Its a wrap!

Last year I participated in a city sponsored contest calling for artists to submit designs for covering traffic boxes throughout the city. You may not even notice these gray, metal boxes that contain the wiring and controls for traffic lights in any city. Now you will - at least in Olympia.

The city posted all the submitted designs on Facebook and put it out to the public for voting. Two of my designs were chosen - one on the west side and another for the downtown area. Both are sketches of the legislative building with rhododendrons - two significant symbols for our city.

The following is a link to the city's Facebook article on the completion of the westside wraps:

Thanks to the amazing weather we had last week, the last of the traffic signal box wraps were installed on the Westside!...
Posted by City of Olympia - Government on Monday, February 15, 2016

One of my favorite sketch journalists

Posted by Simo Capecchi on Monday, January 11, 2016

Lake Quinault

For our anniversary I decided to surprise my husband with an overnight at Lake Quinault Lodge on the Olympic Peninsula. He'd recently told me he wanted to ease into hiking again and the rain forest seemed like a good place to start. 

We took the long way from Olympia, forgoing 101 for a winding, yet more interesting route and arrived just in time for lunch at the lodge. After an adventurous hike in the hills and along the lake trail that was washed out and strewn with icy logs, the communal lodge complete with a warm fire and leather couches seemed the most inviting place to do some homework from Stephanie Bower's Craftsy class, Perspective for Sketchers

The next morning I found a patch of sunlight where I could sit before the sun slid behind the hill and the grass started growing frost. The lodge is old and spacious, built in 1926, after the first had burnt down. Historic photos line the walls telling the story of its development. The workers, and, I imagine, their bosses, were quite industrious, finishing the building in 62 days!

It's really quite a relaxing place. 

Capitol Nights

On a recent evening when the weather was a bit more balmy and standard time had not yet set in, I took a walk after work as the sun was setting. When I got back to my starting point darkness was just surrounding the Capital so that the dome glowed. 

I did a second without lines. 

Pumpkin farm on Yelm highway.

Seattle Urbansketchers went to Craven farm in Snohomish in mid-October. I couldn't go that day but instead went to a local pumpkin farm on Yelm Highway. It was a wet and drizzly day, but the weather didn't quell the turnout. Parents and kids roamed the lanes picking out the biggest or the roundest or the most orange. There were games and activities and crafts and hot apple cider. 

The heavy rain held off until after closing time, but a bit of drizzle added texture to the paints. 

Lumberjacks

Last Saturday we had to say good-bye to a huge, double trunked cedar that has graced our backyard since long before we bought our house 32 years ago. Our friend, Chunkie Keith, high-school teacher by weekday, arborist by weekend, headed up the crew of five, including his son Julian.

They started early and I soon realized this was an amazing opportunity to sketch these guys in action. As they shimmied up the trees, cutting limbs and trunks, I drew gesture after gesture. They climbed, cut, roped, chopped, chipped, ran, ranted and felled. I watched it all and couldn't stop drawing.

Danny WookGardens and King Street Scenes

The Danny Woo Gardens sit just across the street from the now famous Panama Hotel in Seattle's International District. Built by grants and private donations, the gardens provide space for the neighborhood residents to work their gardens amid the urban setting.

A few blocks further south, Canton Alley stretches between King Street and Weller. The view from the corner of King and Canton Alley just outside the Wing Luke Museum captures the international signage as well as the gate to the International District and the tower of King Street Station.

As I sat there drawing with my sister, just two days before China's President Xi Jiping was scheduled to arrive, a lion dance started down the street. Then a few black limousines arrived on the scene and men in black suits filled the sidewalk. It was the pre-delegation - those special emmisaries selected to arrive in advance of the Chinese President. They were heading into the Wing Luke Museum and had to pass us perched on our sketching stools. One stopped to inspect my drawing, telling me hi was an artist in Beijing. I thought about asking him if he knew the famous dissident Artist, Ai Wei Wei, but thought the better of it and held my tongue.