Lest we forget....

The day before Memorial Day - In remembrance of our war dead and their families......

Though I never want to deal the crowds on Memorial Day itself, for the past few years I have visited Tahoma National Cemetery in the days just prior.  I take flowers to put on grave sites without them and then I do one or two sketches while I think about the sacrifice represented there. 

I went this morning before it became too hot but I still sweltered in the sun as I sketched.  I knew I wanted to attempt the wide scene as The Mountain would be out!  This VA cemetery is situated such that Mt. Rainier can be seen over the honored dead.  And it was today!  



While sketching a couple people came up to look and talk.  One was Laurie, whose son is buried here.  She started Lion Heart Heroes Foundation.  A couple men also stopped.  Like me, they knew no one buried there but just thought it was the right thing to visit and pay respects.

More details on my personal blog.  

--Kate Buike

Narrative Art and the 'POW' Effect

I'm very interested in sketching people doing things in a location. Recently, I've been having a growing awareness that I am one of the people present in each location, also doing things.  

We PEOPLE, wherever we are, are creating stories with our actions and feelings. And, we SKETCHERS are artists creating pictures of these stories. 

When I went into the Jewel Box Cafe at Point Ruston, in Tacoma WA yesterday, I was hit with an extreme emotional attraction.... "POW!'
 
An empty, over-sized, velvety-red chair, sporting ornate woodwork and twinkling brass tacks was cajoling me to come cuddle. It was a delicious feeling. I couldn't believe no one was sitting in 'my' chair, or either of her nearby red sisters. I stood for some moments before going to order a coffee simply because I was enjoying her siren call.

Finally, coffee in hand, I walked toward her. As I came closer, I realized she deserved a more memorable reaction from me than my sinking onto her cushion. I would sketch her, knowing that the intimacy of drawing her would remain in my thoughts and emotions much longer than a fleeting cuddle that would last only as long as my coffee.
 
That's my story.

Of course, I also noticed the women sitting at the side table, discussing Life while enjoying the sunshine. I understood why they were over there: the red chairs were much too far apart for the intimacy of their animated conversation and sunshine is a rare gift we treasure in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S..




That's their story.

In a way, their story and mine are similar: All three of us optimized for the highest and best intimacy and enjoyment we could achieve in that time and place. 

There are a couple of ways our story is different, though: I am an artist...and, I want the viewers of my sketch (if I succeed with it) to feel what I experienced in that place and time. So, to try to achieve that I did 'some artist-things' :
 
I composed my sketch using the 'Rule of Thirds.'
 
I revised my values until I was sure the greatest contrast took place at my focal point: the chair.
 
Even though my palette was just a basic Red/Yellow/Blue...I made sure there was a complementary color combination taking place at the focal-point chair, making it 'stand out.'

But then, perhaps my story isn't so different from theirs: One of the ladies kept gesturing with her hand as she shared her thoughts: over and over again, she kept 'catching my attention' as she made HER point.           

Seattle Sketching - Chinese Gardens

Lakewold Gardens

Even though I've lived in Lakewood for close to 30 years, I have only been to the Lakewold Gardens a handful of times. Having the opportunity to go there with the Sketchers the other day was an outing I looked forward to. I've only sketched a few times over the past several months, so I noticed I was a bit slower than usual and only was able to complete one sketch. But, that didn't diminish the enjoyment of the drawing activity in the least......it just reminded me of how much I love to lay ink and pigment to paper. Ah, yes. It felt like coming home.
I hope you can join us next time!

Pat

May Sketches

Took Light Rail into Seattle to attend a Photoshop lecture at the Adobe campus. These sketches were done on the commute.

Pen, ink and watercolor in a Moleskine watercolor book.

Sketch Outings for June 2017

First Saturday, June 3, 2017:  
Marine Park / Les Davis Pier

3427 Ruston Way, Tacoma, WA 98402

We’ll meet at 10:00 AM by the park kiosk.  There are covered benches on the pier and restrooms at the kiosk.  Parking is free.

The site offers panoramic views of Puget Sound / ships / people fishing / diving.  Free parking / restrooms / snack bar / covered areas on pier.  

At 12:30 PM we’ll regroup for sketch sharing and photos

Directions from I-5: Follow I-705 to N. Schuster Parkway which turns into Ruston Way (stay LEFT at both highway splits). The parking lot entrance is your 1st right after passing the red fire boat on Ruston Way.

Following the sketch sharing, we'll have lunch at the RAM restaurant (just south of the park on Ruston Way) if you’d like to.

RAM Restaurant & Brewery
3001 Ruston Way, Tacoma, WA 98402

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Second Thursday, June 8, 2017: Rosedale Gardens

7311 Rosedale St NW, Gig Harbor, WA 98335
 

Becky the manager at Rosedale Gardens is delighted to have us sketch there.  We can bring our lunch and picnic there too!

Meet at 10am  Mary and Karen will be hosts.

