Light and Dark at the Chapel of St. Ignatius

 

12/10/25 Chapel of St. Ignatius, Seattle University

With another atmospheric river promising record-breaking flooding in the region, it was hard to push myself out into the torrents Wednesday morning. (I’m totally safe from flooding here in the city, but some riverside communities have evacuated, and the state has been declared an emergency.) As if that weren’t bad enough, to arrive at the 9 a.m. sketch outing, I had to leave the house at 8 – the sun was barely up! When I retired, I swore I’d never leave the house in morning darkness again!

Beautiful interior lighting with subtle tints

Despite my grumbling, drippy coat and all, as soon as I stepped inside Seattle University’s Chapel of St. Ignatius, I was happy that I had come. The chapel has the most architecturally intriguing interior that I’ve sketched in a long time. I wish I’d thought to take more photos to show the fascinating lighting, but I was too engrossed in trying to capture it in my sketchbook.

Although I hadn’t been inside before, I find most churches to be dark inside, so on that hunch I brought along the black Uglybook that I’ve been making nocturnes in. It was a super-fun challenge to try to convey all the different values emanating from hidden windows. Sketchers who used color also tried to capture the varying colored window glass that tinted the walls subtly.

For my second sketch, I chose the wood crucifix. Very dimly lit from one side, it was a fascinating tonal study, too.

Finally, in the time remaining before the throwdown, I walked out to the vestibule to sketch through a large, wet window with a view of the chapel’s reflecting pool and trees wearing holiday lights.

Reflecting pool outside the chapel. The USk Seattle stamp wouldn't show up on black paper, so I used a tiny sticker instead.

After the outing, Mary Jean and I walked to nearby Piedmont Café for coffee (below). During the Big Dark, I have fun sketching nocturnes even in the daytime!

12/10/25 Piedmont Cafe, Capitol Hill neighborhood

Pre-Coffee, 6:38 a.m.

12/9/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Last year these neighbors were a bit more tidy with their lights. This year, they decided to take a freeform, minimal approach. It’s a nice contrast to their neighbors’ symmetrical design.

Sketching pre-coffee in the pre-dawn darkness, I enjoy the special stillness of this time that’s so entirely different from the same time during the summer. 

Café Javasti as Nocturne

 

12/6/25 Cafe Javasti, Maple Leaf neighborhood

I don’t sketch at Café Javasti, only five blocks away and my closest coffee shop, as often as you’d think I would. Although convenient (and they do make a mean scone), it’s small and tends to be a little dark. That dim lighting, though, gave me an idea: It would be ideal for practicing nocturnal sketching even indoors.

Sitting in back, I could sketch other patrons backlit by the large windows. I especially enjoyed sketching the chairs in this minimal way: a white colored pencil for the soft reflected light and a white Gelly Roll for the bright highlights.

Colored Pencils That Made the Cut

Top tier on desktop: Museum Aquarelle, Prismacolor, Supracolor

Regular readers of this blog are well aware of the massive downsizing I went through for the better part of two years. The biggest category needing culling was art supplies in general and colored pencils in particular. Some materials I gave away could be seen in photos from last winter’s gab & grab. Eventually I showed the bookcases, drawers and cabinets containing some materials that made the cut. I never wrote specifically, though, about which colored pencils I kept.

Whenever I started thinking about a functional way to discuss which sets I kept and why, it started feeling like an onerous task. You know me – if you get me started talking about colored pencils and all the nuanced uses for one type rather than another (and therefore justifying why I need so many), I could go on for weeks! But since I already have reviews of most of these pencils, I decided that simple lists including links to the reviews would be the most concise. If you’d like more detail, please read the reviews. The pencil brands are not ranked within categories (in fact, I diplomatically listed them alphabetically).

Top drawer

The easy part was the long-time favorites (which I’ve labeled as “top tier” and “secondary tier”). The more difficult task was rationalizing (to myself) the many pencils I’ve kept without good reason! I suppose I must resort to revealing irrational whims. So be it. Interestingly, writing this post has helped me determine which will be the next to go.

I should also note that the only vintage pencils I include are ones that I consider “users.” With those exceptions, vintage pencils aren’t nearly as good to use as most contemporaries in my top and secondary tiers. Even among my vintage “collectibles,” I gave away quite a few sets. The ones I kept are for qualities that anyone who collects anything might appreciate: They are fun, beautiful, unique or otherwise “special.”

The way I manage my entire inventory now is the same way I manage my clothes (with a finite number of hangers): A finite space is allocated to each category (“users,” collectibles, vintage), and when each space is full, I am not allowed to bring in anything new unless I get rid of something already there. At the Black Friday gab & grab, I gave away a few sets with that in mind (yes, something new! Stay tuned!)

 Top Tier

These are my tried-and-true favorites that you’d have to pry from my cold, stiff hands. As I reach for them most often, some literally occupy the “top tier” of my drawing table – on the desktop or in the top drawer. Except Polychromos, all are among the softest colored pencils I own.

Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle

Caran d’Ache Supracolor Soft

Derwent Drawing

Derwent Inktense

Derwent Lightfast

Faber-Castell Polychromos

Prismacolor (vintage and contemporary)

 

Secondary Tier

I still think of these as favorites, but only for specific purposes. Luminance used to be in the top tier but only recently got pushed down to the secondary tier when I realized I don’t reach for them as often as I do Derwent Lightfast (which I place in the same range of softness).

Caran d’Ache Bicolors (various holiday limited edition sets)

Caran d’Ache Luminance

Eberhard Faber Design Watercolor (vintage)

Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer

Holbein

Staedtler Karat Aquarell

Uni Pericia/Posca

 

Specialty

I don’t use these often, but I’ve found them to be best for their specific functions, so they were worth keeping.

