I have always loved this photo of Hannah Mae (top) — taken last spring at Olympic Sculpture Park. I forget to work from photos. I also forgot about my soft pastels, and was so excited to pull them out from under a stack of sketchbooks and magazines after a couple years.

This little series was inspired by a few things that all came together at the right time — the strong colors and shapes in Picasso’s work at SAM, the bold curves of Alexander Calder's Eagle, and the clean swooping lines that jumped out at me on the sails of Oprah's regatta with the Sidney Opera House in the background.

Click here for another Alexander Calder’s Eagle sketch.

{ black ink + Sharpies + watercolor + soft pastel }