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!

Have you ordered your Perfect Sketchbook yet?

Want a "custom designed" sketchbook with your name embossed on the cover?

Read all about this Indiegogo project here or search #theperfectsketchbook

I carry my pocket sized perfectsketchbook everywhere. 

It just so happens that two of my favorite watercolor papers are used in these sketchbooks:

Saunders Waterford in the pocket version and Fabriano Artistico in the new larger B-5 version. 

There is still time to get one! I got some with my name embossed on the front.

You might even win a pocket version and a travel brush! There are just 11 days left! Check it out!

Virtual Paintout, Flower Market in Manila

Dangwa Flower Market on Dimasalang Rd, Manila, Phillipines- Google Street View here

I drew with my twig, Chinese ink and watercolor pencils in the Perfect Sketchbook.

It's fun to compare this one with a previous effort in Bangladesh, virtually of course. Here I used India Ink, twig, watercolor and white Signo pen.
Bill Guffey hosts The Virtual Paintout online, where you can visit a different location each month through Google Peg Man, walking the streets (virtually) and sketching. Then you upload your image and URL to share it with the other virtual painters around the world.

Update 10/5/15 My photo is now published on the Virtual Paintout website!

Monday, August 10, at Sue Roberts' Studio

Approaching Guemes Island landing.

I am so glad that I decided to drive up early for our August 10th Anacortes Sketchers' outing! Missy kindly sent me a message about the rain, in case I wanted to wait until after lunch.

Our plan had been to walk on the 11:30am Guemes Island ferry (a 5 minute ride, sailing every half hour) and sketch on the beach while enjoying our own packed lunch. We had an appointment to visit artist Sue Roberts' studio after 1:00pm. I checked the weather and it looked like the rain would stop after 11:30, so I went early, as planned.

As you can see, it was still a bit overcast when I arrived at 11:15 am, but the rain had already stopped. Then I pulled over immediately after disembarking the ferry! Because here was a sweet little red "Gem" just waiting to be painted!

I thought this was the cutest, most colorful thing I would find on the island and set about sketching it immediately! I used my "perfect sketchbook", Micron pen, and my DYI Altoids Mini watercolor kit.

My sketch of the little red "Gem" parked at the ferry line shelter on Guemes.

I ordered fish and chips at the General Store for lunch. Janice and Bonnie were outside on the patio. What a view! It's right across the street from the ferry landing.  When my order came, the cook offered us an unclaimed order of crab and veggie summer rolls that someone had abandoned in their haste to catch the ferry. It was hard to get those two to wait for just a second while I sketched the crab rolls! Refinements added later.

The cook offered us free crab summer rolls with spicy sauce and ice water.

After sharing our lunch, we took off to visit Sue in her studio. I was wrong about the colorfulness factor! This being my first time at Sue Roberts' Tower Arts Studio, I had no idea what wonders awaited me!

Upstairs is a bedroom, converted from the original studio space overlooking the channel. Sue said it was too distracting. So she moved her major work studio down to the main floor.

Every piece of furniture is a delight to the eye.

I had half a man.....I mean, half a mind to cozy up in the reading nook.

 The beautiful color scheme and ceramic sculptures spill out into the garden and landscape outside.

As you gaze around the studio, there is no end to the imaginative collection of Sue's creations.

Everything is uniquely expressive.

 

If there is an earthquake here, heads will roll!

We got a tour of the studio from top to bottom and all around the grounds. Then we set to work.

So many choices of subject matter, both inside and out!

We tucked a couple of Sue's ceramic pieces in with all our afternoon sketches. Thanks to Annette for climbing to new heights for a great shot!

I stayed as late as I could to finish my sketches inspired by the afternoon at Sue's Tower Arts Studio. Color added at home.

Then, Sue gave us hot crab dip, chips, cool beverages and a homemade chocolate apple cake made just for us by Janice. Yum! Thank you, Sue, for an inspirational, fun and colorful summer retreat!

