Few and Far Between

 

3/14/26 Maple Leaf

The sketches I make while on my (nearly) daily fitness walks have been few and far between. I was encouraged, though, when I saw that our unexpected snowfall last week didn’t seem to have harmed any of the plum and cherry blooms that are just getting started. Though the temp was only in the mid-40s, I stopped to make a quick sketch to celebrate the victory (at left).

I’ve included sketches here that I made at cafés when I had to duck indoors to warm up before continuing on. Yes, they count, because sometimes I can’t kick my butt out the door unless I promise myself a break along the way.

Sketchbook notes: You heard me muttering recently about wanting white paper as a daily-carry during pink tree season but not wanting to carry a second book, yada-yada-yada. After the small Stillman & Birn didn’t work out, I chose a lavender Uglybook as my next daily-carry. It’s pale enough that pink shows up OK – a good compromise during a precious season. When I go out for serious petal peeping, I’ll bring a larger white sketchbook, of course.

1/23/26 Maple Leaf Park

1/27/26 Green Lake

2/4/26 Maple Leaf Park

2/18/26 PCC cafe

2/19/26 view from Macrina Bakery

3/2/26 Green Lake

3/3/26 Maple Leaf

Wonder Woman Flexes Twice

12/19/24 My assembled kitchen chair

One of my first furniture purchases after I moved into my second apartment was a pair of inexpensive dining chairs from Dania. They weren’t ideal; the chief problem was that they were about an inch too high for me, so I could never put my feet flat on the floor while seated. But I figured I would upgrade someday when I had more money anyway, so I just tolerated them. It turned out that they were in better condition than the chairs Greg had when I moved in with him, so we used mine. Who knew that they would last 40 years?

When the seats finally started wearing out about a year ago, I started looking for replacements. This time, though, I was not going to settle for a chair that was too high. Sitting in lots and lots of diningroom chairs trying to find one that was comfortable, well made, and the right height, the problem was always the height. Out of desperation, I even considered hiring a woodworker to saw an inch off the legs (not necessarily as easy as it sounds, because if done badly, the chair would rock). But where would I get a woodworker willing to do a job like that?

Thinking outside the box, I started considering the chairs I owned that were the right height, and the most comfortable is my fully adjustable office chair. A-ha! The proverbial light bulb turned on over my head: Who says dining requires diningroom furniture? Why not get an adjustable office chair instead?

93 parts!

First I looked in the most logical place – office supply stores. All the chairs (and the choices weren’t many) seemed overbuilt for my needs and designed for “gaming,” not working (or dining, for that matter). I didn’t need arm supports and all the expensive ergonomics; I just wanted to eat breakfast!

Reluctantly, I looked online. There’s always a risk in ordering a heavy object sight unseen (or butt unsat). After reading descriptions and many reviews carefully, I found one that looked like it could do the job sufficiently. Bonus: It was available in a warm wood color that went well with my hardwood floors and kitchen table.

It arrived on my doorstep in a heavy, compact box filled with 93 parts (hopefully, all 93 that I needed). Reviewers had said that assembly was relatively easy, but I have zero confidence for such tasks. (My handy spouse guy was always the one to assemble anything, and cheerfully, which made it easy for me never to try it myself.) My first impulse was to text my kind neighbors across the street for help – but then I quickly chided myself. Surely I could follow pictorial instructions!

That last sentence is reassuring . . . sort of?

Wonder Woman flexes again!

And I did! In less than an hour, I put that sucker together, and now I enjoy all my meals seated in perfect comfort. More important, putting the chair together successfully was such a confidence boost!

Two days earlier, I had accomplished yet another intimidating task: After transferring all the files I wanted from Greg’s PC, I dismantled the peripherals for disposal. That part was easy. What I was nervous about was removing the hard drive from the tower for secure disposal. After viewing a few YouTubes for instruction, I contacted my ever-helpful friend Carol (a former professional techy who has saved me numerous times) and sent a photo of the PC’s backside. In one text, she gave me the answer I needed. Hard drive removed!

Give that Wonder Woman a donut (see below)!

