Fun and Historic Artifacts at MOHAI

 

1/16/26 Museum of History and Industry

A motorized and drivable stiletto heel, historic motorcycles and the vintage Rainier Brewery neon sign were among the many fun and colorful artifacts USk Seattle got to sketch at the Museum of History and Industry last Friday. Although I’ve been to surrounding Lake Union Park many times, it had been ages since I was last inside the museum (2018, according to my blog).

Although it was tempting to sketch some of my old favorites, like the Rainier R, I started with the irresistible high-heeled vehicle near the entrance. After that, I went upstairs to see the featured exhibit, Kickstands Up! 125 Years of Motorcycling in the Pacific Northwest. I picked out a pink Harley with a mannequin wearing a women’s motorcycle outfit. Many other sketchers were attracted to the antique motorcycles and bicycles there. Luckily, we had the exhibit nearly to ourselves.

Down on the main floor again, I sketched a couple of permanent exhibits that I don’t usually get around to (below): a cross-section piece of an 800-year-old Douglas fir and John Gage’s sculpture, Wawona. Although I couldn’t show it in my sketch, if you walk inside the Wawona, you can see a glass-covered hole in the floor that reveals Lake Union directly under that part of the building. It’s an interesting tribute to MOHAI’s home inside the restored landmark Naval Reserve Armory. (On the top floor, the original periscope still exists, offering a cool 360-degree view of Seattle.)

Usually when I visit MOHAI, I enjoy spending some time near the water sketching the historic boats moored there or other parts of Lake Union Park. With temps in the low 40s and a bitter wind off the lake, I didn’t have it in me this time. Plenty of other sketchers were hardier than I was, though!

Wacky Palette with Inktense Blocks

 

1/13/26 photo reference (Neocolor II and Inktense Blocks in
Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook)

While I’ve been enjoying experimenting with my values-based palette idea using Caran d’Ache Neocolor II water-soluble crayons, I remembered a similarly chunky yet radically different product I’ve also enjoyed: Derwent Inktense Blocks. A few years ago, I played with them enough to learn a bit about their idiosyncrasies, which can be both intriguing and frustrating. Eventually I grew to like them, even if they are a strange animal.

Sadly, I have rarely used them in the field because they’re even harder to carry than Neocolor crayons: Though lighter in weight, they are almost as bulky, and even worse, they break easily. I’ve found, however, that they fit in the slots of my tiny Peg & Awl Sendak, so I’m hoping they would be protected if I take them out with me.

As a preliminary trial of a values-based palette, and to reacquaint myself with Inktense Blocks’ quirks (many of which there are), I made some sketches from photos. Right off the bat, one difficulty is that the Blocks range includes very few hues that could be considered light in value – they are all extremely vibrant and lean toward the darker ranges.

One thing that’s remarkable about the Blocks is that they perform incomparably when applied dry to wet paper – an explosion of intense color! When I use that technique with Neocolor II crayons, they do dissolve more completely than when they are activated on dry paper, but the wax-based binder requires a bit of scrubbing. The Blocks dissolve thoroughly with very little effort. That’s not always a good thing – it’s hard to get a subtle effect when I want one – but the Blocks sure are efficient when I want to cover a large area with solid color.

For the first sketch (top of post), my reference photo was taken during one of my golden-hour walks last summer. I had nothing among the Blocks I own that was light enough for the sky, so I used Neocolor II crayons for that. I had also been wondering how well Blocks would apply over waxy Neos, which can act as a resist to some media (such as some colored pencils), so it was a good test of that. The whole sketch was made dry-on-wet. You can see how the Neos didn’t dissolve completely (unless I had gone back in and scrubbed with a brush, which I didn’t), while the Inktense Blocks almost completely covered the Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook surface. I had no problem applying the Blocks over the Neos.

1/14/26 photo reference (Inktense Blocks in Hahnemuhle
Akademie Aquarelle sketchbook)

I used only Inktense Blocks in the second sketch (at right). The house and front foliage were applied dry, then activated with a brush. I sketched the trees dry-on-wet.

And hey, if that second scene looks familiar, it should: It’s the Maple Leaf Mother Grove that I sketched from life a few days ago. If you’ll recall, I irrationally couldn’t get past my own resistance to using unrealistic colors for a reportage sketch. Knowing that these trees will likely be cut down, I had taken some photos, so I had one to use for reference. At the time, I thought my “real” colors were appropriate, but now I think I like this “unreal” sketch better. But is it “better” in terms of documenting an event? Am I still honoring the trees if I sketch them in blue and brownish-purple? Hearing myself ask that question, I realize it sounds ridiculous. It’s my sketching of them that honors them, regardless of the colors I use. What do you think? (My original on-location sketch shown below.)

