First Green Lake Color (and Fresh Fall Palette)

 

9/16/24 Green Lake

As mentioned a few days ago, I have embraced the coming of fall, and what better way to do that than to check out my favorite sweet gums at Green Lake? They were only just beginning to show some yellow and orange at their very tops, and the mid-afternoon light caught them well. In another month, they’ll be at their peak.

Color notes: Also as mentioned previously, it was time to freshen my watercolor pencil palette, especially since I hadn’t been using it much with my minimal-color comics approach lately. Instead of the CYM triad I’ve been in love with the past couple of years, I chose a more traditional primary triad as well as a secondary triad with two greens – one warm, one cool. I don’t need to mix much with this complete rainbow, though I did mix the secondary triad to see what it’s like.

The pencils are all Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelles plus a couple of Derwent Inktense. I had gotten a little too dependent on my go-to colors, so it was fun to shake things up by changing every watercolor pencil in my usual palette. I’m a little uncertain about the warm green I chose – Inktense Olivine (1340) – which isn’t as warm as my all-time favorite Museum 245. But it’s good to shake things up  – even in the more traditional direction!

New fall palette

Stronger than a Donut

 

9/13/24 Project 9 Brewing Co., Maple Leaf neighborhood

After a long week of home-improvement project delays, issues and inconveniences, I needed something stronger than a donut. I asked Ching if she would come out for an impromptu drink & draw at Project 9 Brewing Company. A little brew, a little sketching and a lot of good conversation will do wonders for one’s first world problems.

Thanks for listening to my first world problems, Ching!

This was the first time I sat in the brewery’s outdoor seating area during inclement weather, and we stayed dry and cozy under the heated shelter. We could have gone inside, but it’s much quieter outdoors (plus dogs to sketch). It also helped to eat a huge pile of stir-fried noodles from Tummy Yummy Thai’s food truck. The last time I had opted for a stir fry from Tummy’s, the temps were in the mid-80s that July day, and the steaming hot noodles, though delicious, were not a good choice. Last Friday, they were just right.

Sammich, the other food truck that used to vend regularly at Project 9, apparently closed abruptly last month. I’m going to miss their fantastic grilled cheese sandwiches.

Jack is Back

9/13/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Jack is back! Jack Skellington, that is – Maple Leaf’s celebrity pumpkin. A couple of years ago, the 969-pound pumpkin was featured on KING 5 Evening, a local variety TV show. Kate and I sketched him during the weighing-in event that turned out to be Maple Leaf’s highlight of the year. Last year I sketched Jack’s successor, who didn’t grow quite as large and eventually succumbed to too much love (sitting and touching by visitors).

Jack’s grower has been busy cultivating the next-gen Jack. When they were featured in our community newsletter, I knew it was time to sketch him. He was under 700 pounds at his most recent weigh-in, but he still has a lot of growing to do before Halloween. I’ll be ready.

Material notes: My annual season of denial is over, and I’ve fully embraced fall – which  means I’ve put color back into my bag! As much as I love making comics pages in Uglybooks, I’ve been jonesin’ for full color for a while now, so it wasn’t hard to do. Right now it’s the basic watercolor pencil palette I used last year, but as the fall color season progresses, I’ll probably shake things up. Although I’ll still be using an Uglybook for my daily journal sketches, I’m also daily-carrying my favorite 100 percent cotton Hahnemühle again – in a new form factor. Stay tuned for more on that soon.

Basement Stairway Construction

 

9/11/24 Metropolitan Market, Crown Hill neighborhood

Just like urban sketching reflects where we live and where we travel, the contents of sketch journals and diary comics reflect whatever is going on in our day-to-day lives. I’m probably stating the obvious: While I usually find it challenging to maintain a sketch journal when my life is ordinary, my pages are prolific on days when a lot is happening. Even when I’m so busy with the “lot happening” that I hardly have time to sketch, I always find time to document what I want to remember about the day. The visual elements don’t necessarily even illustrate the activities; instead, they indicate the break I took to record.

On this day, I was moving all my clothes and shoes from my closet to another room (where they were piled in a heap on the floor) so that the carpet could be removed and replaced with new flooring. Meanwhile, a contractor was noisily rebuilding our basement stairway. When he warned me that in a few moments he would be doing something that would sound like six gunshots, I decided it was time to leave for a lunch break.

