Changes at Zoka Coffee

 

12/1/21 Zoka Coffee, Green Lake neighborhood

I had been thinking for a long time about going back to Zoka Coffee – one of my favorite winter sketching haunts for many years in the Before Time. Now that I’m boostered, and since I knew Zoka requires proof of vaccination, I felt more confident about spending time there.

As I always used to, I arrived before 7 a.m. to get the best choice of tables. People using the free wi-fi to work on their laptops and even conduct meetings usually start filling the tables by then, but to my surprise, only a few other patrons were there.

“So – what do you have planned for the day?”

“Getting my booster. Exciting, huh? How was your Thanksgiving?”

The counter chit-chat between the barista and an apparently regular patron might have seemed unusual during ordinary times, but not now. Some tables had been removed and others rearranged to allow for more space between them. Well-worn stickers on the floor helped patrons to space themselves in line (by now, don’t we all intuitively know how far away six feet is?). Everything is served in disposable cups and bags, even if you are staying.

I chose my favorite corner table. The sun would not come up for at least another half-hour, and it seemed much darker inside than I remembered. Without natural light from the large windows behind me, I could barely see the two women deep in conversation about their Thanksgivings and home renovation plans. Instead of struggling to draw facial features and other details, I decided to use the colored pencil techniques I had learned from Sarah Bixler’s workshops and focus only on large shapes and color temperature changes. It was not at all my usual style for sketching people in public, so it felt fresh, foreign and not entirely comfortable, just like being back at Zoka.

Zoka no longer served my favorite coffee cake. When I asked about it, the barista said she didn’t think they had ever had coffee cake. She obviously had not worked there in the Before Time. As soon as I bit into the croissant, I remembered that I don’t like them there (they leave a film on my palate). By the time I finished it, the sun had come up, and more light filled the space with familiar shapes and shadows. I used my “normal” style to draw the young woman in the beanie working at her laptop. A nice touch: Every large table had a bottle of hand sanitizer, like a café condiment.

These COVID changes are probably things most people are used to already, but I didn’t get out much pre-vax, and I’ve only recently started slowly tiptoeing back to indoor venues.

Has Zoka changed, or is it mostly me who has changed?

Zoka Coffee

 

2/5/21 Zoka Coffee, Green Lake neighborhood

After dropping off a library book in the Green Lake neighborhood last week, it was almost as if I were in a driverless car: Inexplicably, I found myself on the all-too-familiar route to Zoka Coffee. Ever since my first months of sketching, Zoka was where I worked on my people-sketching chops through all the cold, rainy months. I haven’t been inside in more than a year. I miss it dearly. Wistfully, I parked across the street to draw it from the outside. (Ironically, despite the many, many times I have sketched its interior, this was the first time I sketched its exterior.)

I was happy to see that Zoka was open. Now that cafes and restaurants are allowed to serve indoors at 25 percent capacity, I hope it will do OK until we all make it to the other side. I will be there.

Zoka Coffee – Before and After

11/5/18 Zoka Coffee (after increasing the contrast)

The only benefit of turning the clocks back is that the early mornings are a bit brighter again. Despite the overcast sky and promise of rain, a nice light was coming in through the windows at Zoka Coffee.

The earlier version.

What you see above is what I now consider to be the finished sketch. The version at right, however, is the one I took home from Zoka. I thought it was finished at the time, but after scanning it, I looked at the image on my screen and realized that I needed to increase the value contrast between the wall and the furniture. I used a cool gray to help differentiate the wall from the furniture, too.

Looking at a photo or scan of a fresh sketch is often a helpful way to see things like insufficient contrast. Something about putting it on a screen seems to give me a more objective view.

Retreat at Green Lake

 

11/17/22 Retreat, Green Lake neighborhood

In the Before Times, Zoka Coffee had been my favorite wintertime sketching spot for years. Last year after I got vaccinated, I went back eagerly, but somehow, it just didn’t seem the same. Now freshly boostered again, I was ready to get back into coffee shop sketching, and it was time to find a new venue.

Retreat is a newish spot at Green Lake where we enjoyed al fresco lunches or coffee several times during the summer. In the afternoon, it is usually mobbed with the queue overflowing onto the sidewalk. I had noticed on my morning walks, though, that it isn’t crowded at all in the early hours. Compared to Zoka, it’s much larger, it has a more interesting interior, and it also has a very different vibe with a wider range of music genres. I decided to give it a shot last week.

