both inside and out!

In the lobby, a woman in a white lab coat was seated at a small table holding jars of preserved snakes. She was counting the scales to determine which of three varieties of garden snakes they were.

We also shared the venue with a group of school children, some of whom gave encouraging comments on our sketches in progress.

Fossil Whale Exhibit

The first thing that caught my eye was the fossilized remains of a 30-million-year old baleen whale found on the Olympic Penninsula. I can't imagine the effort it would take to assemble this from pieces found in the mud. Other fossils, such as shells, were displayed with it on a bed of sand.

I used watercolor pencils while sketching fossils in the museum.

Since water media isn't allowed in the exhibit area, I used watercolor pencils to sketch, then went out to the lobby to blend the drawings with my water brush. The fossilized whale head, upper right, is how the pencil looks before adding water. The 180 lb. paper in my Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook works great for this.

THE REMAINS OF THE DAY

Afternoon sketches, parking ticket, lunch, etc. (tap to zoom)

Home in time to enjoy the sunset!

After sharing our sketches at 12:30pm, some of us went to the University Book Store for lunch in the cafe and shopping in the art department. I sketched a sandwich and Tina sketched me!

 Laurie brought her Moo Card collection of bird sketches (she let us choose one of the 50 in her series.) I got the hummingbird in its nest!

Country Mouse, City Mouse

The crows roost in a tree across our street, pumpkins are everywhere and I visited two farms on Monday

It seems that I am alternating my sketching days this week: a day on a city street, then a day out on a farm, then city, then country. It's a fun way to keep finding something new to capture. Each round trip is about 90 miles, though, so I have fallen behind in scanning and posting my Inktober sketches. These are the ones for days 24-27.

The sun came out and gave me great shadows today at the Arlington Municipal Cemetery.

I was hoping to enter an online painting challenge today, but although I spent the better part of the day on location at the Arlington Cemetery, I still didn't get my 9x12 plein air piece done. So far, all I want to show is the value study of one of the gravestones that I did to warm up. (Conveniently, it serves as my Inktober drawing for the day!) Most of this section of the cemetery had stones from the early 1900's, people who were born in mid century 1800's. Many of the markers were leaning, especially the ones set on a steep hillside.

The light came over the fence and threw beautiful shadows down the grassy hill, catching a carpet of fallen leaves and turning them into gold. I'm not giving up on the painting just yet. So I will let you know when it's ready and post it here when I feel it's satisfactory. The thing that's taking me so long is that I am working in gouache, an opaque form of watercolor, and it's a bit of a brain twist from my usual transparent watercolor.

The Craven Pumpkin Farm with Seattle Urban Sketchers

To really and truly understand the multitude of offerings at Craven Pumpkin Farm, you must visit their website and Facebook pages. Their Autumn Festival is in full swing: Birthday parties, 3D black-light presentations, food, gifts, animals, Minions, hayrides, pirate ships, duck races, and people pushing wheelbarrows full of newly purchased pumpkins!

Fall Festival at Craven Farm

The Seattle Urban Sketchers monthly meet up began at Craven's at 10 am. For the first 45 minutes, it wasn't really cold at all and the rain held off. I took advantage by sketching the front gate post for my Inktober Day 18 drawing . See earlier post today. By the time I finished my first sketch, the parking lot had nearly filled up.

I wanted to catch the steam rising off the two large kettles out toward the back of the Snack Shack where they were boiling corn on the cob.

I toured as much of the property as I could before the rain started, then stepped inside the gift shop, Mouseville, and the animal barn to keep my sketchbook dry. Every once in a while I would step out again to check on something I may have missed in the sketch I was working on.

The man with the "Hair Style of the Day", was

Dutch Bihary, the face painter working at a barber chair inside the animal barn. His calm and smiling demeanor and fast yet effortless skill attracted an unending stream of children, ready to have him paint butterflies, tigers and more on their upturned faces.

After we shared our sketches, I could see that the rain was letting up, so I decided to stay and wait it out. There was a wagon load of fresh fall flowers, some pink pumpkins and a bin of apples that I had my eye on. I only had to wait for less than half an hour before I could go out to finish my two page spread.

Families, sketchers and people of all ages were not deterred by rain or cold.

House Made of Brick

Yes! You were correct. My third in the series is something made of brick. I'm not literally telling the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf. I'm just using the materials from which they made their houses as the spark for inspiration.

