Timbuktu and China City

You'd think by the title I'm a world traveler. Whidbey is it's own world, but maybe someday I'll venture off the rock. Here's my sketch from the wonderful coffee shop, Timbuktu. And a couple from the bar at China City...

Timkuktu counter with goodies. Everything is yummy!

Cruiser and a friend.

A guy at the bar.

Last Sketching at the Edgecliff

Young Man Watching

Spent a final evening at the Edgecliff sketching with Sue. We wish Tim, the co-owner, and Stephanie, the server, and all others who work there the best in their future endeavors. We will miss them. It was great to see the place bustling with people coming in for a last meal and/or drink at the bar. Quite a party rousing as we left. Here's a few of my sketches from our time there...

Happy People

Gent

People Talking

Guy Waiting

People at the Bar

Drawing and Watercolor Classes

 Kris Wiltse's art classes start November 6th. The learning never stops!

Fundamentals of Drawing  
10am – 1pm, Saturdays
Nov. 6 – Dec 11
Come learn the basics of drawing! Knowing the fundamentals gives artists a greater command of advanced painting media such as watercolors, oils and pastels, thus their own self expression. Through lectures, demonstrations, handouts and in and out of class drawing studies you'll learn the essentials such as sighting, values, composition, light and shadow, perspective, contour line, and various dry media such as pencil and charcoal. We'll also study the masters of drawing such as Rembrandt, Delacroix and Leonardo. Your natural abilities and individual voice will be recognized, nurtured and encouraged to further you down the road of artistic development. 
 $190, $175 for returning students

Register at: http://www.swparks.org/registration_faq.html 

Go to the 'Tools' page on my blog for the supply list.

Painting with Watercolor
2pm – 5pm, Saturdays
Nov. 6 – Dec 11
No other medium compares to the jewel-like qualities of watercolor and all it's variations in color and granulation characteristics. Not to mention the absolute thrill of watching colors disperse, bloom and explode on paper! All levels are welcome in this workshop, as your natural abilities and individual artistic voice will be recognized, nurtured and encouraged. We'll study color, composition, wash techniques and pigment characteristics through exercises, discussions and demonstrations all of which will help build your confidence with this beautiful medium. Come experience the joy and thrill of painting with watercolor! 
 $190, $175 for returning students

Register at: http://www.swparks.org/registration_faq.html
Go to the 'Tools' page on my blog for the supply list.

Analytique

Six of us sketchers ventured to downtown Seattle early in the a.m. last Saturday for a class called 'Analytique.' It was canceled at the last minute so we made lemonade with our lemons. Breakfast and sketching at Pike's Place, then headed up to Capital Hill to Dick Blick for some supply shopping. Our group is a bit like herding cats! Too many distractions in busy downtown. All in all, it was a fun day and the sketchers are great to adventure with.

an·a·ly·tique–noun Architecture.

an elevation drawing of a façade, surrounded by a decorative arrangement composed of drawings of the important details and sometimes a plan or section of the façade.

Wendy at Breakfast. She got to work immediately drawing the pillars on the lower level of the market.

As we were leaving the market I spotted a guy entirely covered with silver. He was a funky robot. I call him SilverMan.

Django at UBC

A splendid afternoon sitting on the UBC patio listening to great music, sketching with the sketchers and drinking delicious coffee. I call it Heaven.

Line by Line

Getting Back to the Phantom Skill by James McMullan is the first of a 12 part series on drawing by this renown illustrator and teacher. My hero when I was a student and my reason for picking up watercolors way back in the 80s. I'm looking forward to reading and applying his teachings. Hope you find some nuggets of inspiration!

Angel at the Cemetery

Nice to visit with my fellow sketchers at the Langley Cemetery. They all produced outstanding work. And the weather was good.
I have been obsessed with this angel for a month or so. I've done numerous false starts in addition to three sketches. There's just something about her. She has a wistful expression and a longing in her attitude as she looks towards the sky. She's also somewhat crudely crafted which is appealing to me. I'll be painting her again.

