fineliner pen and watercolor in field watercolor journal
I’ll go for the tugboat to sketch any day, and this was a beaut! I hadn’t heard of the place Pastol Bay, so I looked it up. It’s up in Alaska, right across from the Russian mainland. No wonder it looked weathered and exotic to my eyes. I’m finding that whenever I’m at one of our Olympia marinas, my father, Lester (long gone since 1989) is with me, perking up, sniffing the sea air and looking for a fisherman to ask about the prospects.
So I asked permission to set up my stool outside the fuel station office next to the pumps, a good vantage point across from this tug and within earshot of any sailor/boater talk. Briefly met a young man who was employed doing an ecological survey mapping the bottom of the south sound or something like that.
No fishermen. My Dad might have moved on, but I was content to sit there sketching the boat, the background forests and to exaggerate the size of the snowy Olympic range to more closely reveal the impact the mountain make on the human observer.
The South Sound Urban Sketchers, together with the OAL Paint-Out group, will be meeting now every Thursday morning at a different location here in Olympia or neighboring towns through September 26, and I plan to be at most of them. If you’re interested in joining us, please email me and I’ll send you the schedule, and welcome!!
Oh, and since I mentioned him, here’s Lester, where he always was happiest, on a boat with a fish in his hands.
Well there’s loads of reasons why I love Olympia. But the whacky, earthy, green spirit of the people in this small town/city when it hits the streets is a large part of it. And last weekend’s Arts Walk showcased this spirit big time. After a four year hiatus during the pandemic the Procession of the Species returned.
I participated in the ways I could, showing a painting in an art show, making a paper mache luminary, and even reading an eco poem of mine in another Arts Walk event titled “Habitat”,led by our poet laureate Kathleen Byrd. I waved my luminary from the sidelines Friday night while watching the Luminary Procession and bundled up for the Procession of the Species the next afternoon.
pens, watercolor in 9X12″ Canson Mixed Media spiral sketchbook
Years ago I might have tried to capture these events in live sketches, but I satisfy my reportage urges now by doing composite sketches after the fact.
Small wonder that the salmon loomed larger than most of the other species in the parade. We are living after all in the home of the Salmon People, on the banks of the Sound and rivers of the Salish tribal peoples. The parade was host to orcas and kelp forest dancers and numerous other sea themed creatures and environs represented.
Friday night the skies were clear and crowds were out for the Luminary procession. Here’s a peak to give you an idea.
The next afternoon I wandered around the area where the Procession was setting up. A good part of the downtown streets were closed to traffic. I knew that it required an army of people to move the creatures and all their gear from the Armory workshop to the streets, and the weather was cold and skies threatening. But here in Olympia nothing seems to get cancelled or even much bothered by the frequent wet weather. So the ladies in their sunflower dresses and hats had big enthusiastic smiles and no goosebumps in their summer attire, while I stood on the sidelines in layers of warmth and rain protection.
click to open large imagelined up ready to begin!
I’m sure there were people who stayed home, but it seemed like the whole town was there, so the parade route snaked back and forth through town and down to the water.
Everywhere here flows down to the water, which is where the parade was headed. By the time the last of the parade made its way across the starting line, the rain was getting cranked up and I was on my way home for dinner. . . and thinking, with gratitude, about those hardy souls who had such joy in their faces as I imagined the work of herding all those soggy artwork species back to the armory before their dinner.
Thursday was one of those with non stop spring drizzle days. So only Jenn and I showed up at the Capitol for sketching.
The legislature is not in session now, so the Capitol building was hosting tours for the public. The yellow school buses were lined up outside. We wandered the halls and found an exhibit of the model by Haiying Wu for his statue of Billy Frank Jr., which will be installed at the National Statuary Hall in the other Washington (D.C.) next year. Billy was a Nisqually Tribal member who fought tirelessly to ensure that the U.S. government would honor the promises made in the treaties with Washington tribes.
As I sat down in a poorly lit spot where there was a bench, I noticed a bronze statue of George Washington, eclipsed by one of the marble columns, and I happily pondered how many of our white men historical heroes are now being slowly upstaged by indigenous ones.
fountain pens (gold and black ink) and w/c in beige toned Nova sketchbook
While Jenn did a spectacular rendering of the Capitol dome from inside, getting a real workout for the neck with constant looking up, I sought the fresh air outside sketching the dogwoods and lightposts under a bus shelter overhang.
And meanwhile elsewhere outside, such scenes tempt me to come back when the rain has stopped, or to bring an umbrella set up!
