This is What Democracy Looks Like

 

5/9/25 Jackson Federal Building, downtown Seattle

For a while now, Seattle’s concerned citizens have been meeting weekly on Federal Building Fridays to show solidarity with federal workers and express general resistance of the current presidency. On a sunny afternoon outside the Jackson Federal Building, they chanted discontent through megaphones and carried signs: “No fascist USA!” “Where’s my constitution?” “We don’t want your Swastikars!” My favorite was “The Turd Reich.”

I’m not good at counting crowds, but probably 50 or more people showed up for the noontime rally. Passing cars continually honked their support, and participants waved back. Music could occasionally be heard. Although their messages were strong and serious, they had a friendly, almost happy, attitude – not angry and certainly not violent.

This is what democracy looks like.

Old and New Around the Roastery

 

5/7/25 Melrose & Pike area, Capitol Hill

Although USk Seattle had an outing at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery last year, I missed that one, so our outing on Wednesday was the first time I’d sketched in the area in years – probably since before the pandemic. At the border between downtown and Capitol Hill, that vibrant part of town is one of my favorites to sketch. It’s an interesting mix of traditional and modern architecture.

Probably the most traditional and certainly most majestic building in the area is the dome-topped First Covenant Church. I did a wonky job this time, but I made a better rendition of it several years ago.

As a counter to that one, I also sketched the high-rise Nexus condo building, which opened just in time for the pandemic. It looks like messily stacked boxes that have been taped together just as messily. Because each “box” is slightly askew, I thought the design would hide any angle errors or sloppiness on my part, but it was still very challenging to draw. Compared to all the other identical glassy boxes downtown, I like this one’s distinctively funky look.

Around the corner from the Roastery is the Voodoo Doughnut shop that opened last year. Since I had already indulged at Portland’s original Voodoo (and decided it was overrated), I passed this time and instead sketched its corner (one of the area’s older buildings, which happens to be bright pink).

Eventually I went inside the Roastery to share a table with Michele and Kim. Of course, I couldn’t resist getting an overpriced but beautifully presented beverage – a seasonal ube coconut latte.

I’d like to get back to the area again this summer, either with USk or by myself – I snapped several photos to remind myself of things I still want to sketch.

Fremont Peak Park

 

5/5/25 Fremont Peak Park

“You’d have to be a squirrel to reach even that lowest branch.”

Standing at the foot of a tree, he was looking straight up, a stance that piqued my curiosity. When I asked what he was looking at, he said it was just the sheer height of the relatively slender fir trees – so tall that neither of us could see their tops.

A young man staying in the area to take care of his grandmother, Isiah said he walks to Fremont Peak Park often to sit and think among those tall pines. I told him it was my first visit to the park, which was tricky to find even with Google assistance. Well hidden, this gem of a pocket park’s main attraction is a spectacular, unobstructed view of the Olympics (see below). Isiah encouraged me to come at sunset when that west view is even more spectacular. He said now that the sun sets so late, neighbors come by with wine glasses in hand to soak up the golden hour.

His favorite time, though, is right after sunset when color still lingers above the horizon, and Magnolia and Ballard shimmer below.

At midday, these round sculptures hardly cast shadows. Lines on the ground indicate the solstices and equinoxes – a year-round sundial (I plan to come back on the summer solstice). What struck me was that drawing instructors should bring their students here to practice shading spheres. More fun than the contrived tennis ball setup most instructors use.

My exploration of Fremont Peak Park was the result of reading about it in the Seattle Stairway Walks book. Yes, it involved some stairs – but only 77 this time (nothing compared to last week). More arduous were all the non-stepped, very steep hills in that part of Fremont/Phinney Ridge. Just like the Street Trees of Seattle book helped to guide my fitness walks last summer, I’ve decided to use the Stairway Walks book to do the same this summer. Most routes described in the book are fairly long (5 miles or 2-plus hours), so I don’t intend to do full routes as written. I’ll break them up into shorter routes to suit my available time and, of course, sketch potential.

One of the best views in the city of the Olympics -- a well-kept secret!

Fitness Walking Through Fremont

 

5/2/25 Fremont neighborhood

This chunk of the Berlin Wall stands outside Milstead & Company Coffee.

Now that the weather is improving, I’m hoping to take more fitness walks in other neighborhoods. Fremont was the first to come to mind: While it has plenty of fun things to sketch, it’s also a bit of a pain to get to because parking is scarce. My solution was to park in Wallingford, where the neighborhood streets offer plenty of free, unlimited parking, and then walk the easy 20 minutes to Fremont.

