Le temps maussade ne pose pas de problème aux amateurs de croquis urbains de Seattle

A group of nine of us gathered this morning at Centre de Seattle for our monthly sketchcrawl. Here’s where the Space Needle was built for the 1962 World Fair. The fairgrounds offered plenty of subject matter to draw. I took the opportunity to experiment a little bit with a mix of media, pencil, gouache, a brush micron pen and the regular micron pens —including a 05 sepia color—, and even some color pencils. We had a typical fall Seattle day with cloudy and partly cloudy skies.

The monorail heading to downtown is about to go through the Experience Music Project building, a very recognizable design by architect Frank Gehry.

A whale’s tail is the centerpiece of a sculpture garden. The writing on the ground says: “A long time ago in the land of Chief Seattle whales used to pass from Elliott Bay to Lake Union.” On the right, the Space Needle raises above the trees.

The Center House building, shown on the left sketch, used to be an armory during Second World War. It was built in 1939 and has some interesting art-deco features. For my last sketch I chose a view of some colorful trees behind a dry pond that also features a couple of sculptures.

This is a slide show of a set sur flickr with photos from the day. Don’t miss Mark Ryan‘s customized tripod-easel et Will Scales versatile sketching kit.

To see everyone’s drawings from this and past gatherings check out our USk Seattle blog.