All hail the King

 

I finally had a good day to see the Vashon troll, Oscar the Bird King.  I think he's my favorite so far as I very much like his crown of branches and bird houses.  

Several small groups trickled in and out as I sketched.  I shared what I know of the Pacific NW trolls and Oscar specifically. 

He is "the last of the 10 characters in Thomas Dambo's story, The Way of The Bird King. Yes, we have the king. And he is magnificent."

"The Bird King, in Dambo’s storytelling, is a character admonishing humans to be good stewards of their environment...Oscar’s finger points downward toward the earth and viewers, challenging them to personally reflect on their role in the environment."  Source

 

 

A white feather is placed between two long Madrone branches which appear as horns in the crown.

Now and Then

Almost a year to the day separates these two sketches.The top of the Foss water way in Tacoma and below looking south from Beach Drive in West Seattle of the ferry crossing between Vashon Island and Fauntleroy. After yesterdays sketch I looked back through my journals to see where I was close to the same day a year ago. No surprise, my inspiration was a water view. This view along Beach Drive is one of those I've driven by a hundred times and thought I should stop and sketch and finally yesterday morning with time to spare before a dental appointment the opportunity materialized.

In the mid fifties our family home was on the beach just south of the Fauntleroy ferry terminal. The sights and sounds of the ferry boats, freighters and slow moving tug boats became an integral part of my life then and impetus for my sketches now.

Both sketches are Derwent watercolor pencil and a bit of pigment watercolor added to the sky and water. Last years sketch was done in my Moleskine watercolor journal and sketched with a micron 0.8 pen. I have since switched to Pentalic journals for the quality of their 140# paper and to Copic multiliner 0.5 which seems more reliable then the oft leaking micron.

Midsummer Respite

What better place and activity than to spend Midsummer's Day sketching on Vashon Island at the home of an artist. Darsie invited both Tacoma and Port Townsend Urban Sketchers to his home for the usual Tacoma 3rd Wednesday outing. Unfortunately, the PT sketchers couldn't make it due to an accident that blocked their route.

Still, there was a good group of sketchers.





I arrived on the island quite early, so I stopped at a pullout on Quartermaster Bay to do a sketch.



There are so many "destinations" on Darsie's property that it was hard to choose what to sketch. I was thinking of the USk flickr group's weekly theme when I asked him whether he had anything that had been re-purposed. He pointed to the small building that is now their bedroom. It started life as a shed.




More Photos:  https://redharp.smugmug.com/SketchOutings/2017-0621-Vashon-Island/

--Kate Buike; sketched on 6/21/17