Back to Cocoa Legato (and Sketch Journal Musings, Part 1)

 

2/20/26 Cocoa Legato, Greenwood neighborhood

After an errand in the area, I took my fitness walk through the Greenwood neighborhood, and imagine my surprise (ha-ha) when I found myself back at Cocoa Legato. My intention this time was to sketch some chocolate makers through the windows that offer a full view of the kitchen operations. Unfortunately, not much human action was going on, though a machine was rapidly spinning a vat of melted chocolate (upper left in spread above). The scent of that place!

In addition to a mocha made with Peruvian chocolate, I bought a chocolate bar made of 70 percent Columbian cacao (a chocolate that sounds like a drug, if there ever was one). I had no intention of getting a vegan chocolate chunk cookie, but halfway through my visit, the baker came out with a freshly baked batch still warm and melty from the oven! No human could resist that, right? (Although I’m generally not a fan of vegan baked goods, the large chunks of melty chocolate made up for any missing eggs or butter!)

12/4/25

12/14/25

I’ve recently been thinking about what my sketch journal is good for. Of course, the bulk of its pages are sketches during fitness walks (although those are fewer and farther between in winter), people on public transportation, and Greg’s cohorts. A new pair of boots or a pair of crows on a wire – they’re all fair game when I keep a sketch journal.

1/18/26

1/21/26

When I’m especially busy, a page in my sketch journal might be the only sketch I make all day. If it weren’t for my commitment to sketch in it every day, I might skip sketching altogether (and that’s a slippery slope). I’m grateful that the little book keeps me honest to my self-commitment and gives me a handy place to put the random bits of my life.

2/9/26

2/11/26

2/23/26 No fresh pastries?! You can bet I won't be going back there. Too bad because it was very nicely appointed.

Central Library, Inside and Out

 

2/25/26 Seattle Central Library, 10th floor

Seattle Central Library is a handy location for winter USk outings: Spectacular (and challenging) floor-to-ceiling windows that offer good light to most interior spaces, plentiful seating and tables on every floor, and an onsite coffee shop. If weather permits, we also have the super-glassy, geometrically crazy library building itself.

Last Wednesday I decided to warm up with an interior sketch from the 10^th floor (top of post). Although I was too lazy to draw the whole building that I could see through the diagonally girded windows, I was intrigued by the transparent pyramid on top (or maybe behind it?). I have not yet been able to find the name of the building.

After a lunch break, the afternoon warmed up a bit, so I braved the cold to find an angle on the library from Fifth and Madison (below). This is the same corner I attempted back in 2021, and it was no less challenging this time.

Library from the corner of 5th and Madison

Back inside with only a short time before the throwdown, I warmed up with coffee and sketched a row of library patrons seated next to those crazily girded windows again. Although perspective on the building exterior was daunting, I enjoyed the much less formidable perspective challenge of seated, mostly still people.

Whew... how comforting to sketch perspective on people instead of architecture!

Magus Books Annex (and More Sketchwaiting)

2/19/26 Magus Books Annex, Wallingford

Having arrived for my appointment a few minutes early, I looked around for something to draw besides the waiting room chairs. A large window facing 45th Northeast showed a small storefront in a former house: Magus Books. At first, I was confused, because I knew Magus as the U-District bookstore, which has been selling used books since I was a UW student in the late ‘70s. The one I was looking at was the Magus annex, which had opened in the Wallingford neighborhood a few years ago. As so many indie bookstores are closing, it’s good to know that Magus is not only surviving; it’s thriving enough to open a second store.

The last time I had an appointment at this office, I was called immediately. Sometimes I enjoy the pressure and suspense, so I went ahead and started the sketch. An easy-peasy five minutes later, I was done, and I still had several minutes to wait before I was called.

The rest of the sketchwaiting shown in this post don’t have much in the way of stories attached to them. It’s entertaining for me to look back at them, though, because I can recall who or what I was waiting for, even if I didn’t note the occasion.