In addition to sketching a couple of my favorite Fremont icons (the Troll and J. P. Patches & Gertrude), I discovered a small P-Patch that’s difficult to see unless you climb up to the Aurora Bridge pedestrian overpass.

The highlight was taking a break at Milstead & Company Coffee, which has outdoor seating with a fantastic view of the Aurora Bridge. I wished I had left more than a couple square inches of space for it on my sketchbook spread, but I also didn’t want to start a fresh page and break the continuity of the “story.” I’d like to come back some day to sketch the same scene larger, but Milstead must be the only coffee shop in Seattle that doesn’t offer decaf! I suppose I’ll have to make a special trip first thing in the morning.

Overall, the afternoon was ideal: Good weather, fun sketches and fitness walking achieved!

Howe Street Stairs

 

5/1/25 Views from Blaine and Howe Streets

Gulp.

When I was in my 20s, I participated in a fundraiser that involved climbing to the top of Columbia Center – all 1,311 steps of the 73-story building. (Called The Big Climb, the annual fundraiser is still ongoing.) Needless to say, that was the greatest number of stairs I’ve ever climbed in one shot (although some areas of Porto often felt about the same).

When Ching first told me about the 293 steps of the Blaine Street stairs, she said she learned about them from her fellow mountain climbers who used the stairway to train. It turns out that other types of athletes as well as firefighters train on the same stairway, reputed to be the longest and steepest in Seattle.

I recalled reading about that stairway in a book I’ve had for a while: Seattle Stairway Walks: An Up-and-Down Guide to City Neighborhoods. Pulling it off a bookshelf (yes, it survived my massive bookcase downsizing), I read about many unique views seen from the walk, including the very well-hidden gem, Streissguth Garden. Intrigued, I waited for the next fair day to give it a go.

First I climbed down the Blaine Street stairs, sketching along the way, enjoying all those views. Unfortunately, what goes down must come up. Running parallel to Blaine a block away is Howe Street, which has only 270 steps. I took those – up. As for athletes in training, several passed me in both directions.

Although Howe Street pales in comparison with Columbia Center, my legs are now 40 years older. With ice cream as my reward, I lived to tell the tale.

Streissguth Garden

A peek-a-boo view of Lake Union from Streissguth Garden

Fishermen’s Terminal For USk Week

5/4/25 Fishermen's Terminal

The first week of May is the annual international Urban Sketchers Week to help promote the activities of the community and local chapters. A new initiative this year was to pair local chapters and encourage them to share their sketches with each other virtually. USk Seattle was paired with USk Delhi, a large, active group whose members have been sharing daily on social media.

For our part, USk Seattle had a huge turnout at Fishermen’s Terminal, one of our perennial favorite locations and the site of our very first outing ever. We didn’t plan the outing to land on this date, but it happened to be the Terminal’s annual memorial service to honor people in the fishing industry who were lost at sea. I was happy to be able to capture that.

Although we were treated to lovely sunshine and a mostly clear sky, the wind was brisk and harsh at times. Still, there’s nothing like being part of the Urban Sketchers community, both worldwide and right here at home. Happy USk Week! 

Playing Tourist at Lake Union Park

 

4/30/25 Lake Union Park

 

After Gas Works, my favorite Seattle park is Lake Union Park. (It’s probably not a coincidence that the two parks, each visible from the other from across the water, are on opposite ends of Lake Union; I grew up on Lake Washington, so a fondness for lakes is in my blood.) Although Roy has been a long-time Seattle-area resident, he had never visited or sketched there. Since Lake Union Park is one of the places I like to bring out-of-town visitors, I decided to play tour guide for him last Wednesday, which actually enabled me to feel like a tourist, too.

Another first for him was riding the South Lake Union Trolley (affectionately called the SLUT by locals), which I hadn’t ridden in a long time myself. It’s always fun to experience familiar things through the fresh eyes of first-timers.

I really enjoyed making these pages of on-location comics, so I’ll stop talking and let you read the commentary yourself.

Bob and Brian

12/30/24 Bob

3/19/25 Brian

Two Aegis residents passed away last week. Although I didn’t really know Bob and Brian, I had seen them regularly when I visited Greg, and I had noted their absence shortly before I learned of their passing. I can’t say that the feeling I had was grief, exactly, but recalling sketches I had made of them, I felt their absence more heavily: I would never sketch them again.

When I was talking to Roy and MJ about this, Roy said, “What would our sketches look like of folks we draw with the attitude that ‘I might not see them again’ or ‘This might be their last image from life on earth’?”

Looked at that way, I suddenly questioned my intentions: I always try to capture unique individuals, not generic figures or caricatures. But did I show enough respect or reverence when I sketched them? Or was I just filling time?

