Exquisite, Confused Corpses

 

3/31/25 Exquisite corpses by Mary Jean, Roy and Tina

Exquisite corpses live again! Mary Jean, Roy and I got together to work on more exquisite corpses, which we had so much fun with last time. This time we chose an ocean theme. Somehow, though, we got the rotation mixed up, so we each ended up making both the head and the “feet” on the same piece! It was still a ton of fun, and we’re going to continue with more.

Afterwards, we had lunch at nearby Geraldine’s Counter, where our friend Allan Carandang has a show of intriguing paintings.

Some of Allan Carandang's paintings at Geraldine's Counter

A Joyous Celebration of Pink

 

3/30/25 UW Quad

Although USk Seattle meets at the University of Washington Quad every spring to sketch the glorious cherry trees, this year felt very different to me. Even the heavy crowds on a dry Sunday morning didn’t bother me as much as they sometimes do. With so much disgusting “leadership” going on in our country, and tragedy, horror and devastation elsewhere in the world, it was truly uplifting to be part of this joyous celebration of nature. Everyone seemed so happy! It was impossible to walk among those trees, even bumping into each other, without feeling a bond with humanity: All of us brought together by tiny pink blossoms.

Thank you, brilliant cherry trees, for giving us such joy.

At upper left, I tried to show some cosplay characters being photographed, but my sketch doesn't show them well. See photo below for what they actually looked like.

Technical notes: The past several years, I have used the Quad cherry trees outing to try various media, hoping to find the one that might help me successfully convey the billowing clouds of very pale pink (nearly white, actually) blossoms. As if the subject matter weren’t challenging enough, I wanted to add to the torture with uncertain media. Watercolor, gouache, dry colored pencils, acrylic markers, water-soluble crayons and blocks – you name it, I’ve tried it, usually with frustration and disappointment.

This year I decided to end the masochism and went back to basics: My favorite Pentel Pocket Brush Pen with a Derwent Inktense pencil (and a gray Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Big Brush Pen for contextual elements that I want to fade into the background). Familiar, reliable, satisfying in their simplicity.

These are the characters I saw being photographed. In addition, several groups of choreographed teenagers were being video'd, probably for their TikTok channels.

So much exuberance everywhere!

Wide Awake!

 

3/29/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Two days after I sketched the sleepy cherry tree that was still in buds, it woke up! Seemingly overnight, cherry blossoms are popping open all over town. Sadly, the weather forecast for the next few days is not looking good – so many blossoms, so few dry days ahead!

3/29/25 Wide awake!

3/27/25 Still sleepy

360 at Third Place Commons

 

3/29/25 Third Place Commons, Lake Forest Park

Five other sketchers and I tried something fun during Saturday’s USk Seattle outing. Sitting together around a table, we each sketched the slice of view directly in front of us, forming a 360-degree view of Third Place Commons. When I’ve participated in 360 sketches previously (once at the downtown public library and another time at the UW Quad), the participants sat in a circle facing out. For this one, we all faced each other toward the center of the table, which meant we all included fellow sketchers. Fun!

After I finished my first sketch that included Kim (at right), I turned around in my seat 180 degrees to sketch whatever had been directly behind. I like that sketch better (below) because I could see further out into the distance.

During the last half hour before the throwdown, I walked around a bit and sketched a few more people enjoying the Commons on a Saturday morning.

Our 360 throwdown was incomplete because a couple of participants had already left by the time we remembered to photograph all of them together!

Inside the Spheres Again

 

3/28/25 Waiting for coffee inside the Amazon Spheres.

Shortly after they had opened, a friend who works at Amazon invited Greg and me to visit inside the company’s amazing Spheres. That was back in 2018, and although I have sketched the geodesic domed buildings many times from the outside, I hadn’t been back inside since then. As good fortune would have it, Ching works there now, and she invited Natalie and me to sketch inside with her. (Although the buildings are open to the public at certain times, you can only enter as part of a guided tour. When accompanied by an employee, you can wander and stay – and sketch – as long as you like.)

It’s still a wondrous terrarium of green; in fact, many of the plants had grown, so it seemed even more jungly than before. On a cold, wet afternoon, the warm, humid interior climate felt comforting. (I was so eager to get on with sketching that I forgot to take photos this time! Please see my 2018 post for lots of images of the interior.)

It was jam-packed with employees trying to work while many visitors ooh-ed and ahh-ed while taking selfies. (Not that I know anything about the latter.)

After all that fun, we adjourned to happy hour at a nearby pub, where I had a personal celebration. This time, it wasn’t for a downsizing accomplishment. Instead, I had just gotten good news from my doctor. All my bone-building exercises, a calcium-rich diet and meds had paid off!

3/28/25 King Leroy pub, South Lake Union

Still Yawning

 

3/27/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Hitting the snooze button for another week.

Although we all wait with much anticipation for the cherry trees to reach their peak bloom, I often find it easier to sketch them when they are still at the plump bud stage – just about to open but not quite. At peak, the Yoshino variety is such a pale pink that the blossoms are nearly white, but as buds, the pink is darker.

