Sometimes the Magic Works and Sometimes It Doesn't

I had every intention of going out to sketch stuff this past week, when the weather was nice enough to do so.  Honest, I did.  Yet somehow it didn't happen.  How is it, you may ask, that the retired person with nothing to do manages to not do stuff that she wants to do?  Well, I'll tell you.

Monday
Partly cloudy, upper 60s

I took the dogs to Magnuson Park.  I thought about sketching there, honest, I did.  It was a bit cloudy, though, and still only 57 degrees at 9am when we arrived.  So I didn't.  I went home and baked chocolate-chip oatmeal cookies instead.  There were errands and visits from neighbors and other stuff in there, none of which contributed to my growth as an artist.

Tuesday
Sunny, upper 70s

Clearly I had no excuse with such nice weather not to go sketching.  I took the dogs to Richmond Beach, but it's a small place where I've sketched many times before, and I found walking around to be much more alluring than plonking down in one spot to draw.  Besides, the Hounds needed their exercise, right?  Right!

Pippin was intrigued by the crabs.

 

Truman never passes up a chance to get wet.

Wednesday
Sunny, got up to 80!

I took the Hounds to the Montlake Fill for a birding walk, and I even tossed my sketching supplies into their stroller.  It's the intention that counts, surely.  But then I ran into Connie Who Practically Lives There, and she was in a chatty mood, so I chatted instead.  And saw a bunny!

And a wee Killdeer chick!

And then it got too hot to sit outside, so that was that.

Thursday
Partly cloudy, upper 60s

Thursday is Doggie Daycare Day at Dog End, when Winston and Chloe come over.  I stay home to take care of them, so no going out to sketch.  I footled around with some paints at home, doing a few practice exercises--that almost counts, yes?? 

Anyway, I decided to take photos of the garden, as there are lovely things blooming there now:

I love roses.

And poppies.

This is a huge shrub, a snowball viburnum.

The volunteer foxglove pop up wherever they please.

The two climbers are making their way up the arbor -- this one is Dublin Bay.

And this one is called The Magician.

The Hounds enjoyed exploring the garden, too.  Here we see two dachshunds admiring the buttercup:

And now three...

And four!

Friday
Partly cloudy, upper 60s

Once again, I had intentions about sketching...truly, I did.  I took the Hounds to the UW campus for a long walk around the whole place, and I even tossed the sketching supplies into their stroller.  But somehow I got distracted -- first, a visit to friends in the Stat Department, then a look at the heron colony on campus, then somehow we wound up shopping at the University Bookstore.  I don't know how that all happened.  There was no sketching involved.  Besides, it was a bit cool.

Saturday
Partly cloudy, upper 60s

Aha--an actual sketch outing!  I actually went out with Tina and Nicole to the Bothell Country Village for the express purpose of drawing things!  No dogs!  No distractions!  Warm enough!  And I actually sat down and sketched things!  Honest, I did!!

And the things I drew (two old buildings with lots of clutter on their porches) were boring and complicated and I wound up disliking them and the sketches were crappy to boot.  I had wandered all over the complex searching for something inspirational and not finding it and thus I wound up drawing stuff I didn't really care about that much and I was Not Pleased.  Then, just as we were leaving, I noticed a small pond with lovely plants and sculptures and stuff that would have been the perfect subject. 

But we had to leave.  Thwarted!  That time my lack of success was clearly not my fault.  I think.  Maybe.  Sort of.  Dang.

Sunday
Mostly sunny, low 70s

I took the Hounds to the Fill for a birding walk, and ran into Connie Who Practically Lives There, and her gang of bird counters, most of whom I know, so we chatted a lot.  And birded a lot.  And there just simply wasn't any time for sketching. 

Instead, I admired this Western Wood-Pewee, of the flycatcher family, who was just passing through:

Next, I admired a juvenile Red-winged Blackbird waiting for someone to come feed it:

A male blackbird was walking on the lily pads, turning up the edges, looking for insects.

And after he'd gathered up enough bugs, he flew over to take care of Junior.

And finally, I admired this butterfly, which I later learned is called a Lorquin's Admiral:

I can hear you thinking, So, it was sunny and in the 70s, and I'll bet it didn't take you all day to watch birds, so what about the rest of Sunday, hm?  What excuse do you have for goofing off all Sunday afternoon, eh?  Tell me that!

Well, okay, here you go:

What can I say?  It was sunny, it was 70 degrees, and the Seattle Mariners were hosting my second-favorite team, the Minnesota Twins for a matinee game.  Thus endeth the Week of Not Sketching Much, the week where the Magic Didn't Work, the week of puttering and footling around and dinking about and watching the Mariners win yet again. 

It was a fun week, even without art.

But I'll try to do better next time.  Honest!

The Merry Month of May

What was that odd pattering sound on my roof the night before last?  Could it possibly have been rain?  No!  Why, the last time I heard that sound was the 28th of April.  What on Earth is happening here in Seattle, in the great Pacific Northwet?

Well, truth to tell, there have been a few misty drizzles here and there, now and then, maybe once or twice.  But since I always complain when the weather is awful, I thought it would only be fair to note when it's not.  May has been mostly lovely, with 8 days above 70 (and five more predicted this coming week!) and enough sunshine to keep this desert-grown blogger happy.  Hooray for May!

Except for May 15, that is.  That was the day I opted to drive the horrid half-hour drive to Discovery Park to try sketching the lighthouse there.

It was supposed to be 70 and partly sunny.  When I arrived, it was 55 and mostly cloudy.

