Aleli Sketches on Sucia Island

Sketches by Aleli
June 2015

Deception Distillery

The barrels, the Arnold Holstein still and Paul pouring a sample after the tour. 

The first day of December was freezing cold with crusted snow and ice still lingering on trees, ponds and in the shady spots of the landscape. However, the Anacortes sketchers were warm and cozy indoors at the elegant tasting room of the Deception Distillery. Thanks, DD, for your warm welcome and hospitality!

We got a tour of the distillery and adjoining barrel room as well as the warehouse full of beautiful marble slabs. The hammered copper kettle with its pear shaped helmet and two steam columns looked like a beautiful polished musical instrument. 

Sketchers and their sketches. 

Sharing our sketches of the day. 

Thanks to Missy, we all got a new pen to try. It has water soluble ink and she wielded it beautifully in her sketch of the lamp at Carolyn's last week. We all admired it. So she brought each of us one today! Thanks again, Missy!

Footnote: Apologies for the blurry photos. I forgot my SD card for the camera, so used my very cold iPhone.

The Shabby French Market

It felt so very French with 1940's jazz and pop tunes on the air. I turn a corner and there's a picture on the wall in a little alcove. It's a sepia photograph of a carriage driving down the wide dirt street of Commercial Avenue in 1910 and the Keystone Building is on the corner. That building now has a shop called The Shabby French Market, the perfect place to sketch on a rainy autumn afternoon.

The Keystone Building then (1910) and now. 

I spent a wonderful day downstairs with the Anacortes Sketchers, drifting through time from one spot to another on a journey of discovery.

From top: Carolyn, Anne & Missy, Jane

Gordon's Skagit Farms

Fastest sketchers in the PNW, "The Originals" of ASk

All the way north to Gordon's Skagit Farm I saw heavy dark clouds, getting heavier looking and darker the closer I came. I wondered how many sketchers would be there. No worries, by the time I arrived there were a carload or two and more trickled in as the time ran on.

Always something new, always something happening at Gordons'

Then the chefs arrived! All dressed up in their white chef coats, a group from Skagit Valley College Culinary Department came to pick their ingredients for the week. They even had film documentation taking place. Did you know that you could have a gourmet lunch at SVC on Wednesdays and Thursdays for a very reasonable price, made especially tasty by the culinary chefs and their students?

Back: Emily, Kalena, Jerlyn, Anne-Front:Michele, Jane, Missy, Aleli

Meanwhile, we all continued sketching and here you can see the happy results!

Check back this week as we upload more closeups of the work we did today.

Join us next week as we revisit Gordons'. See our schedule.

There's so much to sketch, you just can't do it in one visit alone!

Happy Valley Farm

The front door

The door of hospitality was always open at Happy Valley Farm when Bill and Marsha lived there. Once more, the Anacortes Sketchers were allowed to experience the place that gave so many happy memories.

Everything makes you feel at home in the most beautiful way: the house and its sun porch, the barn, the shed (with the fuchsia colored doors); the sweet peas, the roses, little birdhouses and statuary tucked away, the pond, the whole garden with chairs, tables and umbrellas placed to enjoy the view of the results of such loving care.

Thanks again, Marsha and Bill for sharing your beautiful garden.

Our sketches from today

Cheers

Diann, painting the sunflowers.

Apples are beginning to fall to the ground.

Aleli, painting by the pond.

Hot Summer Afternoon in Edison

Lisbeth, Jude, Jane, Kalena, Aleli - Michele & Missy in front

With temperatures soaring into the high 90's elsewhere, the Anacortes sketchers lounged in the shade in Edison this afternoon. It was a refreshing 84°F, in the shade. My car made it to 100°F where it was parked on Cains Ct near "Hedgerow".

Jane and Lisbeth sketching in a high traffic area of Edison. (Pop. 110)

Some of the sketchers found a welcome umbrella table out back of the Longhorn Saloon & Grill with a (low) tidal view southwards down Edison Slough. That's where we shared our sketches and got our group photo. (Click images to zoom larger)

The bakery that Jane was sketching from across the street. 

Some of Edison's renowned restaurants were closed on Monday, but not the Breadfarm Bakery, where I bought a wonderful loaf of ciabatta bread, warm from the oven. (My husband and I enjoyed thick slices of it with brie, olives and cold prawns for dinner. Yumm!)

Aleli's Sketches

                                     Pronkin' Alpaca Farm in Greenbank

                                                       Coupeville

                                           Missy looking young!

                                          Squash from Happy Valley

                                              Missy looking young again!

Sketches by Aleli

Floral Sketches By Aleli

Sketches by Aleli

Sketches by Aleli

Here are three of Aleli's recent sketches that we told her she needed to post!! She wasn't convinced, so we decided to do it for her:) Aren't they great??

La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia Interpreted at Barcelona, Spain by Aleli Howell

Hamburg, Germany

Hamburg Germany by Aleli Howell

Sunny Afternoon at Left Bank Antiques

The time was right and the temp was tolerable, and the sun was warm, so the sketchers sat in the Left Bank courtyard full of fun antique garden ornaments and tools to sketch and paint. Missy, Nancy, Julie, Aleli, Jan, Jane, Jude M and Judy C were all there, basking and sketching when I arrived. They were just about ready to pack up when I was finally able to start a little sketch. It was good to get the fresh air, but it really wasn't warm enough to stay for long. But, the Anacortes Sketchers, all but me, got some great little pieces done well and quickly. The results are below. (Dee Doyle)

Missy by Nancy Vogel

Hanging Bike ~ Missy Walsh-Smith

Garden Sink from France ~ Missy Walsh-Smith

Wheelbarrow ~ Jude Middleton

Some white wrought iron patio furniture ~ Jude Middleton

Janice Veal painting her version of the wheelbarrow

Wheelbarrow ~ Janice Veal

Jane Brodie ~ Ready to go ~ Her wheelbarrow finished

Jane Brodie's Wheelbarrow

Judy Cole brought cookies but chose to sit inside

Judy Cole's Vintage Blouse

ASk Sketchers at Left Bank Antiques

If you haven't been to Left Bank Antiques in Anacortes, make a point to stop in. What a treasure! In fact, what a treasure trove. Every nook and cranny chock full of good stuff, to buy and to sketch. The gracious proprietor, Donna Radke, hosted the Anacortes Sketchers today, and we enjoyed ourselves so much, it was hard to leave at closing time!

Left Bank Antiques Children's Boots by Jude Middleton

Aleli  Howell~ Left Bank Antiques

Judy Cole ~ Left Bank Antiques

Missy Walsh-Smith~ Left Bank Antiques

NancyVogel ~ Left Bank Antiques

Aleli  Howell~ Left Bank Antiques

Left Bank Antique Suitcases by Jude Middleton

Can you guess where the "party" started? There were chairs close by to sit on, some sunlight and this stack of leather luggage was in a "sweet spot."

I, on the other hand, had been working, and arrived late, so got just under an hour in to sketch. Had to hurry to join the party, and found a little watering can on the edge of the luggage setting. It was great fun, and we loved Left Bank Antiques. Donna served tea, and, as an artist of merit herself, she enjoyed seeing our sketches, which pleased us, because we would love to go back to Left Bank Antiques! See you there? (Dee Doyle)

Dee Doyle~ Left Bank Antiques

Dee Doyle~ Left Bank Antiques