(By the way, when all of this is done, I plan to make a post showing before/after photos of these home-improvement projects that have been occupying my time.)

Color note: As simple as it looks, that cup of coffee was a fun color-mixing challenge. I stopped carrying brown in any medium years ago, so if I need brown, I must mix it. Since the paper was green, all I needed was dark purple and orange – my all-purpose secondary triad.

Urban Sketchers on the Eastside Rail Line

 

9/14/24 Redmond Technology and Wilburton stations

Late last spring, Kate, Roy and I rode the new Link light rail line 2 from south Bellevue to Redmond. Getting off at each station, we sketched briefly before hopping back on. In addition to simply having fun, we were also scouting the route for a potential USk outing. Since most stations have enough sheltered areas that the outing could work during transitional seasons, we pushed it to fall.

As it turned out, Saturday’s drizzle didn’t faze any of the enthusiastic sketchers who showed up. In fact, I was impressed and surprised by the number of sketchers who did exactly what Kate, Roy and I did. Blitz-sketching at each station, they got right back on when the next train came and made it to the northern-most Redmond station in time for the throwdown!

Making one stop at Warburton Station to grab lunch at Whole Foods, I made a quick sketch of the light rail supports, which always make an interesting composition. After that, since I already did the whole tour in May, I saved most of my sketching time for Redmond Technology Station. Microsoft’s extensively landscaped pedestrian/bike overpass is challenging fun to sketch. (Both sketches above.)

Sketcher Jyoti works for Microsoft in one of the many buildings on the tech company’s main campus on the far end of the overpass. Walking with me, she noted key points of interest, such as the archway behind the colorful Microsoft “windows” (likely a good selfie spot for new employees and visitors). The triangular structure covered with foliage is a cave-like space where employees can take a break from all the glass and concrete. At lower left is a distant view of the pedestrian overpass. (Sketches below.)

Microsoft's main campus, Redmond

After the throwdown, most of us rode the train back to the southend park-and-ride lot, so I had time to sketch a few of my co-sketchers as well as other commuters. A fun day!

A green escape from glass and concrete

Blood Pressure Control

 

9/10/24 Sketched from live broadcast

Political debates can be difficult to view, and presidential ones are certainly among the worst. I find that it helps to calm me when I sketch from the live broadcast. I can still listen (though often I wish I couldn’t), but focusing on capturing the candidates’ likeness (or lack thereof!) keeps my blood pressure down.

Last week’s debate between Harris and Trump was the fourth presidential debate that I have sketched. I think my first (between Clinton and Trump in 2016) is still my most memorable due to my special viewing “seat.” I also sketched the 2020 debacle and the one a couple months ago.

The Big Guns

 

9/6/24 

Up until now, most of my downsizing/dejunking efforts have been about filling boxes and bags with excess stuff and hauling them to Goodwill myself (and rewarding myself afterwards, of course). Now I’m pulling out the big guns.

Unlike many junk-hauling services that simply take everything to the landfill dump, Kevin at We Take Junk sorts the haul and distributes it appropriately and responsibly. For example, useable building materials and tools are donated to charities, working items that can be sold are taken to thrift stores, dead electronics are taken where they need to go, paints and chemicals are disposed of safely, etc. Until I learned of his service, I was stymied and overwhelmed by the 40 years of junk in our basement that was difficult to get rid of. What a relief!

I also emptied our livingroom of the very old, worn couch and two matching chairs – all the decades-old seating that rarely got used. (The couch’s primary purpose was a place to sort and fold laundry.) Yes, I was hoping there would be a moment when my couch would rest on the sidewalk so that I could sketch it (and I was poised for it), but alas, it went directly into the truck, and surprisingly quickly. Watching from the front porch, I was able to at least snap a photo of the loading so that I could make this diary comics page later (above). Buh-bye, old couch. (By the way, Kevin isn’t done. He’ll be back next week to clear the rest of the basement, so I might have another chance for a live sketch.)