As I’d hoped, it wasn’t crowded, so I had my pick of tables. Unfortunately, I chose a spot that left most patrons backlit against large windows with their faces difficult to see. (Before I left, I cased the joint thoroughly, so I have a better idea now of where to sit next time.) Fueled by good coffee and a decent (but not perfect) blueberry scone (yes, I’m picky about scones), I filled a few pages in my orange Uglybook, trying to get my people-sketching mojo back. Making all those portraits from photos the past couple of months was good practice, but it made me crave sketching people from life all the more. It felt good to be back at it.

Speaking of Uglybooks, the sketch at the top of the page is the first time I opened one up to sketch across the gutter. When I did, I realized that it is only a tiny smidge smaller than an A5 page! Often while sketching at Zoka, I had wished I’d had a toned sketchbook in A5 size so that I could use white pencil or gel pen for the window light. But I knew that as soon as I brought one instead of my usual white sketchbook, I would want the white one (and I had no intention of lugging around two A5 sketchbooks). Now that a color Uglybook is a daily-carry, it gives me the option of toned paper that is nearly as large as an A5. Sweet! Uglybooks are becoming more versatile every day.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers!

Tina’s Top 10 Memorable Sketches of 2018

3/27/18 Amazon Spheres

I have a few year-end traditions on this blog, and one is to review my most memorable sketches of the year. As always, these are not necessarily my “best” or “favorite” sketches; they are ones that evoke the strongest memories and remind me of what I love so much about sketching. (Click the title of the sketch to go to the original post and full-size images.)

Here are links to my most memorable sketches from past years: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.

March 27, inside the Amazon Spheres:

Exploring and sketching inside Amazon’s remarkable Spheres was certainly one of my most memorable experiences this year. It lived up to all the curiosity and wonderment it aroused during the years that the facility was being built.

5/3/18 Dutch Colonial

May 3, Dutch Colonial:

This sketch is one of my favorites in the neighborhood architecture series that I started this year. While sketching, a contractor working inside spotted me, came out and chatted me up, making it also one of the most memorable.

5/15/18 Aaron Draplin

May 15, Aaron Draplin:

At the risk of revealing my fangirldom, I went to meet designer Aaron Draplin (co-founder of Field Notes) when he was in town giving a workshop. In addition to getting his autograph, of course I had to sketch him.

May 22, El Capitan, Yosemite National Park:

El Capitan was the first of many wondrous sights I saw when I first entered Yosemite National Park, and I couldn’t resist making a couple of quick thumbnails. I intended to eventually get back to El Cap for a full-size sketch, but I never did. The thumbnails, however, are enough to evoke the memories of seeing that spectacular monolith.

5/22/18 Thumbnails of El Capitan

7/19/18 Bajzek workshop, Porto

July 19, Porto USk symposium workshop with Eduardo Bajzek:

I’ve mentioned his name often enough since July that you won’t be surprised to hear that Eduardo Bajzek’s workshop at the Porto symposium had a significant influence on my sketching. He changed both the way I understand values and the way I use graphite.

7/25/18 Coimbra

July 25, Coimbra:

A few days after Eduardo’s workshop, I was relaxing in the small college town of Coimbra and got to practice what I had learned. After all the excitement of the symposium, this quiet sketch turned out to be my most memorable and evocative of my time in Portugal.

8/18/18 Mammoth at Bell Museum

Aug. 18, Bell Museum, St. Paul:

During a very short trip to St. Paul, I squeezed in a visit to the brand new Bell Museum and met up with a few sketcher friends there. Chatting with hilarious Roz Stendahl as I sketched this humongous mammoth (which was made of the same fur as Chewbacca!) made the morning very memorable, indeed.

10/5/18 Zoka Coffee

Oct. 5, Zoka Coffee:

Although there is usually nothing particularly memorable about sketching at Zoka Coffee, my usual neighborhood coffee shop, this was the first time I attempted this type of scene in ballpoint. Sketched on the fifth day of InkTober, it made me realize that I could love ballpoint after all, despite my doubts – and I ended the month with a whole new respect for the lowly Bic.

Oct. 11, Green Lake:

I walk around Green Lake at least weekly year-round and, during the good-weather months, I also sketch there frequently, so it’s easy to take for granted the sights I see so regularly. On this fall day, I felt like I was seeing its beauty with fresh eyes, and I was grateful to live so close to such a treasure.