This one is taking its own sweet time before it’s wide awake with blossoms, and I was happy to catch it yawning.

Spring for a Day

 

3/18/25 Metro Market, Crown Hill neighborhood

3/25/25 magnolia tree, Maple Leaf neighborhood

On March 18, I went out on my first petal-peeping mission to see how my favorite cherry streets were doing. As expected, all the buds were still tight (journal page above). Less than a week later, a freaky warm front brought sunny temperatures in the high 60s and even 70s. Hallelujah, spring was finally here! OK, so it only lasted a day, but it seemed like the whole city was outdoors rejoicing. More significant, those warm temps will surely push the blossoms to open!

After walking around Green Lake, shedding layers as I went, I took the top down for the drive home. Spotting a magnolia just starting to pop, I basked in the sweet sunshine to sketch it.

That afternoon, I stopped at Macrina Bakery (below) for the annual ritual that marks my personal harbinger of spring: The first al fresco iced coffee!  

3/25/25 Macrina Bakery, Maple Leaf neighborhood

Bergen Blossoms (and New Sushi Place)

 

3/24/25 AA Sushi and Bergen Place, Ballard neighborhood

An appointment brought me to Ballard around lunch time, so I took the opportunity to try a new sushi place in town. AA Sushi (remember all the companies that used to be called AAMCO and AACME so they would be listed first in the phone book? I guess it’s still a thing), which apparently started with a restaurant in Kirkland, just opened a new one in Ballard a few months ago. (It happens to be right next door to Ballard Consignment, where I stopped in to say hi to Greg’s jukebox, still there, unsold. Yay!)

I daresay these are cherries!

Whenever I try a sushi restaurant that’s new to me, I usually order chirashi as a test. But I had been craving saba (mackerel) lately, so I got a couple of saba nigiri with a salmon bowl (always a safe choice). Both were excellent, and the whole meal was a really good value (which is becoming less and less the case when dining out lately). Recommend!

Across the street from AA was Bergen Place, a pocket park well-decorated with several tall, tree-like sculptures and one actual tree just beginning to blossom. The pale pink petals had the telltale notches! Could it be that Sakura season is finally beginning? And I sketched outdoors without gloves for the first time since last fall! Hallelujah, perhaps it’s spring, after all!

Technical note: Look at all the sushi colors I got to show up on this aggressively pink Uglybook – with colored pencils! I’ve mentioned it before, but the trick is to put down white before applying color. Posca paint markers can be too thick and plastic-y, which makes colored pencil difficult to apply over it. I usually use a white colored pencil (the rainbow in this post), but it’s often not quite opaque enough. This time I used a white Penrote acrylic marker, which is ideal for this trick. The paint is thinner and less opaque than Posca, but it covers enough of the paper to enable colored pencils to show up brightly.

Penrote acrylic markers from Taiwan

I’d like to review Penrote markers, which I have been enjoying, but they were a gift from Taiwan, and I can’t find them anywhere online. I thought it would be frustrating to tell you how much I like them when I know you won’t be able to get them easily. (Its paint is very similar to the white Omiowl acrylic marker I discovered last year, fell in love with, and then discovered its fatal flaw.) The set I received has some nice pastel colors that I’ve been using here and there (the turquoise in these sketches and the pink at Wallingford Center). The white, though, continues to be the most useful, and if I could buy a bulk package of white only, I would.

Sketchers Give Life to Empty Wallingford Center

 

3/23/25 Wallingford Center

Even before the pandemic, Wallingford Center was a reliable but quiet mainstay for USk Seattle during the wet, cold months. If the weather cooperated, we had all of the Wallingford neighborhood to explore. If not, the Center’s cozy historic building kept us comfortable. After the pandemic, it never really recovered, but at least we had Trophy Cupcakes to keep us caffeinated and sugared. Unfortunately, Trophy recently closed, so there’s not much left there except a couple of retail shops and one restaurant. It’s a good thing we sketchers showed up on Sunday to liven up the otherwise ghost town vibe!

Although a few hardy souls sketched in the cold drizzle, I opted for the warm and comfy. Wallingford Center has enough window views that I could still capture one of the neighborhood’s classic bungalows, trees and street furniture. I also got snippets of the few remaining retail spots and some other sketchers, of course.

A great turnout in an otherwise empty space!

After the outing, Roy, Allan and I went to lunch at Dumpling the Noodle, whose funny name kept us cracking jokes as we enjoyed food the delicious. And because we all believe that any outing that ends with ice cream is a good day, we proceeded to Molly Moon’s for cream the ice. I meant to a put a little more in my sketch journal spread than just what I ate, but with food getting either cold or melty, and the conversation lively, I knew my priorities. Any outing that ends with good friends and good conversation is a terrific day.

My tasty lunch and dessert

Cream the ice for all!

Two More Bookcases Filled

 

The second bookcase in my studio is the main storage area for art supplies. I tried to place as many things as possible vertically so that they could be pulled out without unstacking. Everything is at least visible, if not accessible without moving a few things.

