reportage

Billy Frank Jr Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge

pen and watercolor in hand.book w/c journal

The sun was shining, the bird watchers were birding, the hikers walking on the boardwalk above the river delta. And at the twin barns, both the parents and the swallows were feeding their young. Every time I’ve reached this point on the path where the picnic tables are shaded by grand old trees, there are groups of parents with preschoolers charging around the trees in utter abandonment as parents try to herd them back to the snack table. “Caitlyn, do you want strawberry or cherry? Goldfish or breakfast bar?” The response is to ignore the question no matter how many times it’s repeated.

The twin barns, historically speaking dairy barns, are colossal and I’ve tried sketching them at least one other time, but the scale of them defeated me. So this time I thought I’d focus instead on selected parts and give myself a break placing myself with the tree in front of the barn. And the benefit of this was to attract the strawberry treat-avoiders into the sketch!

Another lucky stroke was the appearance of a squirrel, literally at my feet, within seconds of my unwrapping a nut-studded energy bar treat of my own. He/she was a highly sophisticated beggar with a wide range of beguiling techniques to achieve his purpose, including standing on his back legs and lifting paws in supplication. Since I was too hungry to share, all he got for his tricks was an accidentally dropped nut, which he immediately dispatched. Later he was thrown an apple core by a more generous Ineke, and that led to a scuffle with his squirrel partner who wanted some of the bounty.

eyes locked on mine. “put it here” he said, pointing.

Poor guy. All his efforts got him was one small nut and a cameo spot in my sketchbook.

The little kids left with their parents and a group of second graders appeared with their teachers and guide. “A quick rest before we continue!” the adults declared, as the kids were trying to figure out how to climb the trees. No snacks for them though. Instead they given the warning “Remember, no climbing the trees!

Meanwhile my sketch buddies were busy Not avoiding the barns and doing a great job of it.

Tenino Depot Museum

Walk in the door of the Tenino Depot Museum and you’ll feel like you’re in a time capsule. Sure, there’s a share of railroad lore and the shiny red caboose out front, and in the authentic bathroom there’s a sign reading “Please DO NOT Flush toilet while train in in station”. Hmmm. But after a few minutes you realize that in typical small town Tenino style, you are made to feel at home and ask any question and get a historically researched answer. Like: what is the real story of how the town/depot was named Tenino? or Can you really use the wooden money they print to buy things in this town today? Answer: yes, dollar for dollar.

While some of our sketch group went outside to sketch the adorable caboose, the rest of us settled into the folding chairs immediately provided by the docent Jessica, finding scenes and artifacts like the above picture. While drawing I could almost feel the presence of my two grandmothers sitting just out of sight and whispering about how they used the wash board and stoked the oven with wood.

Meanwhile the rooms filled with the local master stone mason Keith and friends, and a mother with a group of small children whose tiny voices chirped with questions as they learned about the olden days, which seemed quite close to my own prehistoric memories! Walk in the door of the Tenino Depot Museum and you’ll feel like you’re in a time capsule. Sure, there’s a share of railroad lore and the shiny red caboose out front, and in the authentic bathroom there’s a sign reading “Please DO NOT Flush toilet while train in in station”. Hmmm. But after a few minutes you realize that in typical small town Tenino style, you are made to feel at home and ask any question and get a historically researched answer. Like: what is the real story of how the town/depot was named Tenino? or Can you really use the wooden money they print to buy things in this town today? Answer: yes, dollar for dollar.

We were given a tour of the inside of the caboose and the one room schoolhouse on the grounds which border a park and the sandstone quarry and pool. This was not my first time in Tenino. I keep coming back for that small town feeling and the way the inhabitants love to share the history and make visitors feel like special guests.

We all marveled at the tiny feet of the person whose shoes these were, and I felt compelled to include them in my book. They made modern day four inch heels look comfortable by comparison!

Thanks to the historians and carpenters and masons and other builders and installers and the city that funded the efforts and the docents who share the stories and everyone who helps to make this experience possible.

Oly Harbor

fineliner pen and watercolor in hand.book travelogue

If you’re bundled up sufficiently, it’s always a treat to sit on the dock somewhere in Olympia and watch the sky and waters change hue and patterning every few minutes. This is especially true in the spring weather. I’m always excited to make another stab at painting the boats with their reflections. But honestly, since the scene changes dramatically and constantly, one needs to have a photographic memory, or. . . a photo to copy! In this case there was neither, haha! But I soldiered on. Truly the small city of Olympia with its heart of marine life and view of snow clad mountains, lake, forests and Capitol buildings with colorful gardens is a visual delight in all seasons.

