IT'S THE WATER, THE SKY AND THE MOUNTAINS

I suppose riding the ferry's most of my life has much to do with the scenes I choose to sketch and paint. The water, sky and mountains seem to move me the most. I see the Olympics from the Vashon ferry dock or Mount Rainier from the boat to Fauntleroy, the morning light or a spectacular sunset and I say to myself, can I sketch that before the boat gets to the other side or before the boat I am waiting for lands at the dock? Then usually I have about fifteen minutes to at least get the sketch on the page, leaving me something fun to finish up later.

Nearly all my sketches are done on site and most if not all are watercolor pencil with watercolor added as needed to enhance the color. Many of my sketches are completed while waiting for something; on the dock, on the boat, in the doctors office reception area or like this morning waiting for my car to be serviced.

Sometimes, like this morning, I was really too tired, not in the mood to sketch. I had to take my car in for service and I knew I would be waiting at least a couple hours for the service to be completed. I arrived at the dealership, left my car in the service department, took a seat at a table in the dealerships waiting room and for a moment pondered what I would do to entertain myself while I waited. I had no sketch to finish. The waiting room was filling up with service customers. Most were looking at something on their phones, some where on their laptops, the waiting area TV was tuned to a ridiculous game show. On the waiting area wall were a series of large photo images of Puget Sound scenes. I began to focus on an image of the Lime Kiln Light house on San Juan Island. Out came my sketch book, watercolor pencils and watercolors and pretending I was somewhere other than where I actually was, I lost myself sketching the picture on the wall. As the sketch began to take shape, I became less anxious about where I was and far more interested in the sketch materializing on the page. By the time my car was ready, my sketch was done. I paid the bill, got in my car and sat there for a few minutes looking at the sketch and thinking, that page was blank when I arrived here and now it's got a picture on in it. I lost myself in the process of sketching in spite of where I was and it made all the difference. It always does.