Directions:  Route 16 west, Gig Harbor city center exit, straight through intersection at top of ramp, aim for Chevron gas station, second stop sign turn left onto Rosedale, go 2.1 miles is on right.

 ________________________________________________________________________

Third Wednesday, June 21:  Waterworks Studio

7012 Sw 240th St., Vashon Island, WA 98070
http://www.waterworksonvashon.com/

Meet at the studio patio at 10am.  Consider carpooling from the ferry dock at Point Defiance. 

Ferry sailing schedule:
http://www.wsdot.com/Ferries/Schedule/ScheduleDetailByRoute.aspx?route=pd-tal
In order to arrive at 10 am meeting time, it would be best to take the 9:15 sailing. 

Urban Sketcher Wednesday outings host, Darsie Beck, has invited us to sketch at his studio:  Waterworks is located on Maury Island in a rural pastoral setting. Great sketching in and around the studio and pond.

Parking just inside the entrance of the driveway or on the road of that gets full.


Bring lunch or some may enjoy The Hardware Store in the town of Vashon at the intersection of Vashon Highway and Bank Road. Another popular eatery is the Snap Dragon - great more relaxed atmosphere. The Vashon Roasterie (the Minglement) another great place to snack and sketch for lunch. They do not have a kitchen, just good refrigerated take away lunches.

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 Ad Hoc:  Festival of Sail Friday, June 16

Foss Waterway
705 Dock St, Tacoma, WA 98402

http://festofsailtacoma.com/


It’s a rare chance to catch a glimpse, step aboard, and even set sail on some of the grandest ships of yore. Tacoma will be one of only a handful of Pacific ports that will host the historic ships. 

In addition to Tall Ships, the World’s Largest Rubber Duck will be on Foss Waterway.  

 Edit 5/22:  
Standby for a possible change in meeting location.  Don't buy your ticket yet.... unless, of course, you really want to go into the festival area.   We might meet across the water or at a park overlooking the area from above.

Edit 5/26:
Change of meeting location.   

 Meet at 10 am at the Center for Urban Waters  
402 E D St, Tacoma, Washington
https://www.urbanwaters.org/
 

There is a public area facing the festival site but viewing from across the Foss Waterway.  

There is free parking but there is no way to know whether others will have this same idea, so carpooling could be a good idea. 

Here are more views of the area: 
https://redharp.smugmug.com/SketchOutings/2017-0524-Center-for-Urban-Waters/


 

Lakewold Gardens

Yesterday, Wednesday, was the Urban Sketchers Tacoma outing to Lakewold Gardens.  I've been at least once before but don't remember being quite so distracted by all the sketching opportunities.  I did a lot of walking around before choosing subjects. 

And I certainly wasn't aware of the Fairyfest!  There were dozens of small, individually created, fair houses spread throughout the garden.  

I decided to make a two page montage.  I included 2 of the fairy houses, a moss covered chair with shrine in the Garden for Peace, and a small fishing monk statue.



We met back near the Garden Shop and entry point for sketch sharing and the group photo.





Afterward, a smaller group of us went to lunch.  I took my minimal sketch kit in with me and did this sketch of the Red Robin in my tiny sketchbook.



Lots of photos of the grounds and the fairy houses are here:
https://redharp.smugmug.com/SketchOutings/2017-0517-Lakewold-Garden/

DRAWING, A RECORD OF TIME AND PLACE

On a recent sketch outing with Port Townsend Urban Sketcher group I made a sketch of the maritime environment from the beach in front of Chetzemoka Park . Fort Worden, Point Wilson Light, Admiralty inlet, Whidbey Island and an incoming freighter were the subject of my sketch. It occurred to me as I observed the view and began to make record of it, seeing it from my perspective, time and place have stood still. The light house at Point Wilson, the wharf and buildings at Fort Worden have been there since the beginning of the 20th century. It appears nothing has changed, time and place have stood still. And then on the horizon behind the spit of land the light house sits on an incoming container ship loomed large and surreal against the historic foreground, spoiling the view and awaking me from my idyllic state of imagining this scene some 80 or 90 years ago. To keep my vision alive and historic, I converted the container ship to a more period freighter and finished the sketch. I know this is not in accordance with our urban sketchers manifesto, to be truthful to the scenes we witness but sometimes I just feel I have to make an exception. I've included a similar historic sketch of Point Robinson along with a pure and truthful sketch of ships in Commencement Bay.

For the record the top sketch was done in my Pentalic 5x8 watercolor journal using Derwent watercolor pencils. The sky and water were done wet-in-wet pulling pigment off the French Gray and Blue Gray pencils with my water brush. The middle and bottom sketch are both watercolor and ink in Moleskine water color journals.


