Thursday, July 26, 2012

Tacoma: City of Destiny

Four of us Portland sketchers took the train north to Tacoma, Washington last weekend to meet up with sketchers from all over Washtington state. It was a blast.

I used my water-soluble felt-tip brush pen to whip out a few fast postcards on the train ride north:


I had also brought my sketchbook with the black paper, so did a warm-up sketch of Deb's hand as she drew. The gel-pen I had packed turns out to stay tacky for a while, and it goops up the opposite side of the page. Boo!

When we arrived, I sat on the "glass bridge" and drew Chihuly sculptures while having a delightful chat with Emily from Olympia. This sketch of the sculptures looks a bit cartoonish--but then, so were the sculptures themselves.
Wanted one more sketch before we headed to lunch, of a pair of strange octopus-like critters: white on black is a fast way to work for that. This time the shading's in white colored pencil, less goop-risk.

I've been messing with dry-watercolor sheets to see what it's like to paint with them. Nice to have the option of screamingly bright colors! But after lunch I settled in to mix some more neutral, complex tones while sketching the stone sculptures near the trolley station.

The dry watercolor sheets don't have the same "sediment" quality that some normal watercolors do, but they still can blend in lovely ways.

While waiting at the train station, I of course had to sketch the Tacoma Dome. Twice!

Our merry team of Portlanders couldn't resist sketching each other as we cracked each other up all the way home. It was a delightful day, all told.






6 comments:

  1. Katura, he disfrutado mucho viendo sus dibujos y zoom para leer sus comentarios (je, je), los cuales expresan maravillosamente el día en Tacoma. Estoy de acuerdo, que era una maravilla! (Se me ocurrió ayudar a refrescar tu español con este. ¡Hurra, Google Translate.)

    Katura, I've really enjoyed seeing your sketches and zooming in to read your comments (heh, heh), both of which express wonderfully the day in Tacoma. I agree, it was a blast! (Thought I'd help you brush up on your Spanish with this. Hooray, Google Translate.)

    Love the glass sculptures especially, and my glamourous portrait that shows my feeling contentment. Gracias!

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    1. Vicky, te agradezco mucho--casi había olvidado me nuevo intención de hacer mi blog en manera bilingüe! He intentado escribir más comentarios en mis dibujos, porque captura mas de lo que está sucediendo alrededor...Voy a ver si Google puede traducir esto a ingles sin problemas, debe ser divertido leer el resultado.

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      Vicky, thank you very much - I had almost forgotten I intend to do my new blog bilingually! I tried to write more comments on my drawings, because it captures more of what is happening around ... I'll see if Google can translate it to English without any problems, should be fun to read the result.

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  2. Your sketches a constant inspiration....and your output is incredible. I am marveling that you were able to take time to eat lunch! You have beautifully documented our wonderful day. Oh and btw I like the shadow effect that the gel pen left in the sketchbook.

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    1. Thank you, Deb! I have spent so much time hanging out with non-sketchers that I've trained myself to draw super fast--since folks get impatient with me otherwise, ha ha. You're probably right that that shadow effect could be an elegant addition when used well...I didn't expect it though!
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      Gracias, Deb! He pasado tanto tiempo con personas que no son artista que me he entrenado a dibujar lo mas rapidament posible--porque la gente falta paciencia conmigo si no, ja ja. Tienes razon que el efecto de sobra es intersante y podia aun ser elegante en algunas circunstancia...pero era una sorpresa verlo!

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  3. These are great! We loved having you up there to join us, can't wait to visit Portland!

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    1. Thanks, Gail! It was really great you and all the other folks from Team Washington!

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