A merry band of nature journalers showed up at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma onThursday to see what was happening with the buds and blooms of spring. Some of us had our mini accordian sketchbooks and all were ready to enjoy one of those all-sunny spring days in the park. We refreshed our memories about John Muir Laws‘ three principles/steps for entering into a dialogue with nature: 1) I notice… 2) I wonder. . . and 3) This reminds me of. . . which got us ready for what was to come.
At Point Defiance Park in Tacoma you are first greeted by the ducks in the pond. Turtles too, but they were so still that I mistook them for copper sculptures. Crows too, or maybe they were Ravens, definitely the big noisy, formidible sort that could shame you into handing over your last bit of sandwich. And all of this was punctuated by a noisy blend of lawn mower, honking Canada geese, and a variety of exotic animals from the zoo “next door” that whooped like they were enjoying a really good joke. (I imagined baboons)
I had a solemn purpose which was, by hell or high water, to fill one side of my mini accordian folded book with bud and bloom sketches. (see my post about preparing for this)
Off we went beyond the pond, to find our buds and blooms.
Golden ink and watercolor on 3″X8″ double page in accordian book
My plan was a simple line sketch with 2 or 3 watercolors and to keep track of the time/temp/other meta indicators. 30 min max per sketch.
So as not to lose time looking for only the most spectacular new blooms, I stayed in the same place for this second one, an abundant groundcover in the grass beneath my feet, which involved leaning way down to examine the micro-view. My leaf snap app was not specific about this rugged form of daisy underfoot. Certainly it’s a distant relative to the showy summer daisies in my garden bed. Fleabane was one possibility and the word calls up images of fairy incantations, which I like! Not very scientific, I know.
Next I walked through the rose garden, discovering that of course it’s too early for roses here in the PNW. But the next garden included tulips, and we were in luck.
Except I think watercolor is my last choice for trying to get a natural red. So my choice of the flippin Miss Flippins tulip soon turned into a humbling lesson. I mean, how many different pigments do you need to make a convincing deep red in bright sunshine? Well I never found out, and then my 30 minutes were up.
Right around this time I started to experience the familiar sun-blindness where the light dims and shapes become be less distinct. But there was still time for the white bleeding hearts!
Then we had our picnic lunch back at the pond, where the turtle sculptures were in slow motion, the raven showed up for a handout, and we shared sketches from the day.
I hadn’t quite succeeded to fill my sketchbook pages on location, so I snapped a picture of the show stopper crabapple tree and finished this at home.
But the book is only half done! Time to turn it over and continue on the other side. My white irises just bloomed and it will be a steady flow of blooms in the yard until the sunflowers and lavenders do their final show and. . .
ink, watercolor and white gouache in beige toned Nova sketchbook
Who goes to a nursery to sketch in the spring, and instead of sketching blooms heads back to where piles of soil, bags of compost and trucks are? But there was just something about all that beautiful soil! And Bob and I had been talking about the need to buy soil for our vegetable garden at The Barn Nursery and have it delivered. And then there was the steady chorus of birds to entertain.
Olympia Art League and South Sound Urban sketchers meet up
Happy faces to be (just barely) warm enough that day to enjoy sketching outside, what we’ve been waiting months for!!
fountain pen and watercolor in beige toned Nova sketchbook
Urban sketchers tend to be very adaptable folks. When I arrived in the wind and cold rain last Saturday the Tacoma UsKers were all lined up warm and cozy at the windows in the student union building where there was a decent view of the buildings and landscaping.
Coeds were going about their business of visiting, eating and studying their smart phones. The other kind of study was probably going on in the library? A pod of girls were nesting in a group of sofas by the window where they’d piled up delicious plates of hot food and coffee, warm clothes and other items of domestic coziness to facilitate punctuated chatter about people who were not present. We couldn’t help trying to remember what we sounded like back then a hundred years ago or so in college.
This Thursday was another world tour from the comfort of my studio, led by the delightful hosting pair of urban sketch teachers, Eleanor Doughty and Jenny Adam, with a special appearance and demo by my old friend Oliver Hoeller. If you had to miss this one, you can always watch the recording and make sure you’re in the Zoom room with over 100 urban sketchers on the first Thursday of the month. Check it out here. The theme this month was statuary and we “traveled” to Europe, the Pacific ocean, Asia and Africa, changing location every 20 minutes.
. . .starting with a 10 minute warm up on Easter Island.
