One Maple, Two Ways

 

2/12/26 reference photo (Caran d'Ache Neocolor II, Derwent Inktense Blocks, Derwent Drawing pencil)

Looking at these two sketches made from the same reference photo, you might guess that I made the monochrome one first as a values study, then executed the color version.

Actually, the path I took was less straightforward. Initially planning to make another fanciful tree character, I was searching through my folder of tree images for ideas. Before I could find the right trunk, I came upon this photo that I had taken a couple of summers ago. Despite the chunk taken out of the left side of its crown to accommodate power lines, this huge maple is glorious in the fall, and I’ve sketched it both from life and from photos (it’s a little precarious from life, as I have to stand on the traffic roundabout one block south to get this view). Yet I’ve probably never sketched it in the middle of summer when the foliage is green. Seeing this photo made me want to pull out some water-soluble materials.

After finishing the color version, I still wasn’t done: A monochrome study is satisfying in different ways. I pulled out a colored pencil for one more study.

2/12/26 photo reference (Derwent Drawing pencil)

Oil Pastels: In or Out?

 

2/4/26 Haiya Paul Rubens oil pastels in Canson XL mixed-media sketchbook (photo reference)

Last year when I did my big downsizing of art supplies, it was easy to keep the things I use regularly or know that I enjoy using, even if I use them infrequently. It was also easy to get rid of things I knew I would never use. The difficult job was the whole middle ground: Things I wasn’t sure if I liked enough to keep, but maybe wanted to try again sometime.

This year my job is to go through that relatively small pile of uncertainty and decide, one way or the other. In that pile were a couple of sets of oil pastels I had purchased during the pandemic (during late-night retail therapy sessions to treat my probably common malady of boredom mixed with anxiety). Ironically, I tried them a bit during my own bout with COVID when I had plenty of sequestered time to experiment, but not much afterwards.

Do I like Caran d’Ache Neopastels and Haiya Paul Rubens oil pastels? Right off the bat, they have two strong disadvantages to my sketching lifestyle: They require a fairly large sketchbook, and they are messy, both on the hands and in forever transferring to other surfaces. That means I will never take them out to sketch on location. Anything that I can use only at home rarely gets used.

I decided to make a sketch with each product to remind myself of the experience. As I discovered the first time, I love the effects I can get with very soft and schmushy Haiya oil pastels (top of post). Using a smudging tool, the creamy, lipstick-like sticks can be blended as much as desired. I applied them fairly lightly, but I’ve seen demos online in which the product is applied and blended so heavily that the results can look like oil painting.

The Neopastels are much drier and not as easy to blend (sketch below). I immediately decided that I would not keep the set, although it was several times more expensive per stick than the Haiya set. But I was still unsure about the latter.

2/4/26 Caran d'Ache Neopastels in Canson XL mixed-media sketchbook (photo reference)

Since Mary Jean and Roy had both played with oil pastels, we decided to devote an art play date to sharing and exploring our various oil pastel products. To give the Haiya set one more try, I made the sketch below (it looks a bit abstract, but it’s an x-ray of my right shoulder, which was just diagnosed with adhesive capsulitis, or “frozen shoulder”).

2/13/26 Haiya Paul Rubens oil pastels in Canson XL mixed-media sketchbook (X-ray reference)

By the end of that sketch, I was almost ready to give up that whole set, too – but not quite. I compromised by keeping 10 colors from the set of 48, then let MJ have the rest. Roy got the Neopastels. My arty friends will make better use of them than I ever will.

While they continued making a mess, I retreated, with much relief, to the clean and tidy Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons (below) in my newly MacGyver’ed kit.

2/13/26 Third Place Commons (Neocolor II crayons in Hahnemuhle sketchbook)

Kids on the playground!

Retro Furniture at US Bank Center

2/14/26 US Bank Center

Last winter’s outing at US Bank Center was so popular that we knew it would become a USk mainstay during the cold months. Great coffee and pastries from Olympia Coffee and comfy seating on three levels make it ideal for capturing intriguing interiors and people.

Last year I sketched mostly the window views from the third level and people on the mezzanine, so this time I tried something entirely different. The third floor is furnished and decorated in a retro style with unusual lighting fixtures that attracted several other sketchers, too. Somewhat inspired by the color scheme, I also took some liberties. It was fun to focus on the furnishings as if they were a giant still life.

That sketch took longer than I usually spend on a single sketch; I was hungry by the time I finished. Taking my snack to the mezzanine level, I sketched other sketchers until it was time for the throwdown.

