Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Train Trip

Some months ago I realized the AmTrak station in Centralia was just a block from a McMenamins.  I made a plan to take the train for a sketch outing there. I've not been on an AmTrak train since I was a teenager so I thought it would be a new experience. Yesterday I finally got around to it.  A couple sketching friends came with me.

The first half hour of the trip I was alone, Tukwila to Tacoma.  I sketched the woman sitting across from me.  Then I met up with my traveling companions at the Tacoma station.



Me, Frances, Pat at the Centralia Train station



First, we sketched in the old fashioned train depot.  It was small but had the Victorian era details.     It was built in 1912, a bit out of the Victorian period but it still has the details.



Then on to the McMenamins Olympic Club hotel. 

If you don't know about McMenamins, they are a hotel and restaurant company that buys historic old buildings and renovates them into amazing venues.       They serve the communities in which they reside by opening their facilities to the public.  The locations often have a movie theater or a pool, or both, and these are available for the public to use.  All of the locations are unique with art, painting and decor related to the area in which they reside.  Each of them is eminently sketch-able!  We've sketched 2 or 3 times at the Six Arms on Capitol Hill, Seattle. 

From the website: "Our goal is to keep the past in the present, to celebrate and connect us all with the people and events that have helped define each McMenamins property. To that end, we research, interview and compile materials to identify and commemorate our properties and their surroundings. Our best historical finds often come from you!" 

It was predicted we would have rain in the afternoon so I made my first sketch of McMenamins outside.  This is the view from the street.  The greenery is hung for holiday decor.



After sketching outside for about an hour, I was happy to sit by the wood stove to warm up.  This heats the dining and pool rooms!  There was a large stack of wood next to it.



We had our lunch there and shared the sketches we'd done so far.

My final sketch was of the large sign in the "New Tourist Bar".  I didn't know it at the time, but Greenalls is a brand of gin.



All of the staff of the Olympic Club were delightful.  I was allowed to go into the hotel section in order to complete the scavenger hunt and get another stamp for my McMenamins Passport book!  And they stamped our sketches too!



Now I'm planning a trip to the Spar Cafe in Olympia to get that last stamp in the section!  This will be a drive, though.  I checked into going by train:  in addition to the travel time by train, it is an hour bus ride from the station, which is actually in Lacey!  I only takes me an hour to just drive there.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Ad Hoc December 1

Ad Hoc Sketch outing: World Aids Day observance
                  Thursday, December 1, 6-7:30 pm

 



Washington State History Museum
1911 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, WA

The Pierce County Aids Foundation (PCAF) has invited us to have an evening sketch-out during the annual observance of World Aids Day on Thursday, December 1st.

The program is at the Washington State History Museum, from 6-7:30 pm.

This event is in remembrance of all who’ve died of AIDS and to support for those living with HIV.

The sketching opportunities:

    There will be the attending general public, a speaker, visual and performance arts, an interactive reflection activity, and an altar in the style of Dia de Los Muertos.
    We’ve also been given the opportunity to continue sketching the Museum exhibits from 7:30-9:00 pm.

There is parking in the lot by the Museum for $4.00 for the evening, or, free parking at the Freight House Square garage and use of the free trolley which stops in front of the Museum.

Per event website:  "event guests can pay the  minimum rate of $4 for 2-hours but can remain parked throughout the evening with no further charges)"

This will be USk Tacoma's first (but not last) evening sketch-out.
If you plan to attend, please reply in a Facebook comment on this event's listing, or in a comment to this blog post.

Monday, November 21, 2016

A Bit About Me

Hi, my name is Pat Graham and I'm just getting my feet wet as a correspondent here on the blog. I've been a sketcher of some sort for all my life. I honestly can't remember a time when I wasn't drawing on backs of discarded paper in the waste basket at my grandparents home or in sketch books purchased from the local art supply store. Art instruction was offered in abundance in the public schools throughout my formative years and I also took semi private lessons on the side as a youngster. As a partially deaf child, being able to express myself through art was a saving grace! I can honestly say that, too, because it became my way of understanding the world around me. It was always my desire to earn a living using my artistic abilities in some form or fashion when I grew up, so I immersed myself in commercial art training after graduating HS and worked in that field for a number of years. On the side I also studied fine art and enjoyed doing commissioned portraiture.

Fast forward.....an autoimmune disease started to interfere with my eyesight and I gave up art for a decade, at which time I was able to have a series of surgeries that helped restore some of my visual clarity. Of course, I picked my best friend, ART, back up again and took off running! Fine art and Urban Sketching have been my focus as of late and I'm enjoying myself completely. Getting together with the local sketching group offers a wide assortment of locations to meet up at, get to know other like minded folks and sometimes enjoy lunch, too, after we sketch. The laid back atmosphere allows for all levels of abilities to participate with ease - I love that attitude of inclusion.