Sketching in Coupeville

Guy with Dreads

Sue and I stopped in at Christopher's in Coupveille for a glass of wine then headed to Toby's down the street for Mussels. We sketched of course.

Our booth was huge.

People at the wine bar in Christopher's.

Rides at the Fair

Sue and I sat in the bleachers overlooking the fair activities. It was visual overload for me and took some time to sift through it all. A fun time all in all at the fair, especially looking at the critters.

Sunflowers at Good Cheer

The leaves on these sunflowers are like elephant ears, they're so big. I'd like to do another and concentrate on the flowers.

Race Week!

 Another great day of fun with WISk members. While sketching I had a delightful conversation with two inquisitive children, Kathleen and Wesley from Bellingham, there to see their Dad race. They both love drawing so wanted to know more about what we were up to. I was so impressed with them both because of their thoughtful observations and questions. I was sketching Julie, one of our sketchers, and Wesley took note of that fact. I got in a couple sketches of them watching me draw.

 My sketch of Julie sketching and someone watching the boats.

A super fast, rough watercolor sketch. Just as I was discussing not plunking your center of interest in the center, what do I do? Plunk!

Choochokam Catch-Up

Posting the few drawings I did at Choochokam. I sketched people watching the artists work and Henry Stinson painting portraits. Also a couple of his models.

This ferry scene is unrelated to Choochokam. I just like it.

Captain Whidbey Round 2

Joined Sue and Lisbeth for great food, wine and a few sketches at the Captains.

This bear head in the bar was interesting. Though I don't like such trophies.

Later I sat outdoors on the deck overlooking Penn Cove and did a little sketch of the Madrona seen through the porch pillars. What a fabulous evening and sunset.

Langley Village Garden

Langley Village is a beautiful place to sketch. Albeit somewhat cold this spring day, as evidenced by my drawing of the Langley Village couple below.

Here they sat soaking up what little sun shown through the clouds. 

This Wisteria trunk was very interesting, yet once I started drawing got lost in the complexity.

A Restaurant Kind of Day

A day of sketching in cafes and restaurants. It's so chilly here, our group preferred to sketch indoors at Useless Bay Coffee Co. Can't wait for warmer weather to get in some garden sketching.

Sketchers sketching at Useless Bay Coffee Co. in Langley.

We migrated to Prima Bistro for lunch.

We migrated, once again, to La Casita for cocktails.

 

 

In this sketch, my goal was to try to convey a sense of light from the lanterns. I also was working towards a loose impression.

At the Muk

Diana times 2. I had started her next to the window, then she moved before I got any detail. Sorry about that. She moved to the right to sketch so I started again.



Some people having lunch.

Scenes in the library

From the smallest reader in the children's room to an older gentleman intent on his work... it was a fun morning sketching in the Freeland Library.

Quick and dirty sketch of a few books while waiting for fellow sketchers to finish up and pack off to lunch nearby.

Miriam's Cafe, Coupeville

Here are my sketches from Miriam's Cafe in Coupeville. They have very tasty Breakfast sandwiches and great coffee. Happily, it was a bustling place. I had a wonderful time sketching with Lisbeth and Sue.

People were there for hours at a time so we had no problems with patrons leaving in the middle of a drawing.

Two Days Sketch Montage

What a beautiful setting Bayview Nursery is. So many lovely flowers to inspire hope for spring to make a speedy arrival. I began a sketch and Lisbeth sat down within my frame so I included her. My large vertical format watercolor pad turned out to be a bit too much for the time I had. I ended up with a few lines delineating a bit of her and some plants in the foreground leaving lots of space remaining, so today I filled the rest of the paper with more sketches. New Daffodils popping up in the yard, nettles, a bush, a small table with Kleenex, cup of tea, and various odds and ends. Just scribbles for fun. Besides Lisbeth, I'm in it too, sketching.

Local Grown Locals

Another fun day of sketching with the gang, and drawing tool shop talk.

Some day I'll get a likeness of Lisbeth. This was drawn in a large sketchbook. Too large for the tool I was using, a Lamy fine nib pen. I like a beefy line.


Sue and Sherryl in this one. I drew this with a brush pen first, then applied watercolor so the ink bled.