Change of Plans

 

6/25/25 Richmond Beach neighborhood, Shoreline

When USk Seattle arrived at the garden where we had planned an outing, it was closed. We quickly pivoted to nearby Richmond Beach Saltwater Park, but I was dressed for a wooded, sheltered garden, not the harsh breezes of Puget Sound. I toughed it out for one quick sketch before Natalie and I decided we needed a coffee warmup. Ahhh . . . a hot zebra mocha (dark chocolate and white chocolate) hit the spot.

Rose Garden Compositions

 

6/23/25 Woodland Park Rose Garden

Thumbnail for sketch above

June is typically when the Woodland Park Rose Garden’s blossoms peak. I knew I hadn’t been there in a while, but when I searched my blog, I was surprised to find that it had been three years since the last time. Also surprising was that the USk Seattle outing there had been in October! That was pretty daring to plan a fall outing at a location without cover. If it had rained, maybe I was going to suggest that we all squeeze into the gazebo! Fortunately, no rain was in Monday’s forecast, so I invited Janet, Mark and Roy to join me there.

Flower gardens are always a compositional challenge for me. Although the colorful blossoms are always the eye-catcher, it’s difficult not to end up with a bunch of bright blobs on the page, yet no sense of depth. I noticed that in my 2022 post, I had made thumbnail studies to help me see some compositions before hitting the color. With compositional studies still on my mind, I had the same impulse for this visit, too. I was especially happy that I started with a study for the first sketch (top of post; study at right). In the thumbnail, I had put the gazebo smack-dab in the center of the composition. When I made the larger color sketch, I corrected that.

In the case of the second sketch of the lavender (below), I think I like my thumbnail (below, left) better than the color sketch. It’s a tighter composition without all the grass in front; I should have kept it that way.

Thumbnail for sketch above

We were all surprised to see that many of the roses were already past their peak; they must have bloomed early this year. I also noticed that the topiary trees that I enjoy sketching so much (truth be told, I like them more than roses) were looking quite shaggy compared to previous years. Despite all that, we had a beautiful afternoon at the garden.

I took this photo on Monday... shaggy topiary.

This photo from 2022 shows a tree more
tightly trimmed.

Thirty Squares

 

Quietly and without social media hashtags, I just completed 30 days of 30 compositional studies – all using the square. Prompted by Mark Alan Anderson’s blog post about squares and my previous 30-day compositional challenge a few years ago, this self-challenge turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable and instructive!

I was pleased by this attempt to abstract an interior scene
so that I "saw" the man as a compositional shape instead of a portrait.

I was afraid I’d tire of the square or find it too restrictive. To the contrary, I found it challenging but also versatile and accommodating – no need to decide whether my composition would be in portrait or landscape orientation. When I spotted a view with potential, I just held up my pencil in one direction (either vertically or horizontally), then turned it 90 degrees to see where the square border would fit.

One unexpected outcome was that the challenge gave me opportunities to examine “nothing” interiors to look for compositions that I wouldn’t typically draw. For example, while visiting Greg at Aegis, I often make quick portraits of residents, but they are usually just “floating heads” on the page. With compositions in mind, I detached the face or person and tried to see it as nothing more than a shape, just like the angles of walls or other inanimate objects.

This composition is one of my favorites of the whole
challenge. I could make a painting out it -- if I were 
so inclined, which I never am. ;-)

Another surprise was that the restriction of the square often forced me to crop something in my full view (like half a head or part of a chair), which has always been a challenge for me: If I see the whole thing, I feel compelled to draw the whole thing. These studies were excellent practice in training my eye to create an edge, even if my brain could see the whole.

Finally, I also realized that due to the portrait orientation of my daily-carry Uglybook, I often sketch on the top two-thirds or so of the page. Then I can use the remaining lower space to write journal notations. That’s a square sketch!

Bonus: The small studies were the ideal graphite pencil wannabe testers.

You’ve seen many of the 30 compositions along the way when the sketches were part of other stories. Shown are the remaining studies that weren’t shared earlier. Only two were done from photo references (as noted); the rest were done on location. (A few observations and insights in the cutlines.)

