Queen Anne McMenamins (and New Nameless White Pen)

 

4/3/24 Queen Anne McMenamins

Over the years, I’ve eaten, slept and sketched at numerous McMenamins venues. The chain of Pacific Northwest breweries, pubs and historic hotels always offers vintage or otherwise unique décor that makes them fun to sketch. I rarely get to lower Queen Anne, though, so I don’t recall ever eating at the McMenamins there. An appointment in the area last week gave me a good excuse to stop in for lunch.

McMenamins are well-known for their antique and nicely reproduced lamps, so I had to include a couple in my small page spread. I probably gave the least attention to my mac ‘n’ cheese and side of tots because once they appeared at the table, I was too busy scarfing them down. One other way in which McMenamins is unique: Whenever I’ve ordered the mac ‘n’ cheese there, it’s always served with a spoon. No brew this time because I had to drive myself home, but I recommend the Terminator Stout (“Black as the darkest night and as rich as the most decadent dessert, Terminator is for the true Stout lover”), which is my favorite McMenamins beer.

Nameless but noteworthy

Newsflash: Last week at the USk sketch outing, Kate and I both noticed Allan using an opaque white pen we hadn’t seen before. Upon our inquiry, he pulled out a bulk package of them and handed one to each of us. Nameless and brandless, it’s a double-ended acrylic paint marker with a bullet tip on one end and brush tip on the other. Although skeptical, I liked what I was seeing in Allan’s sketch, so I happily accepted his gift. I’ve been using it ever since, and holy-moly, it’s the smoothest, most opaque application of white acrylic I’ve tried so far, and it requires no shaking, priming or wiping off of blops. The paint behaves and feels more like Faber-Castell’s white Pitt Artist Pen than a Posca, but more opaque than Pitt.

I’m trying not to get too excited, though – I’ve been seduced before by Casanova-like charmers that eventually break my opaque-white-paint-loving heart. We’ll see, we’ll see.

If you’re curious, I searched on Amazon, and I think it’s this one. If it ends up being a good one, it’s a great value in this bulk package. But if I were you, I’d wait until I report back. Stay tuned (it always takes a while for these Casanovas to show their true colors – and clogs).