The Dayton Cedars

 

10/14/25 Western red cedars on Dayton Street, Crown Hill neighborhood

These four western red cedars in the Crown Hill neighborhood are slated to be cut down and replaced by town homes and related parking. Environmental activist groups point out that an alternate plan is available to build the same housing while retaining the trees (yet likely wouldn’t be as profitable).

More than a hundred years old, the trees were planted by the Dyment family, who transplanted the cedars from Snoqualmie Pass so that the trees would surround their home. Beloved by the neighborhood, the four cedars provide cooling shade, mitigate stormwater runoff, provide oxygen, decrease pollution, and host numerous species of birds and wildlife. The homeowner cared for them until his death.

Fangirl Gets the Artist’s Guide

 

The new (left) and original versions of a seminal book on urban sketching

Way back in July, I mentioned that I was reading the newly republished version of the long out-of-print book, The Artist’s Guide to Sketching. Written by James Gurney and Thomas Kinkaid in 1982, the book captures both the philosophy and practice of what we all now think of as urban sketching. My review has finally been published in On the Spot, Gabi Campanario’s online ‘zine of graphic journalism.

A long-time follower of Gurney’s YouTube channel, I was delighted by how closely his and Kinkade’s approach to urban sketching aligned with my own. Although I could never see myself at any age doing what they did, I admired and envied their sheer joy of drawing that led them to hop freight trains across the country just to sketch. Theirs was the ultimate urban sketching adventure!

After thoroughly enjoying the rereleased version, I became curious about how hard it would be to obtain a copy of the original edition. Even as my commitment to downsizing has kept me from purchasing most hard copy books, it felt important to me to own the original. I had heard that copies sell on eBay for a hundred bucks, but with only a bit of searching, I found a used copy online for about $30 (the same price as the new edition).

I took my fangirling one step further: I emailed Gurney and told him of my intention to purchase a copy of the new version directly from his website. I asked whether he would be willing to autograph the original edition I had purchased, along with the rereleased copy. He graciously agreed, so I shipped the old book to him. Then he returned it along with the new copy I had purchased – both delightfully autographed!

The new edition is definitely an improvement. All the original images have been reproduced in color and of higher quality, and the new book includes drawings of that era that were not included in the original edition. Still, it’s fun to know that the original was the outcome of two young men sketching across the country, selling portraits in bars at night to make a buck. And it’s inspiring that 43 years later, their words still resonate with modern urban sketchers (at least this one).

InkTober, Week 2

 

For week 2 of InkTober, I tried to up my game by sometimes choosing more challenging reference photos. Like the cats – black cats (my double nemesis, though timely for the season). The challenge is avoiding a solid black face by retaining subtle highlights. With only two tones – black and the midtone colored paper – it’s hard to distinguish between the darkest local fur color and shading on that dark fur. The Pentel Pocket Brush Pen is better at making calligraphic line strokes than hatching large shapes. Poor Ada, a gorgeous cat in reality, took on a grumpy, gorilla look from all my bold brush pen strokes.

Overall, the dogs were much easier; a snout defines the face much more easily than the subtle forms of cats. Except for wall-eyed Fin, my unmeasured proportions are improving. I didn’t choose any solid-black dogs, however. Maybe that will be my challenge for week 3.

I’ve been sticking to my time limit of 15 minutes or less. After I feel confident about that time limit with a brush pen, I might try allowing 20 to 30 minutes and use a fountain pen to hatch. That might be a better approach with black animals.

(All InkTober reference photos were used previously for commissioned pet portraits in the past couple of years.)

Poor Ada... a wolfman cat.

Stretching – But Not Yoga!

 

9/26/25 Sequential Artists Workshop assignment

Sequential Artists Workshop is a creative comics group that offers online courses and free weekly workshops live on Zoom. The 90-minute workshop sessions are led by various comic book authors, graphic novelists and other sequential artists.

I tried a Free Friday Comics Workshop a few weeks ago to see if I liked the format. Comics artist Amy Noseworthy led the large group in exercises to get us thinking about character relationships. The final exercise was to draw a four-panel comic strip involving two characters who have some kind of conflict, communication or other point of interaction – without using words! The last requirement was certainly challenging, but I chose two animals, which somehow made it easier.