It’s also fun to see the passage of time through the colors of my daily-carry Uglybook sketch journals. I use each book from start to finish to maintain a continuous, daily chronology (the only sketchbook I use this way), and I always change to a different color when I fill one.   

11/23/25

12/5/25

12/12/25 outside SAM

12/15/25

12/29/25

1/18/26

1/21/26

1/25/26

2/10/26

Doomscrolling Prevention Progress Report

 

2/16/26 (photo reference; Derwent Drawing
pencil, S&B Zeta sketchbook)

2/16/26 (same photo reference as the sketch at left;
Derwent Inktense Blocks, Caran d'Ache Neocolor II,
Museum Aquarelle pencil, S&B Delta sketchbook)

I’m not always successful, but I’ve cut back significantly on my doomscrolling since I started making a concerted effort to stop about a month ago. Although I’ve never been a fan of sketching from photos, I do find it relaxing and fun to “practice” urban sketching by using reference photos of ordinary neighborhood scenes that I enjoy sketching from life. The mixed-media attempts at home are what encouraged me to find a way to use water-soluble waxed pastels more on location (and now that I’ve found a practical way to carry them, I’m looking forward to using them more).

I’m less likely to use dry colored pencils on location, mainly due to the additional time they take, but now that I’ve done it a bit, I want to keep trying. In the meantime, the monochrome sketches I’m making at home are the most soothing and relaxing of all. Without color, they require less thinking than mixed media, and not having to change materials gives them an uninterrupted, meditative quality.

2/7/26 (photo reference; Derwent Drawing pencil, Zeta sketchbook)

The last sketch shown below was an unintended discovery about different types of pencils. Recalling the series of sketches I had made years ago with a blue/vermillion bicolor pencil, I suddenly got in the mood to do it again with a photo reference. Digging through my doomscrolling prevention mixed-media kit, I found an Ink Blue Derwent Drawing pencil and an orange Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle.

2/18/26 (photo reference; Derwent Drawing and Museum Aquarelle pencils, Zeta sketchbook)

I typically wouldn’t mix a non-soluble and a water-soluble colored pencil this way (though there’s no reason not to). Used concurrently in the same sketch, I was a bit shocked to realize how scratchy the Museum Aquarelle felt compared to the Drawing! Until that moment, I never would have thought the Museum was anything but perfectly soft, smooth and creamy. Used alone, it still is, but this is what I’m talking about when I say that Drawing pencils are something special.

Current Sketchbook Formats

 

Clockwise from upper left: A5-size Uglybook, A6-size Uglybook (frog sticker by Kate Buike), 3.5" x 5.5" Stillman & Birn Zeta, 5.5" square Hahnemuhle. (I'd better up my sticker game... those front sketchbooks look naked!)

While I’ve been talking about my portable sketch kit media, I haven’t said much lately about my current sketchbooks for urban sketching (shown here are only the ones I take on location; I have many more that I use at home).

For the past several years now, my only daily-carry sketchbook has been an A6-size Uglybook, which serves as my daily sketch journal and a catch-all for random people, not-so-random people, sketches from fitness walks, and sketchwaiting. I love the thin format with heavy-duty paper so much that I might be carrying it daily even if the paper were white – but the colored pages also scratch my itch for fun tonal sketches. I never leave home without it (even when I’m only running a quick errand and know I won’t have time or opportunity to sketch – just in case).

Sometimes I miss having a book with white paper as my daily-carry, but it’s not often enough to make me switch. Besides, I can’t seem to find a pocket-size sketchbook thin and lightweight enough for my slim bag.

The same sketchbooks opened. No sketches yet in the small Zeta.

When I take an auxiliary tote bag to sketch outings, I have many more sketchbook options. Ever since I started making on-location comics a couple of years ago, the larger, landscape-format Uglybooks have been my favorite. Unlike my daily-carry A6 size, which I use only one at a time, I keep several colors of the larger format in rotation.

