Bake-off Interruption

8/3/25 7:20 p.m., Maple Leaf neighborhood

This sketch probably looks like many others I’ve made, with one exception: It was 7:20 p.m. on a Sunday evening. I had been quietly enjoying The Great British Baking Show after dinner as I occasionally do, when suddenly the floor started shaking and the windows vibrating from jackhammering on the street. Although it hadn’t rained in weeks, a small river was forming on the pavement in front of the house a few doors down.

After I made this hasty sketch from my front porch, I went down to ask a worker what was going on: a broken water main. “Happens all the time,” he informed me, gesturing toward “these old pipes are everywhere.” In response to my remark of consternation, he said, grinning, “One of these days it’ll be your house.”

I thanked him for his reassurance and went back to my no-longer-quiet Sunday evening.

Flowers, Music and Peach Pie

 

8/2/25 Art in the Garden at the Ballard P-Patch

Art in the Garden, the Ballard P-Patch’s annual neighborhood fair, hasn’t always been on my radar, but after last year’s fun, I have decided to keep it on my summer calendar. Now in its 23^rd year, the event offers arts and crafts vendors, live music, a barbecue, beer garden, and a walk through the community garden’s lovely blooms and produce.

I was surprised to find myself sketching the Sølje Sisters again – I had just sketched them at Phinney Farmers Market a couple of weeks ago. And then I wasn’t surprised: I learned that the violinist shown second from left is a gardener at the P-Patch.

Now an annual tradition!

Colorful flowers, art vendors, music – plenty of reasons to enjoy Art in the Garden. But let’s be honest: I was there for the peach pie (and since I’ve done it for two consecutive years, it’s now an annual tradition).

Fresh and Familiar Faces at Drink & Draw

 

8/1/25 Old Stove Brewing Co., Ballard neighborhood

We enjoyed last month’s drink & draw at Old Stove Brewing Company so much that USk Seattle went back on Friday. First timer Jovel was happy to meet and chat with a few folks over brews and sketchbooks before she eventually joins us at a regular meetup. The extreme introvert in me is always surprised that a newcomer would choose to first approach a group at a purely social gathering like drink & draw, which would be really hard for me, rather than at a sketch outing, where I could easily retreat to my sketch (without necessarily having to talk to anyone). But I’m pleased that others are more comfortable joining a group in the casual, familiar setting of a brew pub; it happens at almost every drink & draw. As an admin, I think whatever we can offer to make USk more approachable is a good thing.

When I sketch across a spread like this, I try to avoid letting the gutter run through something important like a face -- ouch. 

As for me, I’m always comfortable at USk drink & draws now. Even if I don’t know someone, by the end of the evening, we have probably sketched each other, and there’s no better way to break the ice than to laugh over sketch-mate portraits.

Gouache: Mind Blown Backward and Inside-Out

 

7/30/25 Elliott Bay beach (gouache in Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook)

After taking several colored pencil workshops with Sarah Bixler to learn her fascinating take on color temperature, I got brave and plunged into a totally new medium: gouache!

Sarah's workshop met at a strip of beach on Elliott Bay, where
I learned to balance my palette, sketchbook, water cup, and butt on a handy
but uncomfortable log. Only the five paints in my CMYK set are in the palette
(the rest are watercolors).

Oh, sure, I’ve dipped into pink gouache during cherry blossom season, and we’ve all used touches of white gouache for snow or highlights. But making an entire, full-on painting with nothing but gouache was completely new territory for me. And because I prefer to plunge into the deep end before sticking my toe in the water, I took Sarah’s plein air workshop so that I could struggle with all the usual challenges of being on location (on this day, it was heat, humidity and sitting on a log) while also learning a new medium. Yay for tough art love!

A color-mixing study in which we make an arrangement of 
squares and rectangles indicating the percentage of a
particular hue we might use in the composition. Without
trying to make the actual composition, we can see how the hues
might play against each other.

Although I’m certainly no pro at watercolors, I’ve used them enough to know that gouache is basically the opposite in every way. They both squeeze out of tubes to make you think they are similar, but their similarities end there. When watercolors are glazed, their transparency allows the previous colors to show through, resulting in optical mixing. Colored pencils, too, are transparent like watercolors, so I’m used to that kind of layering.

By contrast, gouache is opaque, so succeeding layers completely obscure whatever was underneath (definitely a benefit in many cases, but difficult to wrap my head around). Instead of saving out the white of the paper for the brightest highlights with watercolor, with gouache, you can simply paint the white on last!