A group of us sketchers enjoyed a morning in the area around Bayview Thriftway grocery and later lunched at their deli upstairs, where you get a crow’s nest view of the harbor. I hadn’t planned to sketch any more cherry blossoms but the scene on the other side of 4th Street beckoned later. The apartment building with its glass windows provides a moving picture of the cloud-filled sky drama. Its strategic location however has been controversial as it blocks the view of the lake and Capitol grounds from one direction and the harbor from the other. That day I was just happy to have a beautiful dark background for painting the blossoms!

Capitol Blooms

brown ink, black ink, watercolor in hand.book travelogue

It was a lovely day at the Capitol with the combined Tacoma and Olympia urban sketchers, the sun mostly shining in that indecisive way that makes for glorious mixed clouds. It was midday also so we were treated to processions of high school interns wearing maroon legislative blazers, clutching documents to their chests with deadly serious facial expressions. Also there were friendly people dressed in suits, who might have been politicians, the way they jovially interacted with us artists. And the security guard, also an artist, who joined our group as we shared our results, regaling us with his own art stories.

Meanwhile I was busy trying out every single idea I’d had about how to draw and paint blossoms. Can you tell, haha? I realized that I’d made a very difficult task for myself, not having a dark background to highlight the blossoms, which up close, reveal themselves to be almost white. In fact I was standing beneath the blossoms, where they were shaded darker than the light Capitol building. In the end artistic invention won out over “reality”.

Bob’s birthday was on Sunday, and I always make him a card, but I couldn’t find the right size envelope for what i was designing. I decided to make a stand up card instead, and then had the idea to insert the message in a pocket.

I think I might have borrowed the idea from Nina Khashchina’s blog. If you don’t already know her, you might enjoy following her wonderful art blog! Among other things, like following the war in Ukraine through her portraits sketched during contacts with her parents, who fled the war and are now living in Europe. I love the way she uses her sketchbook to organize and try out creative ideas. I think you’d enjoy it too.

UW Cherry Blossoms

It’s always a treat to join the large group of Seattle Urban Sketchers for their meet ups. From my home in Olympia it’s about the same distance I used to drive from Sonoma Co. to San Francisco for that group’s meet ups.

Last Wednesday I was not prepared for the surge of humanity that was filling the streets and the parking lots of the University of Washington’s colossal campus. Wasn’t it just a regular Wednesday afternoon? Yet everyone seemed to be streaming in the same direction as us, to the quad. When we reached it, I had the same reaction I have without fail when I catch a glimpse of Mount Ranier. Plain and simple. Awe.

These trees are Somei-Yoshino and they are close to 90 years old. UW is so proud of them that there are two webcams that live stream the cherry blossoms. You can visit it now!

When I first arrived I immediately surrendered to the impossibility of capturing the experience in a sketch. My first effort was abominable.

The sun was playing hide and seek, constantly changing the color scene and values. Light blossoms against dark background, dark blossoms against light sky. Up close the blossoms were decidedly white. Yet the light and shadow was playing games of color tag.

fountain pen and watercolor in 9 X 12″ Canson Mixed Media sketchbook

There were visitors of all nationalities, ages, and diverse orientations. All, it seemed, were taking pictures and most were posing with the blossom backdrop, a kind of Hollywood set for the masses. Right by me a mother with two early elementary school children sat them down on a blanket, got out their art supplies and gave them a sort of lesson in Haiku writing. They colored for a few minutes, ate their snacks, and moved on.

A high school art teacher hovered near me, and then asked if she could take a picture of me for her class, to demonstrate the set up of an on-location artist.

A woman with a very pregnant belly and a voluminous and very bright, gauzy pink gown posed in front of a tree for a picture, the fruitfulness of the tree mirroring her fruitful body, or vice versa.

While I was being romanced by the blossoming trees I was unable to wrap my mind around adding the mass of humanity to my sketch. Only one couple stepped in afterward to give their version of spectator.

Will I try again next year? Perhaps. Or tomorrow at the Capitol building blossom display, if it stops raining for a bit! There is only this slice of a window, before the spring storms remove the blooms from the trees, creating a blanket fit for a fairy princess.

Budd Bay Blossoms

This year I’m determined to figure out how to paint the impossibly lyrical blossoming trees. Without using the wet-crinkled Masa paper, which doesn’t lend itself as well to on location sketching, I must resort to splatter and spritzing or zooming in on clusters of blossoms, which is not the effect I’m going for.

Last week’s sunny afternoon made it possible to sit by this row of plum blossoming trees and enlist the help of the spectacular snowy Olympic range and Budd Bay to provide context.

Downtown Tacoma

It usually takes at least a week for me to catch up after a trip. Today I’ll share a sketch from a Tacoma, WA visit last month. It was one of those sunny, spur of the moment, let’s get out of town and sketch Tacoma days. Jane Wingfield used to live there years ago and knows her favorite spots downtown. After wandering around looking for a good subject we “landed” on a street corner across from some colorful three story building storefronts. Our chosen spot was bookended by two men on separate blocks. One was singing loudly, the other sitting quietly and then jumping up every five minutes or so to rant loudly in protest to unseen forces. Neither was threatening, though mildly unsettling.

