Single-Panel Comics

1/31/25 Cloud City Coffee

When making small, quick sketches on my walks, I often think of them as single-panel comics. They don’t usually have much story to tell, but I try to tell as much story as possible in one frame. The one at right seems to be the most successful as a single-panel story: I couldn’t draw much less to convey the story, but I don’t have to draw more, either.

2/3/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

When I think of them as comics, I also become more aware of the frame – whether it’s needed or not. Almost always, I think a frame helps to give the story and composition a place in space. The garbage trucks (below) were gesture sketches that I was able to get only because I was chasing them down the street and around corners (with thawing slush still on the sidewalks! Treacherous footwork!). I didn’t have time to frame them or even think about the compositions, and the result is less finished. (My handwriting shows how cold my hands were, even with fingerless gloves on.)

2/7/25 chasing trash trucks in Maple Leaf

The overall story of this post is how unhappy I am with the bright turquoise Field Notes I’ve been using. Although I love the hue, it’s just a bit too pale as a midtone to make white pop. The smooth surface is great for ink (although some inks are bleeding through), but I sure miss Uglybooks’ ideal tooth with colored pencil. At this point, I’m just trying to burn through pages quickly and skip the back sides of pages where ink bled through. I can’t wait to get back to a beloved Uglybook.

2/9/25 Green Lake (Every medium I used was fighting me!)

2/12/25 Roosevelt neighborhood

2/12/25 Two peaks on one walk

One more story from a walk that happened too fast to sketch, even for me: I spotted a coyote! I keep hearing about coyote sightings in my neighborhood, but I had never seen one with my own eyes until this one. I know pet and chicken owners see coyotes as their enemy, but I sympathize with these wild carnivores. They’re just trying to make a living like the rest of us. One reason they are coming into urban areas is that humans have encroached on areas that used to be their habitat. What a beauty.

Too Fast

 

When I couldn’t find a product, a Costco staff member offered to look it up in the system to see whether it was out of stock or was gone for good. Relishing a few minutes of sketchwaiting time, I pulled out my brush pen and Field Notes to catch folks pushing their carts toward the exit. But the helpful Costco guy was too fast for me, and I only got these two.

These quick gestures reminded me, though, that the One Week 100 People sketching challenge is just around the corner: March 3 – 7! Check out Marc Holmes’ blog for details if you’re interested in playing, and see my sketches from prior years. This will be my ninth consecutive year participating!

Of Course, We Begin with Values

2/8/25 Faber-Castell Polychromos
(all sketches in Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook)

The first assignment in Sarah Bixler’s class was – surprise, surprise – an emphasis on values. Using only gray tones and black, we were to make four master copies of the image from the portrait shown at the end of the post. Sarah encouraged us not to worry about resemblance or even proportions. We were instructed to squint a lot, avoid details, avoid rendering with contour lines, and simply make large shapes of value contrasts. In addition, since most students were experienced painters but new to colored pencils as an art medium, the exercise was an opportunity to become familiar with the medium. (I may be unique among my classmates in that I have little painting experience but expertise in colored pencil geekery!)

2/9/25 Caran d'Ache Luminance

After having spent part of the first class discussing color and getting excited about colored pencils again, you can imagine how frustrating this exercise was for me (and probably all my classmates): We were all using freshly sharpened pencils, yet we were to avoid all detail – and color!

2/9/25 Prismacolor

Of course, I understood the purpose of such an exercise, so I soldiered on, and it was challenging as well as frustrating. To avoid rendering, I tried to shade loosely with my pencil held way up near the wrong end. Sarah equates this pencil method with painting with a palette knife instead of a brush. When doing the latter with oil or acrylics, you slather on paint, then scrape it off with the edge of the knife. Picky, little details are not possible – only large swaths of color. This is part of how we learn to think like a painter, regardless of actual medium. To make it more interesting for myself, I switched out the pencils.

2/10/25 Polychromos

Despite my grumbles, the exercise was low pressure because I wasn’t worried about whether my copies looked anything like the painting (what a mean grump I made this sweet girl into!).

You'd never guess from my studies that they were all from the same reference!

Colored Pencils are Back!