Photo reference

Typically I would draw the whole head of this woman, but the square forced me to see a better composition by including only part of her head.

Photo reference

Not to flatter myself, but I thought this one seemed rather Hopper-esque!

Pine Street’s Many Stories

 

6/22/25 Pine Street where it crosses over Interstate 5, downtown Seattle

When USk Seattle met at the top of Capitol Hill last month around the Starbucks Roastery, I took a walk down Pine Street across Interstate 5. That’s when I decided we needed to meet in that area someday, too. With the new Convention Center Summit and the old Paramount Theatre on the same block, The Pine/I-5 intersection has something to sketch in every direction, including down at the freeway. It’s as urban as urban sketching gets!

Sunday was the day, and it was my favorite type of USk location: A wide area to wander and capture small stories, like both the old and new Convention Centers; two patrol cars discussing a problem with two cars on I-5; and the historic Paramount Theatre (with both David and Jeff sketching it). Right on that busy Pine Street sidewalk, I unexpectedly spotted a long table surrounded by people swapping potted plants.

Running out of steam by mid-afternoon, I picked up a sugary treat at Voodoo Doughnut, coffee from Monorail Espresso and a chair at Monorail’s outdoor seating area facing Pine. For the center of urban Seattle, it was surprisingly calm and pleasant on a Sunday afternoon.

Although I didn’t sketch inside, I got a peek of the new Convention Center when I went in to use the restroom. A lobby mural reproduces Hopper’s Nighthawks. An art installation of native-inspired masks welcomes visitors at the Pine Street entrance. 

I love urban sketching – and I love urban urban sketching!

As urban as urban sketching gets!

Art installation at the Convention Center Summit entrance

Although it looks well-illuminated, I was surprised by how dark the Convention Center lobby seemed.

A mural-size reproduction of Hopper's Nighthawks fit in nicely in the dark lobby.

Dixie Sue

 

6/14/25 Dixie Sue (reference photo by Kaitlyn This)

This portrait of Dixie Sue, who recently crossed the rainbow bridge, was commissioned as a gift to the pup’s grieving mom. What a sweet face – I smiled all the way through the drawing.

Material notes: For most of these pet portraits, I’ve been using Stonehenge Lenox Cotton, which is intended for printmaking. It has a lovely velvety finish that’s beautiful with colored pencil, too. One of many things that surfaced during my downsizing and decluttering was a pad of Derwent Lightfast paper, which I’ve had for years but hadn’t tried before. Its hot press surface is designed specifically for colored pencils.

On a whim and without testing, I used it for Dixie Sue. Not surprisingly, it is a joy to use with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, and I also like its slightly warm tone with this animal subject. When I finished the drawing, I started to reach for Viarco ArtGraf water-soluble graphite, which has lately been my go-to for the slightly mottled background I’ve been making for pet portraits. Just as I was about to hit the paper with a brush, I suddenly remembered that I had never tested Lightfast paper with water. I decided to skip it.

I tested a scrap, and it didn’t react well with ArtGraf; I could see that it’s not sized for use with water. Maybe I can still use it with water once I figure out how much it can take, but a commissioned portrait is not the place to test that. Whew – that was a close call!

On the Waterfront

 

6/18/25 Pike Place Market and waterfront

When Seattle’s Waterfront Overlook opened last fall, a key part of that major renovation project was still in progress: the new Waterfront Park itself. In time for the summer season, the park is finally complete (or almost; some pieces still looked unfinished). Roy, Mary Jean and I decided to check it out last week.

Beginning at Pike Place Market, we walked along the Overlook down to the waterfront and kept going south all the way to the newish Pioneer Square Habitat Beach, “a man-made beach supporting the waterfront ecosystem, including enhancing the salmon corridor by adding rocks and nearshore vegetation.” The beach is landmarked by the historic Washington Street Boat Landing, which has also been restored – and is now the home of a Molly Moon’s ice cream shop!