Sailing into the record books at Shilshole

I joined the Friday Sketchers in Seattle this morning, from USk Seattle. As the Seattle Urban Sketchers Ad Hoc outing began today, Seattle had already broken two incredible all-time records:  the most number of 90-degree days in a year yesterday. Ten! And we are likely to tack on at least one more today, with a high of 91 in the forecast, and the heat advisory has been extended into Sunday. It’s not only been hot, though, it’s also been extremely dry.

At 10:00 am this morning our situation was not so extreme, however. At Shilshole Bay Marina we found shady spots and cool breezes as we met near the water near the Lief Ericson monument.

Micron pen, the perfect sketchbook and watercolor in the shade. 

Unofficially, we reached approximately 83°F by the time we shared our sketches at 12:30.

A few urban sketchers enjoying a perfect summer morning at Shilshole Marina. Sketches by Michele Cooper

Blue Skies and Breezes - Looking across the Marina to the Sunset West Condominiums - Michele Cooper

A few more sketches came in after this shot.

USk Seattle Sketchers Ad Hoc outing at Shilshole Marina. A few others are missing from the photo.

Update: On my way home this afternoon, the outside temperature on my car dashboard read 91°F and 93°F as I drove north on I-5 through a few of our little micro-climates. It was at least that high for a while at home in Marysville while I ran errands this afternoon. Sketchers who live in Seattle will have to report how it went for them this afternoon.

Relics and Rain at Salty's on Alki Beach

Seattle Urban Sketchers' Ad Hoc outing started out with an overcast sky at Salty's on the Alki shoreline. Built over the water on its own pier, the restaurant is known for exceptional views of the Seattle skyline. Bronze salmon sculptures swim among relics of the old West Seattle Bridge in the aquatic-looking landscape at the entrance to the parking lot. The idea of recycle, repurpose and reuse has come to a whole new level. Owner, Gerald Robert Kingen calls it his "urban reef" in this video tour.

I barely noticed when the rain began as I stood halfway up the covered entry steps looking down at the giant lobster, a bronze sculpture by Lee Emmons. A pipe full of recycled water occasionally creates a "bubbler", splashing on the rocks nearby. More pieces of the old bridge form a habitat for the lobster as well as for the giant bronze crabs on the other side of the steps.

Sometimes your subject just stares right back at you.

Sketchers in Singapore enjoy famous chilli crab as I sketch a bronze lobster at Alki Beach. Thanks for the badges, Kate!

We all got badges, expressing solidarity (and a little bit of envy) for fellow sketchers attending the Singapore Symposium this weekend. Just for the occasion, I cracked open a new Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook and used my DYI Altoids travel kit.

Kate and I decided to wait out the rain and warm up inside the cafe. We got a table at the window and Marvin joined us as we sketched the misty atmosphere from our elevated view.

It seemed unfair that the rusty pilot house of the Kalakala was beached at the edge of the parking lot, forced to gaze through empty portholes as a tourist excursion sailed out toward two massive cruise ships on the opposite shore.

Once the #1 tourist attraction in Seattle, the Kalakala remained an icon to many of us who grew up in the area. I remember seeing her underway in Lake Union and moored there at the north end. Gabi wrote an article and sketched from a kayak when it was moored in Commencement Bay. The Urbanist documented the last ride of the Kalakala in January of 2015.

Much like the skeletal remains of a prehistoric bird, the pilot house, piston and drive shaft of the Kalakala are strung out along the edge of Salty's Restaurant parking lot.

More photos from the Aztec, NM, trip

On the last day of a family trip to New Mexico, my granddaughter and I sketched at the ruins in Aztec, designated a World Heritage site in 1987, where the elevation is high (5877 ft) and the heat (98-100ºF) is "dry".   

Right now, with our current heat wave in the Seattle area, the daily temperatures are surprisingly similar to northwestern New Mexico but the breathable oxygen is definitely not. The terrain and vegetation are completely different from where we live in the Seattle area.