 

2/10/25 Seven Market & Cafe, Ravenna neighborhood

My most recent play date with pals Roy and Mary Jean was fun (which it always is) as well as another media shake-up. While we’re indoors for the winter, I’ve been using our sketch gatherings to play with media that are hard for me to use in the field. Last time I used Caran d’Ache Neocolor II. Another time I tried Caran d’Ache Neopastels and Derwent Inktense Blocks. Last week, inspired by my reunion with colored pencils in Sarah Bixler’s class, I put together a palette of Caran d’Ache Luminance pencils based on the colors I’m using in class. Even if the pencils are different, I enjoy using the same limited palette so that I can get accustomed to how the hues work together.

Caran d'Ache Luminance pencils in Sarah Bixler's recommended palette 

We met at Seven Market and Café, a small, eclectic venue in the Ravenna neighborhood in a former old house. Offering provisions like wine, canned fish, stationery, and their own roasted coffees, not to mention excellent pastries, we laughed about how we could live there for a long time! The sketch at top of post looks down the aisle of working antique refrigerators and wine.

Of course, I always like to record the outing in my sketch journal, which is currently a limited edition Field Notes containing turquoise pages. I thought this notebook would be an acceptable, temporary break from Uglybooks, but I must say that the latter’s 80-pound paper has certainly spoiled me. This Field Notes contains 24-pound Astrobrite, and I love the color, but I’m getting bleed-through with some markers and brush pens, and the surface pills under rough Posca markers. Unexpectedly, I’m also feeling cramped by the standard Field Notes size (3 ½ -by-5 ½ inches). You wouldn’t think losing a quarter-to-half-inch in page size would make much difference, but it does. I’ll finish this one up, but I’m already looking forward to going right back to my beautiful Uglies.

Breakfast at Seven Market and lunch at Isarn Thai Soul Kitchen 

I’d been neglecting my round robin Seawhite of Brighton concertina, so I hastily made a sketch facing the storefront with a window view of a Chinese pinwheel palm. After sketching in the book we each had that day, we made another rotation in our round robin. We already have plans for our next group project after the concertinas are full!

Through the front window

A learning opportunity: After I took my “trophy shot” (below) of the colored pencil sketch to share on social media, I frowned at how wimpy the colors and especially the values were. I thought the sketch was done, but sometimes I don’t see how easily I could improve it until after I take a photo. Something about a flat, digital image enhances flaws – which is very helpful! I went home and layered the same colors over different areas and added more contrast overall (the finished sketch at top of post).

Wimpy colors and values

One last highlight: In addition to colored pencils, guess what else is back in action? My beloved Peg & Awl mini Sendak (one of them, anyway)! My commitment to a small everyday-carry bag has prevented me from using any of my Sendaks regularly, which makes me very sad. On our mixed-media play dates, though, I always bring a larger sketchbook and enough additional media that I need to use an auxiliary tote bag anyway, so I’m thrilled to have a purpose for a Sendak again!

Mini Sendak back in action! (Photobomb by Weather Bunny adorning the cover of my concertina's slipcase.)

Old-School Seattle Snow

 

2/6/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood, about 8:30 a.m.

As much as I can see without putting on boots.

The first good snow of the season is always a novelty in these parts. People post photos of their streets on Facebook, and a couple of inches will close schools. Unfortunately for kids, they don’t get a snow day – they have to attend class online. (Pandemic preparedness sure ruined snow days!) With temps above freezing, the wet, heavy snowfall last week was pretty first thing in the morning when I sketched this but soon turned into a slushy mess. This is old-school, Seattle-style snow – not that newfangled climate change stuff we got several years ago.

It was trash day, and everyone optimistically put their bins out the previous night. Unfortunately, all the pickups were delayed all over the city. I didn’t care about that; I was just grateful I didn’t lose power as many areas did.

Technical note: How I’ve missed graphite and all pencils! The markers I’ve been using for the better part of a year have been fun and expeditious (and just right for the comics approach I’ve been focused on), but making this sketch with a Blackwing made my heart soar in a way that using markers never will!

The day before the solid snowfall, we got an inch of "teaser" snow that
was gone by noon. During my afternoon walk when the snow was starting
again, I spotted this quintessential Seattle snowman!

To-Go is the New For-Here

 

2/5/25 Cloud City Coffee

One unfortunate outcome of the pandemic is that after cafes were allowed to serve food and beverages with reusables again, many decided to stay with disposables. I’m sure that using takeout boxes and paper cups is easier than washing and managing breakable plates and ceramic mugs, so I understand that decision from the often-understaffed café business perspective. But when I intend to stay in a café to sketch, I miss feeling like I am “here.” Even if I say “for here,” I often receive my refreshments as if I am “going.”