The next piece of action is to rip out old carpeting in our former “TV/reading room” and replace the flooring with composite hardwood. The first step, though, is to clear the room. When my neighbors helped me move the TV to the livingroom, all the wiring for our “surround sound” audio system was revealed (below). Although I am indifferent, high-quality audio for our TV and music has always been important to Greg. He spent a lot of time wiring that room for sound, which we enjoyed for many years. I’m fine with the basic audio that comes with the TV, so I will not have the fancy sound system duplicated in the livingroom. But disassembling his work all those years ago made me realize how much I had taken it for granted.

9/7/24

My reward for all that? A Top Pot doughnut on a beautiful afternoon (below). In the middle of it all, wearing matching team shirts, a bunch of fourth graders suddenly and noisily appeared in the outdoor seating area that I previously had to myself. I wanted to sketch some of the kids, but it was more fun eavesdropping and recording some of their conversations.

9/10/24 (For the record, I was afraid the doughnut would be overkill, but it wasn't! The pumpkin doughnut wasn't too sweet, and the chocolate balanced the pumpkin spice.)

FareStart’s 25th Anniversary Book

 

My sketch of a FareStart graduation ceremony published in the book

My massive home-downsizing project has unearthed many interesting artifacts that I had not seen in years or decades. One worth mentioning here is an enormously heavy, 2-inch-thick book that includes one of my sketches. The back story:

In 2015, I first learned about FareStart, a nonprofit organization that helps disadvantaged people train for and develop careers in the culinary industry. Some time after I had shared a sketch on social media, I was contacted by the editor of a book that would be published for FareStart’s 25th anniversary celebration the following year. Erica McCaig wanted to use my sketch in the book. Of course, I was happy to contribute, especially since I strongly supported FareStart’s mission. (If you read the 2015 post I linked to, you’ll learn that I didn’t really like the hasty sketch the editor had requested, so I offered others that I had sketched later. She didn’t use any of those, however.)

At the 2016 anniversary celebration, the commemorative book was released – a combination cook book, food photography showcase and tribute to the many chefs, sponsors and others who had contributed to FareStart over the years. As a contributor, I received a free copy – a book that weighs more than 6 pounds!

6 pounds of glossy, hardbound paper

Although filled with over-the-top, gorgeous photography of food and recipes from award-winning chefs, the ridiculously heavy book was a bit burdensome to own. (I can’t imagine anyone referring to it as they cooked – the pages don’t stay open.) All our bookshelves were already full. I stuck it in a bag to keep it clean, slid it under the TV cabinet for safekeeping, and immediately forgot about it. Last week when I moved the TV from one room to another, it was unearthed.

2 inches thick!

I could swear I had shared images from the book back in 2016, but a search of my blog came up with nothing, so I must not have. I’m getting rid of the book, so I’ve snapped a few images now for posterity.

(One of my most effective home-unjunking tips is to simply take a photo of anything you want to remember but don’t want to keep. These images are so much easier to store than a 6-pound cook book!)

In addition to recipes, the book includes many pages of beautifully styled, fantastically photographed foods.

Riding the Rails with Roy Again

9/9/24 Mt. Baker neighborhood

Neither Roy nor I had sketched at Mt. Baker Light Rail Station, so we decided Monday was the day. Although I hadn’t heard anything about the station itself that seemed particularly interesting, the neighborhood was interesting to me for nostalgic reasons: I went to Franklin High School, which is just a few minutes’ walk from the station. And it was the first thing I spotted when we got off the train: a great view of the neo-Classical building. We both sketched it immediately, as it was certain to be a better view than any from the street.

Although I found an intriguing view of the light rail track and pedestrian overpasses, the rest of our visit was mostly disappointing. (Given that Roy and I are both big sketchers of “nothing” and require little inspiration, that says a lot about the location.)

Lunch at the Jewel Box Cafe

Stopping for lunch at the Jewel Box Café was disappointing, too. The food was OK, but they didn’t even have a public restroom, which I found surprising. We had to hike a few blocks to the Lowe’s for that, which turned out to be a fun nostalgia tour for me, too. The store is located on the site of historic Sick’s Stadium, which was the home of Seattle’s former baseball team, the Rainiers, until 1979. I wasn’t a baseball fan, but the stadium’s (and Lowe’s) parking lot is where my dad had taught me how to drive. (No sketch of the parking lot, however – even nostalgia couldn’t make that fun to draw.)

