No More Roots

 

10/7/24 Loyal Heights neighborhood

When a friend and I had taken a walk through the Loyal Heights neighborhood a couple of years ago, we (almost literally) stumbled upon a block of amazing trees. They had such enormous exposed roots that some had broken the sidewalk and pushed the concrete up several inches. (I later learned that they are a variety of flowering cherries.)

Thoroughly impressed, I came back later to sketch one. I didn’t show the damaged sidewalk well, so I hoped to come back on a warmer day and make another attempt. How? Maybe lie on the ground and get an ant’s-eye-view perspective of the crack?

I never got the chance. The same friend texted me last week that one of the trees had a sign posted for removal, likely due to the sidewalk damage. I went as soon as I could a few days later, but I was too late. The offending tree had already been removed, and foundation had been laid for the new sidewalk. Only a mound of dirt remained where that tree once grew.

Shown below is the sketch from winter nearly two years ago when the cherry was bare. I had also intended to go back in spring when it would be blossoming, but I never got around to that, either. Her sisters are still standing, though (with slimmer roots, they didn’t do as much damage, so they have apparently been allowed to stay). I have made an emphatic note to go back next spring. The lesson learned is one I’ve had to learn many times: Just like humans, trees we walk past every day may not be there tomorrow.

1/10/23 Good-bye, old cherry . . . I admire your strength and perseverance - enough to break concrete.

Charred Piano

 

10/6/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood

A substantial house fire took place in Maple Leaf sometime last year, and its remains sat untouched all this time (I’m guessing for insurance reasons). In the last couple of weeks, I finally started seeing workers clearing out the debris. Whenever I walked by, I could smell old smoke as they shoveled out ashes and dumped charred furniture.

A piano appeared on the sidewalk. When I first saw it, the cover was closed. The next time I walked by, the cover had been opened, and I could see ash stains on the keys. I wanted to stand a little closer to sketch, but workers continued to shovel debris into the huge dump truck in the driveway, raising dust. When pedestrians came by, most could not resist giving the keys a tinkle, but the piano was silent.

More Wedgwood Cedars Falling

10/5/24 Wedgwood neighborhood. Three centenarian cedars will be cut down for development.

The Wedgwood neighborhood, which is home to the now-famous cedar tree Luma that was saved by citizen activism, was the site of another “gratitude gathering” for more endangered trees. Sadly, unlike Luma, three centenarian cedars will likely not be saved. They stand on a property that will be developed by Legacy Group Capital, one of Seattle’s largest development companies, which has so far purchased 530 properties in Seattle. Weak city ordinances are too easily evaded by the likes of Legacy.

I attended the gathering last Saturday on this quiet street, where neighbors and other concerned citizens came out to express sadness and appreciation for these and all trees that we benefit from every day. The homeowner of the adjacent property told me that although the equally mature trees on her property cannot be cut, they will likely be at risk because they’re so close to where work will take place. One of the tree experts who spoke at the gathering said trees are not stand-alone individuals; when one is cut down, it affects the health of the rest of the grove.

Representatives of Tree Action Seattle, the citizen activist group fighting for climate justice, say the best course of action for citizens is to write to city councilmembers. We were encouraged to express our concern at the ballot box and at public meetings.

I enjoyed sketching some of the many dogs who came along with their humans to the event.

To help raise awareness, I continue to sketch as many endangered trees as I can in my neighborhood and around it. Walking the mile or so to Wedgwood on a lovely afternoon, I thanked all the many mature trees I passed that are still thriving.

Downsizing, Phase 1: Unjunking, Basement Stairs, Floors

 

9/15/24  

For several posts now, I’ve mentioned my home-improvement projects and related downsizing and unjunking efforts. Just as I’m keenly interested in my creative/learning process and documenting it (one of the key purposes of this blog), I want to document what it takes to make changes to a house one has lived in for nearly four decades. Although I have taken a gazillion photos (don’t worry; I will resist showing them all here), I’ve had the time and energy to make only a few sketch journal entries. But now that most of Phase 1 is done, it’s a good time to show results as well as give some back story to all of this.