Although I tell you all this, ironically, I didn’t sketch any of what I mentioned! We’ll be having a USk outing there later this summer, so I saved all the highlights for then (but you can see photos below). Instead, I sketched other things along the way, most notably the bricklayers who were repairing part of a Pike Place Market street. All of us were fascinated by how the workers applying mortar between the bricks used a cone that looked just like bakers piping a pastry with frosting.

The three of us have started another round-robin using single-sheet sketchbooks that Roy made. We switched books at the end of the day, and next time we have a play date, we'll use that book to sketch in, then continue the rotation.

Sketchbook note: The past year, I’ve been using A5-ish “wide” landscape format Uglybooks at outings when I want more space than my daily-carry A6-ish size Uglybook. But often I find the landscape format awkward to use, especially when I want to work across a spread.

Thinking about this as I was heading out, I grabbed a Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook for this outing. I wanted the same A5-ish size but in portrait format, which I find to be more flexible. Indeed, I like working with this format better, especially with my comics style, but then I missed the colored page. Sure wish Uglybooks would make some larger portrait-format books!

A George Tsutakawa fountain, formerly elsewhere on the waterfront, has been restored and reinstalled in a new location.

These giant swings (with the most comfy seats I've ever sat in on a swing) are made of reused materials.

Still incomplete and behind fencing, this interesting structure seems to be some kind of playground attraction.

Perhaps the most exciting attraction of all are the brand new, much-needed public restrooms -- first time ever on the Seattle waterfront! My tax dollars put to good use at last!

OK, the restrooms are exciting, but we all know what the MOST exciting thing is -- a new Molly Moon's ice cream shop! The shop is under this historic Washington Street Boat Landing, which is the former ferry landing.

Proactive Fridge

6/15/25 Buh-bye, old fridge

Without warning, our fridge croaked. Greg was out of town; alone, I had to live out of a cooler for several days while I waited for a replacement to be delivered. It was the hottest week of the year (of course it was – that’s when fridges break).

That was 15 years ago, and I recalled the inconvenience vividly. When that now-15-year-old fridge started giving me signs of its impending demise, I knew it would happen on the hottest day of the year (this summer is expected to be a sizzler). Inquiring about the possibility of repair, I was told it was already past its life expectancy and probably didn’t have much longer, even after repair (which would have cost $1,000). 

I had never really liked that fridge. Without the luxury of time, I had only a few in-stock models to choose from then, none of which was ideal. For example, we didn’t want or need an ice maker (the space isn’t plumbed for that), but the old Whirlpool came with one, so we lost some freezer space to an unused function. I didn’t like its modern “invisible” door pulls; I like old-school handles. It made a lot of sporadic, loud, clanky sounds that often startled me. Finally, the space in that old fridge was poorly designed, and I was constantly cursing as I shuffled things around just to accommodate the space. Good riddance!

6/16/25 New fridge (Not crooked as wonkily sketched!)

In proactive rather than panic mode, I had many more options this time. The new GE model I chose is a bit smaller in capacity, since I don’t need as much space now. That means it’s shorter, making it easier to reach things I store on top. Slimmer and shallower, it also fits better into the very limited space available for a fridge.

It was very satisfying to clear out the freezer and fridge with the same scrutiny I used to downsize and declutter the rest of the house. You know what I’m talking about: Those condiments I tried that I didn’t really like but didn’t want to “waste,” even though I had no intention of using them again. And the stuff that gets pushed to the back of the freezer with stalagmites of ice growing on it. And oops – I forgot about that. Out they all went.

Then when the new fridge came, I could arrange and organize and use the spaces more efficiently. And my fridge will never be as clean as it is today!

Floating!

The most impressive part of all? Watching the Albert Lee Appliances crew haul away the old fridge and bring in the new – all without the appliances ever touching the floor! Wearing a harness supporting the bottom of the fridge, two men “floated” it down my two flights of stairs safely and efficiently. (My jukebox movers would have had an easier time had they used that method!) I obviously don’t purchase large appliances often enough – I had never seen that before! (If you’re curious, check out the short video I posted onInstagram.)