"Back At The Blue Bridge"

Back At The Blue Bridge

Kennewick WA

Columbia Park will  be closed tomorrow for Water Follies 2015.

there were a lot of workers getting the park ready for the weekend.

It was breezy and 70 degrees so I opted to paint from my inside my car.

I had to move my car so they could spray paint some lines on the grass.

I just realized I miss an opportunity to look out the window and see me

in my rear-view mirror

Caught up with Marsha Bates then left early.  See you next week???

"Quick Sketching the Upper Floors"

With time to kill prior to a presentation I am scheduled to give at the 5th Annual Triconf Conference, I went to the second floor windows in the Richland Public Library to do a quick sketch of the new construction going on top of nearby Kadlec Regional Hospital.

The real purpose of adding this image to post one that will move our blog up toward the top of USk International blog.  I want to demonstrate this feature on that blog.

Wish me luck.

Richland Uptown Parking Lot (under a tree in the shade on the sidewalk -Symon Street)

4h pencil colored pencil and sharpie

Urban sketchers met this morning at

The Uptown for our sketching.

I arrived early and sketched

in the shade of a tree.

It felt wonderful and very cool.

Then Yichien drove up and we

went to The Caterpillar Cafe

where Kelly Yichien and I sketched

on pad and cups.

Cassandra and Patty came later and

also sketched.

Sketching with the Grands!

Trying to fit in some sketching yesterday at Cannon Beach, OR  I tried to help Avey and Eden with their watercolors first.   Fighting the wind and kids needing attention I finally got in a quick sketch with pencil, ink and a kids watercolor set ;)

"Columbia Center Mall"

The USkTC group met this morning at the Columbia Center Mall food court at 10am.

I have been interested in trying to capture these vaulted ceilings for a long time, so today was my opportunity.

Using my oldest sketchbook (literally, it is 112 years old) for the task, I found a nice location from which to draw (one where I could also plug in my phone), and got started.

At 11:05 it was 95% completed, so I returned to the food court and met up with the rest of the sketchers (six of them) and finished it off.

I used a pencil to get it started, then added the ink. Dark spots are intended to push the background back and bring the middle ground forward. The darks in the foreground to emphasize different color schemes and contrasts.  This was a fun one.

Fantastic scenery!!!

Mount Adams is the huge mountain from this backyard view in Trout Lake, Washington.  The Thunderbirds, a powerful women's tennis team from Hood River were about to seat for a delish barbecue on this expansive deck last weekend.  They did not know I was going to sketch them.  Directly behind the deck is a beautiful natural tall grass pasture and between this tennis team and Mt. Adams is a herd of cattle on the right and on the left, the dust cloud the cattle had kicked up while heading towards their barn.  Perhaps now they'll know that I had sketched them..... oh
patti kirch

6th Street Prosser WA.

The urban sketchers met in Prosser to sketch the buildings this morning before it got too hot.

It was nice in the shade till about 10 am.  I did ask Jim Bumgarner for urban advice. Instead of sketching in pencil he said to just do it in sharpie or pen.  This is 1/2 pencil 1/2 sharpie.  Finished in watercolor.
I was taught some many different rules in high school art classes and college art classes. Composition, values, lines, perspective, space, balance, expressionism, and contrasts.  Today I was trying to be just LOOSE.

"Just Chillin"

When it's 106 degrees there is no better place than HOME.

"I Paint and Rick Puzzles"

Gail Roadhouse

full time artist and 

part time children's instructor.

Franklin County Court House Pasco WA

We sat in the shade early Wednesday morning to recapture the court house in all its splendor.  It is a beautiful building in side and out.

Artwalk, Lodgepole and Dan Maher in Moscow, ID.

Moscow, Idaho has an amazing amount of activity during the summer.  On Friday, before a delish dinner at Gnosh, my daughter and I hit the annual Art Walk where most all of the businesses on Main Street hosted one or two artists' works.  On Saturday we began our day at the closed off Main Street Farmer's Market; then cleaned out her apartment before our 7:30pm reservations at Lodgepole, North American Kitchen a new and must experience restaurant.

We continued our evening and headed to Bucer's for a tea.  Dan Maher, NPR's Inland Folk's host, was on stage, at mic belting out entertaining shanty Irish Pub songs and classic folk and of course diddy's about Dillan.
"Whiskey your my darling drunk or sober"
and new lyrics
"Summertime is coming and the trees are sweetly blooming, blooming together"
Sunday morning, we couldn't leave Moscow without a Parisian breakfast at Blooms, which I will have to come back to for another enjoyable sketch and flavors experience.
patti kirch

USPTA Wheel Chair and High Performance Tennis

USPTA (US Tennis Professional Association) Conference
Sorry Dave Eads, yes this is you, I really over emphasized the cantilever 25"- 27"wheels!!!!
Inside turns, Outside turns and Reverse Turns are some of the movements wheelchair tennis athletes must perform throughout a competitive tennis match.  The Hub is an important area of the backcourt that these athletes prepare and hit most balls from during singles and doubles play.
I am a USPTA tennis professional and have worked with wheelchair athletes and high performance tennis juniors.

Michael Calkins, a High Performance Tennis Coach and USPTA professional captivated the pros in his audience, I just sketched a few while note taking.  Continuing education is an important feature of our association, we meet annually and this year Stafford Hills Club, Portland hosted the conference.

Patti Kirch
USPTA
Columbia Basin Racquet Club
and urban sketcher  : )

Vegas with no sketchbook

Here are a couple sketches that I managed to sneak into our busy few days, One from the couch of our room in the Polo Towers and the other while inching through the mountains of the Arizona strip between Utah and Idaho on the I15. Wish I had thought to bring my sketchbook.

"Wednesday Morning at The Blank Canvas"

It was nice to have a morning to sit and sketch today.  Gail shared some of her great idea's for getting our sketches ready for our show at Allied Arts.  We had some new (to me) folks join us.  One of them being my first neighbor Marcia Bates!  After sketching the flowers I brought to The Blank Canvas, Marcia, Patti and I headed over to Little of This and That for some more sketching.

There was some discussion about the use of pencil in Urban Sketching. Here are some 

photo's of my process as I started with a light pencil sketch. Went into more

 detail with the pen, then added color later.  

Urban Sketcher Manifesto                          

#5.We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles.

 That's all I am saying folks ;)

"Drawing Cars"

We met at the local "Toyota of Tri Cities" auto dealer this morning to practice our car sketching. Some of the folks had never drawn cars before. Tell you what . . . wish I could draw them as well as the "first timers" did.  The Wow Starts Now...

Lamy Safari loaded with Noodlers, Super Aquabee Sketchbook, watercolors: 3 x 9


Really quick, fast sketching.  I had 20 minutes before the sharing and a blank page in my sketchbook. Seven cars in 20 minutes, color added later.

Lami Safari loaded with Noodlers Lexington Gray ink, Super Aquabee Sketchbook, watercolors.

"The Toyota Showroom"

(view from across the street)

sharpie on watercolor paper

Gail Roadhouse

full time artist

gailsgalleryandgifts.com