Bits and Pieces of My Days

 

1/7/25 Caffe Fiore, Sunset Hill neighborhood

As mentioned in a previous post, one reason I think my sketch journaling process has finally “stuck” is that I am not trying to stay within a specific format or approach. Drawing from life, from photos, from memory – it’s all good. By far, my favorite approach is the multi-panel, on-location comics format (like the one above). It always feels loose and liberating while paradoxically having a small element of tension: I have chosen a location (a café table), but I never know if I’ll have enough scenes to fill several panels from that spot. Meanwhile, I might be documenting something I want to remember that day (often a record of my downsizing activities).

On another day recently (below), I had gotten together with a couple of sketcher friends, all of us intending to sketch, but our conversation became so interesting that I never got past my pastry. (I wasn’t disappointed, though – it was a great discussion!)

1/3/25 still lives; photo reference

That evening, I didn’t want a page spread with nothing but my Macrina morning roll on it, so I added a couple of unrelated sketches (though related to what I was doing or thinking about that day). I didn’t leave myself space to write much, but the sketches are enough to prompt the memories. I also enjoyed putting a bit of thought into making the page look cohesive and “finished” with the broken borders around some elements. I don’t always care about finishing a page, but sometimes it’s a fun challenge.

Below is another example of an assembled page spread that documents my day in bits and pieces instead of one location. Before the USk sketch outing at US Bank Centre, I had enough time to make a quick stop at Pike Place Market. After I finished my errand, it was still early enough in the morning that I had a clear view of Rachel the Pig, a Market mascot, near the famous salmon-throwing fishmongers. (By the time I was finishing the sketch, the mongers started tossing and shouting, and suddenly my view was obstructed with excited tourists. It was nice to enjoy a rare deserted moment for as long as it lasted.) The rest of the spread includes my dessert with sketcher friends after the outing and my Market shopping. This spread was more satisfying to make than the previous one because I could sketch all of the elements live and not from photos.

1/11/25 Pike Place Market; Kastoori Grill; still life

Most of these types of pages are “rewards” for downsizing and home-improvement tasks accomplished. Other times, the reward is simply sharing a meal and sketching with a friend – that’s always reward enough.

1/8/25 Samurai Ramen and Jolli Daze, Chinatown International District

12/27/25 Swansons Nursery Cafe

1/10/25 ProShred in Tukwila

The last sketch shown at right is not in the comics format, but it’s the culmination of the focus of my most recent arduous tasks: I finally hauled all the paper and hard drives to a shredding/data destruction company. Making this sketch of the facility was visually brushing the dust from my hands – DONE!