Derwent Metallic 20^th anniversary set

Eberhard-Faber Design Spectracolor Doublecolor (vintage)

Koh-i-Noor Tri-Tone

 

Limited Editions or Otherwise “Collectible”

These I rarely use, but how can I let go of beautiful sets that are no longer available (or won’t be for long)?

Caran d’Ache limited edition sets (Oliver Jeffers, Cosmic Blue, Keith Haring, Germanier)

Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle leads

Palomino California Republic

Palomino California Republic Aquas

 

Irrational but Irresistible

These I rarely use, if ever, and yet I have sentimental or other irrational reasons for keeping them. The most irrational of all is that some come in fabulous packaging!

Blackwing Colors

Marco Tribute Masters Collection

Mitsubishi Uni

Tombow Irojiten

 

Probably Getting the Boot

I couldn’t quite bring myself to boot these yet, but given that I hardly use them (not even enough to review one) and can’t even think of an irrational reason for keeping them, they will probably not make the next cut.

Bruynzeel Design

Caran d’Ache Pablo

Caran d’Ache Prismalo 

Cretacolor Karmina

Derwent Coloursoft

Derwent Procolour

Schpirerr Farben

Irrational but decorative!

Not-So-Festive in Wallingford

 

12/7/25 Fuel Coffee, Wallingford neighborhood

Wallingford Center used to be a thriving retail center housed in the historic Interlake Elementary School building. It’s been going downhill for a while now with fewer and fewer shops and cafes, but USk Seattle has met there nearly every winter because the interior is spacious, cozy and, around the holidays, festive.

Sadly, we were disappointed to find that it wasn’t even decorated this year. Since I’ve sketched there numerous times, I took a walk through the Wallingford neighborhood to find an alternative. Fuel Coffee has window seating looking out on a strip of quintessential Wallingford buildings, so I settled in there with a Cortado. Meanwhile, patrons around me were having interesting conversations that I couldn’t help overhearing. A new pastime: urban eavesdropping. 😉

Roku

 

12/4/25 Roku (reference photo by Cristina Corpuz-Martens)

I sketched this handsome Akita, Roku, as a gift for a friend. I’m pleased that Pencilvember helped me learn how to make colored pencil sketches faster (this took less than 30 minutes) while still capturing a reasonable resemblance. It makes a gift like this (not to mention commissions) less burdensome. It’s not often that a drawing challenge helps me in such a practical way. Thirty days well spent!

During the challenge, I used fun, unnatural colors to keep me from spending too much time trying to “match” reality. I have found, though, that the practice had another benefit that came out unexpectedly with Roku. Instead of using straight-up black for the nose and eyes (as I used to with most dogs before the challenge), I impulsively used Indanthrene Blue and mixed it with a little dark brown. I think the result is more interesting than black.

Bone-Chilling Akebono

 

12/3/25 Sushi omakase plate at Akebono,Wedgwood neighborhood

After my satisfying completion of downsizing, phase 3, last month, I had planned to celebrate in short order, but somehow appointments and other things kept getting in the way (including my birthday, which had several celebrations of its own). My calendar finally cleared so that I could enjoy a leisurely celebration sketching lunch.

On my first visit to Akebono, a Japanese restaurant that opened in nearby Wedgwood last spring, I had given it my “chirashi test,” which is my favorite way to try any new-to-me sushi restaurant. I felt a little disappointed that time, though, that I didn’t sketch that fantastic meal in full color. Since then, I’ve gotten takeout meals from Akebono a few times (one of which I sketched to test my go-bag sketch kit last summer), but I hadn’t eaten inside the restaurant again. Now that I was certain the food was reliably good*, I knew what I wanted to do someday: Sketch (and of course eat! But sketching is the most important part, right?) an omakase meal there.

You may recall that my big celebration last December after a particularly burdensome downsizing task was an omakase meal at Moriyama. That was such a special and enjoyable experience that I wanted to repeat it at Akebono. Seeing the options on their menu previously, I suspected it wouldn’t be quite the same, mainly because the price was significantly lower at Akebono, but at least I was confident of the food quality.

I reserved my editorial comments for my sketch journal. 

In that regard, I was not disappointed at all. My sushi omakase plate was both delicious to eat and beautiful to sketch – as well as a good value. While the meal did not have Moriyama’s artistic garnishes and leisurely presentation, the price was an affordable occasional treat instead of an extravagance.

I regretted not being able to sketch chef Alo this time, but because I was seated at the sushi bar, he was barely visible behind a pile of clutter. My biggest complaint, though, was how friggin’ cold the place was! I don’t remember it being that cold last spring. I kept my coat on (over three layers) for the entire meal. I was about to say something to my server when I overheard another party mention the same complaint. The server replied that the restaurant interior needs to be kept at that temperature to keep the sashimi fresh. Hmmm. I’ve dined in many, many sushi restaurants, and none of them have had to keep patrons refrigerated at the same temperature as the fish!

Next time I’m in the mood for Akebono (which also serves ramen, bowls and other items I haven’t tried yet), I’m going to stick with takeout so I can enjoy the food in my heated home. Maybe I’ll dine in again on a sweltering summer day, when the “refrigeration” will feel comfortable.

* At the risk of sounding like a restaurant critic (OK, I suppose I’m already a donut and croissant critic; I might as well move on to sushi), the main reason I haven’t been back to Moriyama in a while is that their food quality has been inconsistent. After a couple of great dining experiences and then that knockout omakase, I had two very disappointing takeout meals. Typically, hot takeout foods can suffer by the time you get them home, but sushi is already cold, so that shouldn’t affect quality. It just wasn’t good. I’m not sure what the problem was, but as it’s also an inconvenient drive with difficult parking, Moriyama is no longer on my go-to list.