The biggest head explosion (or implosion, perhaps, given the backwardness of my perception), however, was in the way shifting values can be achieved: If I’m using a watercolor that turns out to be more vibrant or darker than I want, the simplest way to lighten the hue is to dilute it with more water. With gouache, you don’t add water – you add white! Whaaat!!

Sarah at her demo easel and some classmates.

Even though I understood this in concept, it still took me many (perhaps habitual) dips into the water cup before I learned to dip into the white instead. Once I did, though, what a game changer! I found it much easier to shift the value of a hue one way or the other with the simple addition of white or the hue (or occasionally black). Although Sarah had given us a supply list with a fairly typical palette of basic colors, I chose to bring only five paints to the workshop: the cyan, magenta, yellow, black and white that came in the Holbein primary mixing set I had purchased a couple of years ago. With only the three CMY primaries plus white and black made the job of shifting hues and values much easier than with a full palette.

My painting is a bit of a mess, especially the pile of rocks in the foreground, but as a first painting in a new medium, I’d say it’s not a bad start. I was pleased by the range of muted hues I was able to mix with that basic CMY triad (it helped that I was already familiar with using the CMY triad with colored pencils). The result looks more cohesive than I would probably otherwise achieve.

Elliott Bay beach just below Olympic Sculpture Park

My biggest frustration was how much time it takes to mix the hues and values I’m looking for. Gouache dries so quickly, especially on a hot day, that I was constantly fighting with making the paint fluid enough to apply without adding so much water as to dilute the opacity. As with any wet medium, learning how to hit the right ratio of water to paint is critical to mastering gouache.

But never mind mastery. Sarah’s workshop has whetted my appetite, and I’m looking forward to more stumbling and fumbling with gouache. I might even concede that some studio practice would be helpful before I go full-on urban sketching with gouache.

Unauthorized at the Sculpture Park

7/30/25 Calder's Eagle from inside Paccar Pavilion, Olympic Sculpture Park

I knew it had been a while since I had last sketched at the Olympic Sculpture Park, but I was surprised to find that it was as many as three years ago. Arriving there a bit early for a workshop (more on that tomorrow), I had time for a few quick sketches. (I made a mental note to come back sometime soon so I could spend more time there.)

On that hot, late afternoon, I had initially ducked into the comfy AC of Paccar Pavilion, Seattle Art Museum’s indoor facility at the sculpture park, which has a view of Calder’s Eagle. Shortly after I had begun the sketch, a security guard, surprised to see me, informed me that the pavilion had closed 15 minutes earlier. When I explained that I had entered because the door was unlocked (pointing to the door), he muttered something (which I took to mean that he was supposed to have locked it but hadn’t). Oopsy.

Fortunately, the outdoor part of the park stays open until dusk.

After I got kicked out, I sketched Ellsworth Kelly's Curve XXIV at the Pavilion's entrance.

Rukus (with Pet Portraiture Tips)

 

7/30/25 Rukus (reference photo by Katelyn This)

Bright-eyed Rukus is in the same family as Jett and Maggie. Something tells me that this little guy is a handful (perhaps his name is a clue)!

I’ve often talked about the many things I’ve learned from my long and now-large series of pet portraits (nearly a hundred are in my Flickr album). I’m probably repeating some thoughts here, but I wanted to list what I have found to be some of the most important characteristics of realistic pet portraiture. If you feel like drawing pets, maybe some of these tips will be helpful.

• I can’t stress this enough: Get a well-lighted, in-focus reference photo. It often helps to have multiple images of the animal from different angles, in case some information is unclear in your primary reference.
  
  
• The eyes are critical. Humans and their pets (maybe especially dogs) spend a lot of time making eye contact, so the eyes have to be right, or the human won’t feel the connection. I spend more time on the eyes than I do on any other feature or all that fur.
   
• As in portrait photography, a super-important part of the eyes is the catchlight. If the
  
  reference photo doesn’t have one, I will fake it – it’s that important in conveying life in the eyes.
  
  
• I can’t remember whose class it was (maybe Gary Faigin’s) or which book I read, but here’s a tip about drawing eyes (human, but it applies to animals, too) that has stayed with me: The upper eyelid always makes a subtle shadow on the top of the eyeball. A good reference photo will show this, and if you learn to look for it, you will observe it, even if it’s subtle. The tip I learned said that beginner portrait artists will often draw the eye as if the entire iris is visible, but it is almost always partially obscured by that shadow. If you nail that, the eyes will look more realistic.
  
  
• With dogs, almost as important as the catchlight are the subtle reflections on the lower edge of the nostrils. It’s not a bright highlight, as the nose is not shiny, but it is always moist, which creates the reflection.
  