A good mix of water-soluble and non-soluble media.

Color notes: Although color is not usually what attracts me first or determines whether I choose a subject to sketch, it was this time. The interior scene in the first sketch felt like a good test of my values-based palette, and all those solid shapes of color were easy to see. Picking up on the rust, yellow and navy furniture, I changed the lighting fixtures from white to light green and the patterned wall to pale yellow. I made the cast shadows dark green just to balance the green lamps. I think limiting my palette to four colors made the composition more cohesive.

Media notes: Since I was seated in a chair at a table, not standing on the sidewalk, the sketch was not necessarily a test of my newly MacGyver’ed sketch kit, but it confirmed that I chose a solid range of warms and cools, and a good mix of water-soluble materials. In fact, I took advantage of having a comfy seat to include a technique I don’t usually like to spend much time on when standing – the “licked sky” technique – with both the Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle pencils and the Neocolor II crayons. The pale washes that are easy to achieve with that technique are an ideal way to give color to the lightest values. Even without including watercolors, the technique made me feel like my mixed-media kit was even more mixed!

My MacGyver’ed Everyday-Carry Kit

 

A tiny jewelry case

I knew it would come to this. As much as I’d like to have more mixed-media materials on hand when I’m sketching on location, the various supplemental kits I’d been trying the past several weeks just weren’t working. I don’t mind carrying an auxiliary tote bag on sketch outings for things like a larger sketchbook and a water bottle, but having to fuss with a supplemental tool case inside the tote is a fumbly problem. My everyday-carry bag on the left; a tote on the right; going back and forth and forgetting which tool is on which side, all while standing on a sidewalk – AACCKK!

It was time to go back to the drawing board.

My goal: Eliminate a supplemental case and instead carry a few mixed-media materials in my usual Rickshaw pen case, which fits so nicely inside my everyday-carry Rickshaw bag (both shown in this post).

My problem: Every time I’ve tried to carry a few Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons in the pen case, the short crayons would be difficult to dig out of the case, or they would fall down horizontally and no longer be visible.

With that basic problem identified, I looked for a solution that would somehow raise the crayons in the pen case so that they would be visible like the taller pens and pencils. The solution would also have to be narrow enough that the crayons couldn’t fall down sideways.

Those of you who sew can probably see an easy solution: Make a small fabric pocket inside the pen case. Sadly, I no longer have a sewing machine, nor any fabric scraps (all sewing things unused for many years, they were downsized). I’m also lazy.

Amazingly, I found something that was exactly the right dimensions: A tiny fabric case intended to hold jewelry during travel (top of post). I have never used it for that purpose, but when it was given to me years ago, it seemed like something I might someday have a use for. That day finally came.

Six crayons fit perfectly and can't fall down sideways.

Six Neocolor crayons fit perfectly and can’t fall down sideways. Breakage would still be an issue, but I might consider swapping in a couple of Derwent Inktense Blocks instead of Neos at some point. As a trial, I’ve simply clipped the jewelry case to the upper edge of the pen case. If it works out, I’ll sew it into place permanently (thankfully, I do still have a hand-sewing kit).

Clipped into place for now.

As for the kit’s contents, I started over completely. With crayons coming in, some pencils had to come out. It was a good opportunity to cull a couple of unused pens that had crept in over time, too. The current selection is shown below.

Following my general color guidelines, I chose a warm and a cool of each hue in a mix of Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle pencils and Neocolor II crayons. Several choices still fall in the category of ones I wouldn’t normally “see” in my typical urban landscape, so I’m hoping they still push me outside my usual box.

The two non-soluble pencils are Derwent Drawing pencils in Chocolate and Grape. Those two pink Neocolors are for spring blossoms, of course. The swatches were trials to see what kinds of greens I could mix with the palette’s yellow and blues.

Newly MacGyver'ed kit: Let's see how this goes.

A Wallingford Street (Plus Supplemental Kit Fail)

 

2/11/26 Wallingford neighborhood

Back in the day when I used to sketch all winter from my mobile studio, this was a favorite street scene type: Trees, cars, utility poles and wires with bonus backlighting – the type I could sketch easily while parked. After I started doing much of my urban sketching while fitness walking (beginning in 2019), I mostly stopped sketching from my car. I’ve missed this kind of “nothing” view – nothing of particular interest, but so quintessential of a residential Seattle street. Even though it’s not my street or even my neighborhood, it speaks of home and familiarity like nothing else does. Ironically, I was taking a fitness walk through the Wallingford neighborhood when I came upon this scene, and I stood between parked cars to capture it.

