Kora Music

 

7/10/25 Kora busker at Lake City Farmers Market

Walking among the tents of organic berries, colorful bouquets and jarred kimchi, I heard gentle, meditative music in the distance. It was a man playing a stringed instrument I had never seen before, nor the way he was strumming it: Facing the long fretboard.

When I finished my sketch, I put money in his basket and learned that the instrument is called a kora, played by Chet Corpt. It was a lovely soundtrack for a beautiful summer afternoon at the Lake City Farmers Market.

Ahhhh... this is what summer is made of!

Precarious

 

7/9/25 The roof next door

Upstairs for my workout, I heard banging: A man was taking down the chimney on the house next door! As I experienced with the window cleaners, it was nerve-wracking watching him in precarious positions on the steeply pitched rooftop (without a harness! Just like the window cleaners!), but my front-and-center view through a (now clean) window made sketching him irresistible.

Ballard for Lunch

 

7/7/25 "Lunch Set A" at AA Sushi, Ballard

A few months ago when I discovered AA Sushi, I vowed to get back there whenever I was in Ballard again. An appointment brought me there on Monday, and I timed it so that I could have lunch at AA afterwards. In Seattle, it’s easy to get great sushi if you’re willing to pay the high price it usually commands. I continue to be impressed by AA’s excellent food compounded by the restaurant’s fantastic value.

Before and after lunch, I made a few more sketches on Market Street – a cool neon sign shaped like a saxophone (tiny in my sketch); a ubiquitous Lime bike; the EAT sign above Fuego Restaurant; and a couple of locals on their lunch break at Bergen Place. I made a note to come back another time to make a more complete sketch of Fuego’s brick building, which once housed Fire Station No. 18 (now on the national historic register).

Ballard neighborhood

Upstairs is the New Downstairs

 

7/7/25 Mt. Rainier through an upstairs window

My routine on clear mornings is to go upstairs before breakfast to see Mt. Rainier. Now that the windows are clean, my joy in this ritual has increased tenfold. On Monday, it was warm enough that I could have stood on the front deck to make this sketch, but I looked through a window instead – just because I could.

Material notes: You may recall my posts from a couple of years ago when I put together a compact portfolio of select sketch materials that I could keep downstairs for use in the evenings. My need for this “downstairs studio” is explained in this post, and the filled portfolio is shown in this one. Although the original need for it went away, I kept the portfolio intact.

My "downstairs studio" is now my upstairs studio (used on the floor
in this mostly empty room)

In an amusing and ironic turn of events, my downstairs studio has become my upstairs studio! Since moving my studio down to the main floor, I’ve (almost) emptied that former studio room and the former bedroom (which I now use only for yoga and workouts). Although I haven’t sketched any sunset skyscapitos lately, those upstairs windows are where I would make them. I had brought my portfolio upstairs for such occasions, and it came in perfectly handy on Monday when I spontaneously felt like sketching Her Majesty.

Observations

 

6/21/25

5/10/25

Greg’s memory care community has had quite a bit of turnover lately. A couple of residents passed away, and several new residents have moved in. I get to know each one over time, sometimes from brief conversations, but mostly through observation and especially through drawing. Many doze during group activities, making them easy targets for me. But I also enjoy trying to catch them while they are focused and engaged.

6/24/25

6/24/25

7/1/25

We Go Waaaay Back

7/5/25 The Maple, Maple Leaf neighborhood
(on location and photo reference)

The three of us have been friends since seventh grade, and we also went to college together. We go waaaay back. As one raised children, and all of us had careers and busy lives to live, we stayed in touch but rarely got together. We are the kind of friends who can skip years or decades, but when we get together, we can pick up the conversation without missing a beat. The kind where one need say only a name or a phrase, and everyone busts out laughing because we all get it.

Just recently we started seeing each other more often, and we finally have time to do that. (I think that’s one of the biggest benefits of retirement.) As a strong introvert, I’m not interested in continually meeting new people, but the older I get, the more important it is to stay in touch (or get back in touch) with people I care about from my past. I’m finally making the effort to do that.

Drink & Draw at Old Stove

7/3/25 Old Stove Brewery Gardens, Ballard neighborhood

After last month’s scouting mission to Old Stove Brewery Gardens, I knew that I had found a great USk drink & draw venue. Last Thursday turned out beautiful by late afternoon – sunny but neither hot nor too cool. With ideal conditions in the spacious Ballard location (and lots of free parking), the high turnout of sketchers concurred that Old Stove is a keeper. It was a fun way to begin the long Fourth of July weekend.