School’s Out

 

11/6/26 Top Pot Doughnuts, Wedgwood neighborhood

The first hour I was at the Wedgwood neighborhood Top Pot, I had the place to myself – literally. Although several patrons came in, they all got doughnuts to go. As a solid introvert, this situation would usually suit me just fine; it was quiet and comfortable, and I had a good Americano to wash down my coffee-glazed fritter. I was disappointed, though, not to have even one or two people to sketch.

Around 2:30 p.m., the doors suddenly exploded with the after-school crowd. The volume increased significantly, and I became more interested in eavesdropping than in my still life of empty chairs. By then, I had to leave for an appointment, so I couldn’t sketch any of the kids and their parents enjoying Friday afternoon treats. I managed to record some of their comments, though.

The snippet of dialog here was an employee chatting to a co-worker about recent social activities.

Product Review: Staedtler Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarell Pencils

 

Staedtler Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarell pencils (set of 12)

Preamble: Surprised to see me writing a colored pencil review? So am I! Even before making my commitment to downsizing and destashing, I had lost my motivation to try every new colored pencil and review it. I had passed the point in a hobby when it stopped being fun and became a burden – both materially and mentally. But now when a product does pique my interest enough to try it, it’s fun again!

Staedtler’s Mars Lumograph brand is not new to me. I’ve used the graphite line and especially enjoy the Black (carbon) pencil line. The new Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarell line is part of Staedtler’s “Artist” series.

As far as Staedtler’s watercolor pencils go, I’ve tried the German company’s Karat Aquarell and Design Journey (which I apparently never reviewed) collections, but neither excited me. The Karat Aquarell set had been recommended by a Gage class instructor who tended to favor very hard colored pencils, and those certainly qualify. Overall, Staedtler’s colored pencils haven’t particularly impressed me.

Two things about the new line caught my attention: While inexpensive sets of colored pencils from China or India are a dime a dozen (sometimes literally), and new ones seem to pop up daily on Amazon, colored pencils from major pencil manufacturers are relatively infrequent (though Derwent seems to pump them out often enough). I hadn’t seen anything new from Staedtler in a long time. The second thing was when a YouTube reviewer conjectured that these were comparable to Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelles! What?? Now, that’s a bold and intriguing statement. I picked up a small set at Blick.

A matte black hexagonal barrel with glossy, color-cued end cap; lightfast star rating and color number and name are on the barrel

When I first swatched the Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarells fresh from the tin with their factory sharpenings, they seemed surprisingly soft. Once I sharpened them and swatched again (which is my habit; pencils always feel softer when they aren’t sharp), they were definitely not as soft as Museum Aquarelles but perhaps close to Cd’A Supracolors. Even this degree of softness is surprising, as German pencils in general are not known for softness (Faber-Castell’s Albrecht Dürer and Polychromos lines being the best examples of typical German hardness).

The bigger surprise, though, was their pigment quality when activated. On my swatch page, I included a few sample swatches of both Museum Aquarelles and Supracolors for comparison.

Swatches made in Hahnemuhle Akademie Aquarell sketchbook

I never expect white watercolor pencils to be as opaque as Derwent Drawing (at right), which is my personal state-of-the-art for pencil opacity, but I like to make comparison swatches just to check.

Full lightfast information is provided in an enclosed brochure for those who care, and each pencil barrel indicates a lightfast rating.

For my test sketch, I used a reference photo that will look familiar to you; I used the same one a few days ago for Pencilvember. My result looks quite different here using a palette I wouldn’t ordinarily use, but the photo seemed to beg for the entire rainbow, giving me an opportunity to use as many of the set of 12 as possible.

11/4/26 Staedtler Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarell pencils in Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook (photo reference)

For the way I like to use watercolor pencils, especially in the field, the softer, the better (in fact, I now heavily rely on Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons, which are softer than any pencil could be), and a thicker core is always better, too. I also prefer a heftier barrel (more comfortable in the hand). For those reasons, the Staedtlers would never surpass Museum Aquarelles in my kit. Nonetheless, Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarell is an unexpectedly good pencil, and I could see taking some into the field.

Left: Museum Aquarelle; right: Staedtler

Museum Aquarelle barrel (top) is just a smidge larger
than Staedtler

Regardless of how I prefer to use them, it’s impossible to dismiss the price difference: Per open-stock pencil, Museum Aquarelle is $4.64 each; Albrecht Dürer is $2.88. Although I haven’t seen open stock prices, the per-pencil price of the Staedtlers in its largest set is about $1.62. That’s a hard price to beat for such good pigment!

