I attended my first urban sketchers’ meetup since moving to Seattle! A charming little pond and park that is located in North Seattle. The air in the morning was cool and damp, but a welcoming change to the dry ashy clouds a few days ago.

I always say that the Urban Sketchers organization always feels like an immediate family no matter which city I go to. Kate, the host of the ad-hoc weekday meet ups, welcomed me warmly. I’m also surprised at the attendance rate of the meet up despite it being on a Friday. It seems that Seattle is filled with art enthusiasts!

Since I’ve yet to acquire a sketcher’s chair, I have to find a location with support for my sketchbook and watercolor set ups. The railings inside a pagoda are perfect for my purpose. I used a Pocket Painter and my beloved Rosemary sable & squirrel mop to do a watercolor wash.

However, there is only so much green scenery an urban sketcher can take. I decided to draw my next subject: a colorful pagoda with bright green and red roof! The installation is quite eye-catching among all the grass and leaves. Thankfully the light drizzling stopped when I had to change location (perching on a large rock.) 

The completed two-page spread. I’m enjoying my huge sketchbook which allows me to liberally apply big saturated brush strokes! Soon I think I shall be able to move onto more professional watercolor paper.

The weekday group of Urban Sketchers. We sketched from 10:00 to 12:30, which is thirty more minutes more than Boston’s usual meet ups. As always, I painted too fast and had too much time on hand to wander and look around. There are quite a lot of people walking their dogs here!

A few of us stayed in the area to grab lunch at Wedgwood Ale House & Cafe. The owner was super friendly and recommended the delicious fish & chip (“Best in Town”, he claimed). I enjoyed the hand cut fries and the fried fish was delicious.