12/20/24 Top Pot Doughnuts, Wedwood neighborhood

Diary Comics from My Head

 

11/12/24

My imagination-based diary comics continue, inspired by the prompts and template I learned from Drewscape. I’ve been making these at the end of the day when I’m tired, have the lowest level of creative energy (and apparently the messiest penmanship!), and the hardest time being motivated to sketch. Given all of those potential barriers, I really need a structured format to draw from my head.

11/13/24

The Nov. 13 page (above) does not follow Drewscape’s format; it’s more of a traditional comics story arc with a linear sequence. It happened to fall into place because of the events of the day, but on an ordinary day when not much happens, coming up with this type of arc is usually much more challenging. I’ll take them when they come, and use Drew’s prompts when they don’t. In any case, I’m enjoying this process.

11/15/24

Hellenika and Commuters

 

6/20/24 Workers at Hellenika Cultured Creamery dish out samples and stir the next small batches.

Even a committed ice cream girl can be converted
to frozen Greek yogurt on the Solstice.

When I blogged about the sketch outing at Bell Harbor Pier, I forgot to include these sketches that were auxiliary to the outing. After the outing, Jane, Roy and I had lunch at Pike Place Market, followed by frozen Greek yogurt at Hellenika Cultured Creamery. As a committed ice cream and gelato girl, I don’t usually go for frozen yogurt, but this stuff is over-the-top fro yo. Workers were stirring and mixing small batches right there in the store, and specific flavors can have long wait times (20 minutes, which is an eternity if your favorite isn’t ready). I couldn’t wait for ube, so I went for marionberry and vanilla malt in a “walkabout”-size cup (their smallest). Not too sour like some frozen yogurts can be, it was as rich and creamy as any full-fat ice cream I’ve eaten but with that yogurt tang.

Below are sketches I made on my light rail rides to and from downtown. Although the light rail ride is so much faster that I have less time to sketch than on the bus, I sure appreciate the smooth ride – so smooth that I can use my touchiest Pentel Pocket Brush Pen.

6/20/24 Light rail commuters

Downtown Mill Creek

 

4/23/24 Downtown Mill Creek

After a meeting with Gabi Campanario in Mill Creek, I had an opportunity to explore this small suburb about 20 miles north of Seattle. Starting at the Saw Mill Café where we had lunch, I wandered down Main Street and around the town center. A short walk away is the entrance to North Creek Trail, with the creek below and surrounded by trees. The town was so peaceful and quiet that it felt like 6 a.m.

By 2 p.m. when I was getting ready to leave, it was warm enough to take the top down. On my Interstate 5 drive north, I saw a stunning view of Mt. Baker, which I can’t see at all from Seattle. On the way home, Mt. Rainier was out in all her glory. How fortunate I felt to live in an area where I can see two spectacular peaks coming and going.

Yowza! That was one fabulous avocado toast!

About that avocado toast mentioned in my sketch notes? Holy-moly, check it out at right! It’s a far cry from the usual piece of bread with a few green slices!

Technical notes: I meant to sketch these vignettes with a comic-like design, but it turned into one of my least attractive attempts at that. I tried to cram too much on the page and ended up with a mess. In addition, my color choices weren’t the best. I like the bright red Flair Dual Felt Pen, but the green Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen Dual Tip Marker couldn’t stand up to the red or the yellow Uglybook.

Sketching Local

 

1/7/21

A new urban sketching hashtag has appeared lately on Instagram: #sketchinglocal. It’s for sketches done on location within walking distance. 

I had to laugh when I first heard about it: I’ve been “sketching local” almost daily for the past 10 months. Who knew I was a trendsetter?

1/6/21

12/31/20

Like a Dancer

 

12/28/20 Laurelhurst neighborhood

Only one excavator was working, but like a dancer or a bird, it kept cycling through three distinct positions as it moved dirt back and forth from a hole to a pile. I would draw a bit of one phase as quickly as possible, then begin the second, then the third. I could then add to each sketch as it moved back to each position repeatedly. It was the most fun I’ve had sketching on location in a while!

