Pasco Farmer's Market - June 18, 2014

  

"Gerry the Giant" samples peaches at the farmer's market...wow, my scale was really out of whack!

It was a really fun day though and it was exciting to see and smell all the fresh fruits and veggies on display.  I used my trusty Micron pen on Strathmore 90 lb paper with watercolor.

      

Radishes!  A close up of just one of the beautiful fresh wares offered at the market.  

"Porsche"

Driving through Columbia park this morning to see the dealer show and spotted this little Porsche in the parking lot.  Plenty of time to kill, sketchbook in hand.

"Rat Rod Sketching at Cool Desert Nights"

 Last Wednesday we decided to head out to the "Cool Desert Nights" car show in Richland this morning, at least I thought we did.  Anyway, Yichien met me there at 9:30 and we had a great time sketching "rat rods."  I taught her the difference between "rat rods" and "hot rods."  She's a quick learner and I'm thinking we may have to do more Saturday outings so she can join us.

Quck sketch of the "Old Desert Rat." 

A slowed down version of the "Old Desert Rat."  More deliberate and more controlled. 

Back to quick sketching. 

Drew this in about 8 minutes while waiting in front of the Spudnut shop. 

Another muy rapido sketch. 

Learning to Sketch with Color

I have always wanted to sketch with water color and thought it was a crazy idea. Most water color techniques seems so laborious.  As I have watched the quick draw McDraw sketchers around me on our weekly jaunts I have begun to take a new approach with a quickish water color sketch.  I can't seem to loosen up and quick draw but if I start splashing color around I feel a bit more freedom...maybe too much ;)

"Pasco Farmers' Market"

Shoppers were sparse at the Farmers' Market yesterday in Pasco.  Maybe because for mid-June we had a few days of cloudy and cooler weather than normal.

They were running only one stall, but on Saturdays they open two because there are more folks coming out.  Weather permitting, I suppose.

"I-5 Bridge at Vancouver, WA., and Portland, OR."

The view from my 6th floor hotel window in Vancouver WA earlier this week.  It was a great weekend as I met with the Portland team working with me on the "2nd Annual West Coast Urban Sketchers SketchCrawl" coming up in July; I attended the Washington State School Retirees Convention in Vancouver; and met up with a classmate from KHS '64 who is going to provide some music for our 50th reunion coming up in September.  A very productive trip, and a bit o' sketching, too.

9x9 Super Aquabee Sketchbook (double page spread); Lamy pen, watercolors. 

"Red Mountain, WA"

The Urban Sketchers:Tri-Cities went out to Red Mountain to do some sketching among the wineries there. This is before Kiona Winery looking down Sunset Road toward Hedges winery.

11x14 pen and watercolor, lapoynte

just a touch of photoshopping to remove the wet wrinkling in the sky - jb

6/11/14 - Hedges Winery, Red Mtn AVA

The many wineries in Eastern Washington are a playground for sketchers, painters, photographers and anyone else that just enjoys beautiful surroundings.  I tried my best to capture some sights at just one of these amazing facilities.  I was treated to an impromptu personal tour of Hedges Family Estates.  All sketches are done with a Sharpie fine pen and watercolor on Strathmore paper.

Coming up the drive...

               

First look at the traditional French-style chateau tasting facility...

                                            

Just around the corner is a charming, petite potting shed...

               

Last, but not least, an antique wine press, full of strawberries, nestled lovingly in an organic garden.  While there I was serenaded by buzzing bees, giant blue dragonflies, too many birds to count and the soothing sound of the bubbling fountain in the pond...ahhh, this must surely be Heaven.

  

6/4/14 - Big Pasco Industrial Park

Tons and tons (literally) of rusty relics and treasures at the Lampson Crane lay down yard in Pasco, WA

Just one of the old warehouses (some still in use, some not) in the Big Pasco Industrial Park.  These old buildings are mostly wooden construction, most with big bay doors that rolled open to allow access for loading trains and trucks with freight that supplied the Northwest and beyond.

                                             

    

Bollards eye view of Lampson Crane

Other than a truckers point of view, this particular placement of bollards is rather comical.
Pencil, micron coloured pens and an eraser were my tools for this Port of Pasco sketch.
(…geesh…occasionally the others get struck from the backside, now found huddling behind the teetering and terrified front bollard.)   patti kirch

Catching up...

It seems that I have been very slow at posting my contributions to the USkTC web site.  The picture below is of the grain elevator East of Pasco near Burbank, WA.  The view is from my campsite at Hood Park which is across the highway from the fishing pond and grain elevator.

                                       

   

"Sketching Big Pasco"

The USkTC group met up along the east side of Pasco, Wa., along the Columbia River, in an industrialized area once known as Big Pasco, but now the Port of Pasco.  During World War II, Pasco hosted the second largest Naval Base in the country as a place to train Navy pilots.  We still have a road here called, "Bombing Range Road," which is populated with homes and at least one large city park. I am assuming much of the equipment was delivered via river traffic from Portland, and by rail from probably Chicago.  Remnants of the old warehouses still stand; many still in use.  Also located at this site is Lampson International Crane.  When the nuclear reactors were in full construction and production mode, Neil Lampson, a local man with an idea, developed the large cranes needed for their construction.  His company, now run by his son, Bill, produces the largest cranes in the world. Their yard is filled with thousands, if no millions, of pieces of equipment and opportunities for sketchers.
   

Sketchers Dave Pointer, Patty Gardner, Patti Kirch, Jim Bumgarner, Gail Roadhouse,
Nancy Thurston, and newcomers, Katharine Rice and Harry McVicker joined us.

These two sketches are mine.  The old Mack truck languishes amongst the Lampson Crane yard's detritus, rusting and withering away in the weather. The other is a composite of equipment that caught my eye in the yard.  Both the yellow piece and the brown hook were close to six feet high, the green tank with tubes and pipes was about four feet high.   

Dave Draws

Drawing with my Urban Sketcher friends in Pasco. We all broke up and went different directions and drew different subjects. I picked the Columbia Rail Bridge, The cable Bridge and the Grain elevator. Dave Poynter

RACECAR Sketch

The word RACECAR is a palindrome and Amy's ride is a dream.  Maybe she will ride my bike and I drive her car?….  patti kirch