Close to Home

 

10/16/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

This maple a couple of blocks from home is fun to watch each fall. It changes colors in a very irregular pattern, with some leaves at their peak while others are still as bright green as summer.

Material note: I sketched this one with my faithful watercolor pencils in an A6-size Hahnemühle sketchbook. As much as I love using water-soluble crayons in a (necessarily) larger book, nothing can beat the portability and convenience of colored pencils and a small sketchbook – materials so small and lightweight that I can take them on my fitness walks. I would miss a lot of sketches if not for that.

White on Black at Asian Museum

 

10/19/25 Lokeshvara with raised arm, 11th century Cambodia, Seattle Asian Art Museum
(white colored pencil, chalk pastel on black Arteza paper) 

Followers of this blog know how much I love making nocturnes during the darkest part of the year, especially around the holidays. I’ve also occasionally enjoyed doing life drawing (when the model had sufficiently dramatic lighting) using white pencils on black paper. I had never thought to use white on black to draw museum sculptures, but it actually makes a lot of sense, since museums typically allow only pencil use inside the galleries. When I saw that Gage was offering a unique workshop on this subject, it blew my mind open.

Taught by Rebecca Strong, the three-hour workshop had a single, distinct focus: Draw a sculpture at the Seattle Asian Art Museum using white pencils on black paper. In her supply list, she mentioned a number of types of pencils – white colored pencils as well as pastel, chalk and so-called “white charcoal.” She offered to share her own pencils, and we could also bring whatever we already owned. (I had to laugh at that part: If I brought “whatever” I already owned, it would be quite a load! But I do love it when I take a workshop and don’t have to buy a single new thing!)

Avoiding drawing lines, we were instructed to squint to see tonal values more clearly and use white media to shade only the light. After a short demo, she let us loose in the exhibits that housed the most sculptures, and we were to choose one to draw.

A simple supply list: black paper and an assortment of white pencils.

In the same way that we use a range of grades from hard to soft when working with graphite, Rebecca suggested using a range of white pencils from hard to soft. I started with a Stabilo All (I’m not sure what that pencil is made of, but it is billed as a “marking” pencil that can write on glass and metal) and Faber-Castell Polychromos as my harder “grades.” I then moved progressively softer and more opaque with Prismacolor, Holbein and finally a Conte pastel pencil. The Conte worked especially well as a smudgy background on the right side of the drawing.

As it always does when I draw only the light, my brain had to do a rollover. Of course, my tonal work in colored Uglybooks the past several years certainly helped me make the rollover more quickly. Using nothing but pencils, the result is more interesting and dynamic than it often is (at least for me) using only graphite.

What a fun challenge! I see myself visiting more museums this winter with this new focus in mind and more white pencils in my bag.

The Great Pumpkin of Maple Leaf

 

10/17/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

The Maple Leaf neighborhood has its own great pumpkin: Jack Skellington! He’s no new kid – he and his predecessors have been around for several years. I first heard about Jack in 2022 when he and his neighbor pumpkin made a big splash on local TV. The grower, who got interested in big pumpkins during the pandemic, has been growing them bigger and bigger ever since, and she is now part of a pumpkin seed business.

I’ve been checking out Jack every year since (here he is last year). This year I had just heard about his competitive weigh-in, so I popped over to take a look. Weighing in at a whopping 774 pounds, Jack took third place in the local competition. I’ll visit again later when he gets carved for Halloween festivities.

My “Go Bag” Sketch Kit

 

The sketch kit part of my go bag is fully packed and ready!

Back in June I talked about a friend who had broken a leg and ended up in rehab for what turned out to be three long months. The early part of his ordeal had prompted me to start thinking about putting together a “go bag” to make life a bit easier for myself, if I were to befall such a fate (and easier for someone else to gather my essentials for me, if it came to that). The concept is to put together a bag of essentials – a few clothes, meds, toiletries and, of course, art supplies. (Imagine three months in rehab without art supplies!)