  
• Here’s a helpful dog tip I learned from Sketching Scottie: In life-drawing classes and books, we always learn that the average human face has about one eye width between our eyes. In dogs, the space is two eye widths. I measure every time, and it’s true! Well, as in human anatomy, it’s a general guideline, not a universal rule. I’m working on a dog portrait now whose eyes are much farther apart than two eye widths. And the face must be straight head-on like Rukus is here, with no angle, to measure it accurately. But it is helpful to understand basic anatomical structures.

Naturally Occurring Still Lives

7/9/25

 A still life is typically an arrangement of objects that an artist designs in the studio for the purpose of drawing or painting. The objects are optimally lighted from just the right angle so that their form and cast shadows are part of the design.

(This post isn’t about the difference between a still life and an urban sketch, but as a diehard urban sketching evangelist, I can’t help but make this point: Since a still life is made from direct observation, some sketchers draw a vase of flowers on their kitchen table and call that an urban sketch. I would argue that anything you set up yourself for the deliberate purpose of drawing is not urban sketching because there’s no story or context there other than the exercise of drawing. End of sermon.)

7/27/25 

The only times I’ve ever worked from a studio still life were in classes or at home as class homework. The best example is from Terry Furchgott’s class years ago. Although I appreciated learning about rendering form from these exercises, I was relieved that the instructor had done the work for us. For each student, she arranged a unique still life inside a box that was open on only one side. The arrangement was lighted with a single light source to minimize confusing shadows. Although it was an ideal setup for understanding and practicing values and forms, I’m too lazy to do all that for myself.

Shown here are some sketches I’ve made on the patios at Aegis Living. Although these might be legitimate urban sketches, I think of them more as naturally occurring still lives. I don’t arrange anything or even move a chair (though the temptation is sometimes there); I simply look around for compositions. (This is my personal philosophical argument, not a “rule” of urban sketching, but I believe that as soon as I move a chair to improve the composition, I am making a still life, not an urban sketch.)

7/29/25 

An important part of these “designs” are the cast shadows, which I find especially interesting when the sources of the shadows are not part of the composition (as in the one at left).

These naturally occurring still lives are a fun challenge that also appeal to my naturally lazy nature.

Rediscovering Southeast Green Lake

7/28/25 Green Lake

Although Mary Jean and I both know Green Lake well, Roy does not. We decided it was a good time to further his education of our favorite lake. Last fall, I showed him the lake’s north end, so this time we met on the southeast side. In particular, I thought it would be fun to start at Green Lake United Methodist Church, which is as close to a European stone castle as anything in Seattle might be. Since I’ve sketched other parts of the church before, I focused on one “tower” to fill the last page in our round-robin single-sheet signature booklet (below).

Green Lake United Methodist Church

At lower right is a different church that I see regularly but had never stopped to sketch before.

Restaurant Christine

From there, we continued walking and sketching around the lake until we got to the Tangletown micro-neighborhood in the south end of Green Lake, where we stopped for a delicious lunch at Restaurant Christine.

Exploring familiar territory with someone who hasn’t seen (or sketched) the area before always gives me a fresh view.

Color notes: I’d like to start exploring more variations of primary and secondary triads available in Caran d’Ache Neocolor II’s palette. Many Neo II hues are not available in the Cd’A Museum Aquarelle line, which I’ve become familiar with, so it’s fun to try new combos. I also find that choosing a very limited palette of just three or even two hues (a warm and a cool; a sketch I made at Sketcher Fest is one example) makes it much easier for me to interpret and mix color temperature shifts. I’m not especially fond of the primary triad I used in this Green Lake sketch (top of post), though. The blue leans too hard in the violet direction, which results in an odd green when mixed with the yellow I chose. I find that these waxy, water-soluble crayons don’t blend in the same way that Museum Aquarelle pencils do (which I still prefer in that regard). 

Bothell Dogs

 

7/26/25 dogs at Bothell street market

After Natalie, Ching and I met for lunch in Bothell, we checked out a nearby street market to sketch. It must be a dog-friendly market and neighborhood, because many well-behaved, leashed dogs were strolling through the market along with their humans. The dogs I had sketched at Phinney Farmers Market the previous day got me in the mood to keep going. Meanwhile, I eavesdropped on a conversation and quoted the most interesting line I heard.

Alexa's Cafe, Bothell

Phinney Farmers Market

 

7/25/25 Phinney Farmers Market

I was hoping to find local heirloom tomatoes at the Phinney Farmers Market, but I guess it’s still too early. Instead, I found a group of ladies called the Sølje Sisters entertaining shoppers with their accordion, violin and flute music.

