February 2019 outings

First Saturday, February 2: Sorci's Italian Cafe

 Sorci's

1021 Ryan Ave, Sumner, WA
https://www.sorcisitaliancafe.com/

We'll meet at 10 am to sketch inside this restaurant where one of our members works.

The restaurant is cheerfully decorated with many corners and views offering sketch subjects.

Drinks and food will be available once they open at 11:30 for customers.    

Please remember to be good guests and support this sketcher-friendly venue by buying their food or beverages while sketching on their premises.  One of our own members works there and has arranged this outing with the manager. This includes not bringing outside food and beverages. So be generous, be considerate of the establishment and their customers and show the world how sketching can help everyone to be happy!
______________________________________________________________________________

Second Thursday, February 14: Harbor Teak
Harbor Teak
7520 Soundview Dr, Gig Harbor, WA
http://harborteak.com/

 Meet inside  at 10 am.

 

Harbor Teak has lots of interesting items to sketch and we can sit on the furniture!  It is up the street from Tides Tavern.

.
Directions:

From North: 16 south to Wollochet/City Center, left at top of ramp on to Pioneer cross over 16 and follow directions below

From South: exit Wollochet/City Center, right at top of ramp onto Pioneer, second right turn onto Grandview, at Soundview turn left, will be on your left, some parking in rear, other on street and in shopping center.  Store is just up the street from Tides Tavern.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Third Wednesday, February 20: Seymour Conservatory in Wright Park  

Wright Park Conservatory

316 South G Street, Tacoma, WA 98405
https://www.metroparkstacoma.org/conservatory/

https://www.metroparkstacoma.org/wright-park/

We’ll meet in front of the Conservatory at 10:00 AM.  Limited parking is available on the circle in front of the conservatory, otherwise there is ample parking on the streets surrounding the park.

There is a suggested donation of $3.

Wright Park is 27 acres of arboretum, ponds, play/spray grounds and botanical gardens surrounded by some fine old neighborhood architecture… plenty of interesting sketch sites.  In case of rain, we will be able to sketch in the Conservatory where there are lots of strange plants. 

The rest rooms are somewhat of a hike away though, over by the play/sprayground

At 12:30 PM we’ll regroup for sketch sharing and photos, followed by lunch at the Hob Nob Restaurant across from the white lions’ entrance to the park at 716 S. 6th Avenue for those who wish to stay for lunch.

https://hobnobtacoma.com/ 

 

State Capitol

It was a sunny but chilly morning at the State Capitol in Olympia, WA. Our group was small but intrepid as some of us sketched outside.

I started inside with the corridor in front of the Governor's office. I'm surprised there isn't more security. The only visible protection are a few State Police officers, one of whom is sitting at a desk just inside the Governor's suite.

Dozens of school children passed by on tours led by Capitol staff.  "turn off your cell phones; remove your hoods; no photos allowed in the Governor's office....". 



I wandered around the building a bit and then headed outside for a view of the dome. I only had about a half hour left so limited the sketch.



Sharing sketches and the group photo.



We're missing one or two who had to leave early. 



More photos



--by Kate Buike

Antique Airplanes

This post courtesy of content by Mary McInnis and Pam Jenkins:

Here we are at the first Gig Harbor Urban Sketcher's on the new year. We had a good turnout for the Point Fosdick Antique Airplane Hangar at the Narrows Airport. They have an impressive collection of restored airplanes and a bright, airy (get it?!) feel with a plethora of sketching opportunities. We will definitely have to return and it is well worth a visit even if you are not sketching.

posted by Kate Buike

2018 TRAVEL JOURNAL SKETCH REVIEW

From Sayulita, Mexico to Haines, Alaska, Kyoto, Japan and all the wonderful in-between places I've been blessed to immerse my sketching self in are represented in the above collage. Of course our sketch outings and those I could attend with Port Townsend urban sketchers only made the year that much more enjoyable. While I participated in both Foss Waterway Museum exhibits, I'm sad to say I was not there for the openings but not sad to say I was traveling and sketching in other great places at the same time. All in all 2018 was a great year and I'm looking forward to more of the same in 2019.

Reading Kate's recent blog and seeing all of her wonderful sketches made me want to journey there as well. A line in the blog about sketching in museums and only able to use pencil reminded me of our TAM outing last May (the image below the collage). Of course the same rule applies at TAM but here is where watercolor pencils come into play. Sketch away in pencil while inside the museum, outside the museum, add water and ...