A few months after Greg moved to assisted living, I found myself rattling around in “too much house.” I plan to eventually move to a retirement community, but not for a while (maybe as long as 10 years). The size of a retirement community apartment that seems right for me is about 750 to 800 square feet, so I decided I would buy a condo of about that size as a transitional step. A small condo would force me to downsize, and when I was ready to move to the retirement community, I could do so without the added burden of getting rid of so much excess stuff.

9/16/24

I started talking to a real estate agent. When I read the evaluation she had prepared for our house, I realized that the main floor is just about 800 square feet! A lightbulb turned on over my head: Maybe a transition to a condo wouldn’t be necessary! If I downsized sufficiently now, I could move my bedroom and studio from the upper floor down to the main floor. Emptying those upstairs rooms would enable me to replace the 35-year-old carpet up there (which my agent had strongly recommended before even showing the house). Permanently vacating the upstairs would also mean reducing heating and cooling costs.

The problem with making any significant change in a house is that often one step must be preceded by others. (I had to dust off my old project management skills from my working days to think through the most efficient sequence of steps.) Our former TV/reading room was to become my bedroom. But before I could move the bedroom downstairs, I had to replace the 35-year-old carpeting in that room and the adjoining hallway (another recommendation from my real estate agent). Since the rest of the main floor already has original hardwood (now 99 years old!), it made sense to install hardwood, which I have always loved.

9/22/24 Our California king-size bed would have
overwhelmed the small bedroom downstairs, so one
of my few new purchases for the downsizing was to buy
a smaller bed for myself.  

(I don’t want to get too thick into the home-improvement weeds here, but if you’re interested, the material I chose is actually a composite hardwood material, a Scandinavian product, that is more durable than traditional hardwood.)

I also decided it was a good time to rebuild our scary basement stairs, which were scary even when I was 30. Now that I’m definitely not 30 and have osteoporosis, they were scarier than ever. A safer stairway would enable me to continue living here longer. All of the above was Phase 1, now complete.

I’m very happy about my new plan, because the truth is, I didn’t really want to live in a condo – I still love my house and neighborhood. I just thought a smaller home would be a good way to force myself to downsize. It turns out, I already have a smaller home – and I’m excited to be moving into it a little at a time.

Phase 2 will be moving my upper-floor studio/office to the main floor and replacing the carpet with the same hardwood. I’ve saved that for last because I know that downsizing my studio will take the most time. Arrgghhh… how to decide which art materials to keep?? And what about my vintage colored pencil collection?!

In the meantime, the general unjunking continues (and will likely be a never-ending process). The junk-removal service I hired has made two visits so far, and we aren’t done with the basement yet. For the third and last haul next week, I plan to fill the truck with as much as I can from other areas of the house, too (we also have two attic spaces full of 35 years of accumulation).

9/16/24 Sketching Greg's old skates brought
back fun memories of our early dating days.

Since I am planning to continue living in this house for many years, you may be wondering why I’m doing all this work now. Aside from the practical matter of saving on heating and cooling costs by vacating the upper floor, my reasons are these:

• Why wait until just before I sell the house to make improvements that I could be enjoying now while I still live here?
• Materials and labor are only getting more expensive. If I make the investment now, the payback when I eventually sell the house will hopefully make it worthwhile.
• All of this work is tough enough now at age 65. It’s damn well not going to be any easier when I’m 75. My future self is already thanking me.

(By the way, if you’re interested in learning what happens to all your donations when you take them to Goodwill, here’s a fascinating Seattle Times article from a few years back.)

Before: Scary, 99-year-old basement stairway with treads so narrow that I used to walk down like a crab. Note the non-existent risers. My contractor commented that the handrail looks like something that was taken off a submarine.

After: Much safer, less steep stairway, now up to code and with a sturdy handrail.

After: The original, 99-year-old hardwood still looks great!

Before: 35-year-old furniture and area rugs

After: The TV was moved from the small room in back that is now my bedroom. This leather chair, purchased used at a consignment shop, is the only other purchase (besides my bed) that I made for this downsize. The other half of the livingroom will be my new studio!

After: I forgot to take a photo of this former
TV/reading room when it was still carpeted. This
shows the new hardwood that replaced it.