Inktober Day 14--House made of Brick

I had a bit of a challenge trying to find something that inspired me, but this back alley in Arlington was perfect. There's a small engine repair shop in an original old brick building which has been painted over. The big door (out of photo) in the back alley is where they take in the items needing repair and where all the character lives. Eventually all the guys in the shop had to ask if I was an artist and come over to see what I was drawing.

Straw, Wood,  Brick--Final Sketch in Progress

The sun came out while I was sketching and I may have gotten a bit of sunburn, since I thought that possibility was over for the year and wasn't prepared. I didn't even have sunglasses on hand! I did have a wide brimmed hat in the trunk of my car nearby, but it seemed a bit formal for an alley.

House Made of Straw

I have a bird's nest given to me by a friend who cut the entire branch so the nest would stay intact. So much fun using line and tone with this! I usually let the first drawing on a page dictate what the rest of the drawings on the page will be. If I do a series of three, want to guess where I'm going with this?

There is a phrase, "a house of straw", meaning that it won't take much to topple it down. Well, for 12 days I have stuck to nothing but black and white ink drawings for Inktober. Today I did my ink, but I just HAD to capture the color out there before it all blew away! So I toppled.


I drove to our Cinema in town where I know that the entire parking lot is ablaze with red trees. Beautiful to look at, but not quite what I wanted after all. Then I came around the corner and there in all its glory was a white dumpster, a yellow fire hydrant and above all, a group of trees showing all the fall colors!
It had rained earlier and the colors reflected for a while in the puddles and wet pavement. Perfect!

Cultivating International Culture at Danny Woo Community Gardens

I climbed a steep wooden staircase built on a timbered hillside next to Kobe Terrace Park.  A "mackerel sky" portended rain later in the day. A helicopter "whup-whup-whupping" overhead, the wail of a fire engine, the scent of fermented apples lying on the ground and the sound of chickens clucking; not all of these effects are usually expected right in the middle of a major modern city.

The theme that pervades the garden is "One Mind, One Spirit"

Today's outing for Seattle Urban Sketchers brought us to a unique community garden among the many that are part of Seattle's urban landscape. Danny Woo International District Community Garden is cultivated by people from China, Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Korea and other Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants who helped make Seattle the city it is today. Preference is given to those 65 and older and the average age of the gardeners here is 76. Many don't speak English. 

A few snapshots from Danny Woo Community Garden

The purpose of this garden is to enable Chinatown/International District elders a garden in which to work, to feel the earth in their hands, to plant the foods they missed from their native countries, and, most importantly, to provide social connections. This morning I was happy to exchange some smiles and nods with a few of them as they tended their garden plots. I hope they know how much we appreciate their sharing it with us.
Watch this short video presentation to learn more about Danny Woo International District Garden.

Home Arts at the Washington State Fair

The visitors to the Home Arts Exhibit were as many and varied as the pieces in the quilts displayed above their heads

Friday I was at the Washington State Fair in Puyallup with the ad hoc group of Seattle Urban Sketchers. I stood in the back corner upstairs near the elevator while sketching the handmade quilt display. It amazes me to think of the hours, weeks and even years of time that goes into these.

The center photo shows my viewpoint and sketch in progress. Tap/Click to Zoom

The table setting exhibit was set up behind me and to my left. The grand prize winner was a cowboy themed breakfast table full of nostalgic items like those my grandparents used every morning. Who uses a percolator on the stove top to make coffee any more?

I spent the majority of my morning just sketching right there in my little corner, as the apple and pear pie making demonstration progressed. During that time, three people working hospitality for the fair came over to offer me a chair (I almost always sketch standing up). After about an hour, I was ready to take them up on that offer, but I had already established my eye level. Speaking of eye level, there was an unusually large number of very tall people poking their heads above the display boards.

Here's how the two page spread looks together.

My way of sketching a series of events is to compile each impression into a combined happening. I want to express the effect of multiple sensory input and time compression to give the overall impact of having been a part of the entire experience.

The woodworking exhibit is new this year, with the star attraction (in my opinion) being the beautiful handmade wooden skiff. The workmanship was pristine and the color scheme made me think of fishing villages on the shores of Maine. There was a new place set up for woodworking demonstrations. I suppose I could have stayed for that, but I was anxious to go outside and see if I could find the rest of the sketchers.

Click here to see more about the left side of the spread. Spoiler alert! Dole Whip and Scones!