Whenever I sketch fellow light rail commuters or other strangers in public places, I do so with the assumption that I will never see them again. At least for that moment (and often it is literally less than a minute), I give each person my full attention, observing as closely (and, I hope, as respectfully) as I can. For all I know, my sketches could be their last images from life on earth.

4/19/25

4/19/25

With Aegis residents, I hadn’t thought about it in this way before. Since I visit regularly, I guess I always assume I will have more opportunities to sketch them. Obviously, though, that’s not true (and especially at a retirement community). Each sketch we make of any person might be a record of the last time we see them. 

Green Lake’s May Green

 

4/25/25 Green Lake

Even though I’d had a long, busy day, I couldn’t resist dashing out to meet Ching and Natalie at Green Lake in the late afternoon. I typically walk around the lake in the morning, so I don’t often see the lovely light later in the day. In addition, this time of year turns most of the shoreline trees that vibrant, shimmering hue of yellow-green aptly named “May Green” in some colored pencils (yes, of course, I see the world as colored pencil hues – doesn’t everyone?).

Small Protest

 

4/26/25 Protesters on the Holman Road pedestrian overpass

As is the case all over the US, protests about disgusting goings-on in the White House and the state of our country have been occurring regularly in Seattle. In addition to a large, central gathering outside the Federal Building every Friday, some neighborhoods have been hosting smaller events sporadically.

When Mary Jean told me she was organizing one in her Crown Hill neighborhood, I decided to join the group. Instead of carrying a sign on a pedestrian overpass, I opted to document the event with sketches. Although the group was small, they received plenty of supportive honks from drivers passing by. Every effort to make our voices heard is worthwhile and important.

The Sweet Side

 

4/24/25 The Sweet Side, Maple Leaf neighborhood

Just two (dangerously close) blocks from my house is The Sweet Side. This bakery’s specialty is fabulously decorated wedding and other custom cakes and treats. If you’re wondering why I haven’t sketched there while enjoying a decadent dessert, it’s because the Sweet Side has no seating area – it’s mostly a catering service plus some limited retail hours. It does, however, have a cake slice window facing the sidewalk. One could walk up to the window to purchase a single slice of cake, a cookie or a “scrap cake box.” The boxes are filled with the parts they trim off while decorating those custom cakes – not as pretty as a full-price slice, but a good value and just as tasty.

During the last holiday season, the Sweet Side sponsored a food drive for Northwest Harvest. Donors were given a coupon for a free slice of cake (mine shown randomly in this post). Since then, I had been waiting for a warm day to sketch the storefront and cute catering van. Last week, the day finally came.

Neptune Theatre

 

4/24/25 Neptune Theatre, U-District

You’ve heard me talk about how I am an opportunistic sketcher. I’m always looking for opportunities to sketch while I go about my usual daily business (that’s the definition of what I call a lifestyle sketcher). Whenever I go to my credit union, I get 30 minutes of free parking in the U-District (which is difficult to come by at any price). I always take advantage of it by sketching somewhere nearby, and last week it was the venerable Neptune Theatre.

I did a more detailed sketch and wrote more about the Neptune several years ago in this post. In the short time I had last week, I made this sketch about the final letter E in its name, which is shaped like a trident (erroneously labeled “pitchfork” in my sketch. Shame on me – I know the difference between the devil’s pitchfork and Neptune’s trident!) I’ve always loved that cool neon sign. In 2018 when the marquee was updated and digitized, the theatre retained its original look completely, thankfully.

Cold Chairs at U Village

 

4/27/25 University Village

University Village is one of USk Seattle’s tried-and-true for transitional seasons because the retail center has some sheltered areas to keep us dry. Sketchers can make themselves comfy at all the public umbrella’d tables without having to patronize venues. Except for stores and restaurants, however, U Village is all outdoors, so a cold morning is still a cold morning – made even colder because the chairs are made of metal. Yikes! Although I typically stand to sketch anyway, I sat just for a moment to keep my lettering straight, and yowza, was that chair chilly! Despite that common complaint, everyone’s enthusiasm was high last Sunday.

Trying to study color temperature again, I was in the mood for a primary triad to capture the bright colors of red umbrellas and new, green leaves on the Japanese maple trees (plus a U Village icon, Leo Sewell’s “junk” penguin sculpture).

Colder than ever from standing longer than I expected (color temperature studies always take me longer than I think they will), I took a brisk walk around the Village. Finding a spot in the direct sun (if the sun were to appear from behind clouds), I looked around and found bronze sculptures of a calf and a turtle. To add to the menagerie, I caught a living, breathing pup waiting for his human to finish snacking.