 I

The Portable Sketcher

I am always looking for ways in which I can make Urban Sketching portable. I always carry a “purse” which is actually my art bag but that includes my wallet. In my “purse” I always carry a couple of sketchbooks, pencils, different types of pens and my watercolors among other things. In a future posting I will share what I carry in detail and how I prepare my sketch bag for my daily use. Trying to be compact but still having all I need to be ready to urban sketch lead me to find this new product, The Portable Painter. I came across this product thru Indiegogo.com  crowd funding site. It was started by Steven Padden and so far it has been very successful. I bought it for $30.00 and it arrived way faster than I expected, it took about a week!

But what is The Portable Painter? The Portable Painter is a palette with two wells and a brush. It is made of plastic and is very light. It comes with 12 half pans and I used some double tape to attach the pan to the palette to hold it tight. What I like about it is that it is so compact that it fits perfectly inside my “purse”/art bag, it is very light and you can even put it in your bag pocket. The wells slide perfectly to each side of the palette and you can place it on the ground, a table and even your thigh.

One well serves to wet your brush and the other to clean it. It comes with a double brush or you might be able to fit in a travel brush of your liking. I was able to get my size 4 Escoda Versatil, larger sizes on this brand are too thick.
So far I used it in the field on Saturday while sketching with Urban Sketchers and it was very useful. So I liked it and if you like to explore new art products and you are always on the go, The Portable Sketcher might be one to try. Here are the pictures of the product and my most recent sketch.

The Portable Painter right out of the box.

The palette has the double sided brush, two wells and 12 half pans.

The double brush has two sizes.

I added double tape to the half pans to make sure they don't move inside the palette.

And finally what did I sketched using this palette?

The Freight house Square in Tacoma!

I hope this was useful. Let me know if you have any questions and Happy Sketching!

Daisy

Sketching the Gazebo

The second Thursday outing group in Gig Harbor went to The Gazebo in Uptown Shopping Center. 

The sketches and the group of sketchers (minus Karen).

 
 
images courtesy of Pam Jenkins
 posted by Kate Buike

Freighthouse Square - Tacoma

Going loose at the monthly Tacoma Urban Sketchers Gathering. Construction site at Freighthouse Square, man did it feel good to sketch outside in the sunshine.

Pen, ink, and watercolor wash in a Moleskine watercolor book.

Bunny buns

What a day!  It felt like we had suddenly launched into summer.  With perfect weather predicted I thought it would be a good day to sketch the bunnies!  This is a sculpture at Point Ruston.  I've had my eye on these charming and whimsical rabbits for quite some time. 

My first stop, though, was for an outdoor lunch on the patio from Wild Fin's Fish Bar.  There were so many people out and about that my wait was over 30 minutes!  I did a very quick ink sketch only to realize I would have had time for a longer one!  



Sitting on the brick pavers next to a concrete planter I became rather warm!  I like getting the unexpected back view of animals and animal sculptures... it all started with the horses' read ends as they stood in their stalls at the Fair !   So, I give you the buns' buns......



This sculpture is officially known as Hip Hop, By Georgia Gerber
Material: Bronze | 2013
"Hip-Hop” is an expression of joy, movement, and whimsy. The form was originally created in 2007 as part of Georgia’s ongoing series of sculptures depictingstylized rabbits in various dance poses."

Changes to Urban Sketchers Tacoma

Frances Buckmaster has decided to retire from her leadership role with USk Tacoma as of last Saturday, April 29.  Frances attended the very first Urban Sketchers outing in Seattle in July 2009.  In 2013, she founded USk Tacoma. She has worked tirelessly to build the group to what it is today. Most of this is behind the scenes but the fruits are visible in the growth and function of the group.  She has innovated ways to share the work of managing this group and has grown the number of monthly outings.  We owe her a huge dept of gratitude!   

Frances setting up for "Parking Day" to promote USk Tacoma

She's not gone but taking a step out of the leadership. The leadership group (admins, outings hosts, blog correspondents) had a meeting with Frances on that Saturday to work out roles for the immediate future. 

Kate Buike (that's me) has assumed the roll of overall coordinator and continues as "technology manager".  I can be contacted at mkbuike at comcast dot net  (making the change into a real email address).  Still in place are the hosts for outings:  First Saturday host continues to be Tom Bradley; second Thursdays is Pam Jenkens;  Third Wednesdays is Darcie Beck.   All also have backups. 

Behind the scenes are three administrators, as required by the Urban Sketchers Board.  These are Kate Buike, Darcie Beck and Mark Ryan.  Mark also is backup for the management of the technology supporting USk Tacoma. Karen Wilsey will help as backup for Facebook group admin.

Frances will no longer be sending reminders and other emails from her private email group.  One option being considered is a Google Group so the members of USk Tacoma can communicate  with each other via email.  Our only other vehicle for that is Facebook but we do not want that to be the only option as there are some people who, understandably, will not join Facebook. 

posted by Kate Buike

Show opening

The instructors for the Urban Sketchers Seattle 10x10 workshops are having a group show!  It opens this Thursday, May 4th.

5-8 pm

Center for Architecture & Design 

1010 Western Ave., Seattle