Even more entertaining were the dogs getting cheese curd treats from Neighborlady Cheese. Whenever she saw a dog pass by, she would call out, “Would your dog like a cheese curd sample?” I didn’t see any pups decline the offer. As she explained to one dog’s human, she’s not allowed to give samples to humans, only to dogs. (Maybe those samples had fallen on the floor during production?) I’m sure the dogs were happy to get a treat that their humans couldn’t have. And I was happy to have dogs sitting still long enough to sketch them.

FOB Poke

 

7/25/25 FOB Poke Bar and some light rail sketches

I love poke, especially when served in the “build your own bowl” style: You get to pick all the proteins, sides and toppings, usually for one price. Just Poke is my favorite local chain, and I knew one was nearby when I was on Capitol Hill around lunch time the other day, but I wanted to check out a different place that was new to me.

When I was in middle school in the early ‘70s, FOB (“fresh off the boat”) was a derogatory term we used to refer to the mostly Chinese immigrant students at our school. I guess it’s not derogatory anymore, as it is the name of this small poke chain. FOB Poke Bar is distinctive in that it offers quite a few interesting toppings and extras that I don’t typically see elsewhere, like takuan (sweet pickled radish, which I love), tamago (egg cakes) and a delicious cilantro aioli that I wish they sold in a bottle so that I could pour it on salads.

As you can see from my notes, I wasn’t enamored with the ambiance inside (and other patrons must agree, as I was the only one dining there the whole time), so it’s better for takeout. But I certainly devoured that bowl easily, so I have no complaints about the food.

Capitol Hill Homage

7/25/25 Broadway, Capitol Hill

 After an errand on Capitol Hill, I made homage to Jim Hendrix on Broadway outside the Blick store. I knew it had been a while since the last time I sketched his sculpture, but I was surprised to find that it was way back in 2013.

A few blocks away, I also sketched the poor old Broadway Theater building. It used to be a Rite-Aid for a while, and now, sadly, it seems unwanted and unused, waiting for a tenant. Once a cool marquee, its lights were removed a long time ago.

Chuck’s Auto

 

7/24/25 Chuck's Auto in Maple Leaf

Only 10 blocks up the street from me, Chuck’s Auto is where I take both my little Miata and Greg’s Subaru for servicing. Reliable and reasonably priced, it’s also convenient because I can walk home after I’ve dropped off a car.

(After the high of Sketcher Fest, it’s always a bit hard to get back into the swing of mundane, fitness-walk sketching, but life goes on, doesn’t it? Thankfully, I never tire of the mundane.)

Technical note: I’ve always loved my Sailor fude pen for its thick and thin lines, but I’d forgotten how much I also like its squiggly nature. It’s the opposite of a precise technical pen. Since I hadn’t used it much in Uglybooks until now, I was surprised to find that it feathers and bleeds a bit on this stout, 80-pound paper – and yet I like the look. Years ago, that would have bothered me. Maybe that lengthy break from my Sailor was good for our relationship.

Sketcher Fest Wind-Down

 

7/22/25 Gateway at Hing Hay Park, Chinatown/International District

Even though Sketcher Fest ended on Sunday, some visiting guest artists and attendees were still in town for a few days following, so local planners kept the fun going.

On Tuesday morning, Roy and I decided to show Cathy Chinatown/International District. We stayed mostly at Hing Hay Park, where we found all the ping pong tables in use by skillful, aggressive players (below). We all had a fun challenge trying to capture their fast moves!

Hing Hay Park

Hing Hay Park

When I was ready for a quieter sketch, I took on the brilliant vermilion Gateway sculpture with tiny Cathy in the foreground (top of post). Although I’ve sketched it many times, I never tire of its distinctive shape and modern counterpoint to the traditional Asian motifs elsewhere in the park. 

Food and beverage at Fuji Sushi and Pike Place Bar & Grill

After a leisurely lunch at Fuji Sushi, where we had fun sketching our meals (my bento box was especially sketch-worthy, above, though I was too hungry to do more than scribble hastily), we hopped on the light rail to the Pike Place Market. There, Ellie had organized an intriguing outing that was literally a sketchwalk. We began near the information booth, sketched for a while, and at the designated time, we all moved on to the next location. We had a total of three sketching stops of about 45 to 60 minutes each, all of us moving together as a group, then returned to the starting point for the throwdown. An event like this would be difficult to manage with a large group, but for a group of the right size (and with people who have similar sketching approaches that don’t require a lengthy stay in one spot), it was fresh and invigorating.

Pike Place Market

Waterfront Overlook Walk

As a farewell to our visiting friends, we ended the day with a relaxing drink & draw at
Pike Place Bar & Grill, which has a view overlooking the market from the second floor. It’s always hard to say goodbye, but we all know that our love of sketching will bring us together again someday!

