21 Drawings for Monday

It's the first day of the One Week 100 People global drawing challenge. I decided to use a new black Pocket Brush Pen by Pentel on my second sketch below. The pen has cartridges that can be replaced and I figured it might be a good idea to have some backup this week. I imagine I will be using a lot more ink than usual!

It got pretty cold this afternoon when I was finally able to scout out one of our local Starbucks stores. I spent 30 minutes on 6 out of 7 sketches in my Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook. I haven't used the smooth paper from the Zeta series before. My usual Sharpie Stylo pen just glides over the surface!  I had to wait about 14 minutes to sketch the girl at the drive thru window because I only got glimpses between customers. By the time I left, it felt distinctly like snow was in the air! (It is snowing outside as I post this!)

These 7 sketches were done from life on location.

This morning, I caught a glimpse of a photo from Rome, which had a few urban sketchers in it. I liked the group shot, so used it to try out my new materials.

This one's from a photo, so doesn't really qualify as an urban sketch. It was not drawn on location- a weird dichotomy since I referred to a photo of 10 urban sketchers.

4 kids in a snow flurry

The last sketch brings the total up to 21, since I'm counting partial people. These kids arrived at the North Cascades Institute for Spring Mountain School amidst a thick flurry of snow. Three out of four were delighted and I wanted to see if I could capture the various reactions on their faces as they got off the bus.

I used a reference photo from the NCascades IG feed for reference.

USK Seattle in the Melrose Neighborhood, Take 2

Click here for closeup

1/24/16 Sunday's sketches from USKSeattle Sketchcrawl -- I sketched here with USKSeattle in February, 2015

Last time, I spent the day outdoors. This time, I decided to come inside more often.

I started out on the corner across the street from Starbucks Roastery, drawing the logo sign on the roof corner, (if you zoom in,  top right,you can see Gail siting her sketch) then I followed the bronze coffee beans embedded in the sidewalk in front of Starbucks' front door.

A trail of bronze coffee beans and a rain-soaked leaf pointed the way downhill to Melrose Market

I ended up half a block down the street at the Melrose Market. What a wonderful place! From the main corridor, you can get an overview of the entire marketplace, but it was fascinating to watch the busy chefs at work in the kitchen at Sitka & Spruce. A beautiful tray of fresh baked scones loomed tantalizingly on the butcher block counter, tiny flowers were placed at the chef's table.

A pair of sketchers, a red door, pussy willows in a vase atop an old oak barrel.

Harris was kind enough to let me get this shot with her cell phone camera. Thanks, H!

I counted 36 sketchers on the sidewalk outside the Melrose Market sharing their "catch of the day", but I know several who were not able to stay the entire session. I'm sure Jane will soon post up one of the group photos she got in front of Starbucks.

USk Seattle at Pike and Melrose

What a group USk Seattle had yesterday at the new Starbucks Roastery on Pike and Melrose! At the end of the session, we filled the sidewalk along the south side of the building with sketchers and their sketches. The number of unique viewpoints, individual style, as well as the obvious high level of accomplishment was astounding. I wish I could have looked over every sketchbook at least one more time.

I arrived about 25 minutes early and couldn't find street parking no matter how many times I circled the block. No wonder! We had approximately 40 people there in our group, not to mention the "regulars" and other Seattle denizens out for a nice Sunday morning cup of coffee and/or breakfast.

Sketches by Michele Cooper-Feb 22, 2015

As I sketched the classic-looking pale green Vespa parked outside the Melrose Apartments, a woman leaned out of her top story window and called out to me: "Are you sketching the Vespa?" "Yes," I answered, "Is it yours?" "No", she replied, "but I was just on the phone with my mother, who's an artist, and I told her-Guess what? Somebody's out on the street sketching the Vespa!" For a time there, I experienced a "New York" kind of moment.

Seven from Starbucks

7 more for NaNoDrawMo! Total: 42 with 7 days to go!

As I left the house on a sketch hunt today, I thought I would be parking across the street from a barber shop I know. The light was good. I had my Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook, Micron Pen, Lamy Pen and mini kit. All I needed was a nice, warm latte to keep me company.

WELL. Turns out that the clouds came over and ruined my lighting. Plus, the chairs are quite comfy at one of our local Starbucks. So I ended up with 7 little sketches instead of a larger, more complicated street scene. This doesn't hurt my total for NaNoDrawMo, either!
Here's the story:

1. My most frequently used sketch pen, the Micron .01 Archival Waterproof. (The barista stand, #5, was with my Lamy pen, however.)
2. Left handed, leaning over, pouring cream in a to-go cup. No need to remove his huge puffy jacket. He's in and out in no time! (Yes, the mornings are pretty cold this week.)
3. Ignore pen again. *This ginger haired worker took his break in three different chairs. First, he sat in the sunny window which was decorated with long streamers of colorful tissue. I didn't sketch him the other two times as he faced me both times and seemed to be wise to my sketch hunting presence.
4. Two pounds of Starbucks Thanksgiving Blend. What a pretty, autumn leaf package!
5. Top edge of the baristas' brewing machine with the gigantic coffee filter on top right. Blurry scan.
6. Lower left. Another table hopper. He seemed so uncomfortable, trading tables four times, including using the bathroom, taking off his hat, smoothing his hair, opening and closing his 3 ring binder. He escaped before I could draw any more.
7. Lower right. This Mo Bro (I detect two different stages of facial hair--grown out mustache and newish beard) was easy. Even though he got up and down twice, he always returned to the exact same position. Thanks!

*Question: Are male coffee shop workers referred to as "baristos"? Answer from Yahoo: The term baristo (and correspondingly baristos) is occasionally found in English to refer to a specifically male bartender. This is a hypercorrection, as it is a misinterpretation of the -a ending as a female ending, while in fact barista is used for both males and females."

Personal observation: the vast majority of men in and out of the shop had facial hair. I wonder if they are participating in Movember? Wanna be a Mo Bro or a Mo Sista?

Sunday Painters: Be an unofficial Mo Bro or Mo Sista, even if you don't have a mustache. Draw and/or paint someone with a beard or mustache today!