Bloomsday 2017

Bloomsday is an institution in Spokane, starting in downtown and traversing 12 km along the Spokane River and back with the epic Doomsday Hill in between. Around 40,000 people run the race each year; some serious athletes, intent on their time, others out for fun, dressed in tutus, devil's horns, and rainbow clown wings. Children all the way up to the elderly run and when the race is over, the city is full of Bloomies, wearing their newly won t-shirts with pride. 

Parking on the outskirts of downtown, I walked to the start point, following the streams of people. Excitement building, music blaring, the smell of fried food (a reward at the end!) in the air! There are enough people participating in the race that starts are broken up into different color groups along Riverside Ave. I parked myself against a street light along the side walk and began sketching the crowd waiting behind the fences for their race to start. 

I got the pen drawing in before the groups started moving, but I had to work on adding color as the waves of people broke over my little spot. I was grateful for my light post, otherwise I might have been carried along! 

It started out a grey day, but soon the sun came out!

As people walked by, I was amazed to see them throwing jackets and sweaters into the trees. Soon many of the trees along Riverside looked like some odd Tibetan prayer flag monument or like a laundry line gone horribly wrong. It was very colorful! Clothing that is left behind by runners gets donated to charity, so I suppose even if you can't find your jacket, something good comes of it!

Next I drove over to the north side of the River to sketch the runners who had just made it up Doomsday Hill. Some people were still running, but lots of people were walking, or determinedly trudging forward. I practiced gestural sketching, starting off with a head and the assembling a figure from people as they go by. People were running too fast to complete a full drawing from one model so I would weld the arms from one person to the head and shoulders of another and then catch the running legs from third. Frankensteining people together I managed to fill quite a few pages. It was fascinating to see how much unique variation there is in running form-flapping hands, a dragging leg, one should lower than the other...Endlessly fascinating! 

At the end of the day, I felt accomplished and I didn't even have run 12 km! I definitely feel like I won in this contest. 

Costa Rica: Hot Times in the Low Lands

Besides hiking around in the mountainous cloud forests, we also spent some time in the La Fortuna area. About 5,500 feet lower in elevation, it was a lot hotter and a far more urban environment. We stayed in a little Airbnb in a "Tico" (that's what Costa Ricans call themselves!) neighborhood. I sat on the little porch one evening and sketched the view opposite our temporary home, as well as some flowers in the yard.

The view across from our Airbnb-laundry hanging to dry, crazy power line wires, a hut protecting the electrical utilities.

Relatives of Birds of Paradise Flowers planted in the Airbnb yard.

Our first destination was to the La Fortuna Waterfall. To get there it took a quick taxi ride and then a long 400 steps down a ravine to the waterfall and river. People were wading and sunbathing on the rocks in the river. Occasionally the "life guard" blasted a whistle at someone getting too close to the pounding waterfall. I sat on a rock, spray sprinkling my sketchbook and I and tried to figure out how to fit the waterfall onto my page!

The Arenal Volcano is a major landmark in the area, dominating the horizon of La Fortuna. It is a perfect, conical volcano that smokes gently behind the church tower of the main square in town. As I painted this sketch, kids were playing soccer in the park and people strolled eating ice cream, while delivery trucks and motorcycles roared on the street behind me. It was an excellent way to end a day hiking in the Arenal Volcan National Park where we hiked over lava rocks and got an amazing close up (but not too close!) view of the sleeping volcano.

Next, we took a day trip up to Cano Negro, a couple hours to the north in order to take a boat ride on the Rio Frio. Riding in our canopied boat, we saw caiman (like small alligators), capuchin, howler and spider monkeys, sloths, kingfishers, anhinga and more. The river must not have been too frio (cold) because there were some shallow sections full of people enjoying their Easter holiday. I wouldn't want to get into water with caimans (they can get over 6 ft long!), but the Ticos sure didn't seem to be worried about it!

The final stage of our trip was to return to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, to be close to the airport for our flight home. We stayed in a little Airbnb in a funky neighborhood and I had a fabulous time sketching just within a block of where we were staying. We did a little exploring, visiting the Museum of Gold (largest collection of Pre-Columbian Gold in the World!) which is built UNDERNEATH a plaza and in built in a vault!, and, of course, eating delicious food. My favorite? Pineapple lemonade at a little coffee shop built in what used to be a one car garage!

Next up: Some of the sketching I've been doing since I got home to Spokane!

Costa Rican Rainforest Adventures

Well, it may not seem to make much sense, starting off a blog called "Artist's Eye on Spokane" with a post about a trip to Costa Rica, but I'm doing it anyway. A test run to make sure that everything is working (Is this on? Can anybody hear me?) and it is the most exciting thing to have happened to me recently. Plus, who doesn't like pictures of exotic places?

So! To start off, I'm Megan Perkins, artist and explorer extraordinaire (Hey, I'm writing this, that means I get to style myself however I like!). Last October I was on my way back to a trip to Hawaii when I did a quick painting of an Alaska Airlines airplane while waiting for my flight to board.

Long story short, when I got home, I put this picture up on social media and Alaska Airlines found it. They shared it on their Instagram account where it became one of the top nine most liked images for 2016. An Alaska Airlines representative emailed me to ask for my address because they'd like to send me something. "Sure," I told them, thinking "Alaska Airlines totebag!"

Guys, it was two round trip tickets to anywhere Alaska flies!!! OH MY GOSH, I was SO excited. Costa Rica stood out for obvious reasons (WARM, TROPICAL, and I've never been there!). I immediately began planning and we left mid-April for 10 days in the (nearly) equatorial country, exploring volcanic national parks, rain forests, rivers, and cloud forests.

Guys, I know this may come as a surprise, but it is WET and misty in a cloud forest!

There are a lot of exotic looking plants. Some were familiar, house plants where we live. Others, I had no idea what there were!

Strangler fig wrapping this tree

I had some time to sketch the view into the rain forest canopy. So much green!

I drew some of the plants we saw often with notes about what I learned about them.

Orchids were also common and super impressive!

Let's end with a picture of the beautiful Quetzal. Worshiped as a god by the Aztecs, they are colorful birds with stunningly long tail feathers and slightly mournful call. As a child, I had an A to Z Animal Pop Up Book and, you guessed it, Q was for Quetzal. I never thought I would actually see this magnificent bird in person, but now I can say that I have and what an experience it was.