Technical note: In the first sketch, I was so focused on the challenge of color temperature combined with using a primary triad (a decision I made before realizing that the scene had so much green) that I really let the composition get away from me. The penguin was so much fun that I started drawing it first, but later I felt that it weakened the composition. Below is how I would have cropped it if I had been thinking more about composition and not about color. As usual, my pea brain can’t handle more than one concept at a time!

So European

 

4/17/25 Kwanzan cherry trees near Green Lake

As I’ve mentioned on other occasions, I always try to make my daily fitness walks as expeditious as possible by working them into errands or appointments. I’m lucky to live in a neighborhood where many amenities I use are within walking distance.

4/17/25 My first urban couch of the season!

Although I do a major grocery shopping trip by car every two or three weeks, I enjoy making more frequent trips on foot for small, lightweight things. One avocado, a couple of apples, a box of salad greens – it’s usually produce that I’ll finish in less than a week. The Green Lake PCC is ideal for this – a pleasant, 15-minute walk with mountain views in two directions. Of course, I sketch along the way when I can.

OK, so it’s not strolling home from an open market with a baguette sticking out of my straw basket, but these shopping trips on foot always make me feel so European.

4/21/25 A quick break at Cloud City Coffee

My Long Shadow

 

Plum Color Temperature Study

 

4/22/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Now that I’m past the excitement of pink petal peeping and sketching, I want to get back to studying color temperature. Specifically, I want to apply what I learned in Sarah Bixler’s class to sketching in the real world, on location. With all those cherry trees I sketched, I found that I was too enamored with the subject matter to focus on study, which requires a different kind of concentration. It’s actually easier to study color temperature with a “nothing” scene.

These are the same ornamental plum trees I became obsessed with several years ago as I tried to find the right color mixes to capture the reddish-purple, nearly black hue of their foliage. During that first pandemic summer, this dead-end street between Maple Leaf and Green Lake became my favorite safe and easy place to study this confounding color.

In this photo, the grassy areas look blown out and overly warm;
in reality, the fence looked warmer.

With a limited palette (yellow, red, purple, blue) and nothing tricky to draw, I could see the whole scene abstractly in the same way my classmates and I practiced color temperature concepts on portrait skin tones. The warmest spot was the fence toward the left. Other than the sky, which I decided not to color, the coolest area was the broad freeway barrier wall in the background (in reality, a dark gray; I mixed all four colors). Everything else was somewhere in between. I considered mixing a very warm green for the grass, but instead I just added a bit of yellow to the purple shadows only where the trees’ cast shadows hit the grass. I left the street shadows straight purple.



Now that it’s finally warming up a bit, I intend to do more of these studies on my walks.

Bags o’ Bags

4/21/25 One of six bag o' bags

I’m willing to bet that you have a bag of bags – maybe more than one. Probably in a closet or other storage area, the bag is full of plastic and paper bags that once contained purchases and that you intend to reuse. I’m also willing to bet that the ones that are hardest to simply toss are the ones made of heavy paper and with strong, sturdy bottoms and two rope handles. I call them handle bags. Surely they will be just right for gifting someday, right? So you save them.

I just wanted to establish that we all have these bags of bags – before I show you mine.

After I finished Phase 2 of my big downsizing project, I decided to start on several minor areas that still need work. These are areas that I know I can finish in a couple of hours or less – a closet, a cabinet or a drawer. First up was the front coat closet, which is in my studio/office. I had planned to procrastinate on this one for a while longer, but I was motivated to do it now for one reason only: After still more downsizing after moving downstairs, I had three bins of stationery and art materials that could not find a home in the studio/office proper, yet I was not ready to get rid of them. I needed a small, limited amount of overflow storage area. The closet was a convenient location.

Aside from my coats and jackets (which I had previously downsized), the closet was jam-packed with bags – lots and lots of freebie, logo’d tote bags (every organization’s favorite tchotchke), higher-quality, purchased bags, backpacks, bag-in-bag organizers, insulated lunch bags – bags, bags, bags. What I thought was a two-hour task turned into two days because I had to downsize all the many bags I no longer needed (two boxes filled for Goodwill!).

The truly impressive part, though, was the number of handle bags in the closet. About a decade ago, I spent some time sorting, organizing and reducing the humongous collection. Like everything else, though, they continued to multiply.

Needless to say, the floor of this small closet was overflowing with handle bags. I wish I had thought to take a photo before I started cleaning, but I did remember to take one after I had pulled everything that was on the floor out into the studio for sorting. My intention was to recycle shabby handle bags, but most were so reuseable! The bright colors and sturdy handles! How could I possibly toss them?