My granddaughter, daughter-in-law (#3) and I sat in the sweltering hot sun while sketching at the ruins in Aztec. I sketched the skyline in watercolor (#1) while my granddaughter did a pencil sketch (#4) of the restored Kiva.

We explored this restored 900-year old ancestral Pueblo Great House (Kiva). It's the only one in the nation which allows visitors inside. You could look up and see original timbers holding up the roof. There is a superb video tour of the Great Kiva on the Aztec Monument site. More information about the ruins can be found there as well.

All the overlooks, viewpoints and benches were in full sun and high on sweltering hot hilltops. So my granddaughter and I sketched as fast as we could and then escaped into the shade between sketches. We finally had to cool off indoors to add color later.

A Few Details:
The shade inside the ruins was comparatively cooler, perhaps right down to the low 90's. You can see the thick walls, where we posed our sketchbooks in a doorway recess. The original centuries-old timber preserved in the wall made it possible to see ancient thumbprints in the nearby mortar. I saw what looked like a bird and snake carved into another one of the stones outside. (zoom adjacent image lower right.)

The Aztec National Monument was established in 1923 along with Chaco Culture National Historical Park to the south. It has an area of about 320 acres (130 hectares). Built of sandstone, mud, and stones by ancestors of the modern Pueblo Indians, these multilevel communal dwellings have over 400 rooms.  If you search, you can find the fingerprints of ancient workers in the mortar.


PS. Back home now and I finally have access to my own internet, laptop and camera card. I trust that you enjoyed these extra photos from a trip that is indelibly memorable to me. We plan to return, since this visit to the ruins was only for under two hours. (See previous post.)  By the way, did I say it was hot?

Sketching in Aztec, New Mexico

Mistakenly considered to be Aztec in origin by early white settlers, the site actually contains the ruins of a 12th-century Ancestral Pueblo settlement built by people associated with Chaco Canyon to the south. The Ancestral Pueblo people, formerly known as Anasazi, were ancestors of the modern Pueblo Indians. They lived in multilevel communal dwellings constructed of sandstone, mud, and stones.

100 degrees outside at Aztec Ruins, New Mexico

On this sweltering hot hilltop, my granddaughter and I sketched as fast as we could and escaped into the cool indoors to add color later.

A section of the ruins at Aztec, New Mexico.

Aztec Ruins National Monument, archaeological site in northwestern New Mexico, U.S. It is situated on the Animas River, in the city of Aztec, about 10 miles (16 km) south of the Colorado state line. The national monument was established in 1923 and designated a World Heritage site in 1987 (along with Chaco Culture National Historical Park to the south). It has an area of about 320 acres (130 hectares).

Looking east across the Animas River from the ruins. 

From another viewpoint, I got most of the color before I couldn't take the 100 degree "dry" heat. At least my watercolor washes dried quickly. 

Seattle Chinese Garden

"Welcome, Guests of the Garden" - This stone with beautiful Chinese calligraphy greeted visitors today at the Seattle Chinese Garden and was translated for me by three young women from China. I was in West Seattle to sketch with Seattle Urban Sketchers at the monthly outing for April. Our balmy spring weather was back (67^° F!), but with a bit of a nip in the breeze.

I didn't get very far down the sidewalk to the garden, since the view of the south facing wall was dappled with springtime light and shadow. It was a dramatic introduction which stopped me in my tracks.

My friend and fellow sketcher, Kate found the perfect rock to start her first sketch.

"The humble gate" decorates the entrance on the sunny south wall of the garden. Sketch by M. Cooper

Pat, Jane and Kate find the rocks, courtyard, and sculpture completely in harmony with nature.

My DYI Altoids mini-palette makes it easy to sketch while standing

More than two dozen varieties of tree peonies and several herbaceous peonies donated from Luoyang, China, were planted by volunteers in 2012. It is hoped that these 400 peony rootstock will create the largest public peony garden on the West Coast. Although the early spring weather has caused many to bloom already, Dewey (a volunteer and tour guide) says that there are still some that haven't bloomed yet. They will be ready to view next weekend at the Peony and Bamboo Festival. There will be a lion dance at 11 am on Saturday.