Like some regulars who come to Cloud City Coffee, I could bring my own mug to avoid a disposable cup, and I always used to do that when I drove to most cafes. That would make me feel better from an environmental perspective. I guess I should just do that again, but now I always try to walk to my coffee breaks (that’s one way I justify having a pastry), and I don’t like carrying a cup while I walk. Moreover, using my own cup wouldn’t address my personal issue of wanting to feel like I’m “here” and not “going.”

Sigh. Yet another first-world problem (or maybe it’s just my existential one).

Lunch at PCC

 

2/4/25 PCC Green Lake cafe 

After standing on the sidewalk for five very cold minutes to sketch the tree that was no longer there, I was relieved to warm up inside PCC Green Lake’s café to sketch and have lunch with Natalie. While I devoured a burrito too quickly to sketch, I noticed a man wearing a fantastic hat. He was still there when I finished eating, so I got him just in time before he left.

My other favorite sketch in this page spread is the man at lower left (he may look like he’s sketching, but I think he was working on a newspaper crossword puzzle). For a while now, I’ve been deliberately trying to draw less than what I see: Make as few marks as possible while still conveying the story (I talk about it briefly in this post from last year and more recently in this one). I could see that he didn’t have hair, but I didn’t have to draw that bald pate for you to imagine it, right?

Color Temperature with Sarah Bixler

 

Prismacolor and Polychromos palettes recommended by Sarah Bixler

Although I’ve taken quite a few classes and workshops in the past decade with colored pencils and watercolor pencils as the primary medium, none has intrigued me as much as the ones I’ve had with Sarah Bixler. My introduction in 2021 was a weekend workshop with portraiture as the focus. Still reassembling my brain after having it blown open with new concepts, I took another workshop a few weeks later that was similar but used the full figure as our subject.

In both cases, it wasn’t necessarily life drawing that interested me; it was her focus on color temperature and her application of colored pencils with a strong painterly approach.

Polychromos

For quite a while afterwards, I worked on trying to apply her principles and approach to urban sketching, but I realized I still had so much more to learn to think like a painter. When I saw that she was offering another class, I jumped on it. Instead of in-studio weekend workshops like the previous two were, this course is five weeks, which I’ve found to be the most effective format for me when I want to get a solid handle on complex concepts.

 “Interpreting the Portrait” again focuses on the portrait, and this one is online. Typically I wouldn’t be interested in taking a life-drawing course online, but since the subject is less important to me than the concepts, I decided that learning from photos would be OK. After nearly a year of trying something entirely different with a comics approach using mostly markers, I’m super excited to get my brain back into color, color temperature and especially colored pencils!

To begin with, Sarah recommended a specific palette of Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils based on color temperature (a cool and a warm of each hue, plus some grays, black and white), which I was already familiar with from her previous workshops. A former user of Prismacolors, she now prefers Polychromos, but not because of expected reasons such as hardness or color range; she just got tired of contemporary Prismacolors breaking all the time!

For the kind of application technique she uses, I prefer a softer core than Polychromos. Hearing her reason for favoring them, I used the Polychromos palette she had specified as a guide and pulled out comparable hues from my Prismacolors (vintage, of course, to avoid the breakage issue). I plan to try both as the course goes on.

Prismacolor (mostly vintage plus a few contemporary)

In an online course from home, I would normally have my full sets easily accessible. But my studio has been in a transitional mess for the past several months, and I’m starting to pack my drawing desk (poor timing with this class, I know!). With the hope of avoiding constantly digging through packing boxes, I’m acting like I’m taking an in-person class and filled a pencil case with the two limited palettes. It’s a stretch of the imagination, I know, but I’m pretending these are the only colored pencils I own! (Ha-ha, I can hear you chuckling!)

For today’s post, which is already long, I’ll just show you the palettes. When I finish the first week’s assignment, I’ll write a separate post.

Paying Respects

2/4/25 Green Lake neighborhood
(a 5-minute sketch because it was 38 degrees!)

I’m glad I sketched it last month when I could: The maple tree that stood outside my yoga instructor’s studio was cut down last week. The next time I was in the neighborhood, I stopped by to pay respects.

It looks so empty there now. But after the pavement gets fixed, most passers-by will not remember that a tree grew there for more than a hundred years – planted long before all the buildings on that block were built. I’m sure I’ve done it many times, too – passed a spot where a tree used to be, but I didn’t even notice that it had disappeared at some point. That’s why it’s important to sketch the ones I do remember.