When I know I want to use water-soluble materials, I take either an A5-size Hahnemühle (the same 100 percent cotton paper as the A6 size) or, more recently, a 5 ½-inch square Hahnemühle.

If I could find a white sketchbook with decent paper that is as
slim and lightweight as an Uglybook, I would consider it for my daily-carry.
Both the square Hahnemuhle and the small Zeta fit in my bag, but they're
too bulky to carry daily.

Just lately, after re-falling in love with Derwent Drawing pencils, I’ve occasionally grabbed a 5 ½-by-8 ½-inch Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook. I noticed, though, that I rarely make a sketch that large on location with dry colored pencils. Since my basic M.O. is to carry sketchbooks only as large and heavy as necessary, I started thinking about alternatives. Digging through my stash, I came upon a Zeta book in the 3 ½-by 5 ½-inch size, and in landscape format. I don’t recall what my intention was in buying it, since I don’t really care for landscape format unless I have a specific use for it, but I’m going to give it a try.

This is a good time to mention how much I’m enjoying the square-format Hahnemühle. For one thing, it’s a just-right in-between between an A5 and an A6. More than that, the versatile square is handy for both portrait and landscape compositions, and occasionally I sketch across the spread for vertical or horizontal panoramas. With all the benefits of a landscape-format book, it’s much easier to hold while standing.

Still Sketchin’ the Jammin’ at Wintergrass

 

2/21/26 Wintergrass at the Bellevue Hyatt Regency

Wintergrass, the region’s annual bluegrass festival, has long been a favorite of USk Seattle and certainly of mine. In the past, we’ve always avoided attending on the weekends, expecting that the crowds would make sketching difficult. To avoid our greater nemesis lately – the I-5 construction mess worsening commute-time congestion – we decided to give it a try on Saturday this year. To our delight, the crowds didn’t feel constrained or overwhelming at all. I enjoyed the enthusiasm of jammers and spectators alike.

It’s especially fun to see impromptu jam sessions break out among small groups of friends and even strangers. I had assumed that most of the gatherings of guitar, fiddle and mandolin players were friends, but I overheard strangers introducing themselves even as they played tunes together. I always think of it as parallel to Urban Sketchers: people who come together with their common passion to form an instant community.

At the trade show area, several massage therapists offered musicians their services.

In addition to all the musicians I sketched, my favorite subject was a huge, white Great Pyrenees (misspelled in my sketch captions) who kept walking into my sketches like a polar bear! He looked very sweet, and I was told that he attends every year.

MacGyver Success – with Hidden Talent!

 

Sketcher's eye view of my sketch kit: My waterbrush is going in for a "lick" without having to remove the Neocolor II crayons from their case.

I’m happy to report that my MacGyver’ed sketch kit solution is working out even better than expected. The single row of six Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons add no bulk to my daily-carry bag, and the tiny fabric pouch raises the crayons to the right level so that they don’t disappear into a black hole. Along with all my pencils and pens, the crayons stay upright and easily accessible. Score!

Even better, the solution turns out to have a hidden talent: The exposed ends of the Neocrayons are completely accessible for the “licking” technique! With both water-soluble pencils and crayons, I typically must hold the color with one hand while “licking” with a waterbrush in the other. The first time I was out on location with my newly MacGyver’ed kit at Gas Works Park, I reached in to grab a Neocolor for some “licked” sky color, and I realized I could dab the end of the crayon as it stands upright in the bag – removal unnecessary (top of post)! It’s like having a small palette of watercolors entirely accessible. I especially appreciated this surprising feature on that cold day, when I was wearing my fumbly convertible mittens.

With a talent like that, the little pouch deserves to be sewn into place permanently.

Everything in my kit upright and easily visible and accessible.