International District/Chinatown

Uninspired but still wanting to sketch more, we hopped back on the train and rode a few stops to International District/Chinatown Station. Knowing that area well, we went straight to the Chinatown Gate (with King Street Station behind it) and Hing Hay Park. I’ve sketched both many times, so this time I challenged myself by resisting the inclusion of the entire focal subject. It’s not easy to do – the brain always wants to complete the picture.

The morning’s overcast had burned off to sunshine by early afternoon, and best of all, the smoke had cleared. Even with a disappointing start, it was a good sketching day.

Placard at Lowe's parking lot, where I learned to drive in 1974.

Smoky Moonrise

 

9/8/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Although we were lucky all summer and experienced very little wildfire smoke, we had several days of some smoke last week that brought the air quality rating down to “moderate.” That level is not much of a concern to healthy people, but it was enough to give the light an eerie yellow tint all day. Glancing out the window Sunday evening, I caught a spooky orange moon rising. Even as I sketched, smoke or clouds blurred its crescent shape.

Late to the Edmonds Car Show

 

9/8/24 Edmonds Car Show

After a morning that did not go to plan, I arrived at the Edmonds Classic Car Show much later than intended. Twenty minutes before the USk Seattle throwdown, I hastily sketched part of a ’61 Impala just to have something to throwdown! Afterwards, though, I had plenty of time to sketch more cars, including my favorite ’57 T-Bird convertible (one of my dream cars) – a pink one, at that!

Although not as large as the Greenwood Car Show, Edmonds has a more home-towny vibe. It was good to be back there with USk for the first time since before the pandemic.

Outside and inside Moto Pizza

When I finished sketching outside Moto Pizza, I caught up with Natalie inside as she finished her lunch and sketch. Specializing in Detroit-style pizza (get it? Moto?), the restaurant turned out to be a really fun place to sketch – lots of colorful ‘50s-themed décor, including a bench shaped like a vintage car front.

Other than some residual wildfire smoke, the afternoon was sunny with temps in the mid-70s – a welcome break from the high 80s we had been having the prior few days.

Although the store is called Moto Pizza, all the boxes say "Odd Pizza." I tried to get an explanation for this, but the response didn't make sense . . . I guess you had to be there.

I heart T-Bird convertibles! Especially a pink one!

Early Walkers

 

9/6/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood

After our cold August, summer was back on last week – temps in the high 80s some days. I got out for my walks early those days, which is my favorite time to walk anyway: All the dogs are out for their walks, and some kids are getting walked to school, too.

I find that if I stay about a half block behind them at their pace, I can sketch them as I walk. If the dogs stop abruptly to accomplish their mission, then I usually abandon the sketch because, um, I might look suspicious if I stopped abruptly, too.

The man with two dogs in the sketch above turned out to be a pro. On my way back home, I saw him again, but this time he had picked up two more dogs along the way. They turned onto a street off my route, but I followed them for a block. Stalker? Heck, no. I’d only look suspicious if I were caught.

Exhilaration

 

8/31/24

Sketching on light rail trains is chancy in many ways: First, there’s the general motion of the car, which makes every mark an adventure (though nothing compared to the buckin’ bronco ride of a bus). I like using a brush pen to make the adventure even more exciting. Then there’s the limitation of whatever or whomever might be in view. Finally, fellow passengers on both buses and trains leave unexpectedly, but on a bus, their body language tends to gear up for the stop – I usually have a few seconds to finish up. On the train, riders make no indication of their intentions, and then suddenly leap out of their seats without warning as soon as the train stops.

All that tension is exhilarating (if frustrating)!

By the way, the sketch at upper left on the red page … what is it? Looking at it a few days after I drew it, I was reminded of the old optical illusion showing an image of either a young woman or an old woman’s profile. Hint: The white spot was a light reflection.

8/19/24

8/19/24

Rooflines of Maple Leaf

 

8/30/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood (The Dutch Colonial at upper right was especially challenging to draw! The owners have uprgraded with solar panels.)

9/5/24 What's up with the skinny windows on the upper floor?