My unpacking and organizing continue apace (a slower pace than I’d like, but at least it’s apace), and I’ve filled two more bookcases. The one in my studio (above) is all art supplies. It’s crammed more tightly than I wanted, and I still have to move things to get at others under them, but at least I can see everything without pulling things out – a huge improvement over my old studio!

Here's a closeup of the bookcase top: Some "decorative" colored pencils (and Bics!) and a few favorite mementoes.

The bad news: I still have a few bins of supplies that didn’t fit here. They were borderline during my downsizing process, so it probably means they’ve crossed over to the “give away” side. A little more hemming and hawing needed, and then out they go.

The last bookcase is in my bedroom (below). Ideally, it belongs in my studio too, but it won’t fit, and my bedroom had just enough space for it. This one stores all my filled and unfilled Field Notes and unfilled sketchbooks. On the right side of the second shelf are sketchbooks in progress and a couple of grab-and-go kits of certain supplies I use only when I know I’ll have the use of a table. Although the bookcase is well organized, it looks messy, so it’s just as well tucked away in the bedroom. The added bonus is that it’s super handy having quick access to those on-location items right next to where I’m putting on my shoes and grabbing my bag.

The bedroom bookcase holds mostly unfilled sketchbooks and Field Notes. On top are the survivors of my previously massive collection of childhood stuffed animals (most got downsized years ago from my parents' house).

What’s left? Organizing and displaying my vintage pencil collection! Savoring the experience, I’ve been working on that part a little at a time. It’s really the ultimate reward for my nine months of downsizing – making space for the things that bring me joy – so I’ve saved it for last. Sadly, I can see already that I won’t have room for it all, so I’ll have to do some downsizing of my collection, too. I already knew that, but I had procrastinated by moving it all downstairs anyway. I’m determined, though, not to simply stack boxes on the floor or jam stuff into nooks and crannies as I had done before. That method of “collecting” brings no joy. If I don’t have an appropriate space to store or display it, out it goes (I said it out loud here; please hold me to it!).

Exquisite Corpses Live!

 

Exquisite corpses by Roy, Mary Jean and me

Mary Jean, Roy and I always have a lot of fun whenever we get together for art play dates, but last Friday we kicked it up a notch: We made exquisite corpses! Begun by the Surrealists, it’s a drawing game in which each player draws one part of a figure, then others add to it without seeing what the previous players have contributed. Obviously the drawings must be done from imagination, which is always a tough stretch, but Roy and MJ have a way of inspiring me. Maybe the game itself freed me to lower my expectations and just have fun with it. Indeed, we all had a ball and were delighted by the amazing results! These are not the last of the corpses we’ll see!

After the corpses came to life, we settled in for NA beers from Project 9 and burrito bowls from Mexican Seoul. Project 9’s large tables are especially suitable for collaborative projects like ours. Since we’re all more comfortable with urban sketching than with imaginative drawing, we all relaxed into our comfort zones with more sketching. We all agreed, though, that giving our imaginations a kick in the butt was good for all of us!

Exquisite collaborators!

3/21/25 Project 9 Brewery

Sidewalk Resident

 

3/20/25 Northgate

Meeting a friend for lunch at Northgate, I parked near Thornton Place where I’ve seen this tent for a while. Sidewalk residents like this one eventually get chased out, but inevitably the tents return. I would feel intrusive if I were to stand on the sidewalk nearby to sketch such a residence, but this time I was able to sketch from my car, enabling me to feel less conspicuous. Sadly, tents are part of our urban landscape as much as buildings, cars and trees are.

No Blossoms Yet

 

3/18/25 Sunset Hill neighborhood

My Facebook “memories” reminded me that one year ago, I was already sketching pink blossoms on both sides of town. Our cold winter and ongoing cold spring have kept the buds tightly closed a lot longer this year. I didn’t have high hopes, but the sun was out, so I took a drive over to Sunset Hill (with pink pencils in my bag, just in case).

As expected, the buds were still tight but showing their color. I’ll keep checking on them periodically, but I’m going to guess they still have at least a couple of weeks yet to go.

With or without blossoms, this cherry is my favorite on the block. I’ve sketched it several times, and I also made a graphite portrait from a photo in Kathleen Moore’s class four years ago.

A True Story

 

Walking Stories

 

2/19/25 Green Lake neighborhood

A few very short stories from my daily walks:

Opportunistic sketching on a very blustery day: I told myself that if the gusts stopped for a moment, I would sketch whatever I saw right there. This was it (above). 

 

3/13/25 Green Lake neighborhood

Supposedly our city council outlawed leaf blowers a few years back, a move that most citizens applauded exuberantly. But it turned out that they were only talking about city contractors. Anyone else can still go on blowing, which I detest. The noise, the dust, the total ineffectualness – it all annoys me greatly. While I was sketching, two leaf blowers started working on the same sidewalk, blowing against each other! You can imagine how quickly I finished my sketch (at left).

 

I don’t necessarily sketch this cherry tree every year (below), but since it’s on one of my regular walking routes, I always start checking its buds around now. They were still as tight as fists on this breezy day. But the calendar says today is the vernal equinox, so that’s got to mean something to the trees, right?

3/16/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood