Urban Sketching

Today I tried something new -- I went to the monthly get-together for the Seattle Urban Sketchers group, which meets in a different location each time.  This month's spot was the Pike Place Market.  The idea is to meet up at 10am, chat a bit, then disperse to sketch for two hours before meeting up again to look at each other's work.

It was low-key and there were three other new folks, and we were made very welcome.  It was a bit rainy at first, so after a quick sketch out front, I headed down to the lowest level.  My subjects are usually birds and nature, so it was a challenge to do buildings, and I tried to find areas without any people about or just ones passing through.

The lower level was nice and quiet.  Then I moved up one level and found this lovely shop selling colorful clothing, and sat down out of the way near the top of some stairs to sketch it.  About half way into the sketch, another member of the group turned up and plopped herself down right in the scene!  I told her that I didn't draw people, and she happily ignored me.  So I had to put her in.

Here we are meeting up to look over everybody's work -- that's the interloper at bottom right.  Her name is Nancy and she was really quite nice about being sketched, and she liked the way my portrait of her turned out.

Another woman asked me about my sketch, and I told her what happened, and she said, "We have a phrase for that, when someone gets into your view -- it's called a Sketch Bomb."

Ooh.  I was ever so excited -- the club was telling me their secret lingo!  I'd been accepted!

Here's a sampling of the other sketchbooks -- lots of variety in style and medium.

All in all, a very successful and enjoyable experience.