Although challenging, the exercises were fun and stretched my creativity in a way that I don’t do enough. Making this type of comic doesn’t interest me as much as it used to, but I do appreciate that the workshop made me stretch. I’ll probably participate again sometime.  

SAM with WSU Students

 

10/10/25 Seattle Art Museum's Hammering Man

SAM interior

Every October, Washington State University professor Bob Krikac and his colleagues bring their interior design and landscape architectural students to Seattle for a variety of educational opportunities. Meeting with USk Seattle is on Bob’s agenda each year, and we always look forward to sketching with about 50 young people. Bob and the other instructors feel strongly that observational drawing on location is an important skill for any design student to learn (and I certainly agree). What could be better than giving the students that experience with Seattle USk?

This year we chose the Seattle Art Museum for our joint outing. In the center of downtown Seattle, the museum building itself, especially the huge Hammering Man sculpture, and surrounding buildings are great practice in architectural drawing. In case of rain, we could all duck into the museum’s free lobby area. (About halfway through the outing, we were happy to have that option, as the morning’s drizzle turned to rain.)

At right is "Little Cloud Sky," the long-term exhibit over the SAM lobby.

I got a good opportunity to sketch both outside and inside SAM, including the newish Little Cloud Sky long-term exhibit over the lobby. The herd of three-dimensional cloud faces is cute and uplifting, I guess. Compared to Middle Fork, the huge hand-built tree that hung over the lobby for several years, or the crazy overhead cars before that, these rubbery smiley faces are a bit underwhelming. They are, however, a deceptively difficult perspective challenge, so there’s that (if you’re into that kind of thing).

As always, it was invigorating to be around the enthusiastic students, who were all eager to draw.

One of our biggest throwdowns ever!

Cheerful but deceptively difficult to sketch!

Anthropological Study at Growler Guys

 

10/8/25 Mariners watch party at Growler Guys, Maple Leaf neighborhood

“Whose logo is that – with the trident?” A man on the light rail pointed to the cap of another rider.

“Mariners . . . I think it’s newish,” the man wearing the cap replied.

10/5/25 light rail

The one who had asked was one of three guys sporting Buccaneers caps. Visiting Seattle for the Seahawks game, the men chatted with the Mariners fan about football, baseball, and where they could get good grub near Lumen Field, where they were headed. Since they were not directly competing, their conversation was cordial.

Recently when I spent the day with my niece’s family, we had lunch at a small café’s counter. Within minutes, my nephew-in-law had engaged in a lively conversation with the guy who happened to sit next to him – about Huskies football.

Although I have occasionally exchanged friendly banter with Cougs or Ducks (the University of Washington Huskies’ historic rivals are the Washington State University Cougars and the University of Oregon Ducks), I’m not a fan of any sport or particular team. Yet I have always been fascinated by the instant bonding that occurs around sports. Strangers on a light rail train who would otherwise never strike up spontaneous conversation have enough to talk about to last four train stops. What other subject or interest could possibly bring people together the way sports can?

Like an anthropologist, I decided to do an observational study of this human behavior. The Growler Guys in Maple Leaf held a watch party Wednesday afternoon for Game 4 of the MLB playoffs. The Mariners had bested the Detroit Tigers the day before, and now the same two teams were playing again.

When I walked in toward the tail end of the game, I knew the Ms were in trouble: The mood was quiet and subdued. Some patrons were already clearing their plates and glasses, getting ready to leave, though the game wasn’t quite over. Others commiserated quietly. The final score was 3 to 9 in the Tigers’ favor. 

The Mariners won the next, crucial game on Friday, which would have been more exciting to sketch. Still, the temperature was 62 and sunny on the Growler’s pleasant patio, where I had a good view of patrons watching the big TV. As a neutral observer rather than a fan, I had a great time on what was likely our last summer-y day before the cold and rain arrived.

Ballard Oaks

 

10/7/25 Ballard neighborhood

These two mature, healthy oak trees in the Ballard neighborhood are in danger of being cut down to make driveways and parking spaces for new construction. I parked across the street in the huge shade they provide to this quiet, residential area (so quiet that I could literally stand in the middle of the street to sketch them).

I saw the new construction that was nearly finished, and the old house next to it had signs all over it, waiting to be demolished. Soon it will be replaced by another box like the first one. It’s happening all over the city.