The general essentials part of the bag is still in progress. I am temporarily using a large tote bag to collect clothing, toiletries and other personal supplies; whenever I think of something that should go in, I just toss it into the tote. (Eventually the actual go bag will probably be something sturdier like a gym bag.)

Caran d'Ache water-soluble colors in pencil and crayon form

It’s a bit like packing for travel, but more restrictive. For example, in rehab or some other facility, basic supplies like toothpaste would probably be easily available. However, friends who have had hospital stays say that the toothbrushes that are offered are very weird and unconventional. That says to me that I need to pack a toothbrush but I can skip the toothpaste. To avoid trying to pack everything I might need, I’m limiting my go bag only to supplies that I’m super picky about (a specialty floss) or that would be difficult for a friend to find at a single shopping trip to Target or Fred Meyer. That means the go bag should also include a list of supplies not in the bag.

More pencils and blending stumps

Except for prescription meds, I’m also avoiding a large stock of items that would expire. Acetaminophen and multi vitamins would be easy enough for that helpful friend to buy for me. I don’t want to have to worry about refreshing the bag regularly.

I’ve developed one easy way to pack clothing for the go bag. With my ongoing commitment to staying downsized, I go through my closet even more regularly than I used to. If I buy something new, I have to take something else out (and try to take out more than I bring in). If the something that I’m taking out is appropriate for the go bag – comfy (can I wear it easily while sitting in a wheelchair?) but not so shabby or stained that I’d be embarrassed – I throw it into the tote instead of into the Goodwill box. That’s working out well.

Eraser, sharpener, brush pens, markers, waterbrush and a few more colored pencils.

I haven’t yet figured out the best way to handle essential items that I use every day, so I can’t store them in the go bag – for example, my tablet and its charging cable. Maybe the best solution is to leave clear written instructions in the go bag for the helpful friend on where to find them (and then remembering never to move those items? Hmmm).

The general go bag still needs work. The sketch kit, however, is complete – and it was easier than expected! A few months ago I talked about how my previous “downstairs studio” portfolio had become the new “upstairs studio.” I realized that the portfolio is already a compact sketch kit containing a variety of materials, and it would be easy to grab. In fact, if I stored it in plain sight, it would be easy to ask that helpful friend to grab it for me. Instant go bag sketch kit!

The contents needed updating, however. For example, at the time that I had initially put the kit together, I was heavily into making portrait studies using the Zorn palette. It also contained many Bic ballpoints in various colors (another strong interest at the time).

I pared those down and replaced them with a full rainbow of Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons, more Museum Aquarelle pencils, a few Faber-Castell Polychromos, a few Prismacolors, a sharpener (which I didn’t need in the kit before because I always keep a desktop sharpener in every room), and an eraser. I also added an A5-size student-grade Hahnemühle sketchbook and a spare Uglybook.

An A5-size Hahnemuhle sketchbook and an Uglybook (not shown) are sandwiched between the portfolio's tri-folds. It still zips closed easily.

With the sketchbooks sandwiched in there, the one thing the portfolio doesn’t have space for is a small watercolor palette. Considering how little time I devote to watercolors now, though, I probably wouldn’t miss them in rehab.

Hopefully, I’ll never have to use the kit while in rehab or otherwise in dire circumstances. But now that it’s fully stocked, I’ve been thinking that if I ever have an opportunity to participate in an art retreat on short notice (the kind where I would have a chair and table to sit at, not urban sketching), the go bag portfolio would certainly be ready to grab! And in the meantime, I’m still using it for the occasional sketch of Her Majesty or the sunset from upstairs.

After assembling the Neocolor II crayons, I gave them a test run with a sketch of my takeout sushi dinner (the most colorful foods I ever eat). 

