A boating weekend!

ink sketch of crew teams after workout

ink sketch on the dock at Shilshole

going through the Chittenden Locks in the rain

on our way south, we saw lots of sailing groups out on the water

our new boat at her home port in Olympia ... sweet!

Some rain, some sun, and a weekend aboard our new boat. Finally, the work was done and we were able to move the boat from Seattle to Olympia. Lake Union, in downtown Seattle near the University of Washington campus, is about 25 feet higher than Puget Sound. To navigate out of the lake, we had to go through the Hiram M. Chittenden locks. Lucky for us, it was a dreary week day with no boat traffic and we were the only ones in the lock. We tied our lines to moving cleats and held fast as the water was evacuated to let us leave the lock on flat water into Puget Sound.

Overnight at Shilshole Marina on the guest dock. We woke up the next day to blue sky and lots of people getting their sailboats ready for the race just outside the breakwater. I couldn't resist pulling out my sketchbook to scribble down their personalities. Gestures, done when the people don't stay still, it's an aerobic art activity! 

Our trip south was sunny and on flat water and truly a delight. Fun to take our first cruise with our new boat. You see her in the last photo, safely tied up at the dock in Olympia. She's a beauty! And she has two great art areas for painting. One, the enclosed fly bridge. Two, the enclosed stern cockpit. The windows can come off completely when the weather is fine. How great is that?!

More boating adventures ahead! I'm excited!

Sketching is nice but I miss painting

I continue to experiment and play with my sketching. Today, a comic strip across the top of the page with panels of various sizes. Quick gestures while I finished my morning coffee. Another gesture of the bridge at Deception Pass. Then of the bridge support. I like these little drawings.

On the dock at Anacortes, I sat comfortably and drew the rigging on the Day Star. Boats are complicated subjects and I have avoided painting and drawing them in any detail. Today I plunged in. Things got a little wonky but some things are just right. More practice will help, I think.

Try, try again!

Part of my struggle with the watercolor sketches is the lack of information from my charcoal drawings. But, something is happening here that I will pursue a little more.

Something new with figures

Last night's figure model was a dream! Kaj-Ann is a dancer and after he left our class, he was catching a red eye flight to New York to dance in an Off-Broadway show. His gestures were lovely, athletic, graceful, dynamic, gravity-defying!

I liked many of the drawings I did last night and wanted to try something new with them. I transferred a few of them to watercolor paper, pulled out my Charles Reid books and splashed a little paint. Not a big success yet, but the idea scratches an itch. I'm going to play with it more.

It Figures!

30 second gesture drawing
24 x 18, vine charcoal on newsprint

Random art from my trip

It seemed like my trip was mostly about soaking in the experiences, but as I look back through my sketches and watercolor paintings, I can see that I did more than soak. Hope you enjoy taking a peek at these!

Figure Drawing at Hipbone -- Part One: Gestures

Figure drawing usually starts with about 10-15 minutes of gestural drawings. The poses are dynamic and are held for one or two minutes. With my gesture drawings I try to capture the feel of the pose, the movement, what attracts my eye, where is the weight, the tension, the drama.

I work on a standard 24 X 18 pad of newsprint with charcoal. I think that this is my favorite part of figure drawing. Gestures.


Moses Gesture, 24 x 18, charcoal on newsprint