Germany in Winter.

My husband and I took a 3 week trip to Germany to see the Christmas Markets.  We were gone 27 November to 18 December.  This is a summary of the trip.  For the full account, see multiple recent posts on my personal blog, which include links to the photo albums, too. 

We lived and worked in Germany from 1981 to 1986 and we've been back a couple times since, though not for many years now.  One of the experiences we missed were the Christmas Markets so that was the motivation to travel at this time of year.

Departure day was 27 December.  The trip was not as bad as what some have experienced, but I believe this was our worst trip ever due to delays. I managed only one sketch at SeaTac.  I certainly could have done a lot of people sketching.  But I do not like flying and all this delay and anticipated missed connection gave me low level anxiety that just didn't have me in the mood to draw.

 

One of recurring themes was the prevalence of Lamy stores and displays!  I encountered a rather large display at the Frankfurt Airport.  They were also in every Karstadt (a department store chain).  Our first stop was Heidelberg and my first outing the morning after we arrived was the Lamy Flagship store.  Lamy HQ and factory are on the outskirts of the city but not open to the public.  

I got to pose with the big pen.  Lamy also sent one to The Goulet Pen Company and Brian Goulet posted about it on Instagram. It's taller than I am! 



My first sketch was earlier that morning out the window of our hotel.   The sky was clear and there were subtle colors of the sunrise.



We moved on from Heidelberg to Dinkelsbühl, which is a walled city that survived the 30 Years War.  It is described as the German's Rothenburg as it is less touristy.  

This is our street and hotel.



After wandering around town, lunch at Weib's Brauhaus, which was close by. I did a sketch of the decorated window within view of our table.



The next day I sketched one of the city gates. And then sheltered under the porch of a shop as it started raining. That was looking down the street to the markt platz and the Christmas tree.




On the way from Dinkelsbühl to Nuremberg, we stopped in Stein, the location of the Faber Castell HQ and factory.  There was no tour available for either the Castle or the factory.  But I did shop in the store.  If you want to read more about that, see this blog post. 

It was raining Tuesday morning, 4 December, so we waited until about 1300 to go out. I did a sketch of the view out our window while we waited for the rain to pass.



Walking through the shopping district, we passed a Staedtler Welt (World) store. In the window was a man in period dress making pencils in the old fashioned way. "The roots of the name can be traced back to 1662, the year in which references to Friedrich Staedtler as a pencil-making craftsman were made in the city annuals of Nuremberg."



 Later in the afternoon, I went to the Durer house.  



Our next move was on to Trier. Himself doesn't normally take selfies, but he relented during this trip and we took several.  But I'll only share one here: at the Trier Christmas Market!



The next day was predicted to be a rainy day, so spent a few hours at the archeological museum. I did a sketch of a famous 3rd century sculpture: The Wine Ship. As usual for museums, only pencil was allowed.  So I left the sketch as is.



We next moved on to the medieval Mosel village of Bernkastel-Kues.  Actually, it's two villages, separated by the Mosel.  We stayed in the less interesting Kues.  But it was a short walk over the bridge to the old town of Bernkastel.  

Monday, 10 December, was perhaps the best weather day yet.  Though it was only about 45 degrees, it was sunny.  I walked over the bridge from Kues to Bernkastel.  I sketched one of the most photographed buildings there:  the Spizhaeuschen from 1416.  I sat at a table outside a closed cafe.  This was my view most of the time:



With patience, though, I got it done.



On my way back across the bridge, I stopped half way to sketch the view back to town with the castle ruin above.  There was a convenient bench right there.



Next on our itinerary was Cochem, also a medieval town on the Mosel. It's most famous feature is the castle.  I've been in it before but now it was closed for the season.   I sat on a step that is probably part of a small dock or tie up location for boat(s). It was so cold, I only got part of it done before my fingers were frozen.



Back to the hotel to warm up and then went out again in the afternoon to finish. This is one of my favorite sketches of the trip.



The next day I made a sketch of a city gate from 1352.

 

The final stop was our former home area and we stayed just outside our town of Kusel in a hotel that was a favorite even then, 30+ years ago.  Part of that stay were two visits to our former "home" castle, Burg Lichtenberg.  It's one of the largest castle ruins in Germany by size of area.  There are two boundary walls.  This is standing on the inner one.  



Fortunately, our trip home was uneventful.  I look forward to seeing everyone at a sketch outing soon.