Endangered

 

2/6/26 palm cockatoo, Woodland Park Zoo

On one of our couple days of “false spring” last week, I took my fitness walk around Woodland Park Zoo. I told myself I’d make one brisk circuit of the zoo grounds first without sketching, then go back to sketch, but I couldn’t resist stopping when I got to the Conservation Aviary. One of my favorite zoo exhibits, it’s home to several free-roaming and -flying birds that are all, very sadly, endangered. It’s possible to observe the birds fairly closely, and unlike tiny birds, these exotic beauties move relatively slowly, so they are more easily sketchable.

Great argus

Southern ground hornbill and Humboldt penguins

More penguins

After finishing my walk, I ended my visit at the Humboldt penguin exhibit, another favorite. They, too, are endangered, so my theme for the day ended up being endangered birds.

Stepping back from the exhibit, I decided to catch a few human gestures, too (below). The young boy who repeatedly squatted to see the swimming penguins was fun to try to capture! (I often practice squatting during yoga and nearly daily as part of my fitness routine, and I envied how easy he made squatting look! I guess it is when you’re 3!)

Watching the penguins

Paper notes: I knew that toothy Hahnemühle would be a bit too strong with super-soft Derwent Drawing pencils, but I tried it anyway. It wore down my pencils like sandpaper, and it was difficult to draw any fine details like eyes. Although I didn’t mind Stillman & Birn Beta’s milder tooth when I was making landscapes, I don’t care for Hahnemühle. I would have enjoyed smooth S&B Zeta much more, but I don’t like using wet media on that. I’d have to either decide which type of material to use that day and bring the appropriate sketchbook, or bring both sketchbooks everywhere, just in case. Arrggh! (More first world mixed-media problems.)

When I got to the quick human gestures at the end of my visit, I pulled out my current daily-carry Field Notes, which contains their typically smooth, all-purpose paper. That turned out to be quite lovely with a Drawing pencil, which went down as fast and smooth as a marker.

Supplemental Mixed-Media Kit Refresh

 

Multiple bag dumps

After writing yesterday’s post, I realized there was no reason to wait to pare down my mixed-media kit if I had any intention of using it in the field again. First, I did a multiple-bag dump: All the mixed-media tools I had assembled at my reading chair (for doomscrolling prevention), all the materials I had recently brought on location and found to be too much, and the color portion of my usual daily-carry. The first two batches are shown in the photo above.

Shown below is the color part of my current daily-carry, which is mostly the same as the wacky palette I had assembled a few weeks ago (with the optimistic addition of pink after I spotted plum blossoms last week!). Not shown are the brush pen, marker, white Gelly Roll and waterbrush that rarely change.

The color part of my everyday-carry. (Apologies for the uneven lighting in today's photos. It's the one drawback of my current studio downstairs compared to the former studio upstairs: I can't find a spot where light isn't coming in from one window or another unless I remember to do all my photography in the early morning.)

Here are my selection strategies: The daily-carry must stand alone in terms of color range. Pencils are the most physically robust, lightweight and versatile, so they are still the mainstay.  

For the supplemental mixed-media kit that I bring along with a Hahnemühle sketchbook, I kept values and temperature in mind but did not strictly maintain a warm and a cool in lights, mediums and darks. If I have a hue in one medium, I don’t need a similar or identical one in another medium. I also considered all the colors in my daily-carry and tried not to duplicate anything there. Finally, I’m still choosing most hues that I wouldn’t typically see in my urban environment, just to stay awake and not color by autopilot.   

As much as I enjoy using Derwent Inktense Blocks, I recently broke another one without even dropping them, so I’ve decided they are too fragile for the road (unless I carry them in a heavy, clanky tin, which I have no intention of doing). Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons and a few Derwent Drawing pencils are a good mix of water-soluble and non-soluble. Shown below is the newly slimmed-down supplemental kit.

Supplemental mixed-media kit

My tiny Sendak is too tiny for all of these, so I’m back to my Rickshaw Sinclair pen case, which I used briefly last summer to carry Neo II crayons (below). It’s not ideal, but it will do for now.

The Neo II crayons fit in a single row. I'm hoping that will keep them from being too bulky and also keep them from falling down horizontally, which makes them much harder to dig out.

My Rickshaw Sinclair

This process required much hemming and hawing. However, my everyday-carry kit had been stable for a long time before this recent rekindling of mixed-media interest. I admit that I enjoyed this first-world drama.

Incidentally, if you are part of the stationery universe, you’re probably familiar with the Japanese term techo kaigi (literally “planner meeting”: a meeting with yourself about your planner). It refers to the process of reflecting on one’s planners and notebooks to help decide which products and how to use them in the upcoming year. We urban sketchers need our own term for the similar process we go through constantly with our sketch kits. Sketchy media kaigi? Art material kaigi? Portable kit kaigi? Not too catchy. Let me know if you have ideas.