I encourage anyone who would like to try their hand at drawing to join with us and give it a try! Once you get used to it, many find the process meditative and soothing. I always say that art puts me in a 'zone' like no other - one that I return to again and again eagerly.


Below, you'll find some of my works, sketching and fine art, created post eye surgery. I hope to meet you sometime!

Pat Graham






Thursday, November 17, 2016

Antiques

Tacoma Urban Sketchers had a bit of a hiccup.  We met at Tully's in the Theater & Antique district to talk and sketch prior to moving to our primary venue, Sanford and Son Antique Mall, at 11 am.  However, it didn't actually open until noon.  It was a sunny day so I decided right after our meeting at 10 to sketch near the Spanish Steps as I'd missed that outing earlier this year.

This is the former Elks Lodge.  It will one day be a McMenamins facility.  I really can't wait until they open it as their restorations are amazing.  It will have a hotel, live music venue, 3 restaurants, a brewery and a rooftop garden.  Based on my visits to other McMenamin facilities, it will provide almost unlimited sketching subjects.  But right now it is in poor shape.


It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  McMenamins is known for rescuing historic buildings.   The Elks Temple was built in 1915-16 and was designed by É. Frère Champney in the second Renaissance Revival style.

Once the antique mall opened, I made straight for the big tooth and called "dibs".  It's really rather grotesque but I like it. If you want it, it will set you back $1,655 ! Beneath it is one of two antique barber chairs that will be in the next auction run by the store. Sitting in the chair, for no apparent reason, is an "e" from a sign. They've both been there at least a year as they were there the last time we sketched in this location.



We met up in the lower level of 3 floors to share sketches.






We had lunch at DiLoreto's Downtown Cafe, also on the lower level.  Very nice people and a good lunch! 

More photos https://redharp.smugmug.com/SketchOutings/2016-1116-Antique-district/

by Kate Buike

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Third Wednesday December 21 Artist and Craftsman Supply

Third Wednesday December 21 Artist and Craftsman Supply
616 St. Helens, Suite 102, Tacoma, WA 98402
https://www.artistcraftsman.com/artist-craftsman-supply-tacoma

 








Meet at 10 am inside the front door of the store.   It is scheduled to open on Nov 25th.  It is a comprehensive art supply store that is much needed in Tacoma.  There are branches in Seattle and Portland.  It is located in an historic building.  

Close by lunch options at Stink (sandwiches and cheese)
628 St Helens Ave, Tacoma, WA 98402
http://www.stinktacoma.com/

or

B-Sharp cafe
706 Opera Alley, Tacoma, WA 98402
http://www.bsharpcoffeehouse.com/



 

Parking:  An easy place to park is the paid lot by the History Museum, then hop onto the trolley and get off at the Theater District trolley stop. From there, though, it's several blocks, uphill, to the store.  But that way folks aren't worrying about 2 hour parking or parking tickets. Paid Street parking with a 2 hour limit. 


Second Thursday, December 8th Main and Vine in Gig Harbor

Second Thursday, December 8th  Main and Vine

5010 Point Fosdick Dr. NW, Gig Harbor, Washington 98335
https://www.mainandvineshop.com/

 



It's an upscale grocery operated by Kroger in the site of the former QFC. 

We will meet in the Cutter’s Coffee area at the front of the store at 10am.





Once we know how many people we have, we can get a table reserved for our post-sketching meeting upstairs above Cutter’s which is also a good place from which to sketch.   The areas on the main floor are quite spacious, however, we need to be as unobtrusive as possible.

There are lunch items available in the deli area and we are welcome to eat lunch in the Cutter’s Coffee area.
 
Directions:
 



Cross Tacoma Narrows Bridge
Exit to Olympic Dr
Turn left at the light off the exit (turn right off the exit if coming
from the north)
Get into the right-hand left turn lane to Pt Fosdick Dr.
Take the next right (NOT into the gas station!)
Main and Vine is across the parking lot just a little to your right

.

First Saturday: December 3rd The Old Cannery in Sumner

First Saturday:  December 3rd The Old Cannery in Sumner

Address: 13608 Valley Ave E, Sumner, WA 98390
http://www.oldcanneryfurniture.com/









We will gather for announcements at 10 am between the Ye Olde Fudge Shoppe and the Elvis statue. There is seating at tables.  


There are free hot beverages available close to our meeting area.

There's ample parking, by the front door and in huge parking lots across the street.
Large furniture showroom with playful elements like a fudge maker & an overhead toy train.

Open Saturdays 9AM–6PM (Time to get in an hour of early sketching before announcements.)