After: My new bedroom

After: Although it's tight, I squeezed
my reading/journaling chair in the corner of the 
bedroom where it always used to be when the TV 
was still there. It's my cozy comfort spot. Note
that the ottoman is the same as the one I use when
I watch TV in the livingroom. Since I don't watch
TV much, I just carry it from room to room.

A celebration of Phase 1's completion at Macrina!

Charmaine Apartments

 

10/3/24 Queen Anne neighborhood

After I’d been living in the tiny studio apartment above Targy’s Tavern for a couple of years, I got a new job that came with (for me) a substantial pay increase. It was the late ‘80s. I decided to upgrade my living standards and move to lower Queen Anne. Although I had another studio, it was slightly larger, and the Charmaine Apartments had hardwood floors (which I’ve always loved and still do). The higher rent and living within walking distance of lots of great restaurants, the Seattle Center, the Opera House, and many other amenities that I couldn’t afford made it feel like an upgrade. Even the name "Charmaine" sounded a bit fancy.

What I didn’t realize until I moved in was that the parking was terrible even back then (and worse now, I’m sure). If I went out in the evening and came home late-ish, I sometimes had to park several blocks away. I commuted to work by bus, so sometimes when I got home and saw that a good space had opened up closer to the Charmaine than wherever I had last parked, I would immediately move my car there and avoid driving just so that I wouldn’t lose the space.

I quickly discovered that my landlord was terrible, too. My first winter, I turned on a small space heater and started hearing crackly sounds inside the wall, which became warm to the touch. I turned off the heater, called the fire department and learned that the outlet had been unsafely wired. There was no damage to the apartment because I had acted quickly, but the landlord had to rewire it to meet code, which I’m sure was an inconvenience. I always felt like he had held that incident against me for the rest of my tenancy. He never refunded my deposit when I left, even though I had left the place cleaner than when I had moved in.

Before having lunch with a friend in the area last week, I went to sketch the Charmaine. I was delighted to find a big blue crane out front with restoration of the brickwork in progress. My apartment was on the top floor but on the other side that faced an alley. Despite the landlord and parking, it was nostalgic fun to remember the interior of my apartment and my young life back then.

Lazy InkTober

 

Painter John Singer Sargent once said that a portrait is “a likeness in which there is something wrong about the mouth.” Indeed, with all the portrait practice I’ve done with Earthsworld’s reference photos, I have definitely found the mouth to be challenging. If the head is turned even slightly, perspective and foreshortening complicate matters. Worthy of concentrated practice, the mouth seemed as good a theme as any for InkTober this year.

Despite that inherent challenge, I must admit that my primary motivation in choosing the theme was sheer laziness. As I did last year with noses (and ears for Pencilvember), using Earthsworld’s daily image posts makes finding a reference photo fast and easy. In fact, I upped my laziness game further this year by deciding I would sketch whatever mouth Earth posted that day – no scrolling required!

As for ink, I’ve been using Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens and acrylic markers so much lately that I’ve been missing good ol’ Bics. I may change it up later in the month, but for now, I’m just going with that basic of pens. Paper was a no-brainer: October screams for an orange Uglybook.

Happy InkTober to those who are participating (it’s my 10^th year)! I’m posting daily on Instagram, and I’ll report in here on my blog periodically.

Happy birthday, WB!

By the way, Oct. 5 was Weather Bunny’s eighth birthday! Although I don’t always remember to observe her birthday, it was during InkTober of 2016 that I first made the prototype sketch that would eventually evolve into the WB we know today. The organic way in which she developed is one of my best examples of how a creative challenge like InkTober can lead to unexpected and unplanned results – which makes them worth doing, even if the challenge itself might not feel productive.

Green Lake with Roy

 

10/2/24 Green Lake Village courtyard and Green Lake

After seeing some of my sketches of Green Lake, Roy said he hadn’t been there in decades. I decided it was high time for him to make a sketch-visit at one of my favorite sketching (and walking) locations. We met up first for lunch at the Green Lake Village PCC, then walked to the lake. My favorite sketches were of the various types of birds hanging out at the shoreline, as common as they are.