10/11/18 Green Lake

Nov. 13, Cannon Beach from Ecola State Park:

Whenever we visit Cannon Beach, Oregon, we stay right on the beach in front of monolithic Haystack Rock. From Ecola State Park a mile or two north, that ancient boulder looks like a tiny pebble in the context of the mighty Pacific, and if I had seen myself standing next to Haystack, I would have been smaller than a grain of sand. That trip to Cannon Beach was a celebration of my 60^th birthday, and sketching this scene made me feel both whole and utterly insignificant in the larger picture. Life is good.

11/13/18 Cannon Beach from Ecola State Park

Mighty-O Donuts

 

5/16/24 Mighty-O Donuts, Green Lake neighborhood (bonus points to Mighty-O for the bright orange sticker that looks fantastic in my blue Uglybook!)

For years, Zoka Coffee was my favorite coffee shop to sketch in. The large, high windows and an interior space that made it easy to see people from various angles (not to mention good pastries) made it very appealing. I really missed it during the pandemic, and it was one of the first indoor places I spent time in during the first winter after I got vaccinated.

Unfortunately, Zoka’s liberal wi-fi policy (free and unlimited all day; it has become a rent-free office space) means that it’s nearly impossible to find a table there unless I arrive when they open at 6 a.m. (which I’m not inclined to do). After walking there on a drizzly, chilly morning, I was disappointed that every table was occupied, as usual. My on-location comic tells what happened. I guess I’m going to have to cross Zoka off my list.

Although Mighty-O lacks a good interior space for sketching people, at least they have plenty of outdoor seating. On a warmer day, I wouldn’t mind spending more time there. (Yes, there’s also the donuts, though a bit too wholesome for my taste.)

Coffee, Coffee Everywhere, But . . .

12/28/15 ink

One thing Seattle is well known for is plentiful coffee. One statistic says that we have 35 coffee shops per 100,000 residents, putting the total at more than 200 in a city of 84 square miles. (Actually, I was surprised to read that the number was that low – it feels like we have one on every block.) With that many choices, you’d think I would have no problem finding dozens of coffee shops I could sketch in on a cold, rainy day (the second thing we are well known for).

The problem is that I’m picky. For the best sketching, the ideal coffee shop is relatively large (plenty of “victims”); has good interior lighting (preferably natural); has tables arranged at various angles so that I can see profiles as well as fronts and backs; has tables that are sufficiently close together so that I can see people well but not so close that they can see what I’m doing; interesting interior decoration or architecture would be a bonus. And of course, they all have great coffee – but do they have fresh scones? I’ve walked by many of those 200 coffee shops and rejected them outright for not qualifying in one way or another. Up until now, only Zoka Coffee fit the bill perfectly.

12/28/15 ink

Cloud City Coffee, within walking distance of home, is probably my closest coffee shop, but I’ve sketched it more often from the outside – either standing on the street or from one of its outdoor tables when it’s warm – than I have from the inside. Although it was the first place I ever dared to sketch in public four years ago, I’ve only been inside for the purpose of sketching a couple of times. The tables aren’t arranged ideally as they are at Zoka, which is also much larger. Architecturally, Cloud City’s interior isn’t as interesting, either. But the last time I sketched at Zoka, the lighting was different, and the interior was much darker than before. I decided it was time to look for a new regular haunt.

12/28/15 ink

This morning I gave Cloud City another try. People waiting in line had to stand right next to me and my sketchbook, and I couldn’t hide in the corner as I usually try to. But maybe that’s just a habit and not really a preference, because I found that I didn’t care if I was seen sketching. The interior lighting is bright, and I also like the natural light coming in from the front windows. Bonus: I could smell scones baking. Maybe it’s a keeper.

12/28/15 ink

12/28/15 ink

12/28/15 ink

Warming Up at Zoka Coffee

11/23/16 ink

I’ve been itching to get back to life drawing sessions at Gage, but the school takes a long winter break between Thanksgiving and New Year. With no other nearby options, I’ve been going to the second-best life drawing opportunity: Zoka Coffee in my neighborhood.

