adventures in the real world

Seattle Plein Air = artists who enjoy painting and sketching in the real world. Here we share the adventure!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Jet City Washer - Planter

Didn't have much time on the schedule to draw, but my wife suggested coffee and even if its a quick sketch at Jet City Espresso, I was a happy camper the rest of the day. Funny how therapeutic sketching can be...... yes, this is a subject I've done before. Cool to see things start to green up and bloom.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Young's Restaurant in White Center


Had a nice lunch in White Center at Young's Restaurant.  Here's the semi-blind contour drawing I did.  Usually I try to get it finished before the food arrives, but there was too much detail - I was still drawing and painting the watercolor well into the meal.  My husband finished his sandwich, while I was just starting into my Chinese food.  And I love Hot and Sour soup, too!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Japan 3-11-11

What I was drawing when the earthquake hit  Japan
Our friend Kumi Matsukawa was making this sketch in the park when the earthquake hit Japan. Read her experience here on flickr:
Kumi's photostream
photo and link shared with permission

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Sketching in Boston








Some sketches done while on vacation in Boston, Massachusetts (who goes on vacation to someplace where it's only 11 degrees!?).  The last one in the airport was done without my watercolors available because I had packed them in the luggage - not sure if they would make it through security, and I didn't want to lose them.
We're glad to be back home to our warm, wet Northwest rain.  I promised not to complain about rain anymore (at least for a while).
(My apologies to the lovely young ladies I sketched at the Boston MFA Cafeteria, my sketches don't look anything like them. )

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Boston's Pizza


Boston's Pizza - 7 x 10" watercolor, ink and watercolor pencil, sketched from the UW Bookstore coffee shop in Mill Creek, Wa.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Braces Off!

My son had his braces taken off today!  Woo whoo!

Columbia Gorge





This is a 9 x 12” watercolor painted in the Columbia Gorger over President’s Day weekend at the Skamania Lodge. I went down to the lobby of the Lodge to paint this scene of the Columbia River Gorge. It was in the low 40's outside so I was going to paint indoors, but all the seating was full. So I had to paint on a bench outside in just a T-shirt. It was cold so I painted a fast as I could go. This took me about an hour.



Mike Mallory

mike@mikemallory.com