May 18, 2019--Urban Sketching Workshop Announcement

I’m looking forward to meeting my students in Seattle for the new USK 10x10 2019 Spring series of urban sketching workshops.

My class is  listed as #4, First Steps into Visual Journaling. May 18, Saturday.
Registration is now open for this one day workshop 

Ready to take your “First Steps into Visual Journaling”?

Registration begins Saturday, March 16, 2019, 9 a.m.The cost for each 3½-hour workshop is $60 through our “early bird” date, April 1, 2019. After April 1, the price is $70 per workshop. Registration will be processed by the event management website, Brown Paper Tickets. Please see the program schedule and workshop details and read  the FAQ for registration information. 

Have questions? Send email to: usk.seattle@gmail.com

The Story of an Icicle

I am excited about two things this morning:

1. I was given a Winsor and Newton Series 7 brush last week and can't wait to try it out. It's just the right size, #5 round, for adding watercolor to my ink sketches. (I'm not about to take such a treasure out of the studio, so I need to find something here to paint.)
2. An icicle is forming on the mailbox outside!

So I put on waterproof boots, two sweaters, a scarf and my woolly beret. I grab my sketchbook and a pen. I angle my white sketch paper to avoid snow blindness.

Standing in the driveway, focused on drawing the snow, the mailbox and the icicle, I hear the sound of an approaching motor.

It's the mail delivery truck!

I receive my mail by hand and chat with the courier for a few moments.

I prepare to resume my sketch only to discover that the action of opening the mailbox has completely dislodged the icicle and it lies in shattered fragments on the ground!

No worries, I already sketched my icicle. I go into the studio to warm up and lay in a few watercolor washes. Then when I go back out to compare my sketch with the scene for a few finishing touches, I discover that while I was painting inside, a new icicle was beginning to form on the edge of the mailbox. The circle of life!

My finished sketch of an icicle

A new icicle begins to form while I am warming up indoors.

Sketching at Da Shop with USK Oahu and family

My son’s family came with me to the USK Oahu sketch outing in Kaimuki at Da Shop, a relatively new bookstore that is part of a publishing warehouse. They specialize in books and authors from Hawaii and Oceania. Along with the books displayed in the store and online, they have children talk stories, food events, author and artist exhibitions, film screenings and lectures.

My sketch of my granddaughter, Ocean, sketching in the children’s corner.

I thought the children’s reading corner was so inviting. When I was a child I would have loved having a place like that to tuck into with a good book!

9 year old Leila sketching at Da Shop, Honolulu.

Leila’s sketches, minus one.

Our son, Matt, reading to his daughter, Ocean.

See more about the outing here oahu.urbansketchers.org/2018/12/07/next-event-44/

Try Prompts from Another October Challenge

This Doodlewash art challenge is open to anyone who wants to participate with watercolor painting and/or simply pencil or pen and ink drawings as well!*

*Participating in Inktober 2018? Awesome! Then simply add the tag #doodlewashOctober2018 as well when you post and share what you make with us!

Oh, the temptation! It was so hard to do this in black and white instead of the fall colors that I wanted to use! I saw these autumn leaves floating in our pond and it seemed so tranquil.......until they started sinking while I was sketching them!

See my IG for process and color photo.

I will miss Bothell Country Village

Bothell Country Village is a unique place where character abounds. Naturally it is one of the favorite sketching locations for Seattle Urban Sketchers, who met there today for what may be the last time. The property has been sold and the village will be dismantled after April, 2019.

Fading into history

Keepsake Cottage Fabrics has been at "The Barn" since 1984. The owner, Julie, told me they will have to relocate to a warehouse and try to continue their business online.

Sketching from across the street under the covered porch by the bakery.

The windmill originally came from a wheat farm in Waterville, Eastern Washington.

I was surrounded by blue lace cap hydrangeas and borders of summer flowers in full bloom as the day turned from a cool, overcast 60°F to a pleasant partly sunny 70°F towards lunchtime.

Ann was on the front porch, documenting all the beautiful bolts of fabric lined up along the wall.

Tina was across the street on the covered boardwalk, sketching the barn with graphite and kneaded eraser.

Meandering paths lead you through a whimsical world of duck ponds, home decor, restaurants, one of a kind toys, gifts, antiques and more.

It seems there is never enough time in the 2-3 hours that we spend sketching during each outing. How could you possibly document it all?

See IG and Flickr tags #uskseattle for more sketches from our outing on Friday, August 3.

