Port Gamble

Port Gamble Church in Color Port Gamble Church Port Gamble Water Towers - colorPort Gamble Water Towers

Out and about buying fabric to make Easter Dresses for my three Granddaughters, with camera in hand, Port Gamble is such a lovely piece of our local history.  Originally built as a sawmill town, there are rows of houses built for employees and managers of the Port. the Walker Ames House, which I drew last week was the owners original home.

In the next week or so, I will be drawing the General Store, owned by friends of mine with some of the best food in the area.  The fabric store Quilted Strait is often one of my favorite stops, as they have a lovely and varied selection of cotton, more designed for quilts, but work great for “Granddaughter” dresses.

http://www.dianakingsley.net

Port Gamble

Walker Ames Historical House in Port Gamble, Washington


Walker Ames House BW
 Walker Ames ColorThis beautiful Victorian home in Port Gamble, Washington is stately and beautifully designed.  It has not been used as a residence in many years.  In 2008 a group interested in paranormal activity came and definitely felt the presence of “ghosts” in the house.  Built in 1888 it was the home for William Walker, master mechanic,and his wife Emma, daughter Maude, and son-in-law Edwin Ames. The house was close to the mill so Walker was nearby in case of emergencies. Ames was the resident manager from 1883-194 and then general manager until 1931.

This is the rear of the house. It faced the waterfront to welcome ships and captains.

When I was teaching Interior Design at The Art Institute of Seattle, I had the good fortune to teach a class called Adaptive Reuse.  My students had the choice of redesigning this or another structure.  It was wonderful to see this elegant home come to life as a Wine Bar, a Bed & Breakfast, a Wedding site and several creative venues.  It is too bad that zoning makes most of that impossible and for the most part the building sits empty and sad.

1888

Here is a photo of the house in it’s 1888 glory time.  There are no color photos from that time for obvious reasons.  I love to draw historical houses and places and you will see more of these in the future.

My drawings are available for purchase at Liberty Bay Gallery in Poulsbo, or from me.

http://www.dianakingsley.net

Walker Ames Historical House in Port Gamble, Washington

And for our local Tourists….

Bainbridge Ferry

Poulsbo Clock in color

Living in the Pacific Northwest we are surrounded with not only beauty, like taking a ferry ride at sunrise or sunset, but we have the fun of a wide variety of cultures.  In Kitsap County we have Poulsbo, our local Norwegian Village with lots of fun shops and now lots of great restaurants.  My last post featured the “famous” Poulsbo Telephone booth and today I added one of the Washington ferries and the clock from downtown Poulsbo.  Tell me your favorite tourist spot in the PNW and I would be happy to draw it for you.

http://www.dianakingsley.net

And for our local Tourists….

Poulsbo, Washington

Poulsbo Telephone Booth Poulsbo Phone Booth

 

Poulsbo, Washington is such a lovely little city with lots of wonderful restaurants and shops.  I often take guests there to shop a little, eat a little and wine a little.  One of the fun places is our local “Hare & Hounds Public House, where you can get great food and in the summer sit out on lawn and enjoy Poulsbo like a tourist.  In the next few weeks, I will be adding more Poulsbo attractions to my blog.  I live it Kingston and love it there too, and will be SO glad when Kingston has as much to offer as Poulsbo or Bainbridge Island.  Stay tuned for more drawings.IMG_8881

 

Sometimes it is fun to show the photograph that prompted the drawing.  In this case there needed to be a bit of editing to make it a little more interesting or hopefully so at least.  Maybe a person actually using the booth (if it is operational) would have been more fun.  When I was teaching at The Art Institute of Seattle, I often asked my students how many of them had ever used a “Telephone Booth” and unless the student was over 50, they really did not have the concept of what they were or how to use them.

When I was working my way through college in sales, I had to use telephone booths (often in not so wonderful neighborhoods) and a map, not a map book, but a map to try to find the homes of my clients.  This part, the gps/cell phone part of life I believe is much improved.   The not talk to the person standing next to you and texting them, not so much.

 

http://www.dianakingsley.net

Poulsbo, Washington

More Pen & Ink Sketching

Barn with Airstream Boats Chad's House Coyote Ranch Kingston Cove Kingston Hotel copy Main Street Ale House Red Car

Once in a while you find some sort of Art that makes your heart sing.  I think I have found my medium, as this is so very relaxing to me.  After years of teaching hand drafting, I get to use the fun sketchy part of drawing, combine it with a little color and have a finished piece that makes me smile.  Hope you find what makes you happy.

More Pen & Ink Sketching

Pen & Ink

Bad Trailor Green House Old House Point No Point Rowboats

This last weekend I had the pleasure of taking a pen & ink & watercolor class with a well known artist.  Pen & ink has always captured my attention, especially after writing my book “Hand Drafting for Interior Design”

Book cover

Working on the drawings for many days, I found pleasure in the hand drawn line and taking this class I got to put to use all the drawings and techniques I shared in my book.

The group of people that came together for the class were talented, funny and made the weekend such a pleasure.  But the drawing was just pure delight, and learning a new way to add a tad or splash of color to the drawings, made me want to draw, draw, draw and water color a little.

http://www.dianakingsley.net

Pen & Ink