A sunny Saturday at Whidbey Island Winery

As always our friends at the winery were very welcoming.

They were busy giving a tour and pruning the vines.

Guests were enjoying the wine and the day.

summer sketching in Langley

sunny afternoon with live music and the friday market with people looking over my shoulder.

The old Victrola

The Inn is such a nice place to visit. 

Diver Down and a work boat with character

 This was the first one I did on that stormy day.

This one was much more enjoyable. I went back when the sun was out.

What would Choochokam be without food

An attempt at drawing 'Puddle People'

Party Sketching

Thanks for having a birthday, Missy! I got to combine two of my favorite activities - sketching and partying!

Northwest Sketchers Converge on Tacoma

Great Saturday in Tacoma as sketchers from the Pacific Northwest gathered to sketch together in the Museum District.  Here's my diary of the day.

Laying out the location

Morning sketch:  The Bridge of Glass between the Glass Museum and the Washington State History Museum.



Next:  30 sketchers hit The Swiss for lunch.  Lunch companions Kate and Susan from Seattle and Vicky from Portand.

After lunch, one of the cooks at The Swiss asked me to sketch the bartender.  I sketched for wine :-)

PNW Regional Sketchmeet: Tacoma

Lisbeth, Natalie and I represented the Whidbey Island Sketchers at the 1st Pacific Northwest Regional sketch meet in Tacoma yesterday. We had great time sketching, lunching and visiting with sketchers from all over the area. I never knew how beautiful and interesting Tacoma is! Thanks goes to Gail Wong of  Urban Sketchers Seattle for organizing this. Next regional sketch meet - Whidbey Island!

Chihuly's Ice Crystals on the Bridge of Glass which spans Interstate 705 in Tacoma.  

Credit to Beth of Urban Sketchers Seattle for the photo. (I stole it from her blog post.)

32 sketchers attended the Tacoma sketch crawl. In addition to we three from Whidbey, there were 4 who took the train up from Portland, 1 from Camano, 1 from Olympia and the rest from Seattle.

 I call this "Scene of the Crime." The crime may be what I've done to the drawing. It was unfinished when left The Swiss, where we had lunch. So I kept fussing and fussing with it at home this morning, trying to bring it to life. I added brush pen marks, paint splatters, I cropped it to try to bring forward the pot of geraniums. Now it looks like the aftermath of a gangland shooting.

Capt Whidbey & more

Old stove in the Bar area.

View from the corner of the Bar, I just noticed the house is crooked or maybe it was my angle?

Dartboard/Door with a weird rope bag.

View from Whidbey Art Gallery

View from Mary's window on First St. Langley

I've been lax and not posted my sketches for a while, so here goes.  A couple from last week and yesterdays sketching at the Capt. Whidbey Inn.  One is the view from the bar window with a couple of teensy clammers.

Sharon the Bear

Where is my sketch of Sharon? It turned out looking like a dog. So, instead I'm posting these two simple sketches. It was a misty, moisty day and it took me awhile to get into sketching. For some reason I didn't feel like getting the paints out. As usual, a very enjoyable day with like minded folks.

Sharon the Bear

We were sketching in the Tavern at the Captain Whidbey Inn when a group of tourists came in for the express purpose of taking their pictures with the bear head mounted on the wall. Don't ask me why.  They saw that several of us were also sketching the bear. One of the tourists commented that we were "sharin'" the bear, which translated as "Sharon, the Bear" to a couple of sketchers who were not really paying attention. So, now it is "Sharon, the Bear" for sure.

Sharon

Friday lunchers at the Capn Whidbey Inn

Langley summer afternoon

Another beautiful afternoon sketching in Langley.

More Portrait Practice

Work has kept me from sketching with my Whidbey Island Sketcher pals latelyl.  But on my own I've been practicing portraits over the past couple of weeks.  I'm all over the map and envy artists who have a very discernible style.  Here's how undiscernible my style is...sometimes watercolor + pen, other times Neocolor II, other times watercolor only.  But I'm having fun.  Alas!!!            

These first two are Faber-Castell Pitt pen and watercolor.

  

 

Last two - Left:  watercolor only.  Right:  watercolor, pen and Neocolor II.

Langley Marina Nasturtiums

Attracted to the warm colors, I drew the nasturtiums and the parking lot instead of the boats at Langley Marina. The water view seemed so blue and grey. Do you like the way I made Mike into a little leprechaun sitting on the concrete wall? A little problem with scale.

Drawing the Tribe

This is what Whidbey Island Sketchers do at secret late night tribal gatherings. We get together, dress up in exotic headgear and sketch one another. Then we tell each other how fabulous we are. I do love the company of women who draw. I ended up with Barb's sketches in my sketchbook last night, so I'm posting our sketches together. The messy, overwrought images are mine. The fresh Picasso-esque drawings are Barb's.She blew us all away with her sketches last night. A lesson in contrasts for me. Note to self: Leave more white.Simplify.

 

 

 

 

 

langley marina

I had a great time sketching and watching the people and boats.  It started to rain several times and my paper was getting soggy.

Sketching artists and models at Choochokam 2012

It was a lovely Choochokam! Great weather, great sketching, people watching, artist watching. A great two days. There were so many distractions I didn't sketch as much as I thought I would.

Choochokam 2012 Artists and Models

I had fun drawing the models and the artists today at Choochokam.

Chris Adams, who can hold a pose for an hour and half with no breaks, no complaints

Artist Cheryl King, on break at Mo's

Faye drawing a model

sketching at the festival

Second Street Sketching

Friday afternoon in the Commons Garden. People watching,

music, and good sketcher friends, even the sun! 

People, flowers....and a rock....

And some new colored inks to play with!

Second Street Sketching

Yep! A beautiful day sitting at The Commons with coffee and other sketchers and lots to look at and try to capture. Some of us couldn't quit and migrated to Useless Bay for (you guessed it) wine and some dinner and more sketching. Sky Root Farms even offered to trade vegetables for a copy of the sketch of their stand!