Too many colors; cumbersome case

Media and color notes: Although I’m generally satisfied with the results here, I have a couple of complaints. This was my first on-location sketch using my newly evaluated and downsized mixed-media kit. The addition of all the Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons to my usual daily-carry colored pencils has given me too many color options: I took too long dithering about choices, and I also used too many colors, resulting in an incohesive palette. I should have stuck with no more than three to five at a time, which had been my rule when I first started experimenting with values-based hues.

The most significant complaint, though, is that the kit is still too much to hold when I’m (literally) on the street. One culprit is the Rickshaw Sinclair, which accommodates more crayons than I need or want access to. Even worse, I am constantly fumbling with the depth of the case, which makes the crayons difficult to reach. The injury added to insult was that when I kept trying to fold down the Sinclair’s edges to reach the crayons, stress was applied to the Derwent Drawing pencils on the other side, and all three points chipped! (Since I’ve been daily-carrying a few Drawing pencils, I have found that those super-soft cores break easily compared to most other high-quality pencils. Unfortunately, dropping implements is an unavoidable hazard of urban sketching!)

Just as I knew I would, I’ve returned to the same point yet again (as I have many times before): I must find a way to get everything I want to use into my daily-carry, or the excess will cause more frustration than mixed-media joy. ARRGGHH!

Discovering a Tree Character

2/9/26 photo reference and imagination

Looking for more ways to avoid doomscrolling, I watched a new video from Steve Mitchell’s Mind of Watercolor YouTube channel. Although I’m not using watercolor much lately, I often find Steve’s approaches to sketching, painting and mixed media inspiring. In this video, he draws an imaginary tree character inspired by fantasy book illustrations.

Scrolling through my “trees” folder of photos, mostly taken on neighborhood walks, I found one with a spectacular twisted trunk (at left). This tree seemed to be a character already – all I had to do was exaggerate its shape a bit (but not much) and add a face. The face was easy enough to draw, but I admire the way Steve “sculpted” the face of his tree more dimensionally. I’d like to work on doing more of that.

Another fun challenge was interpreting the “light logic” for the imaginary areas of the tree and the face. Since the reference photo was taken on an overcast day, I didn’t have much to go on, so I had to squint hard, choose the light direction and make it consistent for the parts I imagined. Steve seemed to be working from a variety of references and maybe mostly imagination, but it’s obvious that his vast experience has given him a strong sense of light logic. I wish he had talked about this challenging aspect of imaginary drawing, but it probably comes intuitively for him.

2/10/26 photo references and imagination

The next evening, I tried it again (at right), this time with two reference photos: a different tree and an Earthsworld face. Working on making the face more dimensional was definitely easier with a reference photo (and it was extremely low pressure to use the reference for inspiration only and not have to think about resemblance). As with previous experiments in drawing from imagination, I want the result to look convincing as a 3-dimensional object in space, even if the subject is obviously fanciful.

Anyway, these are a ton of fun, and I plan to do more. They work my imagination, which is always hard for me, especially in the evening when I’m tired, but most of it is comfortable and familiar. 

Isn’t it amazing that these tree trunks are not fantastical at all – they are real! The trees are both outside my immediate neighborhood, so I’m not sure if I can find them again, but I hope to someday draw at least one of them realistically from life.

Endangered

 

2/6/26 palm cockatoo, Woodland Park Zoo

On one of our couple days of “false spring” last week, I took my fitness walk around Woodland Park Zoo. I told myself I’d make one brisk circuit of the zoo grounds first without sketching, then go back to sketch, but I couldn’t resist stopping when I got to the Conservation Aviary. One of my favorite zoo exhibits, it’s home to several free-roaming and -flying birds that are all, very sadly, endangered. It’s possible to observe the birds fairly closely, and unlike tiny birds, these exotic beauties move relatively slowly, so they are more easily sketchable.

Great argus

Southern ground hornbill and Humboldt penguins

More penguins

After finishing my walk, I ended my visit at the Humboldt penguin exhibit, another favorite. They, too, are endangered, so my theme for the day ended up being endangered birds.

Stepping back from the exhibit, I decided to catch a few human gestures, too (below). The young boy who repeatedly squatted to see the swimming penguins was fun to try to capture! (I often practice squatting during yoga and nearly daily as part of my fitness routine, and I envied how easy he made squatting look! I guess it is when you’re 3!)