Further walking revealed some color just beginning on a variety of trees. The one at right was so sporadically colored within dark green foliage that I thought maybe the red was coming from berries. Examined up close, however, I realized it was a maple, after all, with an unusual spotty pattern.

We may have stopped at Ben & Jerry’s for ice cream after our walk, but neither of us sketched, so there’s no evidence of that. (Ha!) A chilly morning turned into a beautifully sunny afternoon – my favorite kind of fall day.

VP Debate

 

10/1/24 Vice presidential debate sketched from live TV broadcast

The vice presidential debate didn’t raise my blood pressure nearly as much as previous debates have (or might have, if I hadn’t sketched). In fact, it was downright civil. Maybe because of that, I focused more this time on trying to capture likenesses. Maybe not so much with Walz, but I thought I captured Vance (at left) fairly well.

Maple in Maple Leaf

9/30/24 Japanese maple

Leaf peeping in my own ‘hood hasn’t been too fruitful yet . . . many of my familiar trees seem to be behind schedule. Not the Japanese maples, though – they’re always first to the party. This one is a favorite just a couple blocks from home.

Leaf Peeping in Greenwood

 

9/29/24 The Dayton maples

Leaf-peeping season has begun in earnest, and I’m having mixed results. Some trees I’m familiar with seemed to be turning prematurely back in early September, while others seem late. Every year, I try to sketch the maples growing in a traffic circle at 83^rd and Dayton in the Greenwood neighborhood (at right). By late September, I fully expected to see more color than I did last Sunday. For example, when I sketched them on Sept. 14, 2017, they definitely had more color. It’s nice to know I still have more color to look forward to; I’ll keep checking back.

After a cool, overcast morning, Sunday afternoon turned out to be so beautiful that I left my car parked on Dayton and decided to take a walk through Greenwood. I spotted numerous trees that were way ahead of the Dayton maples in color; I noted their locations to sketch later. When I stopped for a Cortado at Herkimer Coffee (my favorite first stop whenever I sketch the Greenwood Car Show), I noticed that the tree across the street by the 74^th Street Ale House was just starting to turn gold around the edges (below). It’s probably not the type of tree that eventually turns red, but I enjoy sketching trees with any part of the fall palette.

9/29/24 Greenwood neighborhood, Seattle

Salvatore Ristorante

 

9/28/24 Salvatore Ristorante, Roosevelt neighborhood

Salvatore Ristorante in the Roosevelt neighborhood has been around since 1988, and the spouse guy and I had patronized it since its beginning (even before we were married). In addition to amazing Italian food, it has a charming, timeless ambiance. A whimsical touch is a mural of Italian village life on one diningroom wall. Decades ago when Greg and I had noticed that patrons had taken to gluing tiny images of themselves into the scenes, we decided to do that, too.

We have not been back to Salvatore since the pandemic, but whenever I walk or drive by, I have thought that I want to someday sketch the building, which is on a curving corner of Roosevelt Way and Northeast 61^st Street. A friend had a birthday party at Salvatore last Saturday, so I arrived a little early to sketch it from across the street. The food was just as good as I remember it. In fact, nothing about it had changed. (I meant to look at the mural to see if our photo was still attached, but I forgot. I’ll go back another time to check.)

Ballard Errands

 

9/27/24 Rosellini's, Ballard neighborhood

With several errands to do in the Ballard neighborhood, I decided to make a whole morning of it, starting with breakfast at Rosellini’s Fine Cakes and Baked Goods. Knowing what a fan I am of Macrina Bakery, several friends kept urging me to try Rosellini’s croissants, insisting that they are even better than Macrina’s. A bit skeptical, I was certainly willing to do my own research. And darned if they weren’t right! Holy-moly, that was the best croissant I’ve ever had – maybe even better than those I’ve had in France! Thank goodness I can’t walk to Rosellini’s in five minutes as I can to Macrina’s, or I’d be in big trouble.

Fully fortified, I got on with my errands, and in between, I had time for a couple of tree stops. The first was a group of birch bark cherries documented in Taha Ebrahimi’s book. The other was a Japanese cherry that looked like it was on fire – both its color and its shape.