Seattle Sketchbook
Recently I was in Seattle on business and managed to sneak away to do a few sketches. The new Olympic Sculpture Park is beautifully situated above the water and brilliantly designed. It features stunning views in multiple directions and plenty of expansive space in which to set off the works from striking angles.
There was a sign saying that the Oldenburg was not to be photographed, but it didn’t say anything about sketching. 🙂 Some teenagers were admiring the sculpture but had no idea what it was supposed to be: I explained, but I don’t think they believed me!
The Pike Place Public Market is another interesting site full of sketching possibilities. It is a bustling place, filled with stands overloaded with prime specimens of every imaginable kind of food. Just looking at those vegetables will make you healthy! 🙂 Sadly, I only had time to sketch it from afar, looking down Pike Street.
Related Post: Produce Market
Related Topics: Landscapes, Seattle, Travel Sketching
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April 23rd, 2007 at 9:53 am
[…] my recent Seattle trip I spent an afternoon sketching but didn’t have time to draw at the Public Market. I did take […]
March 12th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Laura: Your Seattle sketches are wonderful!
Susan: I did in fact draw some radiating guidelines in pencil to assist with the street scene. I have studied architecture so perspective may be in my blood! I did the sketch from an (indoor – warm!) walkway at the convention center which connects two buildings above the street.
March 12th, 2007 at 10:33 am
It’s fun to compare our recent Seattle sketches–mine are much quirkier in terms of subject matter, I guess. It would have been fun to draw together!
March 11th, 2007 at 12:31 am
Wonderful sketches. This eraser thing is amazing!
March 9th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
You always seem to get the perspective right on these city scenes! What’s your secret? Do you draw with pencil first? Do you do that squinting and holding your pen up and capturing the angles thing?
March 8th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
These are delightful. My favorite is the last…the street scene. It’s so personal and cheery even though it’s big buildings. I love the story about the eraser too. I hated those things–they always tore holes in the paper. Undo is so much better!
March 7th, 2007 at 11:58 am
That eraser is intriguing, isn’t it? Here are some photos of it folks have put on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=oldenburg%20seattle
The sculpture is 14 feet high.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:55 am
I realize now that one end of the eraser is a brush, but it looks as though they could be wires, cables, or tendons — that sort of thing.
March 7th, 2007 at 7:52 am
You’ve really done a wonderful job of depicting Seattle … Pike Street Market could keep an artist busy for a life time, with so much going on.
March 6th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Typewriter eraser. The ancestor of Undo. No longer needed, it was amputated from the machine and discarded. Left by the side of the road. And there its ghost still lives, sometimes seen, but seldom recognized.
March 6th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
What great sketches! They make me want to visit Seattle!
March 6th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
beautiful job capturing Seattle. I too, have been there many times (but missed the sculpture park!!) lovely sketches!
March 6th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
😀
I lived in Seattle for eight years. My last apartment, which I lived in for two and a half years or so, was in Pike Place Market! Sadly, I wasn’t doing much sketching from the world around me at that time. What was I thinking??? I haven’t been to the new sculpture park, but this is a great way to experience it vicariously. Your rendering of the typewriter eraser is delightfully surreal (as I imagine it is in real life). Like your watercolor of the Stravinsky Fountain, the sense of scale is tweeked. I’m not sure whether the typewriter eraser is huge, or the cars are just teeny tiny. I think the far-off point off view helps support that feeling. Those very well could be teeny tiny cars.
March 6th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Nicely done. Great sculptures, must have been done with a touch of humor (the sculpture artist, that is). Good drawing too. City scenes are not a cake walk, so to speak. Your colors always show admirable subtlety, and I think, as usual, you show us all how the sketchbook can be used to capture quickly a scene’s essence and still be an artwork in itself.
Bill (wp3)
March 6th, 2007 at 7:52 am
Wonderful sketches. Thanks for bringing back lots of memories of our trip there.
March 6th, 2007 at 4:35 am
Having lived in Seattle for 20 years I see the beauty of your drawings through the eyes of a Seattlelite. You have captured the essence of the city, along with its beauty.
March 6th, 2007 at 3:06 am
WONDERFUL SKETCHES!! The most unusual of all — that eraser — would be worthy of a trip to the city if nothing else! I also love your street scenes!! BEAUTIFUL WORK!
March 6th, 2007 at 1:03 am
These are great Martha – I’m amazed at how much you get done on a business trip. Seeing your sketches is so much better than photographs – you really communicate the atmosphere of the place. Thanks for posting these.
March 5th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
The eraser is a trip! I have to go there now and photograph it 🙂
March 5th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
this is great! i need to get down to that park… the next nice day. your drawings look just like seattle, wonderful job.