Watching the penguins

Paper notes: I knew that toothy Hahnemühle would be a bit too strong with super-soft Derwent Drawing pencils, but I tried it anyway. It wore down my pencils like sandpaper, and it was difficult to draw any fine details like eyes. Although I didn’t mind Stillman & Birn Beta’s milder tooth when I was making landscapes, I don’t care for Hahnemühle. I would have enjoyed smooth S&B Zeta much more, but I don’t like using wet media on that. I’d have to either decide which type of material to use that day and bring the appropriate sketchbook, or bring both sketchbooks everywhere, just in case. Arrggh! (More first world mixed-media problems.)

When I got to the quick human gestures at the end of my visit, I pulled out my current daily-carry Field Notes, which contains their typically smooth, all-purpose paper. That turned out to be quite lovely with a Drawing pencil, which went down as fast and smooth as a marker.

Supplemental Mixed-Media Kit Refresh

 

Multiple bag dumps

After writing yesterday’s post, I realized there was no reason to wait to pare down my mixed-media kit if I had any intention of using it in the field again. First, I did a multiple-bag dump: All the mixed-media tools I had assembled at my reading chair (for doomscrolling prevention), all the materials I had recently brought on location and found to be too much, and the color portion of my usual daily-carry. The first two batches are shown in the photo above.

Shown below is the color part of my current daily-carry, which is mostly the same as the wacky palette I had assembled a few weeks ago (with the optimistic addition of pink after I spotted plum blossoms last week!). Not shown are the brush pen, marker, white Gelly Roll and waterbrush that rarely change.

The color part of my everyday-carry. (Apologies for the uneven lighting in today's photos. It's the one drawback of my current studio downstairs compared to the former studio upstairs: I can't find a spot where light isn't coming in from one window or another unless I remember to do all my photography in the early morning.)

Here are my selection strategies: The daily-carry must stand alone in terms of color range. Pencils are the most physically robust, lightweight and versatile, so they are still the mainstay.  

For the supplemental mixed-media kit that I bring along with a Hahnemühle sketchbook, I kept values and temperature in mind but did not strictly maintain a warm and a cool in lights, mediums and darks. If I have a hue in one medium, I don’t need a similar or identical one in another medium. I also considered all the colors in my daily-carry and tried not to duplicate anything there. Finally, I’m still choosing most hues that I wouldn’t typically see in my urban environment, just to stay awake and not color by autopilot.   

As much as I enjoy using Derwent Inktense Blocks, I recently broke another one without even dropping them, so I’ve decided they are too fragile for the road (unless I carry them in a heavy, clanky tin, which I have no intention of doing). Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons and a few Derwent Drawing pencils are a good mix of water-soluble and non-soluble. Shown below is the newly slimmed-down supplemental kit.

Supplemental mixed-media kit

My tiny Sendak is too tiny for all of these, so I’m back to my Rickshaw Sinclair pen case, which I used briefly last summer to carry Neo II crayons (below). It’s not ideal, but it will do for now.

The Neo II crayons fit in a single row. I'm hoping that will keep them from being too bulky and also keep them from falling down horizontally, which makes them much harder to dig out.

My Rickshaw Sinclair

This process required much hemming and hawing. However, my everyday-carry kit had been stable for a long time before this recent rekindling of mixed-media interest. I admit that I enjoyed this first-world drama.

Incidentally, if you are part of the stationery universe, you’re probably familiar with the Japanese term techo kaigi (literally “planner meeting”: a meeting with yourself about your planner). It refers to the process of reflecting on one’s planners and notebooks to help decide which products and how to use them in the upcoming year. We urban sketchers need our own term for the similar process we go through constantly with our sketch kits. Sketchy media kaigi? Art material kaigi? Portable kit kaigi? Not too catchy. Let me know if you have ideas.

Mixed Media on My Walk

 

2/4/26 Maple Leaf neighborhood

After my experiments strategically combining water-soluble and non-soluble materials at home, I carried the same variety of tools with me on my fitness walk. It was certainly more than I would ever typically use on location, let alone while out for a walk, but I was eager to see how the experiment would go in the field.

I wanted to keep the house sharp, so I drew it with a non-soluble Derwent Drawing pencil. For everything else, I used nearly the full water-soluble arsenal I had with me: Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle pencils and Neocolor II crayons, and Derwent Inktense pencils. I activated the tree trunk and fence first with a waterbrush so I could keep them fairly crisp, too. Then I used a spritzer to activate the foliage.