A small family runs their flower stand at the Friday Farmers' Market. June 1 - Sept 28, 2018

First, sketching, then lunch with friends at Village Eatery & Tea Co, then buying flowers on the way to the car. Can it get any better than this?

A Cool Spot to Sketch at Bellevue Botanical Garden

As our heat wave continued, USk Seattle found refuge at Bellevue Botanical Garden for their monthly outing today. It was cool and comfortable in the shade of the forested garden. The outside temperature climbed from 78°F to 91°F from the time we met at 10 am. until many left the parking lot after lunch at around 2:00 pm.

The garden provided a cool quiet place for everyone.

The "Hobbit Door" was still there.

I was amazed at the transformation from the old familiar gardens that I last visited at least a decade ago. First, I found the "Hobbit Door" as I walked along the path beyond the Tea House. Although I was on my way to the Yao Garden, I just had to capture this enchanting little feature first.

I was entranced also by the serenity of the Yao Japanese Garden. I found a cool shady spot at the south end of the pond and spent the rest of my sketching time there. I sketched the summer sky reflected in the pond and the rocks and plantings bordering it all around.

Somehow I was subliminally influenced to go to the gift shop and buy two rocks with images on one side and sayings on the other. They make good paper weights!

With the air conditioning on full blast, I made the commute back home where the gauge on the deck said it was 92°F in Marysville! Isn't this supposed to be the weather in Porto during the symposium? I think we've switched climates!

Day 12 Firefly Challenge #TBT A. J. Casson and World Watercolor DayChallenge--Fast and Loose

I am hoping that the spirit of the challenge today is what is important. We have an appointment to take my husband's iPhone in for battery replacement at the University Village Apple computer store today;

Since my personal goal is to do all the Firefly challenges that I can from life or on location, it would not work for us to take a side trip to Lime Kiln Lighthouse on the same day. (I have sketched it on location in the past, but can't find the artwork now. Possibly it was sold.)

"Fast and Loose" and a "lighthouse" shape near the Apple Store, with customer

I did, however, find a metaphor for the lighthouse; the Information Post at the mall. It has a "lighthouse" like shape and I could sit and sketch it at a nearby shady table while waiting for our iPhone battery. So this is my result on a hot day in Seattle.

Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook, Altoids DIY travel palette, Sharpie pen

Even though I was standing on the shady side of Ravenna Gardens, it truly was necessary to paint the hanging petunias and purple stocks as fast and loose as possible. The good thing is that it takes no time at all for the washes to dry! That satisfies the challenge for today on WorldWatercolorMonth as well! What a relief to slip into the cool, air conditioned shop from the 85°F heat outside.

The beautiful flowers at Ravenna Gardens Shop

Since I painted the flowers with no preliminary drawing, I can check off another of my missing days for the 30x30DirectWatercolor2018 challenge as well!

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

Meridian Playground

On July 31, 1907 the Sisters of the Good Shepherd opened “The Home of the Good Shepherd” in north Seattle to provide shelter, education, and guidance to girls and young women in crisis. The Sisters planted and maintained a fruit orchard and vegetable garden on the eleven acre property. Part of the original grounds has become Meridian Park and includes many of the 100-year old trees the Sisters planted.

The  Playground is themed after children's books.

I used direct painting with watercolor and a waterbrush for the hand hewn look of the water faucet post. The naturalistic part of the spread was done with line and wash, using permanent ink and Prima Watercolors. My sketch buddy, Tina, uses tinted pages for many of her sketches. Scroll down her IG account to see them.

Meridian Playground is one of the few public parks in the city that remains unsprayed. The nets are an organic method of protecting the fruit from disease and insects. Volunteers maintain and harvest the fruit which is given to charities for people in need.

 

I couldn't resist going back for a quick pencil sketch of the little tugboat. Finished later with ink and markers.

The property is owned by the City of Seattle and much of the orchard is maintained by Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation.  The Good Shepherd Center, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is managed by Historic Seattle. Its adjacent parking lot contains 26 fruit trees which are maintained by Historic Seattle. The Seattle P-Patch Program and Seattle Tilth manage fruit trees within the learning and community garden areas.

The apples are now about the size of ping pong balls.

Cedar picnic tables make a great place to lay down your sketches while taking photos, but it's about 90°F in direct sun, and 85°F in the shade right now.

I had fun being playful with my headline and text. I felt that the bright colors of my Arteza brush markers were just the touch needed for the children's themed sketches.