The contents of the closet . . . mostly from the floor. 

St. Vincent DePaul and the Salvation Army are delighted to take reusable handle bags for their shoppers to use, and I had donated many then, but the last of these stores that was convenient to me has closed. I recently learned, however, that food banks also need handle bags for their customers, so I just donated a bunch to the one in the U District (along with some food).

My handle bags, which multiply faster than bunnies and almost as fast as colored pencils.

Most important, though, is that my small overflow of art supplies now fits tidily in the closet. (I will not let the closet become a new general art supply storage area! No, no, no! I’m saying it aloud here so that if it happens, you can shame me!)

Nice and tidy now. The three bins on the floor contain unused notebooks, miscellaneous pencils and pads of drawing paper. A small collection of remaining handle bags tucked in back.

By the way, if you think the Space Needle on that tote bag looks like a sketch I would make, you’re right! It’s a digitally printed tote bag from Rickshaw Bags (a service they stopped shortly after I got mine, sadly).

4/23/25 My reward at Rossellini's 

Sunshine Flu at Gas Works Park

 

4/18/25 Gas Works Park

I suspect that half the city had called into work last Friday with a bad case of “the sunshine flu.” With the temperature hitting 70 and the sky a clear blue, everyone was celebrating a much-needed reprieve from winter.

I invited Natalie and Kim to join me at Gas Works Park, which is always the first place I think of when the weather turns unseasonably beautiful. All those sunshine flu sufferers? They were reveling, as were we.

L.A., Part 6: People in Transit (Plus Travel Prep)

 

4/10/25 light rail ride to SeaTac

As is always the case when I fly, I had plenty of time to sketch at airports on both ends of my trip. In addition, I had longish light rail rides to and from SeaTac airport to catch a few commuters, too. For this final post of my L.A. series, I’m including all my in-transit sketches. In addition, at the end, I’m including media notes and comments about my (nearly non-existent) travel prep.

I tend to favor Uglybooks in vibrant, midtone hues so that both black and white will pop as shadows and highlights. The lavender book I used for most of the trip was paler than I prefer because white doesn’t show up well. The paleness, however, forced me to make highlights with the paper color (like the highlights on the woman’s sunglasses on April 10, upper right), which is a fun challenge.

4/10/25 SeaTac airport

4/10/25 SeaTac airport

4/10/25 light rail and SeaTac food court area

4/15/25 LAX

4/15/25 light rail ride home

For many years, prepping my sketch materials for travel began weeks and even months before the trip. (If you read earlier posts with the “travel” tag and in the Travel Sketching section, you can witness the whole process.) I hemmed and hawed about what to take and what not to take; auditioned various permutations of bags and accessories; even had “dress rehearsals” by going out sketching locally with whatever travel setup I was considering. Admittedly, I enjoyed this process almost as much as the travel itself, so it wasn’t burdensome. But the longer I sketched and the more I traveled, the simpler my process became. At some point my travel sketch kit basically became the same as my everyday-carry.

As my everyday-carry sketch kit has become smaller and simpler the past five years (I have the pandemic to thank for that), so has my travel sketch kit; in fact, it was no different at all for LA. The only color consideration I made was to make sure I had two shades of green because I planned to sketch at Descanso Garden.

All the usual suspects: A variety of water-soluble colored pencils, acrylic markers, Pitt Artist Pens, Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and waterbrush. The kit has been getting a little thick around the belly, so I might need to do some trimming soon.

Beyond that, my only “prep” consisted of filling a spare brush pen with ink in case the first ran dry (it didn’t) and bringing a second Uglybook because I could see that the remaining pages in the one I was using wouldn’t last the whole trip. In addition to those daily-carry items, I brought my current A6-size Hahnemühle sketchbook for using color and a panorama-format Uglybook if I wanted a larger page for my comics style.

Sketch kit, water spritzer and three sketchbooks. The spare brush pen came along but wasn't needed. In the background is my Rickshaw-made, limited-edition tote bag that the Erasable Podcast gave to its Patreon supporters last year.

As for a bag, I used my usual everyday-carry Rickshaw Mini Zero Messenger plus an auxiliary tote bag to hold the additional sketchbooks. When traveling, the latter is useful for all kinds of things, not just sketch materials that won’t fit in my mini: a water bottle; the layer that I inevitably shed by midday; the sun hat I don’t need during the daily morning “June gloom.”

Without the angst, drama and dithering of years ago, my travel prep takes all of minutes instead of months. I’m good with that.