Mixed Media on My Walk

 

2/4/26 Maple Leaf neighborhood

After my experiments strategically combining water-soluble and non-soluble materials at home, I carried the same variety of tools with me on my fitness walk. It was certainly more than I would ever typically use on location, let alone while out for a walk, but I was eager to see how the experiment would go in the field.

I wanted to keep the house sharp, so I drew it with a non-soluble Derwent Drawing pencil. For everything else, I used nearly the full water-soluble arsenal I had with me: Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle pencils and Neocolor II crayons, and Derwent Inktense pencils. I activated the tree trunk and fence first with a waterbrush so I could keep them fairly crisp, too. Then I used a spritzer to activate the foliage.

I had stood on the sidewalk as usual, but I used a low brick wall nearby to set down my tool pouch. It felt a little cumbersome, but I managed. I carried all the same materials the next day at the Volunteer Park USk outing, and it felt like a lot to hold then, too.

I’ll probably pare down the mixed-media arsenal with fewer colors of each and fewer types. Or I’ll again decide it’s just easier to leave the “mixed” for home use and stick with watercolor pencils on location. (I’ve been here before, and most likely I’ll keep cycling back as I continually test the balance between portability and my craving for variety!)

The Collective Joy of Super Bowl

 

2/8/26 Pre-game snacking and sketching at Project 9 Brewing Co., Maple Leaf neighborhood

I have an unusual perspective on the Super Bowl game that captured the country’s (and especially Seattle’s) attention last Sunday: It was my first time watching one.

An hour before I was to leave for the game, I realized
I couldn't go to a sports bar on Super Bowl
Sunday without wearing Seahawks gear!
Thankfully, my neighbor across the street had
exactly what I needed.

It’s probably stating the obvious to say that I have no interest in any sports, nor have I ever. In fact, when I was in college, I used to feel resentful that sports received so much funding and attention while liberal arts programs were barely hanging on. Over the years, my attitude mellowed to basic indifference, and I note the date of the Super Bowl only to take advantage of empty stores and light traffic.

As I’ve grown older, my lack of interest in sports has not changed, but I’ve learned to appreciate the bonding mechanism that sports provide in our culture. Beginning with a Mariners game I watched last fall, I realized that I could observe fandom energy the way an anthropologist studies a culture – with sketchbook in hand.

I invited Ching and Natalie to join me at Project 9 Brewing Co., my neighborhood brew pub, to watch and sketch the big game. Arriving early enough to find seats in the huge venue, we found an ideal table: It was at a bad angle from the TV screens, so it would not appeal to most patrons, but we could face Seahawks fans without their noticing us sketching them!

For a different viewpoint, I sometimes walked out to the entirely empty heated patio where no screens could be seen, but I could sketch other patrons easily.

In general, I didn’t understand what was going on (though Natalie tried her best to explain the rules to me), but it was fun to observe the explosive exclamations of joy or disappointment with each score or fumble. (The three of us left after half time, so I missed the final triumph. It must have been an ear-shattering roar, but I appreciated it from a distance when I heard fireworks in the neighborhood.)

Aside from the game, I was moved by the significance of the primary half-time entertainer, the Puerto Rican performer known as Bad Bunny, who sang entirely in Spanish (apparently a historic first at the Super Bowl). During the past year when all immigrants, especially Spanish speakers, have been oppressed and tortured, I hope we all heard the message of Bad Bunny’s exuberant, proud performance: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”

Even without being a Seahawks fan, I appreciate the collective joy and celebration that the team’s triumph gave Seattle. This year, we needed this, more than ever.

Mixed Media: Water-Soluble and Not

 

2/2/26 photo reference (Derwent Drawing pencils, Neocolor II crayons, Museum Aquarelle pencils in S&B Delta sketchbook)

An interesting mixed-media result came about spontaneously the other evening (above). First I pre-selected an assortment of materials, including both non-soluble (Derwent Drawing pencils) and water-soluble ones (Caran d’Ache Neocolor II wax pastels, Museum Aquarelle pencils and Derwent Inktense Blocks). Thinking more about its value and mark-making potential than its hue or water-solubility, I started using a dark blue Drawing pencil to sketch the fence, tree trunks, utility pole and figure. Then I started using the water-soluble tools to scribble various foliage textures.

As I was scribbling, it suddenly occurred to me that I could use a trick I had tried briefly years ago in an intentional manner on location, but it had required too much planning to be tenable. Ironically, in the quiet comfort of my home, it happened spontaneously without any planning at all:

After drawing all the objects that I wanted to remain crisp in non-soluble pencil, I could easily spritz the entire page indiscriminately with water to activate the foliage. Voila – the other objects remained unblurred and sharp-edged! A pretty clever trick, if I do say so myself.

