Making Sure I Have My Sketchbook Handy

Hi Sketchers,

My post will be a short one this month as I need to head off to the hospital in a few minutes to visit with my mother. She had hip replacement surgery and things have been a bit difficult for her, so I have been spending quite a bit of time there.

On the day of her operation, I knew it would be quite awhile in surgery and recovery, so I came prepared for the wait by bringing along my sketchbook and various pencils to keep myself occupied. I'm glad I did! Not only did it help pass the time, but it also kept any anxiety at bay by putting my mind in a relaxed state and focused on something else. It's times like these that I'm very grateful for the desire to draw. May I not forget the wonderful effects of putting pen/pencil to paper for a sketch. Peace.

The sketch you see in the surgery waiting room at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, WA.

I'm off to the hospital, now.....

Have a good night!

Pat Graham

Staying Warm

Urban Sketchers Tacoma met for the first time in 2017 on a very cold day.  The high was to be 35 and the low 34!  We are expecting a bit of snow.  Fortunately, our outing was all arranged to be at a local restaurant in Puyallup. 

Charlie's was a gracious host, giving us the use of a large banquet room in the back and sketching in the warm bar with a fire place.  Some sketchers braved the cold to sketch outside but I did not. The USk global flickr group has a weekly theme and this week it is "food".  Given that we were at a restaurant, I thought it would make sense to do a food sketch.  I don't sketch my meals so I didn't have anything for the theme already completed.  



AJ is my subject as she was sitting across from me.  This doesn't really look like her, though. I only got the one sketch done as I was talking a lot with a new person. 

We shared our sketches in the banquet room reserved for our use and then had a group photo.
--Kate Buike

Watson's Nursery

We held our 1st Saturday sketch outing at Watson's Nursery in Puyallup.  A lot of people came and several new people said they enjoyed themselves.

I arrived early enough to scope the place for preferred sketch subjects and make a few photos.  Those are all here, along with photos of sketchers taken later.

As it was still a little chilly outside, I started inside.  These are glass mushrooms.



My kit:

I've been using the coroplast support more.  It has a hole cut in it just the size of my large pill bottle water container.  That way, I don't spill the water!  It's big enough to hold the size paper I usually use and my small palette.  Binder clips both hold the palette and rag but also brush and pen. 

Once it warmed up a bit, I went outside to sketch the charming little cottage.  Alison sat down after I did, so I added her to the sketch. 



We did not do our usual sharing of sketches and group photo.  We had reservations in the small cafe, which was filling up so we thought we should claim our tables.  We shared sketches there but didn't have a group photo.  These are just a couple tables.  I think we had 5 in all!

Meeker Mansion at turn of the year

Despite the freezing weather with fog, 21 sketchers met at the Meeker Mansion in Puyallup this morning.  It was still beautifully decorated for Christmas.

I did two sketches with those decorations.  The first was a small clock on the wall with a set of china choristers underneath on the table.



While sketching this, I have a good conversation with Roy's grandson.  He had a lot of good, insightful, questions about drawing.  Roy had just bought him a sketchbook and pens for Christmas and he did a very good job on his sketch!



I dashed off this next sketch in the 10 minutes remaining!.  It depicts the top of the banister with holiday bow and an upstairs door with a large wreath. 



We shared sketches and then filled the stairs with our group shot.





More photos here.

Fritz, Zach, and King

Seattle Urban Sketchers' Friday group made an outing all the way south to Puyallup for the Washington State Fair.  Tacoma Urban Sketchers also joined in.

Note to self:  next year, do not go to the Fair on opening morning!  Not only was it opening morning, entry from 0900-noon was virtually free as long as one brought a donation of food.  Last time I sketched at the fair it was later in the run and it was raining.

With summer-like weather in the 80's, the place was mobbed!  I couldn't get near any of the small animals I'd hoped to sketch.  Additionally, there were hardly any rabbits as they don't come for another week.  I didn't know they scheduled animals!

After meeting the sketchers, I immediately navigated my way to the Draft Horse barn.  It was closed!   There was just a slit open in the door and it was enough for me to see a bit of the horses to sketch.  I sat my stool off center so I didn't block the door for other people wanting to get a peek.  These are Zach and Fritz.



THEN!  Staff of the Mountain View Belgians   saw me sitting there and invited me in to sketch!  This made my day!   So I got a second sketch from inside the barn.  This is King being unharnessed after the parade.



I wandered around but didn't find another scene I wanted to do.  I was somewhat distracted by the crowds.

We gathered to share our sketches.  In all, I think there were 10 sketchers.  Rom had to leave early.  Then we met 3 more Tacoma USk'ers at the gate as we were leaving.  They arrived late after being stuck in traffic.


Thanks to Gary for taking this photo!

Big Turnout for Meeker Mansion!

Tacoma Urban Sketchers had our best attended sketch outing to date!  This was thanks to the article in the "Go" section of The News Tribune yesterday. 

The Meeker Mansion in Puyallup, WA was gloriously decorated for Christmas.

Sketcher at the bottom of the stairs.

The mansion was built in 1890 and is a splendid Victorian era home.  There was an abundance of sketch opportunities and I just couldn't pick. I wandered around the entire house for about a half an hour.  By then, there were 2 or 3 or more sketchers in each room.  The ones in which I was most interested were full!  Sketchers everywhere:

So I settled down to sketch the period artifacts in a display case in the upper hall.



After I finished this, a spot was open in one of my preferred rooms.  These dresses were beautifully made.  The clothing and accessories of the period are very interesting to me as I'm working on period clothing and kit as a volunteer interpreter for Fort Nisqually


We gathered to share sketches....



and have a group photo (though there are several missing as they had left before).



More photos of sketchers and the Mansion are here