The story here was the juxtaposition of cycling and psychic-ing on different floors. One could only wonder what it would be like to get your palm read while listening to the hum/drone of cyclists overhead? But then judging by the chorus on the opposite side of the street which we witnessed, I suppose one’s expectation of silence would not be great.

See one of Jane’s sketches on Instagram.

Normandy Village in Berkeley

The storm that drenched Sonoma County last week wreaked havoc on the Bay Area with high winds that blew down trees whose roots were already too saturated. Power lines were down and much of the east bay where I was headed next was without electricity. On Friday though, much of the power was restored and I was able to join my Bay Area sketch buddies, Cathy McAuliffe and Laurie Wigham in a “surprise” location by the University in Berkeley selected by Cathy. And what a treat!

When you turn onto Spruce St from Hearst, north of the University you come without warning to a fairy tale replica of a 17th century Normandy village, built in the 1920’s by an enterprising young architect Jack Thornburg. Now it’s home to university students among others. One can only imagine what it would be like to live there! You can read a bit of the history here.

As we sat and sketched and wandered around the cobbled lanes we met student residents and a man in the current owner’s family who later took pictures of all our sketches outside his house.

fountain pen and watercolor in hand.book journal 8 X 11″ spread

There was so much texture everywhere, irregular vectors, gargoyles, weathered paint and the chanteclere! A rich diet for a sketcher.

When my pens ran dry (arggh!) Laurie loaned me her parallel pen for my next one. All subtlety of line quality was lost, which is not to blame the pen, but my handling!

Myself, Laurie and Cathy enjoying a sunny sketchy day. Check out their sketches on their Instagram links.

And have you heard about the first travel sketchbooks festival in the United States that is coming to beautiful Edmonds, Washington July 14-16, 2023? Registration just opened today, featuring outdoor sketching workshops with renowned teachers, a sketchbook fest and art market, and free sketchwalks led by members of the Seattle Urban Sketchers community.

I’ll be there! Let me know if you’re coming and I’ll look for you.

For more information and to register, visit Sketcher Fest.

Back from Soggy Sunny California

My landing in Sonoma County airport. No longer the land of severe draught, the landscape resembled a shamrock-hued Ireland and dotted with countless “puddles” and lakes where there had been only dried up sunburnt grasses a few months ago. It was the familiar countryside I remembered from the wet winters over the many years I called it my home, and so welcome! During my few days staying with friends in Sebastopol and frequenting my old haunts, I got to walk in the biblical downpours, so unlike the gentle rains and drizzles of the Pacific Northwest, as well as the cool early spring sunshine.

On the day of the this sketch Bettina picked me up and we drove to Doran Beach for a walk with the birds and horses and surfers along the glistening waters. Ahhhh! Then lunch at our favorite Fishetarian deli on the wharf and back to sketch in tranquil Ragle Ranch Park in Sebastopol.

fountain pen, watercolor in hand.book journal 8 X 11″ spread

Note the mother and child carved into the side of the Chestnut tree and prayer flags. The perfect day ended with a reunion with her family at their home.

Next: A rendezvous with the Muse Group!

Legislature

While California has been floating in their, did I hear ninth atmospheric river, this winter (or getting buried under tons of snow!) here in Washington we have had our usual cold drizzles mixed with sunny days and not much blossoming going on yet. Each day is a constantly changing smorsgasbord of sky drama. If you turn around 360 degrees you will see every kind of sky, as in this picture taken on a sunny day!

The legislature was in session at the Capital building. After lunch in town Jane and I walked over to the Capital building to check out the action. She knows the scene well, having worked there in various capacities years ago, so I just tagged along.

fountain pen and watercolor in hand.book w/c journal 8X11″ spread

We were able to sit in the gallery above the grand room and look down on the proceedings which were just beginning. All the rules of the House were being followed. but it was a mock session with the student interns doing a very convincing job of discussing and passing laws!

Meanwhile I was struggling (in a fun way!) to capture bits and pieces of the action to tell a visual story. (The recent cataract operation helped a bit with my sight, but it will be another couple months before I can get my glasses updated!)

You’ll be able to check out Jane Wingfield’s sketches soon on her Instagram account.

crocuses under the trees at the Capital grounds

I’m headed to California tomorrow for a week visiting friends in Sonoma County and the Bay Area. They said to bring a raincoat and rubber boots!! And their temps are only a tad warmer than ours. Topsy turvy weather this year. Can’t wait to see those familiar landscapes and old friends. I’ll be back in a week with some stories!