Noticing that my coffee shop sketches tend to lean more heavily on male “models,” I made a conscious effort this morning to give equal time to women. During actual life drawing sessions with nude models, I find female bodies easier to draw than male models, but for portraits, it’s the other way around. The softer facial structures and more delicate features of women’s faces are much more challenging for me to draw than those of men. Another difficulty is that women seem more aware of their surroundings and look up more often, so I have to work harder to avoid being caught when I’m sketching them. (The young man, below, working on his laptop was so oblivious to his surroundings that I managed to sketch him twice – and he hardly changed twice either time!)

12/2/16 brush pen, colored pencil

It was fun sketching at Zoka Coffee this morning, but that was just a warm-up for the main event: tomorrow at Gage Academy’s 17^th annual Drawing Jam! It will be my fifth consecutive year (here's last year's post) attending Seattle’s biggest art-participation event, and I’m looking forward to it as much as ever!

12/2/16 brush pen

12/2/16 brush pen

12/2/16 brush pen

12/2/16 brush pen

12/2/16 brush pen

Dogs, Cars and More Randomness at Zoka

4/29/15 Sailor Doyou ink, Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble colored pencil,
Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Today’s lesson at Zoka Coffee was squirminess, both human and canine.

Other random observations:

• I find the three-quarter view of a person’s head – less of the face showing than a profile (the man facing left, below) – is one of the most difficult angles to sketch.

• Outside the window where I was seated is a bike rack where people like to tie up their dogs while they dash in for coffee. Dogs waiting for their humans – in these cases a shivering Chihuahua and a part-Dalmatian, I think – always have such worried expressions, staring in the direction that their person went, or nervously glancing from side to side, until the expressions turn to pure relief when their humans return, after all. 

4/29/15 Sailor Doyou ink, Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble colored pencil

• Have you ever heard a car being described as feeling like part of one’s body? My car is narrow, short and very low to the ground, so when I make a turn, I feel attached to the vehicle as it moves. (In Greg’s much larger, higher car, I feel my body lurch through the turn like an afterthought – definitely not attached.) This morning, its first time at Zoka, my new pen became part of my body. I know it’s just a pen and not an appendage, but unlike other pens I use, this one feels like it’s attached. It probably doesn’t show in my sketches, but my lines feel more fluid.

4/29/15 Sailor Doyou ink

4/29/15 Sailor Doyou ink, Museum pencil

4/29/15 Sailor Doyou ink

Rusty at Javasti

 

11/8/22 Cafe Javasti patron

Sketching at coffee shops used to be an inclement-weather routine for me (that’s one part of my blog’s name, after all!). I spent many fall and winter mornings happily sketching people and interiors at one of my favorite spots, Zoka Coffee. The pandemic changed all that, and the first time I ventured back to Zoka post-vaccine was last December. Then the delta and omicron variants made me skittish again.

Greg and I sometimes stop at our favorite coffee shops along our neighborhood walking route, and we enjoyed taking a break outdoors all summer and early fall. Last Tuesday was the first time it was too cold (barely 40 degrees) to sit outside, so we had our coffee inside Café Javasti. I pulled out my pocket-size Uglybook for a couple of quick sketches of other patrons. Whew – did I feel rusty! Freshly boostered, I hope to get back into more regular caffeine sketching this winter.

Size Matters

2/10/14 Gel pens, Private Reserve Velvet Black ink, Fabriano Studio hot press 140 lb. paper

The coffee, the music, the general ambiance: Everything is better at Zoka Coffee than it is at the Northgate Food Court. So why would I choose to go to the mall instead of my favorite coffee shop? I’m starting to enjoy the significant challenge of sketching deep interior spaces and showing people at varying distances. I can practice that to some extent at Zoka, but the food court is a lot bigger. Sometimes size matters.

New View of Cloud City Coffee

 

6/7/22 Maple Leaf water tower from Cloud City Coffee

Less than 2,000 steps from home, Cloud City Coffee is where I cut my teeth as an urban sketcher. For people sketching, I later favored Zoka Coffee because its large interior and unlimited free wi-fi encouraged Internet squatters to become excellent (though unwitting) life models. But one thing Cloud City has that Zoka (or any other coffee shop) doesn’t have is a fabulous sign – one that I have sketched many times.

The first time was early in my sketching life in 2012. A couple of years later I sketched it from across the street instead of from the café itself. Most recently was in 2016 when the sign was repainted and the logo redesigned.

