Color and Joy at Dia De Muertos

 

11/1/26 Dia De Muertos festival at Seattle Center Armory

Dia De Muertos, the traditional Mexican festival honoring deceased loved ones, was an ideal way for USk Seattle to welcome the Big Dark (the outing was on the first day after the clocks fell back). Joyous and full of color, music and food, the Day of the Dead is a celebration that invites spirits back to the living world to join the festivities.

I thought the best way to immerse myself at the Seattle Center Armory was to walk around and capture bits of the festival (above). Huecha Omeyocan opened the event with glorious dance and music on the main stage. Although I missed all the movement and high energy, I tried to get at least the highly feathered headdress of one of the performers. With her face painted like a colorful skull, a young girl was learning to fold a traditional paper decoration. I also sketched a couple of the many colorful calacas characters displayed throughout.

When I got hungry, I stopped at a food stall to try esquite, which was like cream corn seasoned with chili and cotija cheese. While I waited, I caught a vendor making tostiesquites (seasoned corn chips that they serve right in the chip bag that has been cut open).

Fortified for the cold, I decided to go outside, where I found more Mexican food vendors.

More festival food vendors

Although I had used colored pencils in those sketches, I wanted to make one that was more in keeping with my Pencilvember objectives. In the time remaining before the throwdown, I made a quick homage to the Space Needle standing tall behind a wintry tree.

Space Needle

We had a fantastic turnout at a fun event!

My Mixed Media Eureka Moment

 

10/28/26 Caran d'Ache Neocolor II, Museum Aquarelle, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pens (photo reference)

Perhaps my Suflave cocktail had something to do with it, but I had a “Eureka!” moment. 

Being indisposed for most of the day, I decided to use the opportunity for more mixed-media experiments. You may recall from a recent post that while I appreciate how Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pens can be efficient for putting in the darkest of dark values, I don’t care for the hard, indestructible edges that markers make. I still haven’t found a way to make a smooth transition between waterproof markers and water-soluble materials like pencils and crayons.

I made another try (top of post) paying greater attention to the marks I was making, like dotting the Indigo Pitt marker lightly against water-soluble materials to soften the edges. Although this was somewhat better, I still wasn’t satisfied. Waterproof markers and water-soluble materials just don’t mix, I muttered, gulping down my beverage of the day.

Then the Eureka moment occurred: Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Markers! While containing inks just as intense as waterproof Pitt markers (and in a matching color range), the Dürer markers are water-soluble. I have a wide selection of colors that I bought several years ago and messed around with for a bit, but I never got into them. I pulled them out for the next sketch.

10/28/26 Caran d'Ache Neocolor II, Museum Aquarelle, Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolor Markers (photo reference)

To make a direct comparison, I used the same reference photo as used when I talked about the benefits of Pitt markers in achieving darks (that sketch shown below). First I did most of the drawing with Caran d’Ache water-soluble pencils and crayons. I activated those parts first with a dry-ish waterbrush. Then for the darkest shadow areas, I used an Indanthrene Blue Dürer marker. This time, I used the blue marker in the background trees (which I avoided the first time because I didn’t want to lose the texture). As I did the first time, I used a magenta Dürer marker on the foreground bush. At this stage (I wish I’d remembered to photograph it), the Dürer markers had a similar pasted-on look as their waterproof brethren.

Finally, I used a dry-ish waterbrush gently and sparingly to soften the marker edges where they meet water-soluble materials. The difference is subtle, but I like the result much better. With all that gentle, fussy activation, some of the efficiency of using markers was lost. But I’m encouraged that I can definitely see on-location potential for this mixed-media combo.

10/26/26 This was the original experiment combining Pitt markers with water-soluble materials.

Eureka! Bartender, bring me another Suflave!

Whenever I’ve dabbled in mixed media in the past, I’ve had fun using a variety of materials together, but it often felt random – just throwing in this and that with no specific intention or purpose (other than maybe fun, which certainly isn’t a bad thing). What I prefer, though, is each medium having a purpose – speed, texture, color intensity, or whatever it does best – that makes it the right choice. I’m looking forward to putting this combo to work in the field.

Sadly, these insights came to me at the end of InkTober and just before Pencilvember, when I have committed to using no water-soluble materials at all! Well, there’s always mixed-media Mondays (that’s a thing, right? All I need is a hashtag).

A Satisfying InkTober

 

10/31/26 Green Lake Park. A fun experiment in mark-making.

Another InkTober is in the books!

10/26/26 I took the reference photo of this neighborhood church during a golden
hour walk a couple of months ago. I'm pleased by the way the pale yellow marker caught the 
light that had initially caught my eye. I pass this church nearly every day on my walks, but I'm
usually not attracted to drawing it. It was only that light that made it interesting.

With just a few exceptions, I did all sketches on location this year (thanks to one of the driest Octobers on record, which is otherwise not good news). That enabled me to include those sketches as part of my usual, everyday storytelling here. I always find InkTober most satisfying when I can incorporate the challenge seamlessly into my normal, everyday sketching life instead of as an add-on. Shown here are the few remaining sketches that I haven’t shown in previous posts. Some cutlines include process notes.

Although I started out with trepidation, committing to waterproof brush markers – first Staedtler and later Faber-Castell – turned out to be a big win. Devoting 31 consecutive days to the medium taught me how I like to use them, how I don’t, pushed me outside my comfort zone each day, and led to an interesting “a-ha” that I’ll tell you about tomorrow.

One goal for this challenge was to practice sketching with values rather than hues (a concept I’ve been interested in all year). Using a limited palette of markers chosen by tone and temperature (a warm and a cool of light, mid- and dark tones) was frustrating at times but was ultimately informative and intriguing. It forced me to push past my usual matchy-matchy tendency with hues based on “reality” and look first for values instead. Another win!

10/21/26 Maple Leaf neighborhood

On the last two days, I pulled out all stops and embraced the marks that markers make – whether I like them or not. At Café Blameless (last one in this post), to show the brilliant window against the dark interior, I filled the background with the streaky marker look I have always detested. On the upside, I discovered I really enjoy blue as an alternative to gray for shading.

Finally, on a cold but sunny Halloween afternoon, I took my markers to Green Lake Park to experiment with mark-making (top of post). Dense with foliage, the darkness of this scene was difficult to convey. I like the haphazard hatching of leaves, but the vertical lines underneath (cars, tennis court, more trees, and other non-descript darkness) are less than successful. It was total fun, though, having a what-the-hell experimental attitude.

Has InkTober made me want to keep using brush markers for urban sketching? Probably not – at least not exclusively as I used them all month. But the challenge definitely opened my mind to their potential as a useful addition to my kit. I’m looking forward to further explorations ahead!

10/27/26 This day was a complete outlier. I had just received some new Field Notes from Draplin Design Co. containing funky pages printed with various abstract patterns that begged to be colored! I used the same palette of Pitt Artist Pens that I'd been using for InkTober to try a page.

10/28/26 When layered over other colors, the light blue Pitt makes a nice cool midtone for shadows.
(photo reference)

10/29/26 The morning before my noon colonoscopy, I was feeling dizzy and shaky, probably from low blood sugar and lack of sleep, but I pushed through this sketch anyway. I put in the foreground plants as an afterthought after I'd already drawn the frame, making for a clumsy composition. Looking at it now, though, I'm pleased by the value range I got from just five markers. (reference photo)

10/30/26 Cafe Blameless, Bryant neighborhood. Embracing the marker-y look I don't like!