Office Chair

2/2/25 Greg's office chair

Other than the jukebox, the only object I needed to remove before I could move into my new studio was Greg’s office chair. (I’m keeping his two desks already occupying the room, both of which are larger than the ones in my current studio.) Although he used it for something like 20 years, it’s still in good condition (better than mine, in fact, but mine fits me better).

Even though it kept getting in my way as I emptied file drawers and moved boxes around, I put off getting rid of his chair until the very end. Greg had spent a lot of hours in that chair – doing the usual computer tasks but also viewing, sorting and editing his vast collection of photos. As a digital photographer, he spent much more time futzing with his photos in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop than he did taking the photos. He might come home from a two-week trip with thousands of images, but then he’d take the next year or more messing around with them digitally. For him, that was a lot of the fun of it.

While I was transferring all those image files so that I could dispose of his PC, I sat in his chair (which is how I learned that it’s not as comfortable as my own old office chair). It prompted complicated feelings I can’t quite articulate. A person’s things are not the person; and yet, some things become very personal. He could still sit in that chair now, but he has no use for it.

Somehow it helped me to get rid of it by posting a “give” in my neighborhood’s Buy Nothing Group. It turned out that the woman who wanted the chair for her teenage son lives less than half a block away! Although it was a bit of a struggle getting it down the two short flights of stairs from the porch to the street, she easily wheeled it down the sidewalk the rest of the way. It made me happy that the chair had introduced me to a neighbor I didn’t know, even though her family has lived there for eight years. And the chair has moved only a short distance away.

Seacuterie

2/1/25 My seacuterie dinner

During the decades when Greg and I both worked full time, one of our favorite ways to unwind on Friday nights was to put together a charcuterie dinner washed down with beer or 2-buck Chuck while we watched rented movies on VHS and DVDs (the pre-streaming days). “Charcuterie” is probably an overstatement; we just put out whatever lazy, easy stuff we had in the fridge or pantry – canned fish and oysters, cheese, crackers, dip, pickles, olives – and called it good. And it was good. So good, in fact, that we kept it going after we retired and no longer had an excuse for such laziness (except that retirement is made for laziness). And now that I live alone, I’m lazier than ever (at least about meal prep)!

I can’t even recall now what I was searching for, but one day a few months ago, I ended up on YouTube plunging headlong into a rabbit hole of – wait for it – people reviewing “tinned” fish (“tinned” is more trendy than “canned”). They eat the contents straight out of the can in front of a video camera. Apparently tinned fish initially caught fire on TikTok (doesn’t everything of any value begin on TikTok?), and now everyone wants to eat it, talk about it, and talk about it while eating it.

That’s how I learned that this thing we’d been doing for decades is called a “seacuterie” or “conservas board.” People put out tins on a tray and serve them to guests, and it’s considered cool and fancy! Who knew we were cool and fancy! 

And the tins have become fancy, too. I’m used to $2 cans of sardines from Costco, but that rabbit hole taught me that you can now buy cans upwards of $20! I won’t go that far, but my curiosity led me to cans of sardines, salmon and mackerel in the $5-to-$10 range, and I admit, they are way better than the ones from Costco. Damnit – now I’m doomed to buy $5 and $10 sardines for the rest of my life. (This is starting to sound like art supplies: After using Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelles, how can I go back to Supracolors?)

Tinned fish purchased and eaten in Porto

It never would have occurred to me to sketch my simple “seacuterie” meal, but now that I know I’m trendy (and have been for a long time), I felt I must. (In fact, sardines are considered to be “hot girl food” – so now I’m not only trendy; I’m hot!)

One more thing related to tinned fish: One of many delights we discovered in Portugal was the unbelievably fantastic selection of tinned seafood available there. Portugal, the sardine and anchovy capital of the world, offers canned fish in conserveira shops, where shelves are stacked with extraordinarily beautiful, colorful tins. We couldn’t resist buying a bunch in Porto. We ate them all for breakfast during the rest of the trip because we didn’t want to haul the heavy cans home in our luggage. Best tinned fish ever! What a treat! (The beginning of this video shows a Lisbon restaurant that serves canned fish! That’s an even lazier dining experience than my seacuterie . . . at least I open the cans myself!) 

Almost as pretty as an art supply store!

Near-Miss on National Croissant Day

 

1/30/25 Macrina Bakery, Maple Leaf neighborhood

I may have ambivalence about Facebook, but if it hadn’t been for my Facebook “Memories” reminding me of my past observances of National Croissant Day on Jan. 30 each year, I might have missed it altogether!

