Sunshine and Shave Ice in Fremont

 

6/15/25 Fremont 

Last Sunday was one of those days I think of as ideal sketching weather: Not cold, not hot, not windy and perfectly blue-sky sunny! Anticipating good sketching with USk, I arrived early in Fremont to take advantage of the Sunday Market for lunch. Then I spent most of the afternoon sketching on the shore of the Lake Washington Ship Canal and the Fremont Bridge.

Delicious brain freeze

When I started running out of steam, I headed back to the Market for an espresso shave ice to perk me up. Along the way, I spotted a strange view: A rig hauling a huge covered boat was trying to squeeze past a barricaded construction area. The driver got out several times to rearrange the cones. It was a hasty sketch, but it was too tempting to pass up.

For a sunny Sunday afternoon, our turnout was relatively light, but it was also Father’s Day, so I’m guessing some sketchers were busy with family. On the other hand, one first-time participant brought his whole family: He had requested the USk outing as his Father’s Day celebration! They all sketched along with him. Hearing that made my day!

The Season’s First Farmers Market

 

6/11/25 Wallingford Farmers Market

June is when all the neighborhood farmers markets start opening, and last Wednesday I went to my first of the season. Although Wallingford is one of the smaller ones, I like it because it’s held at Meridian Park (one of few city parks that don’t use pesticides) with big shade trees all around.

Of course, my favorite subject is buskers, and this young man sang and played a fiddle with a bow as well as by strumming. When I got home, I sketched a few of the fresh local strawberries I bought. Ahhh – summer at last!

Peaceful Red Square for No Kings

 

6/14/25 Red Square, University of Washington campus

Joining many cities across the country, Seattle held numerous “No Kings” demonstrations on June 14 in protest of policies that have been put in place since January. The biggest rally began in Capitol Hill, with 70,000 marching to Seattle Center (one of the largest protests in the city’s history). Many smaller gatherings took place in local communities, including one on the University of Washington campus, which I chose to join.

In addition to witty signs, some protesters carried US flags.

As it happened to be commencement day, protesters chanted and carried signs and flags at Red Square, while graduates in cap and gown posed for photos with their parents nearby in front of Suzzallo Library. Eventually the group marched through campus and around the U-District, where traffic waiting for us to pass honked their support.

It felt good to join the collective voice against injustice and disgusting tyranny. It was also important to show that we can gather and express our views in public peacefully and without fear.

After the rally, protesters marched across campus and through the U-District.

Material notes: With this event, I filled the last page of the thin, hand-stitched sketchbook I began in January for the People’s March. At the time, I had chosen it for practical reasons: It gave me more real estate than my usual daily-carry Uglybook while also being thin and lightweight. When I used it again for sketch reportage at a small neighborhood protest in May, I realized the book now had a theme. I used it again a week later at a larger demonstration downtown, and now it’s full. I like having a small book with a single theme.

That said, the high-quality watercolor paper that happened to be in this booklet wasn’t compatible with my chosen media. The sizing was so strong that my Pilot brush pen kept smudging long after the ink would have been completely dry on Uglybook paper. At future demonstrations and marches (as I’m sure there will be during the long three-and-a-half years yet to go), I’m just going to carry a larger Uglybook (which I’d brought along as a backup, and I was happy to have it for the last sketch when I ran out of pages in the white book).

After I filled the book, I wanted a sticker for the cover. I dug through my sticker box and found this one from 2020 -- more relevant than ever.

Shady Ravenna Ravine

 

6/9/25 Ravenna ravine

Comp study for top sketch

With temps projected to be in the upper 80s last Monday, Roy, Mary Jean and I decided to change our sketching plans to find a cooler, shadier location than our original plan. Ravenna ravine was perfect: A shady, green oasis under the 15th and 20th Avenues Northeast bridges. Although the Ravenna neighborhood and a major arterial are only 115 feet above, walking through the three-quarter-mile-long ravine feels like being in woods far away from the city. A friend who lives nearby reports that the early-morning birdsong from the ravine is cacophonous!

