St Marks Chapel

 

This Chapel is the only completed portion of the original 1926 cathedral design. The church was envisioned with a tower more than twice as tall as the structure that stands there today. The 1929 stock market crash and depression put a halt to the construction and the bank foreclosed on the property. Glenn, the church sexton, was kind enough to show me the various planning stages the structure has undergone since that time. The red brick entry porch is an unfortunate mid-century modification to the original gothic design. The drawings in the basement - Glenn called it "The Crypt" - provide a window into Seattle design through the past century. The four massive collumns inside the church are clearly sized to support the original tower design. The translucent glass rose window, 1997, is the most recent modification to the structure. It is well proportioned and its designers were considerate of their austere surroundings.

PIKE PLACE

The weekend before Thanksgiving in Seattle, and it was snowing. The sidewalk outside of the Sanitary Market was downright frigid. Despite the cold, the market goers were out in droves, more so than what is depicted here. You can see the struggle to draw them in motion. If you trust my hand, the foreground figure is from another planet.

What started out as a stormy downpour ended in a sunny colorful day at the market. The contrast between quantity of people and amount of rain was striking. The number of people flooded the market in an inverse relationship to the quanitity of rain. And yes, that guy was wearing yellow socks and sandals amidst the buckets of rain.

Third Tuesdays in Pioneer Square a small studio offers three hours of figure drawing for $10. The model was creative and motionless. It was a blast.

Lynnwood Study

This was the study I prepared before embarking on the water color. There's something loose and free about this sketch that didn't quite make it into the final.

Lynwood High School

Lynnwood High School opened last year and I've wanted to see what makes it great. The school is organized around a linear central community space that the school has dubbed "The Agora". The classroom clusters attach to the long east and west sides of the spine creating outdoor courts between them. Ringing the building is an array of four meticulous artificial grass playfields, five tennis courts and a detention pond curiously ringed by a chain link fence.

The sketchers met at Pier 66 this morning. The cruise ship was in port so the waterfront was packed with all walks of life. Rainier and seemingly the entire city were outdoors in droves. The fountain was a challenging scene to draw. I complicated the painting by drawing too much into the scene. The result is an over crowded sketch.

For the cranes drawing, time was my ally for once. The sketchers were meeting in 30 minutes and I wanted to complete another drawing. As I finished painting the ferry, the tugboat and sailboat trolled into the frame almost simultaneously. I had to incorporate them. So, let the paint dry, take out the sharpie and use as much white as the brush will hold. Boom, I have a foreground.

I think the proportions on this tower are short by a good 20-30 feet! Better luck next time.

Occidental Street is tree lined and paved with runnels between the sidewalk and street. One end is open for auto access but the cars share the surface with pedestrians. The shops on this short section of street are high end and appear successful.

Cute kid at the sledding park, eh?

Cherry Blossoms at the Quad

Even with the intermittent showers, the sun breaks and the cherry blossoms in full bloom made the UW quad a spectacular way to spend a Sunday.

The vase of daffodils burst open this morning and it was an irresistable subject to paint today. Colin and I sat painting together this morning before breakfast.

Drawings from Rome

These are some sketches from my trip to Rome with Lara in October 20009.

Fremont with the Urban Sketchers

When it's 60 and sunny in Seattle you can't help but feel the urge to get out of the house and do something different. Thanks to a cool group of artists today I stepped back into on-site drawing in Fremont. Since moving here five years ago I've been fascinated by our city's bridge designs. The designs span the 20th century. The Fremont bridge is beautiful in its charm functionality and pure utilitarianism...all the more so when you are sipping coffee with the ducks and drawing her in the sunshine.