Commuters (and Sketch Journal Musings, Part 2)

11/1/25

10/2/25

Our light rail system has been going through a lot of partial closures for maintenance and development. In the long run, the system will be much better (the long-overdue, highly anticipated connection with the Eastside light rail line is probably one of the most exciting public transportation developments in my lifetime! I detest driving across the bridge!), but in the short-run, the closures have been inconvenient. On some recent days, I’ve had to take the bus downtown instead, which can be slower and less reliable.

11/20/25

11/30/25

For sketching, the bus is also way more bumpy; squiggly lines in some sketches shown here are downright humorous! On the upside, natural light through windows can be interesting to catch.

12/8/25

12/12/25

Looking through these commuter sketches prompted me to continue thinking about my sketch journaling process and what my journal is good for. More than any other series, my sketches of people on public transportation document my day-to-day travels. Whether visiting friends, meeting up with other sketchers, or running errands, if I rode a bus or train there, I probably sketched other passengers and noted where I was going. In the same way I might note: “Went downtown” in a written diary, these sketches become my visual diary in a very literal sense. I like that.

12/27/25

1/9/26

1/16/26

1/24/26

1/28/26

1/31/26 I rarely use anything but a marker or brush pen for commuter portraits,
mainly due to expediency, but I have been enjoying Derwent Drawing pencils
so much lately that I gave one a try on this light rail ride.

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.