Cherry Blossoms and the Steel Bridge

Two great sketchcrawl weather days in a row! What luck! I know I probably just jinxed us and we're doomed for rain next time, but today was just a lovely day. The cherry blossoms fluttered all around and everybody was outside. Despite the only once-a-year tree show I couldn't help but sketch another bridge. I did get a couple cherry trees in there, though.

I did all the ink outside and finished up with color at home. 

Ross Island Bridge

This past Saturday morning, I loaded up my bike basket with art supplies and rode over the Tilikum Crossing down to the South Waterfront where we met for this month's sketchcrawl. A short ride from our meeting place was a sunny viewpoint showing the full expanse of the Ross Island Bridge. The steel structure is going to be repainted this year and in real life, it is faded. I took some liberties with color and decided to show how nice it will look in bright green. 

As I finished up the ink for this painting, the sun was warm and I was even able to take off my coat. A sail boat floated by with 4 pirates on deck singing,"What will we do with a drunken sailor, early in the morning?” By then, it was a bit late to be considered early in the morning, but at the sounds of it, they had the drunken sailor part just right.

Last Saturday's sketchcrawl began a little drizzly, but I didn't want to miss a chance to sketch the outside of Union Station. I drove around in a perplexing circle of one way streets, until I found a perfect parking space. This view was periodically blocked by buses, but over two and a half hours, all of it was revealed in bits. I was delighted to be able to see Union Station's towers, the Fremont and Broadway bridges and two construction cranes all from my lucky spot. By the time my drawing was done, it was pouring rain and my windows were all fogged up. I finished up with watercolors at home.