1/13/26 sketched on location

Maple Leaf Mother Grove

 

1/13/26 Maple Leaf mother grove of centenarian Douglas firs

Known as the Maple Leaf mother grove, 18 Douglas firs have been growing on this residential block for more than a century. The grove is within walking distance of my house. The (ironically named) developer, Green City Development, plans to cut down five of them, endangering the remaining trees by exposing them to wind effects. The small house will be replaced by three large single-family homes. According to Tree Action Seattle, removal of the trees can be avoided by using other, design options that would likely make the houses more affordable, but the developer refuses to address them.

Whenever I walk on this side of the ‘hood, I’m startled and impressed by the number of mature firs I see compared to a mile south where I live, which has far fewer. I suppose someday all these tall firs will be gone, thanks to greedy developers and short-sighted city planners.

Color notes: As I was leaving the house to make this sketch, I grabbed my current wacky palette of Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons (see end of post) – but I hesitated a moment. I wasn’t sure this selection, which includes only one mid-value green, would work for the deep greens I would typically use for Douglas firs. However, I wanted to push myself to continue experimenting with the palette, so I didn’t take any other colors.

I wasn't happy with the mid-value green I used for the trees, and the blue didn't help much.

Onsite, I knew the trees needed to be the darkest value, but I didn’t want to make them purple and blue; that somehow didn’t seem “right” for reportage sketching. (That’s ridiculous logic, I know; a reportage sketch doesn’t have to use “realistic colors” any more than any other kind sketch! But that’s where my head was that day.) I compromised by using the mid-value green as the primary color and blue for the darkest areas. The green was a bit wimpy, but I decided I could live with it (at right).

When I got home, I still wasn’t happy with it, so I used my darkest green Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle to deepen the darkest areas and add some texture that I had lost (with a bit too much water).

Maybe I should have tried a version using purple and blue for the trees, just to see how far I could push it (and by “it,” I don’t mean the palette – I mean my own resistance!). I know – I’ll try it with some other firs that I’m not reporting on! Maybe that’s how I get past this resistance.

The current wacky palette: a warm and a cool of each value range.

Cloudy with a Chance of Sketching

11/21/25 Capitol Hill neighborhood

11/18/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

My sketches during walks have become fewer and farther between now that we are into the full-on rainy season (though we are temporarily enjoying our own version of “dry January”). I take whatever dry moments I can get.

11/24/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

12/19/25 Green Lake neighborhood

1/3/26 Maple Leaf Park

12/13/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Life Drawing at a New Old Venue

 

1/11/26 Delia, 20-minute pose

The Sunday Figure Art life-drawing series had been going on in the University of Washington Art Building for many years (apparently decades), but like so many things, the program ended with the pandemic. Although I knew about the series when it was operating, I was happily participating in life drawing at Gage Academy at the time, so I never checked it out. I recently learned that model and organizer Shawna Holman had brought the Sunday series back, and this time, I was eager to try it.

2-minute poses

When I went to a training session for new models last month, Delia was one of the rookies – and definitely one of the better ones. She was the solo model for the Sunday series I attended. Although technically still in training mode, she seemed pro-ready to me: Her graceful, dynamic poses of all durations kept me engaged and drawing.

5-minute poses

My problem had nothing to do with drawing or the model; it was the chair – or the lack thereof. The life-drawing studio was furnished only with artists’ horse benches, which I have never found comfortable. The artist is supposed to lean forward toward a propped-up drawing board, not a small sketchbook, so the bench has no back support. At Gage and Artist & Craftsman Supply (where I’ve also attended life drawing), I could always find a folding chair to sit in. Not so at the UW’s studio. I had to leave after the first half.

I’m not sure what to do about that. I could try standing at an easel, but that can be awkward with a small sketchbook, too. I’d really like to continue attending because the location is convenient.

20-minute pose

5-minute pose

2-minute poses

2-minute poses

2-minute poses

My sketch journal entry complaining about the situation.

Solo Art Play Date

 

1/7/26 Through windows at Seattle Asian Art Museum

I found a rare free afternoon on my calendar with no one to play with, so I took myself out for an art play date last week. My first stop was the Seattle Asian Art Museum, where I had fun sketching white on black a couple of months ago. This time, while I did look at some art I had missed last time, my sketching target was a tree I had spotted previously. The newish wing of SAAM is entirely glass on the side that faces Volunteer Park. Although most museum visitors wouldn’t consider this tree an “exhibit,” its wild and crazy branches reaching out toward the museum captured my attention. I appreciated being able to spend leisurely time sketching it while inside the comfy museum.

