Scavenger hunt #4: spring blossoms

This is item #4 for me. It was too dark to draw this flowery branch in the wild, so I took it home with me.

Bridges in Seattle

I was in Seattle over the weekend, and decided to walk to the train station this morning, figuring that I could work in a few bridges.

This is the I-5 bridge over the ship canal.



And this is, or rather was, the Alaska Way Viaduct.  Which is quickly turning into a pile of rubble. I was surprised to see them working on a Sunday.  But I suppose Snowmagedon threw a monkey wrench into their schedule, and they're trying to catch up.

Scavenger Hunt: Construction sites and the bus

Last week I tackled a couple more items on the scavenger hunt list at two construction sites, one on SE 60th and Division and the other downtown, and on the Division bus.

The dog was pretty sweet but as he got up he whapped me about with his tail as he stretched and shook himself off. I wish he would have stayed longer.

Another Bridge in Lan Su Garden

I took advantage of a sunny day in February to visit the Chinese Garden.

They haven't taken the lanterns down from Chinese New Year yet.  One of them even fell down when I was half-way through this sketch.

 After a morning spent drawing in the damp and then great conversation over lunch with more than a dozen sketchers (the best part of the day, IMO) I sat down in my studio to finish the page. I used a favorite stencil for the title, added just a bit of color to an otherwise bleak winter scene, channeling spring, and journaled about the day.

The palette you see here is a remodeled metal Prang set from which I pried the old paint pans and added my own colors using adhesive backed magnetic sheets.

Jo Reimer

Scavenger Hunt - almost but not close enough

I was so excited to get started on the scavenger hunt this morning and even patted myself on the back for checking off one item on the list. Then I realized the others were enumerating the items they completed, leading me to return to the list for reference. But then, to my horror, I discovered I was working off an old list! So I’m back to square one here is my fire hydrant painting from the old list. It’s like getting that Monopoly Card, go straight to jail do not collect $200 as you pass Go! - Bummer.

Vista Bridge sketchcrawl

I wasn't very hopeful of actually sketching outside at this past Saturday sketchcrawl....but it didn't turn out to be as bad as I expected. Finding a stretch of sidewalk under some dense foliage gave me enough of a dry spot to attempt the Vista Bridge view.

A few dots and blotches of rain water but the city view under the bridge was framed nicely by the arching supports of the bridge.

After the first sketch I tried to get a more realistic view of the traffic using this busy road from downtown to Route 26.

Scavenger hunt #7 & #8

I have been trying to use my Pentel pocket brush more. It is a challenge to reduce the line work to more simple strokes. But I think it works for the scavenger hunt sketches. Who knows, I may continue the effort for the duration of the hunt!

#7 Conversation

#8 meal...or remains

Scavenger Hunt - Items #8 and #10

Item #8: a meal or snack (or the remains of one) 
This was at the Coffee & Sketch meetup at St. Honore bakery on SE Division.  I had to buy three pastries so I could eat one and still leave two to sketch. 

Item #10: an ink drawing, done without a pencil underlay

Also from St. Honore. Worked with an old Reform fountain pen and a touch of watercolor for contrast colors.

MARCH 16 - Cherry Blossoms Steel Bridge / Burnside Bridge

MARCH 16 - Cherry Blossoms Steel Bridge / Burnside Bridge

It's Cherry Blossom time again at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. The weather has been strange so it's hard to know for sure if the cherry blossoms will be ready.  Blooms or no, we still have Ankeny Fountain, Saturday Market, and  Old Town/Chinatown nearby.  And of course the Steel and Burnside Bridges!!!

• 10:00am - Meet at Floyd's Coffee (118 NW Couch St.) for coffee, snacks, and socializing.
• 10:30am - Sketch along the waterfront around the Japanese American Historical Plaza (near the intersection of Couch and Naito) from 10-noon. Sketch trees, bridges, people.
• 12:00noon - Sketchbook throwdown, location tbd.
• 12:15pm - Optional lunch at Old Town Pizza (226 NW Davis St.) Or, if it's warm and dry enough we can grab food from the Saturday Market, and meet/eat outside by the Japanese American Historical Plaza. 

APRIL 20 - Hawthorne / Belmont Bridges, from OMSI

Details TBD