Pushed Indoors Again in Columbia City

3/12/25 Empire Roasters & Records, Columbia City

Déjà vu: I recalled a USk Seattle outing in Columbia City way back in 2016 when heavy rain and wind pushed us all indoors. It wasn’t quite that bad on Wednesday, but it was definitely wet enough for our small group to retreat indoors.

Mary Jean and I decided on Empire Roasters and Records, where I had sketched with Roy and Kate just about a year ago. It’s a funky space combining a café and record store on three narrow floors. As I did last time, I admired all the furniture made from wood that still retained the raw edges, cracks and holes of the trees it came from.

I started with my current obsession: A color temperature study of the interior I faced. Using the tricks that seem to work best for me in Sarah Bixler’s class, which I had just finished, I looked for the warmest spots (the man’s face and the yellow painting on the wall) and the coolest area (his shirt). I noted that the light coming in through the window was on the cool side. From there, I just kept asking and comparing, Is this cooler or warmer than…? Eventually I want to bust out of this blue/orange (plus a little yellow) palette, but for now, it’s working for me as a learning tool. (I added the ceiling lamp at the library right before we had our throwdown.)

That done, I could relax and make a comics diary page to commend myself for unpacking my drawing table and filling my sketchbook bookcase (below).

It’s a shame that we couldn’t sketch outdoors because the Columbia City neighborhood is full of old architecture and fun business street fronts. But I was happy to have a comfy opportunity to work out color temperature concepts in a real-life location, not just a portrait from a photo.