Gratefully spared of that tragedy, I gave myself a break from income tax work to observe the important holiday. Since we have a CPA who does the heavy lifting, the hardest part about tax stuff is just getting started with the tedious prep. As I’ve experienced many times with downsizing tasks, I have a bad habit of procrastinating and procrastinating, and the longer I do, the more onerous it becomes (in my mind). Once I get started, though, it doesn’t take much time because by then I’m motivated to finish quickly. So the chocolate croissant wasn’t just a national observance; it was also a reward for getting started earlier in the tax season than I usually do.

Art, Jazz and Introversion

 

1/29/25 Aljoya Thornton Place art gala

If you don’t know me personally and saw only my posts about outings with Urban Sketchers, drink & draws, and other sketch gatherings with friends, you might have the impression that I’m a gregarious extrovert. You’d be dead wrong. I’m actually one of the strongest introverts I know. I suppose I would label myself a “social introvert” (as categorized by people who like to categorize people): I prefer spending time alone or in smaller social settings. I generally avoid large gatherings, but if I’m in the right mood, I’m open to them. (But like all types of introverts, I need a long period of time alone after any socializing to recharge.)

Attending art exhibit receptions at Aljoya Thornton Place retirement community is a bit of a stretch for my introverted self, but the last time I attended, I had a good time. And just like my daily fitness walk is motivated by the potential for a sketch, so is pushing myself out the door for an event like this. (Bonus: The weather was beautiful that afternoon, so I even walked to the event at Northgate – win/win/win!)

After enjoying the art, I followed the jazz music into the library to finish my bubbly and excellent snacks. Walking into a room where everyone else is already engaged in conversation can be awkward, but that’s where my sketchbook is such a great companion. I found a seat where I could see the jazz trio performing and pulled out my sketchbook. Eventually another woman attending alone sat down nearby, commented on my sketch, and we started chatting.

I’ve heard many beginning (and not-so-beginning) sketchers lament about their fear of sketching in public – the fear of attracting attention, of having to reveal their work, or even of being criticized. I have the opposite view: In a potentially awkward or uncomfortable social setting, sketching puts me at ease. It also seems to give other people an easy way to approach me, so I don’t have to do that work. Some might call my sketchbook a security blanket, but it also serves as an icebreaker.

Best of all, I go home with a sketch.

Technical note: This is one of my favorite kinds of sketch journal pages: Some on-location sketches that show what I did, some space for writing, and a bonus bit of collage! (In case it's difficult to read my fortune, it says: "Good ideas will spring forth naturally from your mind in the coming week." I like that!)

Back to Morning Fog

 

1/29/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood, about 8:30 a.m., 31 degrees

Unless I’m planning to make a time-consuming, highly detailed drawing in graphite, which would require a range of grades, I tend to pick just one relatively soft pencil, maybe a 2B, for most sketches. I’ve had trouble, though, with even medium-soft pencils when sketching fog. It’s too easy to suddenly find myself going too dark (which is ironic, because in every drawing class I’ve taken, regardless of medium, instructors have urged me to go darker with values). In addition, it’s so tempting to draw in a few sharp details, but fog flattens everything into pale, blurry tones.

After several days of beautiful, well-earned sunshine, we were plunged into a deep fog again last Wednesday – so thick that I could barely see across the street. It was also frosty-cold. I tried a Mitsubishi Hi-Uni in grade H, but even that seemed too soft. It helped to use a blending stump to remove as much texture as possible, but that can also darken graphite if I overdo it. Next time, I’ll choose an even harder grade.

It Bloomed!

1/28/25 Paperwhite narcissus 

My paperwhite narcissus finally bloomed! Or let’s just say I got some blossoms . . . I seem to be missing a few, based on the kit package image.

Hmmm. . . I seem to be missing a few.

Thoughts on Social Media and Blogging

 

1/16/25 During the holidays, I donated to a food drive organized by
a neighborhood cake bakery. In exchange for my donation, I was 
given a coupon that I could redeem in January for a free slice of cake!

Many friends and others I follow on Facebook and Instagram are leaving those platforms due to recent changes in how our data are used, political stances of the platforms’ owners, and other significant reasons. I’ve long been ambivalent about all social media, and these changes are only deepening my concerns. I haven’t decided when or whether I’ll leave Facebook or Instagram, but for now, I’m staying. If I do leave, I will likely simply stay off social media altogether rather than flee to Bluesky as others are doing. I’m sure it’s better than FB and IG now, but who’s to say it won’t get gobbled up by a nefarious entity a few years down the line, and then we’d be back where we started. (That’s how I ended up on Instagram – it was seen as the social media darling that was so much better than Facebook – until it became Facebook.)

