I couldn’t stay inside during the glorious sunshine yesterday and spent a couple hours of the afternoon in the UW Urban Horticultural wetland area in Seattle sketching. It’s a marvelous region for birds and I found a spot to sit, sketch, and watch. I experimented with a new water-soluble pen of mine, the Pilot Bravo and watercolor, and enjoyed the broad, dark pen lines of the pen with washes of color. The highlight “wild moment” of the afternoon was watching a bald eagle swoop and hover over a flock of coots in the water that skittered anxiously around. The eagle finally caught one coot and lifted off to a distant dock piliing to eat. The remaining coots scrambled onto the shore and huddled together for shelter.

With the lovely weather, I’m hoping to get out sketching more frequently. If you’re in Seattle, I invite you to join the Seattle Plein Air Painters Facebook group I’ve started as a place to announce outings and share work.