Remember, later this same day is the Ad Hoc outing to Daniel Smith Seattle for the book signing by Urban Sketchers founder, Gabi Campanario, and artist and teacher, Stephanie Bower.  
http://urbansketcherstacoma.blogspot.com/p/ad-hoc-outings.html

Monday, November 14, 2016

Falling in Love with my New Green!

I live in the Pacific Northwest and when sketching, what do you see the most unless you live in the city? Come on guess! nope not that… nope that neither,  yes you got it!  Pine trees, all kinds and all varieties you might imagine and finding the perfect green in watercolors is challenging! I own and use the following green watercolors; Sap Green from QOR Watercolors, Sap Green from Windsor & Newton Professional Watercolors, Windsor Green (Blue Shade) from Windsor & Newton Professional Watercolors, Hooker’s Green from Windsor & Newton Professional Watercolors and my newest addition Jadeite Genuine from Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors. All of my greens from Windsor & Newton Professional Watercolors are very nice but so far they don’t match the intense green I was looking for. A green that can provide the illusion of the beautiful green forests of the Pacific Northwest. In my search I stumbled upon QOR colors and I will definitely talk about them in more detail in a future post. I like them a lot and the green shade of Sap Green I found that it does a very good job with the evergreens, not perfect, or at least not the intensity I was looking for but I could live with that. Never the less my search continued.

I am very lucky that Daniel Smith Art supplies store is not horribly far away from home, roughly 50 miles away. One day due to work commitments I was 10 minutes away from this place and I could not resist stopping there on my way home. WOW I found paradise! “The missing link,” “El Dorado.” There I resumed my search for the perfect green.  Stumbled upon Jadeite Genuine, a beautiful shade of green that is so pure and intense that brings tears to my eyes, well probably not that much but very close. This particular color is part of a collection called the Prima Tek colors. One thing I learned about Daniel Smith Watercolors is that they are built from the ground up meaning they use pigments from the earth to make the Prima Tek watercolor! Daniel Smith has a mineralogist that travels the world finding the right minerals for these exquisite colors. In particular Jadeite Genuine is made of two minerals, Jade and Nephrite. This color is a series 4 and the price is higher that the other ones but it is totally worth it! The price is $13.77 for a 5ml tube (small) but is currently on sale for $10.33. If you live far from the Seattle or Bellevue area you can always buy Daniel Smith online, this is the web address; www.danielsmith.com
As follows these are a couple of sketches I have done using this beautiful Jadeite Genuine Watercolor.

               
I drew this sketch of my neighborhood a week ago as I was waiting for a storm that never showed up! You can see the contrast between the pine trees and the Sap green of the bushes and grass.

This is another sketch I did yesterday while waiting for some new tires at Les Schwab. All the pine trees are painted with Daniel Smith’s Jadeite Genuine and the bushes are done with Sap Green from QOR watercolors.


Well this is my Urban Sketching journey for the last couple of weeks, experimenting and learning more about color. Now that the Fall has arrived there will be a lot more pportunities to experience new colors, shades and vibrant tones.
Until next time and Happy Sketching,
Daisy

Saturday, November 5, 2016

A book in the library

It was about a dozen sketchers from Urban Sketchers Tacoma who braved the chill and the constant, pouring rain to sketch together at Pacific Lutheran University.  It's a beautiful "red brick university" campus.  Unfortunately, it was far too wet to sketch outside.  The most we could do was shelter under the patio roof of the library.  Mostly, we sketched inside the library.
Frances sketches a sculpture from the shelter of the library patio
Frances sketches a sculpture from the shelter of the library patio
There was an exhibit of African Masks that attracted a few sketchers.
John, Pat, Rom
John, Pat, Rom
The magnet for me was the St. John's Bible. I felt I had to sketch the display in honor of this wonderful work of art. I've done this style of calligraphy and illumination in the past but certainly not at this level!  This Bible is the modern interpretation of the medieval monastic scribal tradition that produced so many magnificent bibles and prayer books.



In 1998, Saint John’s Abbey (outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota) commissioned a world famous calligrapher and Scribe to Queen Elizabeth II of England, Donald Jackson, to produce a hand-written, hand illuminated Bible.  It was done in collaboration with a number of artists he gathered to his studio in Wales.  They used medieval techniques and materials.  It took 13 years to create 1156 pages on vellum.  Suzanne Moore, one of the artists who worked on the illumination (painting), is from Vashon Island, WA.  In fact, her work is on one of the prints behind the book.
http://www.saintjohnsbible.org/promotions/process/people_suzanne_moore.htm

More about the bible and its visit to PLU:
https://www.plu.edu/lutheran-studies/marking-500-years-of-lutheran-education/the-saint-johns-bible-at-plu/

An article about the bible in a PLU publication:
http://www.plu.edu/resolute/fall-2016/saint-johns-bible/
Be sure to watch the video of Suzanne describing the experience of working on the paintings for this project.  "Your world is at the end of this brush".  It gave me chills! Several of the images half way down the page are hers.  