Okay, so I went really early, when the park ranger office opened at 8:30am, in order to snag one of the 8 coveted parking permits for the beach (without which it is a 1.7 mile walk one-way with a hill).

I could have waited until later, as it turned out.  Nary a soul was in line ahead of me, chomping at the bit for a permit, and no one turned up on the beach for the entire hour we lasted there.

I did try to sketch the lighthouse (not shown due to extreme hideousness), and after feeling uninspired by the whole adventure, went for a walk instead.

Which also didn't last long, because the smell from the nearby waste treatment plant kind of overwhelmed, and not in a good way.  The dogs, at least, didn't seem to mind.

So we walked in the other direction from the treatment plant, with the cool, cloudy beach all to ourselves.

There weren't even any fabulous birds to watch, other than the requisite gulls and crows.

Here is Pippin expressing precisely what I felt at that point...Why are we here?

Good question!  I need a list.  It should be printed in very big type and should be displayed prominently by the door, and it should say, DO NOT GO TO THESE PLACES AGAIN with an explanation, such as, "You hate the drive and it's always too cold and it smells bad!"

So take that, Discovery Park!

Fortunately, there is always the Montlake Fill.  I hope and trust that the Fill will never make that list.  There was a brief time, during the recent "restoration" project, when it wasn't entirely pleasant, but at least it smelled okay.  And the drive is only 15 minutes through a non-annoying part of town.

I took the Hounds there on Saturday, and made them walk around the Loop Trail twice.  We saw a whole lot of Killdeer, as usual:

And a lovely, not-quite-as-usual Cinnamon Teal:

The Marsh Wrens are common, though they prefer to hide in the cattails, and it's nice when one pops into view for a bit:

One fun sighting was not a bird at all--this is a Spring insect hatching cloud!  Most likely gnats, which keep the swallows very happy.

The Osprey pair appear to be sitting on eggs.  One is nearly always on the nest or in a tree nearby keeping a close watch, while the other one hunts for food or gathers more nest material.  Here is the female, Lacey, returning to the nest platform:

I ran into Connie and her gang of shorebird counters (they do a weekly survey), who were slowly ambling around the loop trail, counting Killdeer.  At one point, I ambled about 200 feet ahead of them and sat down to do this little sketch, and by the time I finished, they had managed to reach me.  They are s-l-ooooooo-w.

Except for the hideous lighthouse attempt, all of my sketching efforts occurred on Saturday and Sunday.  After spending Saturday morning at the Fill, I hopped over to the Twin Ponds community garden after lunch, to meet up with fellow sketcher Tina.  The sun was out!  It was ever so nice.

On Sunday we both joined up with the Seattle Urban Sketchers group for their monthly outing, which was to Wallingford Center.  This is an old school converted to boutique shops and eateries.  Naturally, the first shop that caught my attention was a bakery--the Trophy Cupcake place.

I spent a good hour drawing it while admiring the cupcakes, and then I admired eating a Triple Chocolate one.  I spent the second hour outside drawing the building, which turned out to be not so interesting, so you don't get to see it.  Trust me, the cupcake place was far superior.

At every group outing, someone snaps a photo of the sketchers.  I am in front, third from the right, wearing my ratty purple jacket.

As I mentioned, there are FIVE days in the forecast this coming week with 70+ temperatures.  Today is not one of those days.  Oh, well.  Something to look forward to!

Perhaps I'll spend some time today making a list with really big type of PLACES NOT TO GO.  I know what will be number one!

Breaking the Routine

My habit, when out sketching, is to find a view that appeals and then plonk it down on the page like this:

Or like this:

It occurred to me that this approach could get a bit predictable and perhaps even dull, and perhaps I should try different compositions once in a while.  I've done this a few times before, where I tried putting more than one view on a page:

Or tried to take a more journalistic approach, such as this:

While the "one view, one drawing in middle of page" approach certainly works fine for most sketches, this week I decided to mix things up a bit.  I would like my sketching books to be more like journals, to reflect more of what I'm seeing or experiencing than just the same view that I could get if I snapped a photograph.

So here is my first effort, done at Magnuson Park, where I've often admired the wisteria on the pergola there without ever managing to convey it well in a drawing.  I think this worked fairly well:

The next day I didn't go anywhere, so I practiced a new compositional style in my own back yard:

The next day I ventured out with the Hounds to a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Greenwood:

There were plenty of fabulous views.

And fun things to draw.

I tried to convey several different aspects on one page, and as in the wisteria drawing, I tried mixing color with black and white.

I think I could have left a bit more white space in that piece.  Always learning!

After sketching that day, I hauled the Hounds down the road to Golden Gardens Park for a bit of beach viewing.

On Saturday I did my usual bird walk at the Montlake Fill, where I encountered a territorial dispute between a Red-winged Blackbird and a crow:

One of the Osprey was on the nest platform, probably on eggs, waiting for its mate to return with fish.

The Osprey was not going to budge from that nest, as another bird in a tree nearby was keeping an eagle eye on it:

I also spotted a lovely American Goldfinch:

After strolling around the loop trail, I went next door to the Center for Urban Horticulture to sketch at the perennial garden.

So I had fun experimenting with different page layouts this past week, until now I think those are getting predictable!  Which gives me another project to work on:  mixing up the compositions even more in new ways.  There's another week of good weather in the forecast, so I should be out and about.

In fact, it was so warm the past two days that I hauled out the wading pool (though not for me)....

Pippin was unsure about the strange new thing in his yard....

But since he models his behavior on Truman's, he did hop in...and immediately hopped out.  He's not quite the water dog that Tru is, though he will go wading at the lake shore.

Have a fun week, everyone!