Line to Color Workshop in Seattle

This weekend, I took a two and a half day Urban Sketchers Workshop with Gail Wong and Frank Ching, in Seattle. It was terrific and filled with useful, individualized instruction as well as lots of time to practice what we were being taught. We met a few more Portlanders there and I hope that they will join us for future sketchcrawls and maybe post their sketches, too.

Here are a few sketches from the weekend. If you want to read more about it and see more, go to http://draw2c.blogspot.com

This is the canal in the Fremont neighborhood. (We went straight to pen in this workshop, so all the guidelines and mistakes, remain.) At one point, the bridge opened and a tall sailboat passed through.  It held a violinist at the bow, playing as the boat moved along the canal.

Besides trying to use appropriate perspective and measurement, we were trying to have our subject placed in context (i.e. the surrounding area). I was pleased to see that those plants (with clusters of three leaves) that were surrounding me, were blackberries and not poison oak.

Next, we moved up the hill for street scenes. Here's Saturn, with solar panel rings, atop a building.

Strangely, there is a statue of Lenin nearby. Appropriately someone painted with blood on his hands.

On the final day, from a place on the crowded sidewalk, I sketched this iconic view. (Full disclosure: a few of those lines are Frank's.)

 A couple of children came by and painted with us for a few minutes. Here is one of the little charmers...

Back in Portland, I decided to try some of my new skills on a view I've sketched before and here's the result....

Thanks to Gail and Frank and my fellow sketchers!