Sketch of the Day

"View from my kitchen window," pen and ink and marker in a Moleskin sketchbook
Copyright, Sara Light-Waller 2017

It was rainy today, not the best day to draw outside. So I drew the outside from the inside. This is a view of my neighbor's house as seen through my kitchen window.

It was fun to draw something that I look at from the sink every, single day.

More to come...

Drawing the Bones of Bigelow House

Sketching the Bigelow House Museum

I’ve been an artist for as long as I can remember. I’ve filled countless sketchbooks and napkins and scraps of notebook paper with horses, superheroes, cartoons, and all the daily décor I see around me.

When I was fourteen my father told me that my sketch didn’t have any bones under the skin. I looked at the drawing and thought, “how can a drawing on paper have bones?”

I studied and understood that everything has bones…even houses.

I like to old sketch houses, I’m not sure why. Maybe, because they have such good bones.

Urban Sketch of the Bigelow House, Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2017

I drove to Olympia today to sketch the Bigelow House Museum. The weather was cold and rainy, not unexpected for Washington in February. The house wasn’t open for tours today, and anyway, it was much too wet to sketch outside. So I sat in my car, across the narrow suburban street, and sketched.

The Bigelow House Museum in Olympia

It always surprises me how messy my sketches are. In the studio I could render this lovely old house exactly. But that’s not the point of urban sketching, is it? All the bent windows and off-kilter groundlines show that you really were there…drawing on your lap, braced against the car door with rain from the cracked-open window splattering onto your sketch and making the ink run.

And that's what makes it fun.

Step by Step

A finished sketch or drawing is pleasing. The color’s in, the pencil lines are gone, and, if you’re lucky, the ink lines haven’t smudged. But here’s a secret…up until the very end these sketches usually look like a kindergartener’s best work.

For this reason, many artists don’t show the early stages. But I thought that non-artists might find it interesting to see what a couple of drawing sequences look like.

Here are two small paintings that I did today, both scenes from my neighborhood. They begin the same way, with loose pencil drawings. I add brown ink (Noodler’s Polar Brown ink, if you’re curious) and after the ink’s dried, erase the pencil lines and add color.

"Red House" is painted with watercolor and "Tool Yard" is colored with water-soluable markers. Each color treatment gives a different look.

Watercolor is expressive and delightful for fast sketches. But I like markers too. They’re easy to carry, you can use them anywhere, and they don’t freeze in cold weather.

Do any of my friends from Centralia recognize the locations?

"Red House," pencil sketch

"Red House," brown ink

"Red House," brown ink and watercolor in a Moleskin sketchbook
Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2017

"Tool Yard," pencil sketch

"Tool Yard," brown ink

"Tool Yard," brown ink and marker in a Moleskin Sketchbook
Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2017

Third Thursday Sketching

"Raven Welcomes" (detail) 8" x 6", pen & ink and marker in a Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook

Tonight, was Centralia's fun downtown Art Event - Third Thursday - sponsored by Jan Nontell's Rectangle Gallery. The event keeps growing each month and tonight the gallery was hopping! Besides flamingo painters, we had six urban sketchers turn out for Centralia/Olympia's emerging Urban Sketching chapter. The live music was a great and everyone had a good time.

I had my eye on one of Kit Metlen’s fabulous red cedar sculptures as my drawing subject tonight and settled down to do my sketching inside the gallery.

Originally, I'd planned to do a highly-technical perspective drawing of the large sculpture…but that all changed when I realized that I'd left my graphite pencils and rulers at home! So silly of me. I switched plans and did a freehand pen & ink and marker drawing instead.

The markers lended themselves to the brightly-painted figure and I had a good time with it. I met artist, Kit Metlen, and had a nice chat with him as I drew.

I’m tickled to be part of such a vibrant art community down here in southern Washington. When I moved down...I had no idea how much fun I was getting into.

This weekend starts Art Trails 2016, the local studios tour. If you’re in the area stop by the Rectangle Gallery and then head out to tour some of the local artist’s studios. It’s worth the trip.

P.S. Dawn’s Delectables stayed open late and I picked up a VERY yummy piece of chocolate cake on the way home.  

Sketch of the day – Carnival at Harvey Field

"Carnival at Harvey Field" pen & ink and marker in a Stillman & Birn Epsilon journal

Sketch in progress

It’s Kla Ha Ya Days this weekend in Snohomish and with the festivities comes a carnival at Harvey Field. I’d been looking at the rides for some days and decided to head in this morning and draw the Ferris wheel before the rides were open. I sat in an empty field and drew for a few hours as people around the fair got ready for the day. It was super nice. :-)

The carnival