The brochure includes this explanation of how Staedtler's logical color
numbering system works. It's a refreshing change from the seemingly idiosyncratic
systems some other manufacturers use.

By this point, there was a time when I would have already rushed out to get the full-range set of 120 colors. With my commitment to staying downsized, I’m not even tempted. If they truly are artist quality, then Staedtler will offer them open stock, and it’s likely that Blick would carry them someday. If that happens, I would definitely look at the natural greens (which I can never find enough of) and especially look for holes to fill in the Museum Aquarelle line (many of which there are). That’s the way I’d like to buy any pencils from now on – only unique colors or ones that seem missing in a well-used line.

In any case, Staedtler Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarells are the most exciting watercolor pencil to join the over-saturated market in a long time.  

Still the Reddest

11/5/26 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Last year I discovered a maple that is by far the reddest tree I’ve seen in these parts. I set out for it again this year on almost the same date, and it still wins. Composing the entire tree in my sketch last time, I remember that I didn’t like my result – the colors seemed washed out and flat, even while using watercolor pencils (it didn’t help that it was drizzling that day).

This time, I played it safe by keeping the sketch tiny (about 2 by 3 inches). All I wanted to do was to get as close as possible to matching the hue I was seeing. I could have spent a few more minutes making the background trees darker, but I wondered if the maple would stand out even more if I kept the firs subdued. In any case, I think human attempts will never match nature, but we all keep trying feebly. Below is a photo that comes a bit closer than my sketch does but still hasn’t quite captured the intensity.

As red as red gets!

Not-So-Limited Palette

 

11/5/26 photo reference (Derwent Drawing and Prismacolor pencils in S&B Zeta sketchbook)

November has been mostly dry so far, but colder than I like, at least for sketching. I get out for walks, but I can’t get motivated to stand on the sidewalk for a half-hour, which is how long this small (about 4-by-5 inches) sketch took – in the comfort of my toasty studio. Sigh – I’m not sure how much on-location practice I’m going to get during Pencilvember (weather is the main reason I’ve done this challenge exclusively from photos the past few years). At least I limited my time on this one to be realistic for on-location work, and it is the type of scene I would and could sketch from life under warmer conditions (unlike the one I practiced from a photo the other day).

I've seen other artists do this, and it's a great idea, but I rarely 
remember to do it: Make swatches of the colors I use right next to 
the sketch.

While I usually try to limit any palette to five or six hues, this colorful foliage scene was too much to resist, and I ended up using a whole rainbow. During my first couple of layers, I kept forgetting that I was using non-soluble pencils and expected to deepen every value and intensify hues with water. Then I’d remember and go back in for a few more layers. I love these pencils so much, though, especially on Stillman & Birn Zeta paper, that it was a satisfying and happy-making sketch.

Incidentally, this type of scene made of multiple layers of foliage fascinates and challenges me no end. I took the photo a few days ago from my upstairs deck. I had photographed it last May, too, thinking it would make a good study someday. I think it’s easier now with varying hues; the all-green look is even more challenging. I’ve included both photos below just because I always find it interesting to see seasonal changes of the same scene. I hope you do, too.

May 2026

November 2026

14 Years in the Making

More than 14 years and finally filled

Through summer, my mission to complete partially filled sketchbooks continued, but at a much slower pace. That’s because I was mostly sketching on location, and those unfinished sketchbooks had all been rejected from field sketching for good reason. I had no intention of using them during prime outdoor-sketching time! Now that the Big Dark has begun, however, I’m doomed to doomscrolling unless I make a concerted effort to avoid it (which I plan to do). My doomscrolling prevention program is still an ideal time to burn through less-than-ideal sketchbooks.

Dated 2/22/12, this sketch on the first page was made long
before my pandemic series of hand sketches!

With some recent sketches made from photos, I finally filled the last pages of this very old spiralbound, hardcover Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook – one of the first sketchbooks I ever began. In 2012, my first full year of sketching, I didn’t know yet what materials I liked, so I was trying everything. This book had three counts against it: It’s spiralbound, the paper is ivory, and it’s a heavy hardcover. I found only one sketch in it that I had made on location. I must have learned quickly that it was too heavy to haul around, especially with a spiral binding.

The sketch on page 1 is dated Feb. 22, 2012. After using it sporadically through 2016, filling a little more than half its pages, I abandoned it until this year. It’s especially nostalgic to see so many still lives made in the winter months when I was fully committed to drawing from life.

My goal (maybe more like wishful thinking) early this year was to fill all my uncompleted sketchbooks by year’s end. I don’t think I’m going to make it – I have at least three or four more to go – but it’s always satisfying to put another one up in the filled-book bookcase.

