The Barnes Building

Rowland-Leland Building

The Olympia Downtown Historic District Walking Tour describes the Rowland -Leland building, built by Joseph Wohleb as Art Moderne style. It's rounded marquis and entrance columns make it a dead giveaway of the  30's and 40s. It was once the home of Olympia Oil and Wood products; today it houses several businesses including Mix 96 and Einmaleins, an interactive design studio. 

According to Tom Anderson who owns Thomas Anderson Studios next door, the Rowland Leland was considered the most modern building in town in 1941. Sirens that announced the attack on Pearl Harbor sounded from the roof. 

This view at the right highlights the curved marquis and entrance-way columns representative of the Art Moderne style.

The second view below was done the day before but it didn't really catch the most distinctive aspects of the building.

Olympia's own peregrine fledglings.

Perched 175 ft high above Budd Bay on a gantry crane sits a nesting box for a peregrine falcon and her  four fledglings. This years flock marks the 11th year the perigrine couple has chosen the Star crane as their birthing room. When the first nest appeared in 2004 the eggs were jostled and failed to hatch. The Department of Fish and Wildlife installed a nexting box in 2005 and since then the number of fledglings has produced several survivors. 

Dingey's Seafood at the Olympia farmer's market has set up a viewing station just behind their vendor stall, bordering the market parking lot. A telescope pointed directly at the nesting box sits beneath their red and white umbrella shielding birdwatchers from sun and rain. 

Every year the birds are banded for tracking purposes. The Department of Fish and Wildlife monitors several pairs throughout the state. Several have taken up residence in urban areas on bridges and high-rise ledges. 

Peregrines were endangered a number of years ago due to pesticide poisoning. They have since graduated from threats of extinction and their population has increased for the past few years. Peregrines are the world's fastest birds known to capture their prey, mainly other birds, mid-flight. 

This year's article in the Daily Olympian

Westlake Drive offers a clear, though somewhat distant view of the cranes and nest. 

Dingey's also has a rubber duck collection. Drop yours in the orange bucket to grow the collection.  More importantly, there is also a donation bucket sitting just to the right of the telescope. Drop in a few coins or bills to help defray the cost of the telescope and to  show your appreciation for their interest in public environmental education.

More Farmers Market

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in Olympia. I sat down in the sunshine at a picnic table to drink my cup of coffee and and thought I'd do some figure studies. One grew to two, then I had to add some context...and some color. 

Then I went to the other end of the market. This time it was onions that caught my eye. 

I love Olympia's farmer's market.

I'm sure I'll have more market postings this year, however, you can also view 

sketches from last year.

Line to Color Workshop - Seattle

Last weekend I was immersed in the art of sketching. I got to Ballard early to warm up with a sketch of the Ballard Livery while the the Norway Day parade band tuned their instruments a few blocks away. After Frank's demo/instruction I went off to sketch McLeod's trying to remember some of the major points. 

The next morning we met in Freemont. 

We studied Lenin and he looked back, unmoved.

After lunch we headed to Gasworks. I've never sketched there so it was a challenge. I did this sketch was just after Gail introduced color focusing on values. 

The next morning we were at Pike Street Market.  Frank shared how he selects a scene, looking for a focus with foreground and objects in a triangle pattern. Here's my two attempts. 

We wound up with a super show of sketchbooks. So many different viewpoints, styles and stories. Great weekend - inspiring, stimulating and fun. Sketch geek's heaven. 

Emerald City Trapeze Arts

I am the same age that Sam Keen, author of "Learning to Fly", was when he took up flying trapeze. And it was easy to see his inspiration last Sunday when I joined Seattle Urban Sketchers at their monthly sketch outing at Emerald City Trapeze Arts in Seattle's SODO district.

Gary Kirkland open the for profit school and stage for performers in 2009 after he discovered flying trapeze while vacationing at Club Med in Turks and Caicos. The school has since become Club Med's official circus school for the North America zone. The studio's instructor list draws from  Cirque de Soleil, Ringling Bros and Club Med.

        

Most of us sketchers situated ourselves on the viewing balcony. Other options included main floor, side or far end, or the ariel room where leotard clad bodies climbed silken sashes wrapping themselves as they performed acrobats.

This sketch outing was probably the most challenging to date, but it has got me thinking about the 50% off Groupon for ECTA that showed up in my inbox last week!

More Emerald City Trapeze Arts sketches by fellow Seattle Urban Sketchers

LOTT* WET** Science Center

Saturday, March 9 my husband and I volunteered for an event at Hands-On Children’s Museum in downtown Olympia. We herded kids while parents participated in the education and outreach. Around noon we all headed next door for lunch at the Lott Wet Science Center. It was a beautiful sunny day so afterwards I headed outside to sketch these two views.  

The science center houses hands on interactive displays that teach us about water, the environment and conservation. One display shows the green features of the Lott building. Another allows you to see how much water can be saved by specific actions like taking four-minute showers or installing front-loading washing machines. The science center is open for visitors Monday through Saturday, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

*   LOTT – Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater Treatment

** WET – water, education and technology