As an urban sketcher, I’m not necessarily attracted to drawing buildings, but every now and then I get in the mood to take my walks with an eye to the ever-changing neighborhood landscape. One of many things I love and appreciate about Maple Leaf is all the traditional architecture of homes that have been standing for a century (like our house, built in 1925). Some newer homes and additions have at least attempted to fit into the neighborhood; others have not.

Officially, Eight

 

8/3/24 Westfälischer Totleger hen

On our walk the other day, we took a street that we hadn’t been on in a long time. We followed the clucking and buck-buck-bucking until we spotted some fine-looking hens pecking and strutting around behind a fence. The owner was working in her yard. Raising chickens, she said, became her pandemic project, and her brood has since grown. When I asked how many she has, she said with a wink, “Officially, eight.” Apparently that’s the maximum for urban chickens.

Although she has several breeds, the one I sketched is a Westfälischer Totleger, a German breed known for its prolific eggs. During some times of year, her hens lay one per day, producing way more eggs than her family can eat. She said if I was interested in having some, I could leave a carton by her gate with my phone number on it, and she would text when she had some to offer.

I thanked her, but I had already gotten what I wanted: This sketch, and the others I plan to make whenever I walk that way again.

A prolific layer

Fond Farewell to Summer

 

9/1/24 Green Lake

Late on Sunday afternoon, Natalie and I met at Green Lake to sketch under the shade trees near the kids’ wading pool. As often as I sketch at the lake, I rarely hang out at this part of the park, so it felt fresh to me. Mostly sunny and warm, the day brought out lots of families enjoying Labor Day weekend before school begins. (And Monday turned out to be cool and gloomy, so Sunday really felt like the last blast of summer.) The most entertaining conversation I eavesdropped on was a party of young men sharing bachelor’s party stories about the friend whom they had recently married off.

Afterwards, we had dinner and libations at Retreat, which has a nice outdoor seating area with a lake view. Lingering over our sketches and good conversation, we saw the sun dip behind the lake (or actually behind the trees along the lake path). What a lovely, bittersweet farewell to summer!

9/1/24 Retreat

Street Trees by Car

 

8/31/24 Japanese maples, Capitol Hill neighborhood

The remaining trees documented in Taha Ebrahimi’s book, Street Trees of Seattle, are out of reach unless I get in my car to drive to their neighborhoods. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my walking tours of all the street trees in Maple Leaf and Green Lake and many in Ravenna, Wedgwood and Bryant. The trees gave my fitness walking a purpose (and motivation). It was an ideal summer walk-sketch project!

My sketch documentation of the trees continues, though now with a different strategy. Whenever I have an errand or appointment anyway, I try to plan a tree or two to fit into the trip. Taha’s hand-drawn maps in the book make that task easy. If I see more than one tree in the same general area, I use Google maps to see how far apart they are on foot, and often I can park the car once and turn two or three trees into a mini walking tour. As the weather gets colder, I might even start sketching some from my car (although the best angles are usually from the sidewalk).

8/31/24 silver maples, Capitol Hill neighborhood

Last Saturday when USk Seattle met in Capitol Hill, I found several tree locations that were within walking distance from the meetup. I first sketched a row of three Japanese maples (top of post), the largest of which is the widest diameter of its type in the neighborhood. I bet they will be stunning come fall; I’ve made a note to check them again in October.

A couple of blocks away, I found the widest-diameter silver maple street tree in the city (at right). Based on the foliage, I think the two trees on either side of it are also silver maples (but a bit smaller).

The other trees sketched here are from the Bryant, Wedgwood and Crown Hill neighborhoods. Most of these trees do not look special; in fact, sometimes I wonder why they are documented in the book, since they don’t look particularly large (though many have other notable aspects as described in the book). Regardless of their size or how they look, drawing the trees always makes me appreciate them more. Trees are literally as individual as humans, and I’m honored to observe and appreciate each one’s uniqueness.

8/8/24 monkey puzzle tree (possibly the first I've ever sketched!), Bryant neighborhood

8/12/24 Holm and English oaks, Wedgwood neighborhood

8/17/24 grand fir and valley oak, Wedgwood neighborhood

8/28/24 dogwood and bristlecone pine, Crown Hill neighborhood