Next Oliver did a demo sketch of a statue on top of a building in Austria. I’ve taken several workshops with Oliver and always learned something not only useful but also just plain fun.
This is my drawing along while watching his demo, copying his one-warm-and-one-cool color combo. I liked the way he used a white Posca paint pen to lighten up areas and lose edges at the end. You can see his demo sketch on Instagram
All that was in less than 90 minutes, and with lots of great dialogue about all those things urban sketchers geek out about when they get together. . .art materials, travels, workshops, techniques, etc.
Both Oliver and Eleanor will be teaching workshops at the Sketcherfest in Edmonds, WA in mid July, and they will be showing their sketchbooks and be available to talk with participants at the Sunday all-day event. It’s not too late to make plans to come!
There are folks here who keep track of cherry blossom activity for all of us sketchers here in the South Sound, because it’s our version of the groundhog story – time to sketch outside again! I got the message from Loretta Monday night, that we better get out to the Capitol the next morning or miss the last of our warm sunny weather for who knows how long. . .I jumped, and so did others!
This lovely old grove behind the legislative building was the view I picked last year. So I tried another vantage point this year from the east side of the building.
fountain pen, watercolor, white gouache and gel liner in beige toned NOVA sketchbook
The magnolias were are also in bloom. Some Californians like to call them Tulip trees, which is very fitting at this time before they open wide and snow their enchanting petals. This may be a Kobus Magnolia, but time will tell as it opens more. Please help me identify if you can!
I live only ten minutes from this spot, so I’ll likely return for more sketching, and the Capitol gardens will have steady blooming as the weeks go by.
some of the South Sound urban sketchers
The rain is back again, a good thing for this time of year. New projects in the garden will need the natural irrigation until danger of frost is past and we can turn on the outside water lines. Time to plan ahead for more of these sketch meet ups we all enjoy so much, and to get them posted! Everybody I know is planting something in their gardens. I’m thinking it’s time to get my herb garden planted. A very noisy tree frog has been serenading me during this writing. Got to get out and join him!
Lamy Joy fountain pen and watercolor in 9 X 12″ Canson mixed media sketchbook
If you’re an Olympia resident, chances are your favorite event of the year is the Procession of the Species on Earth Day in April. This year will be my first! and also the return of the event from a break since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. The Procession is described as “a joyous, artistic celebration, intended to inspire learning, appreciation, and protection of the natural world”. And it begins way before the actual day, April 26 and 27 this year.
Some friends and I stopped by the Armory arts building where they’ve set up preparations for the procession. Anyone and everyone is urged to participate! Surrounded by papier mache species of all sorts the prep was joyfully underway. I was a fly on the wall, sketching the activity and listening to conversations about plans and just trying to wrap my mind around what this is all about!
It was hard to not pick up a paint brush or glue gun and pitch in, but I’ll come back for that. Meanwhile I just turned around in my chair to catch whatever was going on, and later tried to glue it together with paint and more line!
My last sketch on the California sojourn was from a table at the window in the restaurant at SF MOMA. I had a view of the outside of the building. Think of a seven story building that a giant has stepped on and crinkled up just enough so the horizontals cave in a bit.
watercolor and gel pen in beige toned Nova sketchbook
The museum is quite beautiful inside and out, and reminds me of when Andrew was in architecture school and did a design project where the inspiration came from plastic gallon milk jugs. it was brilliant and original, like SF MOM, but then I am his mother.
The effect of trying to sketch this slanting museum architecture was that the LOVE sculpture listed to the left (mine, that is, not the actual sculpture) as did I, myself for the next few minutes after I left. Of course that wasn’t as destabilizing as some of the museum exhibitions, like these wonders!
One-Way Colour Tunnel by Olafar Eliassen
Aspiring to Pumpkin Love by Yayoi Kusama
And I didn’t even get a chance to see Kusama’s infinity rooms! You can go to the SF MOMA website to see more. My last half hour was spent enjoying more of the installations in the most compassionately designed resting spot I’ve ever enjoyed in a museum.
From that bed closest to the front in this picture, I watched the colossal screen above showing Wu Tsang’s video. Of Whales is a mystical adventure of the Moby Dick whale diving deep, with music that takes you along on the trip. Trippy indeed! The very next trip was to exit the museum in a gullywasher of a storm that thoroughly doused and blew me to the BART station where I boarded and sat in my own puddle for the ride across/under the Bay to El Cerrito. Gotta love the extremes of California weather!
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