This sketch, dated 5/16/12, is the only one in the book made on location. I see that I turned the square book so that the spiral binding was on top -- a good solution for getting it out of the way.

2/13/13 Mostly still lives made with media experiments fill the first half of the book.

11/26/13 This was part of a fun still life series made of objects in alphabetical order.

8/21/14 My beloved first Rickshaw Zero Messenger Bag

2/12/26 A media experiment from a photo

Lifting

 

11/4/26 Maple Leaf neighborhood (Derwent Drawing pencil in S&B Zeta sketchbook)

The sun was already starting to come through by the time I got upstairs, so the morning fog was lifting rapidly. Under pressure to finish quickly, I thought for a moment that graphite would have been a better choice; I could have smudged the foggy effect more efficiently and effectively. (Ironically, the less smudgy benefit of colored pencils worked against me here.)

But I have that choice every day. The purpose of a drawing challenge (for me personally, not as a general rule) is to limit myself to whatever I’ve committed to for the month – and this Pencilvember is all about dry colored pencils. (And oooh, how I love having Derwent Drawing pencils in my hand again!)

Nose to the Ground

 

11/3/26 Derwent Drawing and Prismacolor pencils in S&B Zeta sketchbook (photo reference)

On one of my visits to Thornton Creek Channel last summer, I snapped a few photos of a young woman walking two dogs (my trick whenever I see people walking toward me that I might like to photograph is to wait until they’ve passed me, then turn around; I especially like to snap dogwalkers this way). She couldn’t seem to get them moving because one or the other or both kept stopping for a sniff. I’ve never walked a dog, but I imagine it’s like this more often than not.

I started with the pale blue just to block in the main subjects, so it
doesn't show much in the sketch. The darkest pencil at the bottom
is Derwent Drawing Midnight (6710), which isn't even part of my
Pencilvember palette. I have been keeping it in my daily-carry 
kit for a while, though, because it's a favorite for dark values
without being black.

Technical notes: When using reference photos, I prefer to choose scenes that I might actually sketch from observation because they make better practice. This one doesn’t really qualify because it would have been almost impossible to capture both dogs and their human to this level of detail in real time, but it appealed to me – both the subject matter and the composition. You can probably tell that I became more interested in the dog at left than any other part of the sketch! Nose down, tail up: I see dogs in this gesture often, so it’s worth practicing.

I want to call attention to the subtle modulations of value on that dog (and also on the figure, though less finessed). Even without much detail, I hope it reads well. This is exactly why I love colored (and all) pencils so much: You can’t do this with markers! Or how about that sketch I made the other day of our foggy morning? Impossible with markers!

Pencilvember is On!

 

My initial Pencilvember palette (all Derwent except those marked with P, which are Prismacolors)

Pencilvember is well under way, and you’ve already seen Day 1 from the Dia De Muertos post. Before I get too much further into the month, I wanted to show the palette I’m beginning with (mostly Derwent Drawing with a couple of Prismacolors). I’m sure I’ll change it out as the foliage changes, and as I learn more about how these colors are working. The goal for this month, however, will likely remain consistent: Practice using only non-soluble colored pencils (on location when possible).

11/1/26 Maple Leaf neighborhood
(This sketch is only about 4" square. I'm hoping that keeping sketches small
will compensate for dry colored pencils' time-consuming nature.)

For context: As mentioned in my initial planning post back in September, every now and then I get the urge to try using dry colored pencils, but my practice usually doesn’t last long. For many years now, I’ve relied on water-soluble colored pencils to do most of the heavy lifting on location. Activating pigments with water is such an efficient and effective way to intensify both values and hues that sometimes it feels like cheating.

I’ve practiced using dry colored pencils quite a bit with all the pet portraits I’ve made in the studio the past several years. That’s what showed me the inherent beauty of all dry pencils. No other medium has quite the same ability to convey subtle modulations of texture and value. I adore that look!

Using them in the field, though, is a whole different game. Dry colored pencils are a time-consuming medium. I already miss the speed and efficiency of water-soluble pencils, but I don’t want to get frustrated. Keeping sketches small should help.

My whole InkTober month showed me that using markers is exactly the opposite of pencils, and I missed them. Now I have a whole month to take on a relatively unexplored approach.

11/2/26 Maple Leaf neighborhood; Derwent Drawing pencil
(The challenge with drawing fog, which I think is made for pencil, is to avoid looking like I've achieved wimpy values and instead show that I intended them.)

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!