Out and About, with Dogs

Last week I was determined to get more sketching in then I have of late, and succeeded two whole days in a row:

At the UW campus (above) and at the church I spotted on an earlier attempt to draw stuff.

Then came the 4th.  After a very early morning walk, I stayed home with the Hounds to make sure they weren't too freaked out by the nonstop fireworks (last one heard at 2am).  Here they are looking terrified:

On Thursday I planned to draw at the Montlake Fill, but became distracted by a Great Egret.  This stunning bird is typically found in southeastern Washington and sightings in the Puget Sound are rare.

I called Connie Who Practically Lives There (who wasn't there!) and although she was not yet dressed, and the egret was a half-mile round the pedestrian-only trail and she has bad knees, she got there within 30 minutes, a long 30 minutes during which I mentally willed the bird to stay put.  It did.  Connie was thrilled.

I was also distracted by the sighting of a tiny Osprey chick poking its head above the nest rim.  Hoorah!  I couldn't get a photo of the chick, so had to settle for this series where the female adult dried off her feathers after an unsuccessful fishing effort.

On Friday I managed to get back on the sketching track.  My friend Tina and I headed off to Whidbey Island for the day.  Here's the view from the ferry as it departed Mukilteo:

And here is the standard photo of the ferry from the opposite direction crossing our path:

We stopped at the small town of Langley, which has an old-fashioned shopping district:

Truman did not seem to appreciate the view from this bench:

There were bunnies!

Alas, the sketches I tried to do there were not good.   The first spot I chose, across the street from a couple of picturesque buildings, was fine until a large truck with lawn equipment parked right in front of me despite the yellow painted curb which I thought would protect my view from vehicles.  It was a gang of city workers doing landscaping and they could park wherever they pleased.  Drat. 

The second spot I tried was interrupted by a nearby construction crew (hidden from view) starting up very loud power tools.  I gave up.   It was time for lunch anyway, so we tootled on down the road to Greenbank Farm, a working farm which also has shops, a pond, gardens, and an outdoor cafe where dogs are welcomed.  After eating, we wandered the grounds.

And I sketched!  This was my view from the outdoor cafe.  I thought I'd have time to add watercolor, as the place was packed, but our food arrived sooner than expected.  Oh, well.

While wandering the grounds, Pip spied a gaggle of geese and got quite excited.

Here are the gardens, where I did a second sketch:

The watercolor got a bit messy in that one.  I think my favorite sketch of the day was this little 10-minute one done while waiting in line for the ferry back:

On Saturday I went out for a short visit to a nearby park, and I did a lovely sketch of some fallen trees, but didn't realize until I started to add the watercolor that the pen I had used did not have waterproof ink.  Oh, what a mess it made!  Oh, well.  Live and learn.

On Sunday the Seattle Urban Sketcher group met up to draw at the annual Georgetown Garden Tour.  I found a lovely home where I did a small scene of pots and gargoyles.  And yes, the home was painted bright purple.

So while I wasn't entirely happy with some of the results, at least I got out there more often and tried to draw stuff.  And most of the time, I got to bring the Hounds along, which is all that really matters, right?

Right!