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING: Update

Art abandonment postponed. Look for updates on my Instagram feed for the next opportunity to catch this abandoned art.

I posted this on my Instagram feed for the June monthly SeattleUSk outing. I had everything packed up in

my sketch bag the night before, but life interrupted. 

We got a surprise visit from our grandson and two little great grandchildren and just had to spend the day with them. Grilled salmon, salad, ice cold beer,  the sprinkler running in the back yard for the kids to run through, animal crackers, easy chat, relaxing on the deck; it was a great day!

I Call It “The Unicycle “ of Watercolor

The unicycle of watercolor 

I call it the unicycle of watercolor because you can make ONE entire color WHEEL from a SINGLE  primary triad. It's minimal, takes a little skill to become expert with it but it will get you around any landscape or urban sketch with a minimum of extraneous baggage. And I RE-CYCLED my empty eyeshadow case!

Materials:

1 empty eyeshadow case, washed and dried 

A sponge cut to fit the applicator tray*

Three primary watercolors:

1. Phthalo Blue (RS) Daler-Rowney 
2. Quinacridone Rose (M Graham)
3. Permanent Lemon Deep (Holbein)

Mix your colors in the lid when travel sketching.

*Use the dampened sponge to clean your waterbrush between colors

I surprised my watercolor class this morning  by giving this away in a drawing. Congratulations to Joan for winning the drawing!

Where Shall I drop this Urban Sketch?

We have an exciting weekend in urban sketching ahead! First, I'll be teaching my 10x10 USK Workshop on First Steps into Visual Journaling on Saturday. The workshop is sold out but I will be posting some tips and hints in the next few days and after the workshop as well. Follow me here and on Instagram. Set up alerts so you can see a real time hint when I drop this piece.

I'm hoping some of my students will be enthused with their new confidence and urban sketching skills and come to the monthly outing on Sunday at Wallingford Center. I'll be there to cheer you on!

So where shall I drop this? On Saturday or Sunday? I could use some suggestions to overcome my dilemma. Update: OK, tomorrow it is, Sunday the 20th at Wallingford Center sometime during the monthly sketch outing. Come join us for urban sketching in Seattle!

Going to abandon this greeting card with sketch print on the coming weekend during USK event.

Ready for my USK 10x10 Students

I’m ready for my students in Seattle for the new USK 10x10 Spring series of urban sketching workshops. My class is sold out but those on the waiting list have priority for registration for my next one August 25. Meanwhile, here’s a peek at a few perks for you students who are ready to take your “First Steps into Visual Journaling”. See you soon!

Five Minute Sketches, WIP

I assigned Tuesday's watercolor classes a little warm up exercise: Take your sketchbook out for a 5 minute sketch. Use any simple tool you like, pen, pencil, etc. Take 5 minutes to find a subject, 5 minutes to sketch and 5 minutes to return to the classroom and share your sketches. It was raining, so just a few chose to brave the cold damp weather outdoors for 5 minutes. The rest chose to spread out all around the interior of the building, sketching what they saw out the windows. I was so impressed by what they did. I think they even surprised themselves! (Sorry, I didn't take a photo of their sketches.)

My five minute sketches from Tuesday, ready for a touch of color and narrative after breakfast today.

Towards the end of the day, I discovered this ingenious little light well with its own pocket garden, flower pots ready and waiting for spring, and a Tuscan mural to cheer up those looking out from the windows on the opposite wall. I only had time to do the ink sketch, planning to add watercolor pencil and ink wash later.

A light well hides a secret garden.

My 5 minute sketch with the Sharpie Pen after class.

Here's the result of some simple color and ink washes on the secret garden sketch. I have time lapse video demo on my Instagram feed of the color/wash process. See link in right column.

See my Instagram feed @michelecooperart for a time lapse video of process of adding color.

I managed to get a few trophy shots of my other two 5 minute sketches (see below)

Afternoon sketch. Looking straight across the alley at the cracked wall and weathered window on the next building.

I had planned to go outside and was headed for the elevator for my first sketch when an unusual appliance in the parking lot caught my eye out the second floor window.

I have no idea what this is....maybe a refrigeration unit? But what fun to draw!

I started on the right hand side of my Pentalic Aquajournal in the morning, then added sketches in the afternoon and after class.

Tuesday am sketch demo (right side) and pm sketch (left side)

I have a heading, 2nd FLOOR, but still haven't decided what my narrative will be for the rest of this two page spread in my visual journal. I will post it here when it's finished.