The Helpful Hardware Store

 

1/4/25 Maple Leaf Ace Hardware 

The Maple Leaf Ace Hardware store, which I have sketched many times over the years, is a quintessential neighborhood store. Although the family-owned franchise changed ownership a few years ago, some staff people have been working there almost as long as I’ve been going there (35-plus years). Greg used to be the one who did most of our shopping there, but now it’s my go-to, too, when I need the one random thing to finish a task. It’s the kind of place where I can walk in, say, “I need those stick-on things that you put on the ottoman feet to keep them from scratching the floor and also to keep it from sliding – do you have those?” And they walk you to the right aisle. I could never, ever get that kind of service at Home Depot (let alone Amazon).

Walking up to Ace to pick up the quart of custom-mixed paint I had ordered the previous day, I stopped first to make this sketch. The store was still decked out in holiday lights and a huge lighted wreath. Long live neighborhood hardware stores.

Technical note: This is the kind of building I actually don’t enjoy drawing. Despite its mostly plainish look (other than the prominent, triangular façade), the perspective is not easy if I were to care about getting it right. My current comic-y style really saves me in this regard. Instead of fussing with a pencil and getting annoyed when the result is wonky, I go straight in with the marker and embrace whatever results. Long live comics!

Tips for a Daily-Drawing Habit

 

12/29/24 Green Lake neighborhood

A friend and I were talking about new year’s resolutions, and she said one of hers is the same as it always is: Draw daily. She has been disappointed, though, that she hasn’t been successful in keeping it. Work and other time demands plus fatigue at the end of the day make it difficult for her.

I’m going on my fourteenth year of daily drawing, and it stopped being a “resolution” for me many years ago; it’s now just a “lifestyle,” I suppose. I don’t even think about it or stress about it because I wake every day knowing that I will draw sometime before I go to bed that night.

I gave my friend a few ideas and suggestions, and I thought I would put them (and more) in this post for others who might be trying to develop a daily-drawing habit, too:

1. I keep my standards low – both in terms of subject matter and quality of results. As all my blog readers must know after following me for even a short time, I’m the queen of sketching “nothing” – subjects with nothing particular interesting about them. But everything becomes interesting to me when I observe them long enough to sketch them. As for quality of results, when I open a sketchbook, I never set out to “make art.” Every page is just practice. (The exception is when I make a drawing on commission; that’s definitely not practice; that’s the result of all the practice behind it.)

2. I take one photo a day that might be something to draw. You all know what a strong proponent I am about drawing from life. That’s always my preferred way to draw and always what I recommend to others if they want to improve their drawing skills. But on busy days when I am starting to wonder whether I will have an opportunity to draw from life, I snap a photo of something as I’m going about my day (See tip above: Keep standards low).

Here’s an example at right: Just blocks from home, I spotted this bald eagle being harassed by crows. I didn’t have time to sketch it live, as much as I wanted to, but snapping the photo at the moment made it easy to sketch it in my journal that evening (below).

At the end of the day when I’m probably tired, it’s much easier to sketch from that photo than to draw from my imagination or look around the house for something to draw or – worst of all – scroll through thousands of reference photos on my phone or the Internet. Just draw from one photo you took today (or recently). The objective is not to find an “inspiring” reference (which could take hours); the objective is to draw.

3. I’m opportunistic. Sketchwaiting is an obvious opportunity, and we all have plenty of them – standing in a line, waiting for a takeout order, waiting for someone who is late.

10/3/24 A sketch in a restaurant while waiting for a friend.

I also keep a constant mindset that an opportunity could happen. The sketch at the top of this post is a good example. The continual, hard rain had turned to sprinkling, so I set out for a walk. I told myself that if the rain stopped, I would sketch whatever was right there. The rain stopped, and those trees and car near Green Lake were what I saw. (Keep standards low, remember?)