I put a few finishing touches to my two sketches. To see them, please visit my Flickr Photostream.

Topping the tulips--Monday Sketching with ASk--Tulips Second time

Sketching in the cold shelter of a tree line with Tina.

As we settled on a spot to sketch, a group of workers walked by and moved across the rows, snapping off the flower heads of the bulb crop. They left some for visitors to enjoy, but the weather was cold and breezy this time. I KNEW I should have brought my gloves!

We managed to finish our sketches, greet new arrivals from ASk,

then shiver our way to the other side, looking for a warmer spot. 

Fingers frozen, next we sketched in the car with our front row parking spots! Mt. Vernon weather is unpredictable this time of year.

You can just barely make out the workers in the upper right edge of the field.

This was April 6, the second Monday in a row for the Anacortes Sketchers, making sure we didn't miss the extremely early bloom this year.

Urban Sketchers Seattle, at the Burke Museum

This morning at the Burke Museum, another sizable crowd of Seattle Urban Sketchers came together for the monthly outing. Along with families, individuals and a meeting of the Tlingit and Salish tribes, we all shared a cozy and warm place to be on a blustery, rainy day.

Again, as I always do in museums, I felt a convergence of experience and time.

One of the featured exhibits was "Here & Now: Native Artists Inspired", which showcases how today's artists learn from past generations. The exhibit features 30 new works by contemporary Native artists, paired with historic pieces from the Burke Museum that artists identified as key to their learning. Coincidentally, a contemporary tribal group met in an adjacent room where a man with drums chanted, wearing his own woven hat in the traditional design. See photos above/left depending on your display screen.

My sketches of wings and eggs from the ornithology display in the lobby.

The elegantly displayed Xiphactonus from Kansas.

Although I enjoyed touring much of the rest of the museum, I was captivated by what I found in the lobby, where we all met in the beginning. I stayed there most of the time and sketched the two sketchbook spreads seen above.

The Confluence of Science and Art: Wes Wehr's Inspiration is now on display in the lobby of the Burke Museum. It is a fitting tribute. The entire display was beautifully arranged, like the perfectly arranged cabinet drawers of treasure in the paleontology and geology collections – the focus of Wehr's study and inspiration.

Sketchers, both new and experienced, find their subjects.

 The sketches above are but a fraction of those set out to share at the end of the outing today. See the Seattle Urban Sketchers blog for more accounts and photos of the inspired results.

 I can hear these toothy characters now, exclaiming: "So I'm stuck out in the middle of nowhere without a dental plan!"
Psst. Hey, guys, I hear there's a drawer full of teeth downstairs. FYI.

From Boren to Bangladesh, Virtually

Last weekend, I indulged my urge for travel and adventure.

In the real world, I drove from my home north of Seattle into the city to sketch with the Urban Sketchers at the new Starbucks Roastery near Capitol Hill in Seattle. I drove around, looking for parking on Boren Ave or anywhere nearby. It was Sunday and the place was jammed!

Virtual Paintout in Bangladesh (twig, ink, watercolor)

The day before, I was on  Mazar Rd. in Dhaka in Bangladesh, thanks to the monthly challenge on Virtual Paintout.
I was definitely in the mood for adventure, so I took out my new Perfect Sketchbook, black ink and a twig from the garden (ala Kian Kiean) and my trusty mini watercolor kit. I sat down in front of my laptop with the Google pegman right there on the intersection and sketched away! The place was MORE than jammed!

I, however, had a somewhat aerial view with a fresh latte by my side, a warm, cozy indoor seat, and nobody looking over my shoulder, asking, "What's happening? Why are all these people out here drawing and sketching?" or worse: "Are you an artist?" :/