I admit it – drawing buildings is not really my “thing,” and
information about various architectural styles or features usually goes over my
head. That said, I am sometimes inexplicably taken with certain buildings and feel
compelled to sketch them, in spite of myself.
One such building in my own neighborhood is the Seattle Public
Library’s Green Lake branch. Across the street from the lake where I walk
regularly, it’s the library branch I visit most often, dropping off books and
picking up new ones. According to Wikipedia, it’s one of more than 2,500 public libraries built worldwide with
funding by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Opened in 1910, the Green Lake
branch is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been named
a landmark building by Seattle's Landmarks Preservation Board.
Although it wasn’t my plan when I sketched it for the first
time four years ago, sketching this library has turned into an annual
tradition. It’s probably one of only a very few buildings I’ve drawn more than
once. I always pick a day like today – sunny enough for shadows, not too hot or
too cold – at around the same time of day, and I stand at the same bus shelter
across the street so that I have the same angle each time.
There’s something about its stately, dignified style that makes
it seem it could easily stand for at least another hundred years, quietly holding
books for each generation.
Below are my sketches from the previous four years.
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| 2015 |
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| 2014 |
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| 2013 |
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| 2012 |
