The serene Lake Union

When I first visited Seattle, I was not impressed by the city. It did not have the subtle delicate beauty of Boston. There are skyscrapers everywhere which do not create a sense of aesthetics. I was slighted underwhelmed. But I feel as if the soul of Seattle took it as a challenge and did everything to prove me wrong, and slowly made me fall in love with it. My journey in Seattle has been positive and enriching in many many ways for which I can never be thankful enough. As I was looking for a subject to write my next blog post on, I noticed that I have done many sketches around Lake Union, one of the many water bodies of the Washington state. So I am going to take you in a tour to Lake Union in Seattle!

Here is the Google map of the Lake Union. Seattle seems to have developed around the lake. Every time I look at the map of the lake, I can not dismiss the thought that it kind of looks like a female reproductive system. :-| But, the lake is beautiful from all directions and invites you into a different aspect of the city. I have highlighted the point of views from which I did each sketch over time. Let's get, set, and go!

Lake Union, Seattle

1. Lake Union from Westlake on a summer afternoon.

 

In summer, everybody is outside trying to get the best out of the pleasant and short-lived sunny weather. The lake is filled with sail boats through out the day. It was a very pleasant watch from my Westlake apartment. One could sit and watch the boats floating around, racing all day. There are parks (South Lake Union Park, and Gas Works Park) to sit close to the waters and enjoy the view as well.

2. Downtown from GasWorks Park

 

 

Soon, I joined UrbanSketchers Seattle, the first Urbansketchers group. Urbansketchers started as a small idea of Gabriel(Gabi) Campanario in Seattle, and slowly had become a worldwide phenomenon. People all over the world were flocking in groups in different city corners and sketching away. 2017 was the 10th year since the phenomenon started.  In order to commemorate the 10th anniversary, 10x10 workshops were organized in Seattle and in other locations. I went to Gas Works Work to attend one of the many workshops about perspectives organized by Gail Wong. She was an amazing teacher and I learned a great deal about doing perspective sketches. You can have a clear view of the downtown seattle from the Gas Works Work. I bet it looks great at night, although I am yet to go there during night.

3. Aurora Bridge

 

In one of the meetups in Fremont I met an urbansketcher who was sitting next to me and sketching the same subject as I.  It was nice to see different approaches to sketch the same thing. After the meetup, I went to a grocery store nearby, and met her again. We ended up hanging out, and she took me to one of the Seattle's famous place, the Theo Chocolate Factory. A few weeks later, she was leaving Seattle, and wanted to hang out with me before she left. We had nice breakfast in one cool breakfast restaurant in Fremont, and we decided to go to Gas Works Park. Both of us wanted to find a spot close to water. I started hunting for a spot close to water. I was sure there must be some spot where you can reach the water, even though I had not seen it. Luckily, we did find a spot close to water. It was a small abandoned corner next to a very popular viewing point, and I was surprised that not many people were on it. It was a sunny summer morning, water was at the right temperature to dangle the feet inside. So we sat there and I sketched this view of Aurora Bridge and the lake. The feeling while I was sketching was surreal. The excitement of being next to the lake dangling my feet in it, watching the ripples, ducks gently floating along the waves, people kayaking and driving boats, sound of birds flying around, the sweet breeze, the sense of comfort around a stranger, a sense of surprise and puzzle to be considered important by someone I met only once, is all too vivid to me. By the time I was done sketching and started painting, clouds had covered the sky completely. So although I started with the blue, I had to tone it down to reflect the gray sky. I had heard from other artists fussing about how the lighting changes and they have to be really careful. I appreciated it on that day.

4. The Ballard Locks

One day, my colleague who had recently moved to Seattle told me about the Ballard Locks and how the engineering behind it was interesting to him. I was surprised that I did not know about the place yet, and I decided to go to see it sometime. Coincidentally, the Urbansketchers meetup happened in the same place the very next weekend! It was really interesting to watch the engineering. The locks were built in 1917 as part of the project to connect Lake Union with Puget Sound to the east and Lake Washington to the west. The purpose of the lock was to make up for the water level difference between the lakes and puget sound, and also to not affect the salinity of the lakes. Learn more about it here. 

This sketch is not of the locks though. It is of a bridge that lifts up to let the boats pass by underneath it, and when it is lying flat, it acts as a rail-road.

5. Lake Union from Amazon Dawson

 

Oh, I can't tell you how proud I am of this sketch! I had to go to one of Amazon's buildings named Dawson to attend a training for a few weeks. I would admire the view from my training room. From that point, the whole lake was visible! "I need to sketch this", I said. And I kept saying it until the very last session. But I had to sketch it after the last session was over. I stayed back after the session, and sketched the view. One can never do enough justice to the breathtaking view. It spanned, Queen Anne and WestlKe to the west, Fremont and Gas Works Park. I also felt very lucky to have access to the view and sketch the awesome view.

6. South Lake Union Park

for the first 5 months of Seattle, I always walked past the west side of the lake to my  office. I would think of sketching this view, but, well, there was always something way more important. Fast forward to two years later, I started joining a writers' meetup in SLU. After one of the meetups on a sunny Saturday, I decided to visit the SLU park to, you know, say hi, and ask, "It has been long time, how are you doing?" I sat down on a bench and sketched the sunny view of the lake union from the corner. It was very windy though, my papers kept flying everywhere.

Thats' it! if you visit Seattle, you know where to go if you want to enjoy the view of Lake Union!