Although it had been a few years since I walked through the ravine, I knew that I would want color to capture the deep greens and filtered light. Remembering the fun I’d just had at the Chinese Garden, I brought along my Caran d’Ache Neocolor II water-soluble crayons and an A5-size Hahnemühle sketchbook (which I realize now that I have never reviewed, but it has the same 100-percent cotton paper as my most-often-used A6 size and the square-format that I also like but don’t use as often).

Glacial erratic

As I’ve been doing lately, I made a compositional study first before hitting the color. I also sketched a huge glacial erratic at the head of the creek against a boardwalk that leads to the trail back up to street level. It’s amazing to think that the erratic (similar to the one in Wedgwood) has been there for thousands of year! As the temperature climbed late-morning, we stayed cool and comfy in the shade. We thanked the trees continually as we walked and sketched.

Sketch kit notes: Especially on hot days, my daily-carry Rickshaw bag needs an auxiliary tote to hold my water bottle and other necessities. It also contained the A5 sketchbook and Neocolors that won’t fit in the mini Rickshaw. Because they are a little cumbersome to work with while standing, I’ve usually reserved Neocolors for situations where I’ll have a table to work on, but lately I’ve been determined to use them in my usual standing manner. I’ll show my current set-up soon.

6/9/25 My sketch journal spread documenting the post-hike reward and ride home

Although many of the old-growth firs have been lost, a few centenarian redwoods still remain. 

The 20th Ave. NE bridge trestle

Best Graphite Wannabes

 

The three candidates for graphite wannabes (emulating the 6B-ish Blackwing extra soft graphite pencil) are, from top: Holbein, Derwent Lightfast and Caran d'Ache Luminance.

When is a graphite pencil not? When it’s colored! Among the many hidden talents of colored pencils is their ability to act like graphite. Not completely, of course – graphite pencils will always have unique, inimitable qualities. But colored pencils can be applied in pressure-sensitive, subtly modulated layers just like graphite can – with far less smudging. In addition, pigment has no reflective shine like graphite, which can sometimes reduce the latter’s darkness even when the core is dark and soft.

A few weeks ago I started thinking about which colored pencils might make the best substitute for graphite. I wanted a pencil with the softness of about a Japanese 6B (or a Blackwing “extra soft”), which is the type I would use specifically for small, quick studies in which it’s important to bang out dark values efficiently. In addition, the core would have to glide as smoothly as possible, which facilitates speed, similar to the way soft graphite flows.

The use described above is not typical for colored pencils, which are generally applied slowly in multiple layers. In addition, Uglybooks paper has more tooth than I might typically choose with soft pencils of any kind, and my colored pencil choice might be different with a different paper. For the purpose of making small studies, however, I am always using my daily-carry Uglybook, so it’s important that the pencil I use pairs well with its paper.  

With these criteria in mind, I auditioned six of my softest colored pencils. It was just as interesting to see the ones that were eliminated as it was to pick the finalists. For example, Prismacolor is easily one of my favorite soft colored pencils for almost all uses, yet in this application (or perhaps especially on this paper), Prismacolor feels “sticky” and doesn’t glide easily the way graphite pencils do. Ideally, I wanted Carand’Ache Museum Aquarelle to serve as my graphite wannabe because a few are always in my bag anyway, but it, too, “sticks” a bit. Worst of all was Derwent Inktense, which is also always in my bag, but it drags badly.  

After eliminating all of those, my qualifying candidates were the following: Holbein, Caran d’Ache Luminance and Derwent Lightfast.

Holbein - nearly as smooth as graphite

The first pencil I tried was Holbein, and right out of the gate, I knew it was a strong contender. The other two had a tough act to follow. After making several sketches with each pencil, Holbein is the winner by a wide margin. In addition to being suitably soft and dark, it also glides as smoothly as any soft colored pencil can on mildly toothy paper. It’s still not quite as smooth as soft graphite, but surprisingly close. Interestingly, Holbein has never been a pencil I reach for to make colored pencil drawings in a more traditional manner, yet here it is my first choice as a graphite wannabe! Will wonders never cease.

A distant second is Lightfast, which is also beautifully soft but has more drag than Holbein.

Luminance, which I enjoy using on high-quality drawing paper, is unpleasantly scratchy on Uglybook’s paper.

