Fueled by Clouds & Coffee: Tina’s Top 10 Memorable Sketches of 2020

2/14/20 from the 40th floor

Every year around this time, my personal tradition is to write a few year-end posts: my most memorable sketches of the year; products that were new to me that turned out to be favorites (or not); my sketch material wish list; and finally, some reflections about sketching (you can read posts from previous years here). As it has been for everyone worldwide (How bizarre to even say that! How many events affect everyone worldwide at the same time?), 2020 has been so strange that I almost hesitated to write these posts. Talking about my favorite sketch materials seems so trivial when a global virus has taken so many lives. Do I even have memorable sketches?

Upon reflection, I realized I do have memorable sketches, even this year. And although my slimmed-down pandemic sketch kit doesn’t contain much that’s new, my product reviews for the year show that I did try some new things in my studio that turned out to be essential. And I always have sketch materials that I wish existed! So the tradition continues after all, if only as a semblance of normalcy.

Part 1 today includes my top 10 most memorable sketches. The other posts will be written during the remainder of this year that we all know can’t end soon enough.

Feb. 14, view from 40^th floor Starbucks, Columbia Center (above): These little thumbnails are nothing to get excited about. But they are memorable to me because I made them at the last official USk Seattle sketch outing before all hell broke loose. How blissfully ignorant we all were then.

3/10/20 Bellevue Square

March 10, Bellevue Square: Less than one month later, said hell did break loose, although at this point, it felt more like a creeping anxiety. To encourage sketchers to take part in the One Week 100 People challenge, I had scheduled an ad hoc outing to Bellevue Square. Should I cancel? What if someone is sick already and doesn’t know it? What if someone catches it at the mall? I felt terribly responsible, and yet so much was unknown – was I over-reacting? With much trepidation, we proceeded. As I sketched, a man probably 500 feet away coughed loudly, and I couldn’t move away fast enough. It turned out to be the very last time we would meet for the foreseeable future: The next day, Gov. Inslee announced restrictions for all group activities.

3/16/20

March 16, my hand: By the following week, my stress and anxiety were at an all-time high. I looked around for something, anything, to sketch, just to calm my mind. My hand was the handiest. I felt better afterwards, and it became easy art therapy. I didn’t know then that this would become the longest sketch series I’ve ever done, but after my anxiety eventually subsided, I kept going.

April 29, 4th Ave. NE & NE 85th St., facing south: By the time spring brought improved weather, I had settled into my new normal of walking daily in my neighborhood and finding safe ways to sketch. It was an opportunity to become reacquainted with the ordinary and mundane that I otherwise never take time to see.

4/29/20 Maple Leaf neighborhood

May 1, drive-by birthday party: As families waved to the birthday boy from their cars or from across the street, my heart broke.

5/1/20 Drive-by birthday party

May 23, Mitsuko Yamamoto’s memorial service: If I had been told a year ago that I
would someday sketch a dear family member’s memorial service on Zoom because a global pandemic would prevent me from attending, I would have said, “What the heck is Zoom?”

5/23/20 Memorial service on Zoom

July 14, Mt. Rainier from Maple Leaf Park: With so many working from home instead of commuting, the air was cleaner than it had been in years. On this morning, Her Majesty was more clearly visible than she had been in a long time. It was my mother’s birthday, and I felt her presence as I sketched.

7/14/20 Mt. Rainier

9/12/20 Smoky sky

Sept. 12, yellow sky: This was a sketch I remember all too well and hope never to repeat. For nearly two weeks, we were all trapped in our houses by toxic air filled with smoke from distant, deadly wildfires.

11/19/20 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 19, across the street, 7:30 p.m.: Although this isn’t my favorite of my ongoing series of sketches made in the dark from my livingroom, it was my first, and it opened my eyes (and pupils) to a new way of seeing.

Nov. 22, portrait of Toni: As of this writing, six weeks after she was diagnosed with COVID-19, Toni is still in ICU, still not able to breathe without mechanical assistance. Her family’s regular reports on Caring Bridge document her ongoing, heart-wrenching struggle. Although I have never met her, drawing Toni’s portrait gave me a connection to her spirit that keeps on fighting. I’m still with you, Toni. Stay strong.