The Lighthouse Weather Report

You can tell how dismal the weather has been here by the number of lighthouse drawings I made (because that's what I do when I can't go outside--I draw lighthouses from photos).

0-4 Lighthouses:  It was sunny and warm most of the week

5-9 Lighthouses:  It was half and half

10+ Lighthouses:  It was cold and drizzly nearly all the time

Last week I drew 13 lighthouses.  Translation:  Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I edited out two of the more boring ones for you.  Here are the rest.  I strove for variability in lighthouse shape, surroundings, and viewpoints.

I've been working my way through the photos at lighthousefriends.com, which are organized alphabetically by state/province, choosing the best ones from each. 

I'm particularly happy with the one below as it had tricky perspective, and as with all my drawings, I did it directly in pen without rulers or aids of any kind, and nailed it first try.  Go, me!

I've tried different times of day:

And I even did one left-handed (my non-dominant hand), again directly with pen, no aids.  The arches were especially difficult.  I timed this one -- it took 30 minutes for the drawing and 15 for the painting.  I wrote the name of the lighthouse left-handed, too! 

And look -- I even did PEOPLE:

Last one for this week -- I've got one more from Connecticut to do, then it's on to Delaware, followed by the bountiful beacons of Florida.  The forecast for this coming week bodes well for the high end of the lighthouse weather scale.  Joy.

I did manage to get out on Saturday morning, the ONE nice day last week, when it did NOT rain and was NOT freezing cold.  The pups were pleased -- here we are at the Montlake Fill.

There were Northern Shovelers on Shovelers Pond:

I ran into Connie, who does a weekly shorebird report on Saturdays.  She likes to pause for long periods, plonked on her camp stool.  It can take her 2-4 hours to get around the 1-mile loop trail. 
So I sketched while she scanned the alder grove for shorebirds.  Which of course, were not there, but hey, you may as well see a few chickadees and warblers while you're at it, right?

I left Connie for a detour to the campus, where a state-wide rowing competition was underway.

The activity was intense as dozens of crews entered and left the water, coming and going in a well-coordinated dance. 

I tried sketching the scene -- everyone moved so quickly that all I could do was draw gestures and impressions.

When I returned to the Loop Trail some 45 minutes after leaving Connie, I found her again about a quarter-mile from where I'd left her.  She had moved on to the prairie grass area and had found some actual shorebirds (the resident Killdeer).  By the time I departed, she had counted 14 of them.  Nice!

I spent nearly three hours total at the Fill, then went home for lunch, and then headed out again for an afternoon of sketching with Tina at Magnuson Park for another two hours.  When you have just one truly good-weather day out of seven, you have to make the most of it.

The Pups were tired out from their morning excursion, and stayed in their stroller while I sketched.

On Sunday the rain and the cold returned.  I think it got up to 46 or so (a good 10+ degrees colder than Saturday).  Tina and I resorted to one of our favorite indoor sketch locations, the antique mall up the road.

I spent about an hour on this drawing, and added the watercolor later at home (the antique mall owners don't mind if we sketch there, but I feel they might frown upon liquids sploshing about, and being the klutz that I am, this is wise).

So that's my weekly report -- lots and lots of lighthouses.  I hope you don't get tired of them, for there may be many more to come!