Derwent Lightfast -- a distant second

Caran d'Ache Luminance -- scratchy

These illuminating and surprising results further justify why it is necessary to have a wide range of colored pencils for the task at hand, even if the task is to pretend it’s graphite.

Avalanche

 

6/7/25 Seminar at UW Bothell

Now that I am “of a certain age,” I receive a lot of mail related to Social Security, managing investments for retirement, long-term care insurance, senior communities, and hearing aids. The only topic I’m actually interested in is Social Security – specifically the optimal time to begin taking benefits.

After considering various options, I responded to one of several fliers on this topic: a morning seminar on maximizing Social Security benefits and minimizing taxes. It turned out to be an avalanche of words on a complex topic that the presenter tried to deliver in two hours. The only useful outcome was an appointment for a free, one-hour consultation where I will be able to ask my specific questions (and hopefully get them answered).

Although the seminar wasn’t as useful as I had hoped, I did enjoy making a quick sketch of the University of Washington Bothell campus buildings, which form an intriguing modern profile against the sky.

Blackwing Lab 5-13-25 (Metallic Gold/Silver Cores)

Blackwing Lab 5-13-25 with metallic silver and gold cores

Although I’ve never actively collected Blackwing’s quarterly editions, some of the California pencil company’s irregularly released, very limited Lab editions have interested me enough to buy entire boxes or swap with friends for a few. Within the graphite collection, the extra-soft graphite core naturally interested me. I’ve also grabbed boxes of the non-photo blue pencil and the matching red one. Most recently (and belatedly), I tried a box of Blackwings installed with special soft erasers.

It’s been a long while since any Blackwings have piqued my curiosity enough to put out a request. A kind and generous friend came to my aid: Blackwing’s latest Lab 5-13-25: Metallic Cores.

The many faces of the same 12 Blackwing Colors

I’ve always found Blackwing Colors editions to be excellent colored pencils – soft cores, good layering, solid quality. (My only quibble has always been that they keep coming out with different editions of the same 12 colors.) I had high expectations that the new metallic gold and silver pencils would be of similar quality.

Indeed, they are just as soft and heavily pigmented as previous Colors. I thought it would be worthwhile to put them head-to-head with a few gold and silver colored pencils in my collection: Prismacolor (vintage Eagle and Berol), Faber-Castell Polychromos, Caran d’Ache Pablo, Caran d’Ache Supracolor, Caran d’Ache Prismalo Bicolors and Derwent. Just for kicks, I also tossed in Caran d’Ache Neocolor I wax pastels.

From top: Blackwing Lab, vintage Prismacolor, Polychromos, Pablo, Supracolor, Prismalo Bicolor, Derwent, Neocolor I

Impressively, Blackwing Lab metallics compare favorably with all contenders, and they are shinier and more opaque than Polychromos and Pablo. (Interesting, isn’t it, how the color “gold” is interpreted by each pencil maker?) As always, scanning an image with metallic pigments takes away some reflective qualities, so I’ve shown an image that was photographed, too. Unfortunately, the black Uglybooks sketchbook paper I used is, itself, quite reflective, which makes it difficult to photograph well.

Scanned image of swatches reduces the reflective qualities. (All swatches and sketch made in black Uglybook sketchbook.)

Photographed image shows a bit more sparkle.

Since the Blackwings naturally came with erasers attached to the pencils with their iconic ferrules, I decided I might as well test it, too, against a Tombow Mono Knock. (Oddly, it’s the standard Blackwing eraser that comes on all graphite pencils; I would have expected the “sand” eraser that comes on the current Colors edition.) Although the Knock isn’t necessarily known for its skills in erasing colored pencils, I’m sometimes surprised by how often I reach for this excellent eraser when drawing. Blackwing’s eraser did an OK, though not stellar, job.

Erasing test

Finally, I made a test sketch using a reference photo I had taken on a golden-hour walk through the neighborhood. It wasn’t nighttime, of course, but I thought the black paper would best show off the metallic sparkle, the warm glow of low light and a silver-gray Element. That’s a lot of sparkle there! I look forward to using these during this winter’s nocturne season. 

6/4/25 Blackwing Lab metallic pencils in Uglybook (photo reference)

Although I always enjoy writing reviews and comparison posts, it's even more enjoyable now when all my pencils are so easy to find and pull out!