Leaf-Peeping in Crown Hill (and Pencil vs. Crayon Dilemma)

 

10/15/25 Crown Hill neighborhood (Caran d'Ache Museum Aquarelle pencils)

Caran d'Ache Neocolor II crayons

On what was probably the last gorgeous, sunny afternoon for the foreseeable future (and we’ve had more than our share this season – a rare treat in these parts), Kim and I met on Crown Hill for leaf-peeping and -sketching. Although she couldn’t join us, Mary Jean had scouted several intersections in her neighborhood with flaming maples. I parked near one and walked to the rest to check them all out. I had time for only two, but I snapped photos along the way for your viewing pleasure (end of post). What a lovely time of year!

Material notes: For many years now, Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle water-soluble colored pencils (with occasional Derwent Inktense in the mix) have been my color medium of choice. Highly pigmented, super soft, portable, versatile, easy to use and carry while standing – they are hands-down the ideal color medium for the way I like to sketch on location. 

Importantly, their portability and ease of use in an A6-size sketchbook make them an ideal choice on my fitness walks, like the sketch at Green Lake that I showed yesterday. Without water-soluble colored pencils, I would have missed that sketch that day because I don’t bring along a larger sketchbook or crayons when my main purpose is walking. I have long been in a deep, meaningful, committed relationship with these amazing pencils (sketch at top of post).

Svelte, lightweight, easily used in a small sketchbook while standing: The ideal color medium. (Look how ratty the Inktense barrels get after being daily-carried for a while.)

Once in a while I’ve flirted with Museum Aquarelle’s heftier cousin, Neocolor II water-soluble crayons. Chunkier and heavier, the crayons require a larger sketchbook to use them freely and slightly more water to activate fully. Not all the hues have top-level lightfast ratings, so the range is much wider than Museum Aquarelle’s, and I have several favorites in Neo II that I can’t get in MA. They are definitely not as easy to use as pencils while standing, though. I’ve managed to find a workable solution using a Rickshaw Sinclair as a standing case, but crayons are cumbersome.

Still, I used them quite a bit this past summer and even started wondering: Could this be the beginning of a serious, long-term relationship? What keeps me coming back to Neo IIs is that their large, blunt tips can’t be used to draw fiddly details, so they encourage me to think more like a painter. I enjoy the challenge of making large blocks of color and vague shapes (like the cars in the second sketch) instead of drawing tiny details.

Cumbersome but painterly.

In addition, Neo II crayons have taught me how to use Museum Aquarelles in different ways. For example, the crayons don’t activate quite as readily as the pencils, so I sometimes add layers of different colors after the first is dry, and then reactivate. I’ve lately been doing this more often with MA pencils, too. (By the way, to do this, strong, high-quality watercolor paper is necessary. I can do it with 100 percent cotton Hahnemühle, but not with most other sketchbook papers, which will start to shred after multiple wettings and reapplications.)

I know I don’t have to choose; I can have a happy, non-monogamous relationship with both. However, for a compact urban sketcher like I am, it’s burdensome to carry both. It’s been so long since I’ve made a substantial change to my portable sketch kit . . . is there an acceptable compromise I can find?

Green Lake Sweet Gums Redux

 

10/9/25 Green Lake

These are the same sweet gums I sketched at Green Lake on Sept. 25, but from a different locatoin. I could definitely see more color; in fact, when I got closer, I could see that they were past their peak – lots of leaves were already on the ground.

The Dayton Cedars

 

10/14/25 Western red cedars on Dayton Street, Crown Hill neighborhood

These four western red cedars in the Crown Hill neighborhood are slated to be cut down and replaced by town homes and related parking. Environmental activist groups point out that an alternate plan is available to build the same housing while retaining the trees (yet likely wouldn’t be as profitable).

More than a hundred years old, the trees were planted by the Dyment family, who transplanted the cedars from Snoqualmie Pass so that the trees would surround their home. Beloved by the neighborhood, the four cedars provide cooling shade, mitigate stormwater runoff, provide oxygen, decrease pollution, and host numerous species of birds and wildlife. The homeowner cared for them until his death.