Reddest

 

11/4/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Just when I thought leaf-peeping season was winding down, I got a hot tip right in my own ‘hood. Seeing that the intersection was within walking distance, I bundled up for temps in the mid-40s and took a hike. I could spot its brilliance from a block away: possibly the reddest maple I’d ever seen in these parts, and certainly this season!

Halfway through, it started drizzling, so I was hasty, but I was determined to try to capture that color to document it for my own future reference. Despite my efforts, I didn’t do it justice, so I’m also including photos below for your leaf-peeping pleasure. Photographed with no filters!

Glimmers

 

After seven months in assisted living, Aegis staff had recommended that Greg move to the memory care area, where the caregivers would be better able to care for his changing needs. He’s been there for more than a year now. The memory care unit is small (about a dozen residents), so it feels more home-like and less institutional than many such places. Since the residents share a single common area when they aren’t in their own apartments, it’s easier to get to know everyone over time.

10/8/25

10/14/25

Although I don’t often interact with them directly, I learn a lot just by observing. Like Greg, many started out on the assisted living side and eventually moved into memory care, so I had initially met them when they were more able to do things on their own. Seeing them decline and lose skills and abilities is expected, but no less heartbreaking – just as it is with Greg.

10/20/25

10/26/25 After buying a new Pentel Pocket Brush Pen
identical to the one I've used for years, I discovered that
the waterproof black ink cartridges that come with it look a lot
like Platinum Carbon Black -- except that it bleeds and feathers
on Uglybook paper, which Platinum never does.

It’s heartening, though, when a resident who is usually unresponsive suddenly “wakes up” with a glimmer of their former selves, even briefly. One resident whom I had never seen smile suddenly did recently – in response to something a visitor had said. I’ve also seen one resident respond to music by dancing or tapping when they don’t respond to anything else.

I find myself sketching at Aegis a lot more now than I used to. Shown here are only a few of the many sketch journal pages I’ve filled with people I am getting to know by observation.

Sunrise Sky

 

10/30/25 Sunrise

Although I usually batch my skyscapito sketches and blog about several at once, I’ve been so lax lately in making them that I decided to post this one right away. Given that my last ones were in August and then January before that, who knows when I’ll get around to the next one. Ever since I completed my move from upstairs to the main floor last spring, I seem to have fallen out of the sunrise/sunset groove.

On the upside, my recently refreshed upstairs studio/go bag sketch kit was fun and handy to use for this little sunrise sketch. In addition to the same Caran d’Ache bicolors that have always been in it, a wider range of Museum Aquarelles now occupy the kit. A few of them served me well here, and I didn’t lose time (or color in the sky) fussing around looking for materials – everything I needed was in the portfolio.

Sunny Inside the Ferry Terminal

 

11/1/25 Colman Dock ferry terminal

The newish Colman Dock ferry terminal has become a USk Seattle all-season mainstay. If the weather is fair, the views from the pedestrian overpass overlooking the waterfront are spectacular. If it’s cold or wet, the terminal interior offers many of the same views facing Elliott Bay on one side and the downtown skyline on the other.

As the previous night’s deluge continued into Saturday morning, I was relieved that we’d be sheltered inside the terminal building, but by afternoon, we almost didn’t need it: The sun came out over Elliott Bay, and several sketchers enjoyed capturing the cracks of light through the clouds. The Great Wheel, the Space Needle, lots of ferry passengers and, of course, ferry boats – we all had plenty of fun subject matter to find.

Underdressed and Over-Caffeinated in the C.D.

 

10/30/25 Peloton Cafe and bike shop, Central District

With temps in the high 40s when I set out in the morning, I thought four layers would be sufficient. I was wrong. Although the sun came out occasionally, Mary Jean, Roy and I all complained of being cold most of the day. Even so, it was fun exploring a part of the Central District neighborhood that I don’t visit often, and riding the streetcar to get anywhere always feels like a small excursion.

Our first stop was Peloton Café, which is both a restaurant and, oddly, a bike repair shop. We stuck it out as long as we could stand the cold, sketching outside. The old building that houses Peloton has interesting architectural details and lots of windows (top of post). If it had been warmer, I might have enjoyed sketching more of it.