Technical note: This was the first time I attempted the Gateway with Caran d’Ache Neocolor II water-soluble crayons, and I’m continually pleased by how efficient they are at covering large areas with color quickly. In addition, their blunt, chunky tips prevent me from getting fussy with details. I don’t know that I could say I love them more than CdA Museum Aquarelle Pencils (or water-soluble colored pencils in general), but they are certainly ideal for certain types of sketching.

Throwdown group photo at Pike Place Market

Drink & draw at Pike Place Bar & Grill

Sketcher Fest, Day 2

 

7/20/25 Olympic Beach, Edmonds (This hasty sketch that I made during the few minutes I had left before the throwdown turned out to be my favorite of the weekend. Using one warm and one cool Neocolor II crayons, I didn't have time for much beyond nearly abstract marks -- and I like the result.)

I'm either leading a choir or channeling the Joie de Vivre sculpture
(see below)! (Photo by Jenni Salmi)

Day 2’s main event was the Sketchbook Fair, where all the guest artists displayed their original sketchbooks to share with visitors and chat with them. It’s always fascinating and inspiring to see original sketches after seeing so many of them only online. Digital reproductions and even printed books can never fully capture the vibrancy of actual ink and paint on paper. I was often surprised by originals being much smaller or larger than the impression I had of them when I saw them on Instagram. Of course, it was also gratifying to meet so many artists in person after knowing them only as social media names.

Sharing space with the artists at the Sketchbook Fair were several vendors offering art materials. I did peek (and sometimes drool) quickly at each booth, but in keeping with my newly downsized life, the only things I bought all weekend were a few stickers and the commemorative Sketcher Fest postcard (with lovely artwork by Virginia Hein that also appears on the program).

During the mid-day hours, I juggled between enjoying the Sketchbook Fair and leading the final Sketcher Fest sketchwalk at Olympic Beach right outside the Edmonds Waterfront Center. As in previous years, Mountlake Terrace High School Jazz Combo provided lively music on the Center’s front patio and featured in many sketches (below).

Mountlake Terrace High School Jazz Combo and Joie de Vivre, a sculpture by local artist David Varnau.

After an overcast, chilly morning on the beach, it was a struggle to stay indoors when the sun finally came out in the afternoon, but I didn’t want to miss the many artist talks to choose from. In particular, I wanted to catch Nina Khashchina’s (I spelled her name wrong in the sketch) fascinating presentation on how she sketches in extreme conditions (below)! I’m not talking about heat or snow; I’m talking about scuba diving! Nina has mastered using boards and notebooks that she writes on to communicate with fellow divers to also draw on while under water. Her tool and material issues are as extreme as her conditions: She uses mainly pencils, as most pens will rust almost immediately in salt water and will stop working under pressure. Even wood pencils don’t last long when continually submerged.

Nina Khashchina talks about extreme sketching!

The last artist talk I attended was by Jenny Jing Zhang, who talked about how she mixes a variety of media to express moods and feelings of the places she visits (below). One of her favorite places to sketch is cemeteries. In fact, she loves cemeteries so much that her dream job would be to design them.

Jenny Jing Zhang talks about her use of mixed media.

I started my sketch journal page for the day (below) with a sketch of the tofu rice bowl I had for lunch, but I brought the page home without having added anything else. I decided to fill the blank areas with some of the stickers I had acquired over the weekend: From Joey Mason (lower right) and Jenny Jing Zhang (lower left). The saxophone player at upper left is not a sticker but possibly the most innovative artist business card I’ve ever received. After chatting with Bill Russell a while, he asked me my birthday month and date. When I told him, he riffled through a stack of cards organized by month and handed me the card for my birthday, Nov. 16. He sketches every day, so he produced cards for the 366 days of the year, each with a sketch made on that date! As a daily sketcher myself, you can imagine the light bulb that flipped on over my head!

Stickers by Joey Mason and Jenny Jing Zhang and cool business card idea by Bill Russell

Coming down from the high of Sketcher Fest, I am filled with gratitude for the many months of hard work and volunteer time that made this stellar event possible. Thank you, Gabi Campanario, and the rest of the Sketcher Fest team! I’m already looking forward to next year!

My only take-homes from Sketcher Fest... no art materials purchased!

Olympic Beach sketchwalk

Bill Russell

Christina Wald

Cyrille Briand

Daniel Winterbottom

Dominika Wroblewska

Gail Wong

Jenny Jing Zhang

James Richards

Joey Mason

Lapin

Marielle Durand

Mario Linhares

Nina Khashchina

Rita Sabler