1/27/25 Light rail commuter, northbound

Regardless of my eventual decisions about any of that, what I am certain about is that I will continue to blog here indefinitely. My blog doesn’t serve the same purposes as social media (and sadly, it does not help me stay connected to certain people I would otherwise probably lose touch with if we weren’t on Facebook, which is one reason I remain there). But it has always been more satisfying to me to blog than to participate in social media. If it weren’t, I would not have kept this up nearly daily for close to 13 years (long, long past the point when blogging was declared dead).

Even though I don’t know most of my blog readers any more than I do my Instagram followers, I somehow feel safer and less vulnerable here on my blog compared to being “out there.” I share many things here that I don’t share on Facebook or Instagram. Most important to me, my blog gives me the space and time to reflect and think and write and revise (and proofread carefully!), none of which is easily possible when I’m trying to type with my finger and dodge autocorrections on my phone screen.

1/27/25 Light rail commuter, southbound

Anyway, this is all just a long-winded, thinking-aloud preamble to my real message today, which is to thank you for your readership. Whether you’ve been with me since the beginning or joined me more recently, I appreciate that you come along on my daily mutterings about sketching, pencils, walking, downsizing, my creative process or whatever else I’m going on about. I’d still be muttering here even if you weren’t reading, but it does make me happy to know that you are.

(Sketches shown here are apropos of nothing, but perhaps they reflect the rambling nature of today’s post.)

1/28/25 Roofers, Maple Leaf neighborhood

The USk Drink & Draw is Back

1/31/25 USk drink & draw at Project 9 Brewing Co. (After half a beer, I apparently lose my ability to spell!)

After a holiday season hiatus, the USk Seattle drink & draw is back! All summer and early fall, our “usual” table had been in Project 9 Brewing Company’s huge sheltered outdoor space, but I was afraid it would be too cold and wet last Friday afternoon. With all their heaters going full blast, though, it was perfectly comfy (and so much quieter than inside). The only surprise was the occasional splatter of rainwater from the tent roof, which must have had some tiny leaks. But all the sketchers took the drops in our sketchbooks in stride – we’re urban sketchers, after all.

An interesting trend I’ve noticed at our drink & draws is that they seem to attract first-timers who have not yet attended a regular Urban Sketchers gathering. I always explain that drink & draws do not follow the usual outing format; they are simply casual, informal opportunities to sketch while we chat.

From an introvert’s perspective, if I were a newcomer, I would find it much easier to attend an actual sketch outing where I’d spend the bulk of the time sketching on my own instead of talking with people I don’t know. For others, though, it’s apparent that they feel more comfortable getting their feet wet in a familiar social situation such as enjoying a beer and snacks while they socialize. I’m happy that USk Seattle has different ways of making newcomers feel welcome. We all had a blast, and I’m looking forward to more of these, especially as the days grow warmer and longer.

Play Date at US Bank Centre

1/27/25 US Bank Centre

As mentioned yesterday, Roy, Mary Jean and I had an art play date at US Bank Centre, where lots of comfy tables and chairs are available to spread out materials, and no one else seems to use them (at least on weekdays). One of my intentions with indoor play dates is to use chunky materials that are hard to use in the field, especially while standing. This time I also wanted to take my turn in the Seawhite of Brighton concertina book for our round-robin exchange because I hadn’t made any sketches in it since the last round. I was afraid the page size would be a bit too small for chunky materials, but I gave it a shot using Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons (top of post). The book worked out fine when I opened up several panels.

Later I stepped back from the room and sketched them sketching (below).

The best part was our throwdown when we all spread open our concertina books before the next round-robin exchange. All three books are full on one side, and one is already partially full on the second side. It’s so much fun to rotate the books and see the latest sketches the others have made in them.

Our round-robin concertina throwdown!

Maybe that wasn’t the best part of our day; it could have been lunch at Urara Japanese Cuisine, where I had (and sketched) the most beautiful chirashi I’ve seen in a long time! It was as delicious as it was colorful. Since I didn’t sketch it in full color, I’m including a photo for your heart-eyes emoji reaction. Even if you don’t like sashimi, you must appreciate the artistry in this meal!

1/27/25 Urara Japanese Cuisine

Edible art!