Lots of similar values

It was also an ideal opportunity to explore something I’ve been thinking about with my values-based palette. One big problem I have with any scene in flat, consistent lighting, like on an overcast day or indoors with lighting coming from all directions, is that most of the values look the same. This tree scene was typical (at right): Almost everything was the same midtone except the visible wing of the museum, which was light, and the foreground tree was slightly darker. To differentiate the foreground tree from the background trees, which are all about the same hue, too, I tried to use roughly the same values (exaggerating the focal tree a bit) but with different colors. (I pushed this idea a little further in the café sketch that I’ll talk about later.)

By the way, coloring the building with the pale blue I had picked out as one of my light values showed me that the choice was a fail. It was just too pale, so I mixed it with the midtone green just to make it show up on the paper. (When I got home, I immediately replaced the blue with a vibrant but light-valued green.) I also had to outline the building, which I have been trying to avoid with the more painterly approach I’m taking with crayons.

Black Sun, Isamu Noguchi (I have lately been using a very pale blue or pale yellow
Derwent Drawing pencil to write on black-paper sketches. I don't want the text to be
as bright-white as the sketch.)

On my way out of the museum, I stopped to make a quick sketch of Isamu Noguchi’s Black Sun by the parking area. One of my favorite sculptures in Seattle, it has appeared in my sketchbook many times, but this is the first time I sketched it white on black. (Even as I’m newly enchanted by wacky colors, I’m still obsessed with drawing with white!)

For the second part of my play date, I walked to Caffe Ladro. This was a fun scene to attempt with my wacky ideas because it was full of “nothing,” which made it easier to focus on values, it had striking contrasts between the lightest and darkest values, and it also had a lot of midtones that were hard to distinguish. Although everything outside was kind of the same value and in muted hues, I tried to use color (but not local color) to make distinctions. Another example is the man, who was mostly in silhouette against the windows. If I were using something like a single black marker, I’d have difficulty showing the difference between his face and his hat, which were the same dark value. But with the Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons, I tried varying the hues without changing the value (below).

1/7/26 Caffe Ladro, Capitol Hill

I suppose all this stuff I’m practicing is second nature to painters – but thinking like a painter is always a challenge for me! (And thinking like a painter has nothing to do with applying paint! I’m way more interested in the former than the latter!)

Neocolors at the cafe

Somewhere in a YouTube or maybe on his blog, James Gurney says that most artists are either line makers or shape makers and are rarely both. I don’t want to be locked into either line or shape; I want to be able to use whichever approach is better for the subject matter or whatever it is I want to convey.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been having a lot of fun with on-location comics, which I enjoy so much as a way to tell the stories of a place. The approach’s format – multiple tiny images on a page – makes simple linework essential, and it’s almost impossible to compose with shapes in such small spaces. Using larger tools like crayons (and, by necessity, a larger format) is really helping me to make this shift to a new approach to color. I haven’t stopped making on-location comics, but I’m ready to give this approach some dedicated focus.

Although I love having art play dates with friends, I realize it’s important to occasionally spend creative time alone to focus on ideas and try new things without socializing. It was a productive afternoon.

Bonus: Sketching the tree at the museum was my first trial of using my new tiny Sendak roll while standing – and it works! I opened the Sendak, folded it backwards and, as I did last summer with the Rickshaw Sinclair, propped it up inside my bag. It’s still a bit awkward, but the big benefit over the Sinclair is that the crayons are easily accessible.

This image might be a bit disorienting without much context: I was carrying my open bag on my shoulder, and this was the view looking down at its contents. The tiny Sendak, folded backward, is propped up inside. The slots keep the Neocolor crayons upright.

ICE Protest

 

1/10/26 Protest rally near Green Lake

After Renee Nicole Good was killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis last week, protesters took to the streets across the country. I joined a gathering on Saturday in the Tangletown micro-neighborhood of Green Lake. I thought we were going to stay there for the duration, so I started sketching some participants and their signs (above).

Suddenly leaders blew their whistles, and it was time to march! I had to scramble to keep up while also sketching as I walked (below) – something I’ve done at every protest rally I’ve participated in – but it’s still tricky.

Marching to Green Lake

On the cold but dry afternoon, it felt good to walk with like-minded neighbors the mile or so to Green Lake, drivers honking support as they passed us in their cars. I fell into line behind a couple with their dog, who was wearing two signs: “THIS IS NO TIME TO SIT” on one side, and on the other, “I GIVE A 💩” It was my favorite of the day.

Technical note: After sketching the first page, I didn’t like the look of the lines I was making with the narrow tip of a Faber-Castell Pitt Dual Marker. While that tip works well with my tiny, on-location comics style, when used at a larger scale, the linework gets lost. More than that, the thin lines didn’t look as angry and outraged as I was feeling (and as everyone was expressing with their signs). For the second page, I used the thick brush tip of the marker, and it expressed what I was feeling more accurately (as did the hot pink paper, which I did select specifically for the content). Sometimes the medium is the message, even when sketching.