Incidentally, the Laurelhurst neighborhood is high up on a hill overlooking Lake Washington, which was just beyond the property where the excavator was working. On that beautiful sunny afternoon (the last before days of rain were forecast), some would have sketched the lake and Cascade Mountains above it. But the lake and mountains will still be there later; the excavator wouldn’t.

Happy 2021!

Our Neighbor’s Maple

 

11/8/20 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Though with a cold, biting wind, Sunday dawned bright and sunny in many ways. Wondering if the strong wind we’d been having lately had taken down most of the color, my plan was to go out in my car to peep the last of the leaves. Out in our garage, however, I discovered my battery was dead!

Undeterred, I stepped out on our deck to sketch, but the harsh wind was uncomfortable. No matter. My studio window gave me nearly the same view of our neighbor’s huge Japanese maple blazing in the afternoon sun.

Everything looks more beautiful now.

A Sketcher’s Worst Nightmare

3/28/19 Rainier Tower
(Shown in this post are sketches I've made with
Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush Artists Pens, which I
just learned have been discontinued.)

Imagine this: A sketcher’s all-time favorite art material – the one they have used every day for years, discovering its unique qualities, working out its quirks, learning its idiosyncrasies, developing techniques and effects with – has been discontinued by the manufacturer! The worst nightmare ever! (Don’t worry, it’s not mine; if it were, I wouldn’t be writing this – I would be heavily sedated.)

Although I have used Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush Artist Pens off and on for years, especially for tonal work, it’s been a while since I bought any (except for the white one, which I remember using on my last viaduct sketch before it was demolished). I was unaware until a few days ago that they had been discontinued a while back (only the Big Brush size; the standard brush size is still available). I learned about it when Don Colley, who is well known for his stunning drawings with these pens, mentioned it on Instagram. In demos I’ve attended and workshops I’ve taken, I’ve seen Don do amazing things with these pens and his own fingers as tools – techniques he has been developing and refining for years. It takes a long time to master any medium, even markers like Pitt pens (which are not unique in the art supply world but are the best of their type). When he said his favorite pens had been discontinued, I felt his pain like a stab in my own heart!

6/21/18 Maple Leaf neighborhood

If I heard that Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelles were being discontinued, I know what I’d do as soon as I recovered from passing out: I’d hoard a lifetime supply! (Never mind that I may already have that in my “normal” stash now.)

Roz Stendahl, a fount of art-practice wisdom, always advises her followers not to get too attached to any one particular supplier, paper, paint, whatever. Companies go out of business; they change a production method or location (Prismacolor, I’m looking at you), and the quality declines; a sketchbook paper changes (Moleskine users go on and on about this one); a product line is discontinued. It happens. She advocates neither hoarding in the event of such crisis nor basing one’s entire art practice around a specific art material or tool. Instead, she encourages us to be flexible and experiment with a variety of products so that we can happily continue making art with whatever materials we have.

 

Pitt Big Brush Pens are no more.

She’s right, of course. If I somehow found myself on Gilligan’s Island without my Museum Aquarelles or even my Supracolors (talk about a nightmare!), I would draw with sticks in the sand or smear seagull poop onto coconut shells. Forced to be innovative, I might even develop stunning techniques with these new media and tools.

Still, we’re all creatures of habit. Familiar products are comforting and predictable. Seeking and identifying our “favorites” must be an instinctive behavior of human animals (right up there with collecting pencils). I have never, ever met a sketcher who said they were indifferent about their art materials!

How, then, does a pragmatic sketcher balance the impulse to hoard with the wisdom of being flexible and experimental? I don’t know, but I’m going to keep stashing away extra Museum Aquarelles, just in case. And in the meantime, I’ll occasionally bring out other materials I haven’t used in a while to reacquaint myself with them. And of course, I’ll continue to try new things, because you never know when you’ll discover your next favorite art material.

Carry on.

My preciousssss.

Forklift

4/19/19 Maple Leaf neighborhood

The Maple Leaf Ace Hardware store shares a parking lot with Reckless Video, so although I don’t go into the hardware store often, I frequently use the parking lot to pick up our weekend entertainment (Reckless is one of only a couple of remaining video rental shops in the city). On this rainy afternoon, I was delighted to spot this cute little forklift. After picking up our video, I reparked the car at a different angle so that I could see the forklift through a side window more easily.

