Monthly Archives: September 2014

Panorama

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The Seattle Urban Sketchers met last Sunday at the Olympic Sculpture Park. Since I had already sketched there a number of times, I was looking for a new vantage point and found one at the southern end overlooking the waterfront. The panorama begins with downtown Seattle on the left, moves north along the waterfront, and ends with a view of Magnolia on the right. To the right of center stands the newest addition to the park, Echo, a 46-foot tall sculpture by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa.

The first sketch is a quick study of the overall composition I did before attempting the final drawing. Because there was too much visual information for the small two-page spread, I had to abstract quite a bit of what I saw.

Drawing Quickly

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Often when traveling with a small group, we don’t have an hour or more to do a drawing. So if we want to capture a scene, we have to be able to draw quickly. My strategy is to first establish the structure of the overall composition and then, depending on the amount of time available, add whatever details I can to try to capture the spirit of a place. While drawing these very quick 10- to 20-minute sketches in Rio de Janeiro, I was accompanied by my friend and fellow urban sketcher Norberto Dorantes of Buenos Aires, who is a master of flowing lines.

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Many thanks to Glaucia Augusto Fonseca for being such a gracious and generous host during our short visit to Rio de Janeiro. The setting for the city is truly stunning.

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Stadium High School

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On the last day of the Tacoma Line to Color Workshop this past weekend, we gathered at Stadium High School for an informal sketch crawl. This historic landmark, designed by Hewitt and Hewitt for the Northern Pacific Railway Company in 1891, was intended to be a luxury hotel but became instead a storage facility as a result of the Panic of 1893. After a fire in 1898 gutted the building, the Tacoma School District purchased the structure, which was renovated according to plans by the Federick Heath. Bassetti Architects and Merrit Pardini Architects undertook a major renovation, historic renovation, and seismic upgrade in 2005.

Thanks to my co-teacher Gail Wong and all of the participants in the workshop who endured a lot of hard work facing challenging scenes but displayed amazing progress over the course of the weekend. Their love of drawing and the wealth of sketching sites offered by Tacoma made the weekend both enjoyable and gratifying.

Baia de Paraty

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The morning before the symposium in Paraty started, a group of urban sketchers took a boat tour of the Baia de Paraty. Many thanks to Marilia Inke, who graciously arranged the pleasant outing on short notice. Even though it was a slightly overcast day, it was enjoyable to see the beautiful coast line around Paraty from another perspective. Perhaps what was most striking to me were the way the mountains formed a backdrop for the numerous islands seeming to float in the bay.

Igreja de N. Sra. do Rosário e São Benedito

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Arriving in Paraty a day before the 5th Urban Sketching Symposium started gave me a chance to walk around the town and do some drawing. This church attracted me because of its situation at the end of a street, where it commanded the intersection. To the left is the tourist information office and to the right is a self-serve gelato shop. Between the tourist information office and the church, you get a peek at the entrance to the Pousada do Sandi, where we were staying.