Now that the weather is finally becoming hospitable, I’ve been thinking about cafes with outdoor seating, and Cloud City sprang immediately to mind. I’ve sketched the entire sign often enough that it was time to try a different composition. Surprisingly, even though our neighborhood’s iconic water tower stands right behind the sign when viewed from the outdoor tables, I’ve never sketched the two together (I deftly avoided the tower in my 2012 sketch). It was tempting to include the entire tower, especially with that nice sunny spot on the left, but this tight crop was the one I had liked in an initial thumbnail, and I wanted to try it.

Hardest to resist were the sign’s colors (bright yellow and sky blue), but the entire sign was facing away from the light, so I kept the colors subdued. I gave in, however, to a few letters in Cloud City’s name as homage to the best coffee shop in Maple Leaf.

Realistic Colors are Over-Rated, Part 2

2/19/14 Pilot Hi-Tec-C gel pens, Zig markers, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

The location of Zoka Coffee where I usually sketch is the one near Green Lake. I love the spacious room, overstuffed chairs, aged, hardwood floors and especially the huge, paned windows that bring in so much light.

Just for a change, though, I decided to go to the Zoka near the U-District today. The space is very different – a long and narrow room in a more modern building. I thought the interior space would give me new compositional challenges, but I just got frustrated finding an interesting angle, so I gave myself a different assignment instead: Make a montage of simple portraits using as many garish colors as I could. The green guy gave me a particularly challenging pose: His head was both tilted down at an angle and partially turned away from me.

Technical notes: I like the brightly colored, fine point of my Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Multi Pen for contour drawing, and its gel ink washes nicely for delicate shading on faces, but I can’t get the ink to shade deeply enough for most shadows. So that’s when I bring out the big guns: my Kuretake Zig Clean Color markers. You gotta love that red! It’s the same color I use when I want just a touch of red for car tail lights, but when mixed with pink gel ink, it takes on a Day-Glo hue.

Stickers

10/3/13 waterproof/water-soluble ink blends,
Canson Montval 140 lb. paper

Gleefully carrying pens containing inks that I had mixed up with my newly discovered secret formula, I went over to Zoka Coffee this morning to give the inks a solid workout. Unlike at Whole Foods, where everyone eats and runs in about 15 to 20 minutes, Zoka patrons linger over large cups of caffeine, giving me plenty of time to test out my ink blends. A man in a stocking cap was rockin’ out enthusiastically to his private music. I liked the stickers decorating his laptop, including one with a monkey.

In the sketch below, note the curls in both the man’s and the woman’s hair. I think those are textures I might have lost if I hadn’t been using the ink blends.

10/3/13 waterproof/water-soluble ink blends, Canson Montval 140 lb. paper 

Two Days Before Christmas

12/23/13 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Sailor pen, colored pencils, Canson Montval 140 lb. paper

“So. . . have you got big plans for the rest of the afternoon? Some last-minute shopping. . .?” The Zoka barista was making small talk as he rang up my Americano.

“None at all – that’s why I’m here,” I replied happily. And apparently none of the other Zoka patrons were concerned about last-minute shopping, either. Although rain was pouring down outside (yet also simultaneously sunny! Bizarre weather today), the room was serene and comfortable.

12/23/13 Diamine Eclipse ink, Sailor pen, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

National Caffeine-Fueled Sketching Day

9/29/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi ink, Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble
colored pencil, Zig marker, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Today is National Coffee Day! With a blog called Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, how could I not make my favorite coffee shop my sketching destination on this drizzly, overcast day?

Settling into my favorite table at Zoka Coffee, I was feeling rusty; I hadn’t sketched in a coffee shop since April. I decided to warm up with a couple of sketches using a twig and India ink. KK’s technique is starting to grow on me. When I sketch people, I tend to focus on the details of their faces and stances, and it makes for great life drawing practice. But working on facial details can also make me lose sight of strong values. My twig, as slender as it is, won’t allow me to scratch in any level of detail, so I’m forced to see and sketch only the darks and lights plus some texture. It’s a different kind of practice that I’m starting to really enjoy.

9/29/14 India ink, twig

That done, I took out my favorite Sailor pens and went for the kind of sketches of people that can put me in the zone immediately. I’m sad to see summer’s sunshine and outdoor sketching weather end, but today is as good a day as any to celebrate going back to Zoka for more than one kind of fix.

9/29/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown and Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi inks

9/29/14 India ink, twig