Heart Bomb for Gas Works Park

 

2/17/26 Gas Works Park

Built in the early 1900s, a coal gasification plant had operated on the shores of Lake Union until 1956. The mammoth, steam punkish remnants are on the historic register. The only remaining of their kind in the nation, the gasworks are a central feature of Seattle’s Gas Works Park, which opened to the public in 1975.

Despite ample signage and barriers intended to keep people from climbing the structures, trespassers still do, and some have died. The Seattle Parks Department recently applied to the Landmarks Preservation Board to take down the potentially hazardous gasworks. The Historic Seattle organization says: “We believe there are better solutions to preserve and reinforce most of these elements so that they may continue to tell the story of this Landmark, while also removing elements that provide access to the towers.” The decision has been tabled for now, and the Parks Department has been encouraged to consider more “preservation friendly options.”

That sky may look sunny, but the "feels like" temp was 37 degrees with the windchill!
(Photo by Kim Roberts)

To raise awareness of the issue, Historic Seattle held a “heart bomb” last Tuesday at Gas Works Park. What is a heart bomb? It’s “a public display of affection for places that matter. Every February, people across the country gather at historic sites and local landmarks (both safe and threatened).” 

Huh – I had never heard of it until now, but it sounded like a great sketch opportunity. As Gas Works is my favorite city park and a beloved sketching location for USk Seattle, it seemed especially important to report on the occasion.

With an appointment right before the noon event, I was late, and the event was much shorter than I had expected. As I was walking toward the park entrance, heart bombers were already walking out carrying large heart-shaped signs. (In the organization’s Instagram reel, I saw a joyous display of hearts and smiles as Historic Seattle members and friends showed their love for the park.)

Heart bomb selfie

Although I regretted missing the gathering, I still wanted to honor my beloved gasworks with a sketch. Kim had arrived in time to sketch the event itself, so at least one of us caught it. I was told that sharing a selfie on social media and hashtagging #heartbombSEA would be an appropriate way to participate, even if I missed the event.

Although I’ve sketched at Gas Works Park many, many times, this may be my loosest interpretation yet – not by intention but because my hands were so cold! Although it was partly sunny and a somewhat tolerable 42 degrees, the top of Kite Hill is one of the windiest spots in the city year-round! BRRRR!!

Chilly Kim and me at the top of Kite Hill

Open Mic at Cocoa Legato

 

2/15/26 Cocoa Legato, Greenwood neighborhood

A couple of weeks ago when I was in the Greenwood neighborhood, I dropped into a newish café that I had read about in the newspaper. The owner of Cocoa Legato, formerly an employee of Theo’s Chocolates, opened the venue to combine two of his passions: chocolate and music. According to its website, Cocoa Legato’s mission “is to create delicious bean-to-bar chocolate while fostering a home for Seattle’s vibrant music community.” Offering chocolate bars, coffee and chocolate beverages, pastries, and an intriguing menu of unexpected entrees (Chocolate grilled cheese sandwich! Chocolate avocado toast!), not to mention weekend live music, it’s a unique venue, indeed.

Although I only had time to grab a mocha to go that day, I could see the sketching potential: The chocolate-making facility in the next room was entirely visible through glass windows.

Feeling adventurous about the menu, Ching and I decided to check it out for lunch. I had been thinking about that chocolate grilled cheese sandwich for two weeks, and my anticipation was well rewarded! How could you go wrong with two favorite substances melted between bread? The not-too-sweet dark chocolate balances the cheddar perfectly. (I sketched it from imagination because I knew it had to be eaten hot!)

We were surprised to find that we had walked into the café’s regular Sunday afternoon open mic, where several performers got up to sing original and popular covers, even some favorites from the ‘70s. It was a fun time that I hope to repeat some other lazy Sunday afternoon. Maybe someday I’ll come back on a weekday, too, to catch the workers on the other side of the windows.

Chocolate grilled cheese sandwich!

On my first visit, I got this T-shirt, which
reads, "Eat Chocolate - Abolish ICE."

Workers making chocolate are visible next to shelves of bar chocolates and free samples.

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!