Sketchcrawl

Water Tower from Conservatory

Florangelica interviewing Gabi at the Sculpture

Mallard
I found this guy tucked away in the pond on the way to the water tower

November blooms

Had a great time. Looking forward to the next crawl!

www.mcphanis.blogspot.com

SC#25 at Volunteer Park

Another great day out with the group. The weather even cooperated, considering that it was November in the PNW.

Although it was tolerable outside, I couldn't resist the nice warm conservatory. Only problems I had were the occasional drops of condensation falling at random times on me or my sketchbook, and locating myself where I didn't have to worry that one of those sneaky sketchers would draw a picture of me.

There just wasn't enough cadmium pigment in my little pocket palette to do this lady justice:


After the flamboyant tropicals I headed for the more low-key (and drier) desert area, where these prickly fellows prefer to be left alone thank you very much:

And a quick trip outside to draw the very castle-like water tower. Just as I was getting to the point where I often overwork my colors, it started to sprinkle. I'd like to think the sketching gods were telling me, "enough already." Thank you sketching gods, I need all the help I can get.

Another fun outing. That climb up the stairs to the top of the water tower was great exercise. Here's hoping the next place we meet has an elevator!

Volunteer Park watertower

My last sketch of the day was finished in the car with the heat on. I'll bet this watertower is fun in any season.

The Desert House in the Conservatory was a warm setting for a few of us. The subtle colors were perfect on this gray day.

Volunteer Park is full of drawing inspiration! I plan to go back. This bell, titled "Rainforest" can be found in the Conservatory.

Volunteer Park - Conservatory Plants

This was a great first time with the group for me, and I got to meet the terrific sketching/ painting artists of Seattle Sketchers.
I always enjoy the Conservatory in the Park, plus it was nice and warm compared to the cold outside this time.... Above I was centering in on a bromeliad.... And then I went to the cactus (cacti?) section...
Time passed so quickly, and before you knew it, we were all up in the Tower, where I'd never been. It was freezing up there, but great views. I thoroughly enjoyed the passing around of the sketchbooks & chatting. I was very inspired by the variety of styles people had, the subjects they selected to sketch, and, wow, some folks can come up with half a dozen sketches so quickly! Can't wait for next time out with the group!

SketchCrawl - Volunteer Park

The Conservatory - very warm The Observation Tower (I think that's Will sitting in front of the sculpture). - cold

Looking East from the Observation Tower over Lake Washington. - colder A lone diner reading a book at Fuller's. - just right

First, I want to thank Tim Taylor for slogging through Seattle's worst traffic to get me to a time sensitive rendezvous with my family after the sketchcrawl, I owe you big time.

OK, I'm a cold weather sketching wimp, maybe it's old age....Volunteer Park was a great choice for sketching this time of year at least I had some place to go to get out of the cold. The last sketch was done on the table top paper at a restaurant after meeting my family in town.

Plants

I did my best not to draw any buildings or structures. There is one small structure in the sketch. It is a thin gage formed rod holding up the stem of the flower in the lower left.

21 November at Volunteer Park

Wow! 17 of us. This was a great location for our sketchcrawl. I was very grateful to be able to work from inside my car -- and to share Gail's bench in the Conservatory, where I had fun painting on the Artist Guidelines (duly followed). Time ran out on the water color/tower.

Volunteer Park Conservatory

Had a great time. It was fun sketching inside the conservatory where it was warm. Great space and wonderful color. Look forward to see what everyone posts.

Volunteer Park sketchcrawl slideshow

I'll upload my sketches from today's sketchcrawl soon. In the meantime here's a slideshow of some of today's fun. What a great turnout! I had a blast. And thanks to Florangela for coming to cover our event for KPLU!

Nov 21 Sketchcrawl Volunteer Park

I think the thing I like the most about this sketchcrawl thing (apart from meeting cool new people,) is quite literally seeing the city you live in through new eyes. I had been to Volunteer Park before, but had never been inside the conservatory nor did I know about the water tower or the fact you could go up it! Just pen work today, hands too cold to get the watercolors out.

The Seattle Asian Art Museum by Carl Gould...


...the conservatory...


...and the Space Needle through the Noguchi.

Saturday Nov. 21st SketchCrawl. Meeting at Volunteer Park.

View Larger Map

We're meeting at 10 a.m. at Volunteer Park in front of the conservatory. Hope to see you all there. A heads up that a reporter from Seattle's radio station KPLU will be there to report on a story about SketchCrawl and Urban Sketchers. Don't miss it!

sailor take warning

Seattle Plein Air has been going to Fish. Term. every Wednesday for a few weeks now. The weather even let us out today! I think it's due to my friend Leigh's good karma. Most of the morning the sky was a little friendlier than this, but right over these boats it was quite grumpy.

First Thursday at SAM

The first Thursday of every month, admission to the Seattle Art Museum is free. Being a cheap sketcher, I took advantage of the opportunity. There were two special exhibits- old drawings by an Italian guy, and mobiles by Calder. Much to my surprise, admission to them was free also!

They don't let you bring anything other than dry media into the gallery, so my trusty pens and watercolors stayed home and I had to struggle along with some colored pencils.

It was pretty crowded, and the drawings were very small, but with patience I was eventually able to work myself up close enough to see to work without blocking other people's view. At least I think I wasn't. Nobody kicked me anyway... I've read that when you are copying a master's work, you are trying to channel a tiny bit of their spirit. I don't know about that, but if Michelangelo was looking over my shoulder at all he was probably just ticked off that his workers hadn't burned these sketches like he told them to.
If you do a drawing of a sculpture, is it still called a copy?

One of my favorite pieces in the regular collection, by Robert Henri. I wish they would let us bring our oil paints in, so someone could do these works justice.