I had stood on the sidewalk as usual, but I used a low brick wall nearby to set down my tool pouch. It felt a little cumbersome, but I managed. I carried all the same materials the next day at the Volunteer Park USk outing, and it felt like a lot to hold then, too.

I’ll probably pare down the mixed-media arsenal with fewer colors of each and fewer types. Or I’ll again decide it’s just easier to leave the “mixed” for home use and stick with watercolor pencils on location. (I’ve been here before, and most likely I’ll keep cycling back as I continually test the balance between portability and my craving for variety!)

The Collective Joy of Super Bowl

 

2/8/26 Pre-game snacking and sketching at Project 9 Brewing Co., Maple Leaf neighborhood

I have an unusual perspective on the Super Bowl game that captured the country’s (and especially Seattle’s) attention last Sunday: It was my first time watching one.

An hour before I was to leave for the game, I realized
I couldn't go to a sports bar on Super Bowl
Sunday without wearing Seahawks gear!
Thankfully, my neighbor across the street had
exactly what I needed.

It’s probably stating the obvious to say that I have no interest in any sports, nor have I ever. In fact, when I was in college, I used to feel resentful that sports received so much funding and attention while liberal arts programs were barely hanging on. Over the years, my attitude mellowed to basic indifference, and I note the date of the Super Bowl only to take advantage of empty stores and light traffic.

As I’ve grown older, my lack of interest in sports has not changed, but I’ve learned to appreciate the bonding mechanism that sports provide in our culture. Beginning with a Mariners game I watched last fall, I realized that I could observe fandom energy the way an anthropologist studies a culture – with sketchbook in hand.

I invited Ching and Natalie to join me at Project 9 Brewing Co., my neighborhood brew pub, to watch and sketch the big game. Arriving early enough to find seats in the huge venue, we found an ideal table: It was at a bad angle from the TV screens, so it would not appeal to most patrons, but we could face Seahawks fans without their noticing us sketching them!

For a different viewpoint, I sometimes walked out to the entirely empty heated patio where no screens could be seen, but I could sketch other patrons easily.

In general, I didn’t understand what was going on (though Natalie tried her best to explain the rules to me), but it was fun to observe the explosive exclamations of joy or disappointment with each score or fumble. (The three of us left after half time, so I missed the final triumph. It must have been an ear-shattering roar, but I appreciated it from a distance when I heard fireworks in the neighborhood.)

Aside from the game, I was moved by the significance of the primary half-time entertainer, the Puerto Rican performer known as Bad Bunny, who sang entirely in Spanish (apparently a historic first at the Super Bowl). During the past year when all immigrants, especially Spanish speakers, have been oppressed and tortured, I hope we all heard the message of Bad Bunny’s exuberant, proud performance: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”

Even without being a Seahawks fan, I appreciate the collective joy and celebration that the team’s triumph gave Seattle. This year, we needed this, more than ever.

Mixed Media: Water-Soluble and Not

 

2/2/26 photo reference (Derwent Drawing pencils, Neocolor II crayons, Museum Aquarelle pencils in S&B Delta sketchbook)

An interesting mixed-media result came about spontaneously the other evening (above). First I pre-selected an assortment of materials, including both non-soluble (Derwent Drawing pencils) and water-soluble ones (Caran d’Ache Neocolor II wax pastels, Museum Aquarelle pencils and Derwent Inktense Blocks). Thinking more about its value and mark-making potential than its hue or water-solubility, I started using a dark blue Drawing pencil to sketch the fence, tree trunks, utility pole and figure. Then I started using the water-soluble tools to scribble various foliage textures.

As I was scribbling, it suddenly occurred to me that I could use a trick I had tried briefly years ago in an intentional manner on location, but it had required too much planning to be tenable. Ironically, in the quiet comfort of my home, it happened spontaneously without any planning at all:

After drawing all the objects that I wanted to remain crisp in non-soluble pencil, I could easily spritz the entire page indiscriminately with water to activate the foliage. Voila – the other objects remained unblurred and sharp-edged! A pretty clever trick, if I do say so myself.

The sketch was made in a Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook, which is the ivory version of S&B Beta. (Like the old spiralbound Beta, this spiralbound Delta has sketches as far back as 2012. Again, like the Beta, I use it only at my desk, so it’s taking forever to fill. I’m determined to finish it off with doomscrolling prevention play.) After being spoiled by Hahnemühle 100 percent cotton paper the past several years, it was a rude surprise to see that the surface couldn’t take as much water without pooling.