Victoria, Part 3: Chilly but Charming

4/12/19 Yates & Douglas, Victoria, B.C.

Despite the less-than-comfy weather, Victoria had too many architectural and other charms to keep us indoors the whole visit. On my first afternoon, I found a quintessential (to me) urban street scene on the same block as our apartment (above).

As you might guess by now, I have a fondness for sketching historic churches, and Victoria is full of them. Within a few blocks of each other, I found several. I also sketched one that turned out to be a music conservatory (formerly a church).

 

4/16/19 Anglican Church of St. John the Divine

4/15/19 Christ Church Cathedral

4/15/19 Victoria Conservatory of Music
(formerly a Methodist church)

The downtown Victoria area is entirely walkable – if you don’t mind clocking 15,000 Fitbit steps a day! One morning we gave our feet a rest and caught a city bus to picturesque Fishermen’s Wharf. (Yes, the sky was blue, but don’t let that fool you – it was windy and cold.)

 

4/15/19 Fishermen's Wharf

As in most urban areas, construction sites were easy to find, but we spotted one of a type that we would never see in Seattle. On the harbor front, the facades of several old buildings were being preserved, and new construction was being built behind them. This seemed to be an ideal compromise between preservation and new construction.

4/17/19 construction around facades near harbor front

4/17/19 cement pumper

Butt receptacles -- a great idea!

Hanging out with the locals.

The blossoms are gone in Seattle, but they were still at peak in the north.

Fishermen's Wharf

4/17/19 Farewell, Victoria! We'll be back!

Victoria, Part 2: Strategic Windows

4/13/19 Yates Street, Victoria

As Part 1 indicated, Victoria, B.C., was chilly and sometimes wet and bitterly windy on the days we were there. Strategically placed windows were my best friends.

After Gabi’s Architecture workshop on Saturday morning, my plan was to follow his afternoon People workshop students to wherever the workshop location was, but my teeth were still chattering! I went back to the Airbnb apartment that I was sharing with Cathy McAuliffe and spent a leisurely afternoon sipping hot tea as I sketched the spectacular street view (above). Within the scope of our huge picture windows on the seventh floor, an interesting mix of historic, modern and funky architecture shared the block.

When the sky was partially clear, we could see the snow-capped Olympic Mountains to the west. Although the Olympics are visible from various spots in Seattle, including our own street, the portion I see from there is different, so it was cool to see a new view.

 

4/16/19 Olympic Mountains

Another apartment window offered a view straight down into a courtyard. This mind-bending perspective gave me a fun challenge!

 

4/17/19 From the 7th floor

An especially strategic window was the one I learned about from Cathy: a perfect view of the Chinatown gate from Starbucks.  

 

4/15/19 Chinatown from Starbucks

On Sunday morning, Greg joined us, and we spent a few more days exploring Victoria. One of our favorite spots to escape the chill was the Royal British Columbia Museum, an excellent natural and human history museum. Our Burke Museum reciprocal membership allowed us free admission, so we visited twice. I found a number of skeletal and stuffed critters to sketch and even a couple of live ones.

 

4/16/19 taxidermy falcon and grizzly

4/16/19 bison skull, ammonite and weather symbols
as part of an excellent exhibit on climate change.

4/17/19 more skulls

4/16/19 These critters were sketched from life in a tank.

Finally, on the top floor of the BC Museum, I found my most treasured window sketch: the crowned dome of the Legislative Assembly Building. This is the kind of detailed sketch I thoroughly enjoy making, but the distance, cold and a sore neck would have made it difficult from any other location.

4/17/19 Dome of the BC Legislative Assembly Building

Of course, Victoria has plenty of other indoor attractions
during inhospitable weather, such as shopping at Bulk
Barn. . . I was so tempted to plunge my arm in.

It's never too cold for ice cream!

Sampling macarons!

I wanted the full Canadian experience... breakfast at Tim Horton's.