Light rail riders and Peloton Cafe decor

After lunch, we walked a few blocks to Drip Drip Coffee, a Vietnamese coffee shop with many colorful beverages on the menu. You can order them either iced or hot, so of course I ordered my matcha latte hot (with an extra dollop of purple ube foam). I was looking forward to sketching that beautiful green and purple beverage, but very sadly, only the iced beverages come in transparent glasses. Hot beverages come in white paper coffee cups through which the layered colors aren’t visible. That was disappointing.

This page needed one more horizontal element to be complete, but I couldn't find anything to fit in the space. 

Also disappointing was that while my matcha latte was tasty and hot, it wasn’t what I really wanted. I really wanted one of the multitude of fancy, overpriced coffee beverages, but I learned that they are all made from premixed syrups, so it’s not possible to get any of them as decaf. The server told me that the matcha latte would be my least caffeinated option (though I had my doubts later as I heard myself talking faster and faster).

Oh, well. At least I got to sketch the rear end of a car that seemed to be held together with tape. And sketching with good friends any day is better than not.

InkTober Finale

 

This year’s InkTober has been so much fun! While most of my reference photos were pets I had drawn previously with colored pencils as fundraiser commissions, a few were new, like Roz and Nemo. When friends saw me posting the portraits on Facebook, they shared photos of their pets, and I later surprised them. Nothing makes people smile like seeing sketches of their own dogs and cats.

This InkTober may have been a first in at least one way: I used the same Pentel Pocket Brush Pen for the entire 31 days, and I used a white Sakura Gelly Roll for highlights on all but one day. I thought I would use my Sailor Naginata to help with detail more than once or twice, but I didn’t. It wasn’t my intention to be so consistent, but the more I used the brush pen and Gelly Roll pairing (see below), the more I liked them for what I wanted to practice during the month: Fast (15 minutes or less), expressive portraits.

An InkTober first: Same pens all month.

Over time, I found myself becoming more accurate without measuring or blocking (the time-consuming part of the more realistic drawings I had done before). After 31 days, I now feel confident that I can offer this portrait style for commissions and make them in a timely way that also feels satisfying to me. InkTober mission accomplished!

As I always am on Oct. 31, I’m relieved that InkTober is over, even as I enjoyed every day of it. As much as I’d like to take a break from themed challenges, we all know what’s next – Pencilvember! 

The last few years when my InkTober themes were based on human faces,
I always ended with a selfie. This year I ended with a less common pet:
Timmy, the bearded dragon, who is decked out in a bow tie for his parents' wedding!

Cherries Dressed for Fall

 

10/29/25 UW Quad cherry trees

The University of Washington Quad during cherry blossom season is an annual event for USk Seattle. But those same cherries that delight us with spring flowers are a yellow-orange spectacle when they get dressed for autumn. Although we talk about it every year, we rarely get to have sketch outings for the cherries’ fall foliage. Targeting prime color is hard enough, but coupled with iffy and fast-changing weather, it’s almost impossible.

Kim went to scout the color on Monday. Checking the weather, she decided Wednesday would be the best day to try for an outing. Score! USk Seattle got the benefit of both prime foliage and sunshine!

Although I have sketched the Quad cherries when they weregreen, I’m not sure I’ve ever sketched them in their fall hues. More sublime than showy red maples, the orange Sakura still shine vibrantly, especially in late-morning light.

Sketchbook note: Last week I had mentioned briefly in a sketch cutline that I had just cracked open a new square-format Hahnemühle sketchbook (the paper is the same 100 percent cotton that I love in the A5 and A6 formats). As I said then, one major benefit of a square-format book is that it opens up as a panorama landscape. I’ve used A5-size landscape books many times, especially during travel. The primary problem I have with them is that a long, horizontal book is awkward to hold while standing, especially when trying to use the full, panoramic spread. On crowded European sidewalks, other pedestrians have jostled my book when they passed closely. This 5 ½-inch square book opens to a more manageable 11-inch width while still giving me the stretched-out look.