4. How about draped fabric? OK, I admit, that’s probably not for everyone. But I learned serendipitously during Pencilvember that hanging a scarf from a door knob can be a beautiful drawing subject as well as an excellent tonal study. The big bonus is that it is an instant still life with no setup fuss at all. (Once again, see Tip No. 1: Keep standards low.)

It’s important to note that the kind of daily practice I’m talking about here is an ongoing stretching and flexing to stay limber so that I’ll always be ready to draw without it becoming a big deal. It’s not necessarily about skills development. If someone who has never drawn before begins drawing daily, they will certainly show steady progress over time. But eventually everyone plateaus in skills development unless more deliberate practice is done (perhaps guided by a book or instructor). That’s about identifying and committing to a specific goal, taking the necessary steps to develop skills, and learning to observe and critique one’s own development (an example of that would be the memory drawing I tried to develop during my 100 Day Project a couple of years ago).

That’s all I have for now (I’ll share more as I think of ideas). How about you? Please share in the comments any ideas for developing a daily-drawing habit that work for you.

Feast Buffet

 

1/1/25 photo references

An annual tradition on one side of my family is a New Year’s Day lunch at Feast Buffet. An all-you-can-eat Asian seafood buffet in Renton, it requires planning and strategy. Mine is to focus only on foods that I don’t eat regularly at home. That means I skip all the salads, vegetables and fruit and go straight for the sushi and sashimi. (Although I can’t imagine who bothers with stuff like mac and cheese or French fries at an Asian seafood buffet, those are on offer, too.)

1/1/25 Buffet participants (photo reference)

Since most of my companions are people I usually see only once a year at this event, I never sketch while I eat because I want to spend the time talking with them. But my sushi at Moriyama had been so much fun to sketch that I decided to draw my buffet meal later from photos (after walking 8,000 steps as partial mitigation of my gluttony -- urp!). I made an effort to arrange things on the plates so that the pieces would be easy to see. Originally my intention was to label each piece, but by the time I got home, I couldn’t recall all the ingredients in the various rolls. To evoke the continual, gluttonous nature of an all-you-can-eat, I used a Seawhite of Brighton concertina sketchbook (which will eventually end up with Mary Jean). I regret that I couldn’t eat more -- the sketches would have looked more impressive stretched across a few more panels.

It got cut off in my scan, so this photo includes the small bowl of coffee ice cream at far right.

Reassurance

 

12/31/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood

For the first time after many days (weeks?) of rain and overcast, the day began with a clear, open sky. When I got up from the breakfast table to microwave the second half of my cup of coffee, I spotted Her Majesty silhouetted against the predawn sky. I dashed upstairs to sketch this on the last day of 2024.

Hoping that the next morning would be just as clear, I had plans to sketch Mt. Rainier again, already drafting in my head some kind of metaphor, philosophical musing or at least an expression of optimism represented by one year ending and another beginning with Rainier sightings. Jan. 1, however, began and ended with overcast skies, no mountain to be seen all day.

I’ve already talked about Her Majesty’s indifference to human constructs like buildings and utility poles. And so it is with human constructs like calendars. She stands back there quietly, every day of the year, whether I see her or not. I’ll choose to find that reassuring.

Review: Filgo Colored Pencils – Sunset

Filgo colored pencils from Argentina

It’s not what you think! I didn’t fall off the wagon yet again. I can explain!

Back in the fall when the Urban Sketchers Symposium took place in Buenos Aires, I saw a few sketchers showing the contents of their goodie bags on social media. One item that caught my eye was Filgo colored pencils, which I had never heard of. Then one sketcher showed what she was doing with them, raving about how much she loved them. Ooo, that got me curious!

(Incidentally, if you’re wondering if I was able to add a symposium-logo pencil tin to my beloved collection, I would have – except there was none to be had from Buenos Aires! ☹ Long before the symposium, I had asked a friend who was planning to attend if I could have the Cretacolor tin, assuming one would be included in the goodie bag, and she kindly agreed. When she returned, though, she gave me the sad news, which I had already suspected from images of the goodie bag that I had previously scrutinized. If the Auckland symposium tin was the last of the series, I suppose I should be relieved that my collection is complete [other than the mysterious Barcelona tin, of course], and I won’t have to beg anymore. Sigh. I’m going to miss the hunt.)

