Finally Inside

Over the past few years, I've sketched the Amazon Spheres as they were built. And then I sketched them from the outside. Finally, today, I got inside. Some weeks ago I scheduled a "tour" of the Amazon Spheres.



I went into the city via the light rail and did sketches while traveling in both directions.



gel pen in Field Notes Sketchbook

As it turned out, it was simply a ticket to enter and wander as long as I wanted. I first stopped at General Porpoise for a vanilla custard doughnut. I used the time at the table to sketch.
 


It is a wondrous place and the Amazon employees are fortunate to have it. I'm not sure how much work I would get done there, though! I was there about 2 hours. According to the tiny brochure, there are 2,636 panes of glass in the exterior. Many of the 40,000 plants inside are tropical so the conditions are kept at 72 degrees and 60% humidity in the day time.  It would seem there's even a place to nap.  The woman on the left was flat out asleep!



I'd seen Tina's sketch of the Bird Nest and knew I couldn't leave without doing one of my own. I think it's the most unusual spot within the Spheres.  It is reached by a bridge that is rather bouncy, like a suspension bridge.




Many more photos

by Kate Buike

Seattle Sketching - Chinese Gardens

Urban Sketching and Social Justice

I was weary after attending the huge, hours long Womxn’s March in Seattle on January 21, 2017.  Yet, at the same time, I felt mobilized because at day’s end, I had to ask myself for the umpteenth time in my life: ‘Who am I now? Who will I yet become?’ A powerful, meaningful event is an agent for change.

Recently, I’ve been paying ever-more attention to REPORTAGE SKETCHING—because it seems to be fitting for exploring my interest in what it means to be a citizen today.  Reportage is about sketching an unfolding or ‘breaking story’ which depicts people and their concerns in a specific context. 

I left the Womxn’s March knowing I will be spending much more of my time actively supporting values and concerns which must be attended to, nurtured, fed, protected, and supported in every era, in order for them to survive and even better, thrive. 

The Womxn's March helped me learn some things about reportage sketching:

I began the morning at 4^th and Pine in Seattle simply thinking, “I’ll just stand right here and sketch the marchers.” Oh naïve sketcher. I was surrounded by people. I was merely one little fish egg in a pound of caviar…one tiny grain of sand on a vast sandy beach. Even hours before the event began,  I was completely separated from having A CLEAR VIEW OF THE STREET where the March would  take place. What now?

I decided to sketch the tops of the tall buildings, the tops of light poles, the tops of  trees while I waited…which I did. It was my idea to capture marchers, eventually, at the bottom of my page. I tested my theory by adding a few people already present, but quickly got confused and lost control, IN INK....

    

So…. I turned to a blank page.

Suddenly a well prepared troupe of religious folks with huge signs marched by using bull horns to share their thoughts. Next came a jolly phalanx of police on bicycles (I could see their heads, and therefore, their smiles.). They were ensuring the pink-hatted sidewalk crowds were leaving room for the pink-hatted marchers. I could see, in bits and pieces, when the river of marchers finally began passing by. What to do with THAT on my blank page?

I remembered: Urban Sketchers sketch what they see before them, being true to what is present, not sketching from photographs or imagination. Well then, Pink-hatted Urban Sketcher Woman: Do that!

 I began thinking and seeing foreground, middle ground, and background before me, instead of the chaos.  So, I sketched the closest person in front of me, mere inches away. It was a person who seemed to have an intent to be there for awhile. Next, I sketched other folks to her right and left. None of these folks were actually standing there at the same time.

My middle-ground-marcher-attempts blended so much with my background marchers, that I forgave myself my lack of giving them definitive space. I concentrated instead on two things: capturing the quickly passing pink hats, and the quickly passing sign boards. Next , I added heads under pink hats, and added sticks to the signboards, and finally, I attached bodies of currently passing marchers to all of the above. 

What still remained to do? I relaxed and waited. At ease, I wrote onto my blank signboards the best sign slogans that happened by, when I was ready to render signage. Done. Whew! 

I added colors to my sketch at home….as, I relaxed with my feet up, listening to the day's news and our President's latest tweet. 

Best,

Frances

To see some sketches and read stories  by Seattle Sketchers go to:
http://www.urbansketchers.org/2017/01/we-marched-for-hope.html

With 120,000 of my closest friends

Give or take a thousand.
"So bad, even introverts are here."  That sign seen in a photo from the DC march sums it up for me.  I don't like crowds.  This was not the first march in which I've participated but it was by far the largest.  Early estimates on the  4pm local news were 120,000 completely peaceful participants.

Our local public radio's website wrote:  "The front reached Seattle Center (the end)  before the back had left Judkins Park (the start). That's a distance of a 3.6 miles."

Except for a few religious zealots yelling at us, the crowd was relatively quiet and very up beat.  I found it a rather joyous atmosphere despite the reason that brought us out.

By the time I got back to Westlake the march had nearly arrived.  The side walks were 10 deep in people.  I watched for at least one and a half hours and never saw the end of the marchers!   I decided I didn't need to join for the last mile walk up to Seattle Center.  I was a little over whelmed by the vast numbers.

The sidewalks for blocks were full as was the street.

These ladies were THE Best!

Several local Urban Sketchers planned to sketch reportage the March.  I found Frances and AJ at Westlake.  They'd been sketching while I was on my scouting mission (for a future sketch outing location).  I did a couple quick sketches, walked around some more and then made my way home.

AJ, Frances, me

That's a TV van antennae sticking up in the middle of the sketch.

View from the chocolate factory

I enjoy using a window to frame the subject I'm sketching. This was done at a Seattle Urban Sketcher's gathering of the interior at Fran's Chocolates in Georgetown. Rare for me, this was strictly pencil and watercolor in a Strathmore watercolor sketchbook. 

I'm finding that pen and ink in this book takes a long time to dry, often resulting in some massive smudges and unhappy accidents. Roy Deleon suggested it might have something to do with the sizing used on the paper and I'm sure a lot to do with my lack of patience (and being left handed). With half a book left, I'll designate this a graphite and watercolor only book and move on to the watercolor Moleskines that Santa was kind enough to bring.

Astronauts come home

The Museum of Flight invited the public to celebrate the 50th Anniversary today.  There were many activities available but I was most interested in seeing all the "Astronauts about Town" gathered together on display.  I'd spent the summer sketching all 25 of them on-location.

Each of them had a poster with information and each poster included my sketch of that astronaut, which I'd allowed the Museum to use  (I'm a volunteer there).   



I meant my friend Tina after she got through the line.  I prevailed upon her to take my photo with my favorite astronaut and holding my poster of all the sketches.   (I'm dressed for the 60's costume contest, tie-dye and vintage buttons). 



I did one final sketch for this project: the astronauts on display under the Blackbird.




More on my personal blog, here.