The next day, I tried again (below), this time with intention. I switched to Hahnemühle because I’m used to how much water it can take. You can see that the car and tree trunks stayed sharp, while I activated the scribbly foliage in an organic way by spritzing. I wanted a more solid activation in the ground shadows, so I used a waterbrush to spread the water more evenly.

2/3/26 photo reference (Derwent Drawing pencils, Inktense Block, Neocolor II crayons in Hahnemuhle 100% cotton sketchbook)

A few days later, I went back to the Delta (below). I don’t like it, but as with any paper, the more I use it the better I’ll understand how much water it can tolerate.

2/7/26 photo reference (Drawing pencils, Neocolor II crayons, Museum Aquarelle pencils, S&B Delta sketchbook)

This is a fun way to use mixed media! Doing it on location is a different matter, but now I’m motivated to try it again.

Sunny Trees at Volunteer Park

 

2/5/26 Volunteer Park

The USk Seattle outing was for a choice of either the conservatory or the Seattle Asian Art Museum, both at Volunteer Park and both of which are free on First Thursdays. But when the day dawned with a clear sky and a forecast of temps in the 50s, I knew I wouldn’t be going indoors at all; I bundled up for outdoor sketching!

Seeking a spot where I could get a dose of vitamin D, I first sketched the memorial of William Henry Seward outside the conservatory (above). I’ve sketched this statue a few times before, including one during my first year of sketching. I remembered that experience and how the statue had gotten lost in front of a background of trees painted in the same value. I’m happy that I’ve learned at least a few things since then.

Across the street from Volunteer Park Cafe, 17th & Galer

After a bite to eat at nearby Volunteer Park Café, I walked across the street to sketch a lovely bare tree that I had spotted on my way to lunch. Although the Capitol Hill neighborhood is full of Seattle’s oldest, most impressive trees, this one had beautiful light on its trunk, and I could stand in the sun myself to sketch it. It’s always about location, location, location.

Technical notes: In the top sketch, I tried something a little different from my usual method: I used a gold-colored Derwent Inktense Block to indicate light on one of the mostly shaded conifers. I’m not sure it “reads” well as sunlight compared to the paper-white light on the statue.

Although I don’t care for the bright blue I chose for the statue, I’m happy that I’m making new color choices beyond my usual tried-and-true (that is, "reality").

The second sketch is an example of exactly what I was talking about in yesterday’s post. After drawing the tree and shrubbery with Derwent Drawing pencils, I wanted to imply the café building in the background by drawing the windows with a neutral color (so that the tree would stand out in front of it). All I had was a Blackwing graphite pencil. Although it has an extra-soft core, the Blackwing is not nearly as thick as the Derwent. Immediately I realized I would have to be more careful and deliberate (and therefore slower), or the pencil strokes would be more visible. The Derwent, on the other hand, is so thick that the pencil strokes blend into each other instantly. That’s what I was trying to articulate yesterday but couldn’t quite explain; that’s what makes the Derwent Drawing so expeditious.

Now I’ve answered my own question: Yes, I can use these pencils even outdoors!

Monochrome at Grateful Bread

 

2/3/26 Grateful Bread, Wedgwood neighborhood

Ching and I had a long-overdue sketchy catch-up. Grateful Bread’s relaxing ambiance was a good opportunity to express my newly reignited love for monochrome colored pencil sketching. I don’t know why I don’t do this more often on location. The material – a single Derwent Drawing pencil – is as simple as can be, and that simplicity makes it easy to talk and listen without distraction.

Actually, I do know why I don’t do it more often. In the past, I have occasionally used non-soluble colored pencils in the field, most often with soft Prismacolors. (Here are some I did a few years ago – in the rain! I’d forgotten that secret superpower of non-soluble pencils.) Soft is the operative word here; I can’t imagine enjoying trying to sketch in the field with a hard pencil (which requires time for the more slowly layered approach of traditional colored pencils). Yet even with soft Prismacolors, I have felt impatient; they still take too long to build darker values.

It’s different with Derwent Drawing pencils. Now I would choose them for on-location use any time over Prismacolors or other soft pencils in my possession. It’s not just that they’re soft; it’s the combination of softness plus incomparably thick cores. For the first time, a non-soluble pencil seems like it could keep up with my field demands for an efficient dry tool.

My next challenge, then, will be to sketch outdoors with one Drawing pencil. Would I be able to do something like I did below with a photo? 

2/2/26 photo reference