My Googling had indicated that the Argentinian Filgo brand wasn’t impossible to get in the US, but difficult and pricey . . . and oh yeah, I’m supposed to be downsizing.

Fast-forward to the November Gab & Grab, where the pencil fairies were looking out for me! Another friend who had attended the symposium was offering her Filgo pencils – which I promptly grabbed!

"Black & White" refers to the color opacity that works well on dark papers as well as light.

Filgo’s Black & White Supersoft Sunset Tones includes 15 colors. Since most of the product information on the package is in Spanish, I used Google to help me translate from an image. That’s how I learned that “black and white” indicates that the colors are opaque enough to use on black or dark papers as well as white.

Made in China, the simple, round pencils are capped with color indicators. No color names or numbers are printed on the barrels. Distinctively, the entire wood barrel is dyed black. The well-centered cores sharpen well, too.

The soft cores produce little dust. I would not say they are “supersoft,” but soft enough to be pleasant to use and relatively well pigmented for pencils that are likely to be a budget-priced set for students.

The color range is, by definition, limited to “sunset tones” (which I found to be limiting, indeed, for my test sketch). I’m assuming that other color-themed sets are available to cover the rest of the spectrum. My swatches were made in a Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook and a black Uglybook. I found that my scanner seemed to dull the colors on black paper, so I also photographed the page (which is marred by glare, but that’s the tradeoff).

Filgo swatches made in Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook

Swatches in black Uglybook (scanned)

Swatches in black Uglybook (photographed)

Making my test sketch on Christmas day, I chose this Santa-looking guy (though with much better hair than Santa’s) from Earthsworld’s reference photos. Although the sunset hues worked well for his skin tones, I missed having a cool violet or blue to dig into those dark shadows. I made do with the darkest maroon.

12/25/24 Filgo colored pencils in S&B Zeta sketchbook

While not as soft or high in pigment as the recently reviewed iBayam colored pencils (which are likely to be in the same general price and quality range), Filgo colored pencils are pleasant enough to use. But I’m glad I didn’t hunt them down and pay international shipping rates to buy a set.

Curiosity satisfied, I can sleep at night again, and I’ll happily take this set to the next Gab & Grab. (I wish I knew more hardcore colored pencil geeks in Urban Sketchers Seattle. We could all save money and keep our stashes manageable by continually passing around our pencils for others to try.)

Natalie’s Birthday Party

12/31/24 Macrina Bakery, Maple Leaf neighborhood

The card I made for Natalie
(drawn partly from imagination and inspired by
a photo of her wearing these holiday accessories)

On the last day of 2024, Natalie invited me and a few other friends to her sketchy birthday party at Macrina Bakery. Friends, sketching and cake – what better way to usher out one year and greet the next? I'm grateful for all of it.

Acknowledgment

 

12/30/24 Aegis Living residents

One thing Theodore tries to do during his gratitude talks is acknowledge or express appreciation for each individual resident, even in the smallest way: Complimenting the color of an accessory; noticing a smile; relating to a comment the resident had made the day before. If he has nothing specific to say about them, he expresses appreciation for their presence.

As Greg and I listened, I tried to do the same with my sketches. Although I didn’t write many comments, I mentally noted whatever I knew about them. I already knew most of their names, but when I didn’t, I paid attention to Theodore, because he always acknowledges everyone by name.

In our culture and lifestyle, it seems normal and even sometimes necessary to ignore most strangers we encounter just to get through the day. I do it most of the time – except when I draw. Whether they are of random strangers on public transportation or not-at-all random people like Greg’s co-residents, I want my small life portraits to be intentional and with silent acknowledgement, even if they take only a few minutes. Bob, Jean, Sue, Jamie, Connie – thank you for being here for me to draw.