The sketch was made in a Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook, which is the ivory version of S&B Beta. (Like the old spiralbound Beta, this spiralbound Delta has sketches as far back as 2012. Again, like the Beta, I use it only at my desk, so it’s taking forever to fill. I’m determined to finish it off with doomscrolling prevention play.) After being spoiled by Hahnemühle 100 percent cotton paper the past several years, it was a rude surprise to see that the surface couldn’t take as much water without pooling.

The next day, I tried again (below), this time with intention. I switched to Hahnemühle because I’m used to how much water it can take. You can see that the car and tree trunks stayed sharp, while I activated the scribbly foliage in an organic way by spritzing. I wanted a more solid activation in the ground shadows, so I used a waterbrush to spread the water more evenly.

2/3/26 photo reference (Derwent Drawing pencils, Inktense Block, Neocolor II crayons in Hahnemuhle 100% cotton sketchbook)

A few days later, I went back to the Delta (below). I don’t like it, but as with any paper, the more I use it the better I’ll understand how much water it can tolerate.

2/7/26 photo reference (Drawing pencils, Neocolor II crayons, Museum Aquarelle pencils, S&B Delta sketchbook)

This is a fun way to use mixed media! Doing it on location is a different matter, but now I’m motivated to try it again.

Sunny Trees at Volunteer Park

 

2/5/26 Volunteer Park

The USk Seattle outing was for a choice of either the conservatory or the Seattle Asian Art Museum, both at Volunteer Park and both of which are free on First Thursdays. But when the day dawned with a clear sky and a forecast of temps in the 50s, I knew I wouldn’t be going indoors at all; I bundled up for outdoor sketching!

Seeking a spot where I could get a dose of vitamin D, I first sketched the memorial of William Henry Seward outside the conservatory (above). I’ve sketched this statue a few times before, including one during my first year of sketching. I remembered that experience and how the statue had gotten lost in front of a background of trees painted in the same value. I’m happy that I’ve learned at least a few things since then.

Across the street from Volunteer Park Cafe, 17th & Galer

After a bite to eat at nearby Volunteer Park Café, I walked across the street to sketch a lovely bare tree that I had spotted on my way to lunch. Although the Capitol Hill neighborhood is full of Seattle’s oldest, most impressive trees, this one had beautiful light on its trunk, and I could stand in the sun myself to sketch it. It’s always about location, location, location.

Technical notes: In the top sketch, I tried something a little different from my usual method: I used a gold-colored Derwent Inktense Block to indicate light on one of the mostly shaded conifers. I’m not sure it “reads” well as sunlight compared to the paper-white light on the statue.

Although I don’t care for the bright blue I chose for the statue, I’m happy that I’m making new color choices beyond my usual tried-and-true (that is, "reality").

The second sketch is an example of exactly what I was talking about in yesterday’s post. After drawing the tree and shrubbery with Derwent Drawing pencils, I wanted to imply the café building in the background by drawing the windows with a neutral color (so that the tree would stand out in front of it). All I had was a Blackwing graphite pencil. Although it has an extra-soft core, the Blackwing is not nearly as thick as the Derwent. Immediately I realized I would have to be more careful and deliberate (and therefore slower), or the pencil strokes would be more visible. The Derwent, on the other hand, is so thick that the pencil strokes blend into each other instantly. That’s what I was trying to articulate yesterday but couldn’t quite explain; that’s what makes the Derwent Drawing so expeditious.

Now I’ve answered my own question: Yes, I can use these pencils even outdoors!

Monochrome at Grateful Bread

 

2/3/26 Grateful Bread, Wedgwood neighborhood

Ching and I had a long-overdue sketchy catch-up. Grateful Bread’s relaxing ambiance was a good opportunity to express my newly reignited love for monochrome colored pencil sketching. I don’t know why I don’t do this more often on location. The material – a single Derwent Drawing pencil – is as simple as can be, and that simplicity makes it easy to talk and listen without distraction.

Actually, I do know why I don’t do it more often. In the past, I have occasionally used non-soluble colored pencils in the field, most often with soft Prismacolors. (Here are some I did a few years ago – in the rain! I’d forgotten that secret superpower of non-soluble pencils.) Soft is the operative word here; I can’t imagine enjoying trying to sketch in the field with a hard pencil (which requires time for the more slowly layered approach of traditional colored pencils). Yet even with soft Prismacolors, I have felt impatient; they still take too long to build darker values.

It’s different with Derwent Drawing pencils. Now I would choose them for on-location use any time over Prismacolors or other soft pencils in my possession. It’s not just that they’re soft; it’s the combination of softness plus incomparably thick cores. For the first time, a non-soluble pencil seems like it could keep up with my field demands for an efficient dry tool.

My next challenge, then, will be to sketch outdoors with one Drawing pencil. Would I be able to do something like I did below with a photo? 

2/2/26 photo reference