I had seen this bible before:  https://redharparts.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/the-book/   

My second sketch was made under the cover of the library patio, looking out to the fading garden.  I was not at all happy with it and referred to it as a "hot mess" as I sat next to Pat Graham during our sketch sharing session.  She gave me some coaching that helped improve it.  As we talked, I added more definition with pen work.  Now it's just a "warm mess"!  



We gathered in University Center to pass our sketch books around the table.  We had lunch and then worked on plans for our 2017 outings.




a few more photos:   https://redharp.smugmug.com/SketchOutings/2016-1105-Pacific-Lutheran/  

Friday, November 4, 2016

Sketchbook Hacks

At Frances Buckmaster's suggestion, I'm posting this here.  It was originally on my personal blog, with a link to it on our USk Tacoma Facebook page.  So for those not on Facebook.....

In my meaning here, a "hack" is an alteration, usually a clever one.   There are 3 hacks in this photo.



First, I made the cover of this sketchbook black.  It's a spiral bound, 9x12 Montvall Watercolor 
sketchbook.  The cover has some text on it. I like to add stickers to my sketchbook covers, particularly of the places I've sketched in the book.   It's also paper and I prefer a thicker, more supportive cover.  I added a black heavy card stock by gluing it on to the existing cover.  It made it both plain black and a little heavier.  I've already added some stickers.

The next hack is the removal of the spiral binding.  This was not my idea.  I saw it on Steve Reddy's book a week ago.    He removed the spiral binding and replaced it with a few book rings.  These are available at any stationery store in a choice of sizes and even colors.





This makes it easy to remove and replace a sketch out of the book.  I scan my sketches and the spiral binding makes it really difficult to get good focus on the flat bed scanner.  Being able to remove the sketch, scan it flat and then put it back in the book is a good thing.



The spiral binding also takes up extra room in the sketch bag.  The book rings seem not as bulky.

The last little hack comes from Brenda Swenson.    She mentioned it during the workshop I took recently at Daniel Smith.  Many sketchbooks come with an attached elastic band to hold it closed.  Brenda uses an elastic hair band when the book doesn't come with an elastic!  The child size ones are good for smaller sketchbooks.  This large sketch book uses an adult one.  They are also available in many colors.  When I take it off to use the book, I just wrap it around my wrist so I don't loose it while on location.



There you have it.  Three hacks in one post.

And.... this is more information from Frances about why the book ring hack is very useful, added here on her suggestion, from her comment on Facebook:

"I belong to Peninsula Art League (Gig Harbor). Quite a few of the PAL members participate in the 2nd. and 4th. Thursday sketch-outs in Gig Harbor (15-20 attendees at outings.) Two of our co-administrators of USk-Tacoma are the regular Hosts of these Gig Harbor area sketch-outs--Mary J. McInnis and Pam Jenkins are members of PAL-- (as are their substitute Hosts--Kris Nail and Karen Wilsey--)..i.e. participation as members in PAL is quite important to a good sized batch of Urban Sketchers-Tacoma participants. What does all of this have to do with Kate's 3 great hacks? The Board of PAL, at their last meeting, made a decision that's very important to Urban Sketchers who are PAL members: We may now submit Urban Sketches into the required process leading to being a 'juried participant' in PAL member gallery shows. And, right on the point of Kate's hacks: only framed originals may be entered to be juried. Kate's hacks make this opportunity possible for those of us who hate to break apart our sketchbooks. (Of course, we are legion!) So, thanks a lot Kate! I will be 're-doing' the original format of some of my sketchbooks post haste!!"

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Custom Sketchbooks

There is something fantastic about a handmade sketchbook, especially when it all fits, with supplies, in a small place. This book was extra special because it was lovingly made and given to me as a gift to commemorate a very special event. I normally don't work this small so I tried the double page spread which makes for a nice little size. Furthermore being small lends to needing less time to do a study so I can develop the image more completely. Also being small usually means less pages so thus the reward of finishing a sketchbook quicker.
   So upon the discovery that this little sketchbook was almost done I went to making my own sketchbook. I had made one prior to this little guy but never used it... too intimidating! So to "get over it" I decided to make a dozen sketchbooks.

 I currently have 9 made, half of which I have gifted with 3 more to complete. The best part is that I can use whatever kind of paper I like. I have used papers like tinted pastel, mineral, watercolor... and created covers and closures with specific people in mind. The construction of these sketchbooks has been a joy of learning and creating. Although I haven't used one of them yet, I do have my eye on two of them to work in before the years end... unless I give them away too. -Feather