Full Moon Over Discovery Park

 

9/9/26 Discovery Park Radar Dome and Heritage District

After my scouting mission to Discovery Park in July, it was fun to finally meet there with Urban Sketchers, especially on a gorgeous but not-too-hot day. With 560 acres, Discovery is Seattle’s largest park. We decided to focus on the Fort Lawton Historic District featuring the 100-foot high Cold War-era radar dome or “Radome.”

Rising like a mysterious full moon over the district’s turn-of-the-20^th-century (still occupied) homes, the Radome was both bizarre and irresistible, at least to me. I sketched it twice, once behind the historic homes (above) and once from the former Ft. Lawton Parade Grounds (below).

Ft. Lawton Post Chapel

With a short time left before the throwdown, I sketched the Fort Lawton Post Chapel that I’d admired the last time I visited. The World War II-era chapel is somewhat plain and not very distinctive as far as chapels go, but I always enjoy sketching steeples.

Once again, we were treated to “ideal” sketching weather that was comfortable even in the sun (if you’re fast like I am). Most sketchers found hospitable trees offering large areas of shade. I wouldn’t mind if the weather stayed like this for the next three months! (Of course, it will likely end any day now.)

Community

 

4/23/26

4/2/26

Although I didn’t know any of its members well, I miss Greg’s community at Aegis Living’s memory care unit (euphemistically called Life’s Neighborhood). Visiting Greg as often as I did, I got to know his co-residents’ quirks. When I noticed that they had fresh haircuts or new clothes, I made a point of complimenting them. If we made eye contact, I greeted them by name (just as all the staff did). In bits and pieces, usually from staff members I chatted with, I learned about their lives before they came to Aegis: “Dr. Russ” (as everyone called him) had been a physician; Jamie a principle architect in one of Seattle’s major firms; Sandy a physical education teacher and horse rider; Linda a pianist. Many died while Greg was in residence there; many others moved in. One was taken abruptly by her family to another facility.

5/13/26

5/28/26

All declined significantly during the time that I knew them. Very few had regular visitors. All will die fairly soon, and I’m sad that I will not learn that news.

A couple of sketches here are of some of the musicians who come through on rotation every two weeks during “happy hour.” I often wondered how they felt performing for an audience whose members were often dozing and not responding much to invitations to sing along. Applause was quiet. I always applauded enthusiastically because I did appreciate their music lifting the energy in the room (or at least lifting mine).

5/31/26

6/2/26

Most of all, I miss the wonderful staff who took care of Greg 24/7. Most are immigrants who seem to originate from cultures that are comfortable with aging and with touching in comforting ways. The first time I saw a caregiver grasp Greg’s hands reassuringly and speak to him warmly and respectfully (which he responded to with a broad smile), I thought to myself, “I want her to take care of me someday.” They speak to residents as if they were friends and not people whom they had just cleaned up after toileting or spoon-fed like infants. I don’t have many sketches of caregivers because they came and went too quickly, attending to residents as needed.

6/4/26

6/9/26

The exception is Theodore, whom I did sketch a few times. Part of the life enrichment team, Theodore is an angel on earth (a description I’ve often heard applied to nurses). With compassion, tenderness and infinite patience, he makes each resident feel heard, seen and special. I sometimes timed my visits to coincide with his daily meditation hour because I knew I would benefit from his talks as much as the residents would. I will miss him dearly.

This post includes the last sketches I made of Greg’s final community. I thank everyone there for giving me the privilege of being a tiny part of their lives -- one last experience I could share with Greg.

6/19/26

6/22/26

6/26/26

Extracurricular Sketcher Fest: Ice Cream Cruise and More

 

7/10/26 Ice Cream Cruise from Fishermen's Terminal through the Ship Canal, Lake Union and Lake Washington

After three consecutive years of participating in the Ice Cream Cruise, it is still my favorite Sketcher Fest event! (See my posts from 2025 and 2024.) Although not strictly part of the weekend event in Edmonds, the cruise offers the guest artists and volunteers an opportunity to relax and socialize before the busy event gets under way. This year, Gab Campanario organized cruises on two days, so more sketchers were able to attend.

Boarding the chartered Fremont Avenue at Fishermen’s Terminal, we cruised through the Lake Washington Ship Canal to Lake Union and all the way to Lake Washington and back. There is something so relaxing and serene about being on the water on a sparkling morning, sketching while chatting with friends.

As I’ve done in previous years, I made small vignettes of anything that caught my eye, chasing perspective around bends in the water or simply overlooking perspective. 

Sticker by Johnny

After we docked again at Fishermen’s Terminal, some of us stayed for lunch and then lingered for more sketching at the terminal (below).

Fishermen's Memorial

Fishermen's Terminal

When that was done, a few of us still hadn’t had enough fun, so we moved on to nearby Ballard Locks, where we discovered stamps for our sketchbooks in the visitors’ center.

Ballard Locks

What a fun-filled day!

Group photo just after the cruise

Lake Washington Ship Canal and Montlake Bridge

Fishermen's Terminal throwdown

Ice Cream Cruise throwdown

Drag Drink & Draw

 

6/19/26 Sharkie, 20-min. pose

Gage Academy offers occasional evening drink & draw events with models. For Pride month, two costumed drag models would be featured with rainbow-colored lights and backdrop. Who could resist that? Kim, Ching and I knew we couldn’t!

Sharkie, 10-min. pose

As promised, models Sharkie and Indigo gave us dynamic poses in fun costumes (look at Indigo’s boots!). It had been months since I last went to life drawing, so it took me the entire 90-minute session to feel like I was just beginning to warm up, but it was a ton of fun anyway. We’ll be back for more!

Rusty short poses!

Kim, Ching and me after a fun evening!

Commuters (and Sketch Journal Musings, Part 2)

11/1/25

10/2/25

Our light rail system has been going through a lot of partial closures for maintenance and development. In the long run, the system will be much better (the long-overdue, highly anticipated connection with the Eastside light rail line is probably one of the most exciting public transportation developments in my lifetime! I detest driving across the bridge!), but in the short-run, the closures have been inconvenient. On some recent days, I’ve had to take the bus downtown instead, which can be slower and less reliable.

11/20/25

11/30/25

For sketching, the bus is also way more bumpy; squiggly lines in some sketches shown here are downright humorous! On the upside, natural light through windows can be interesting to catch.

12/8/25

12/12/25

Looking through these commuter sketches prompted me to continue thinking about my sketch journaling process and what my journal is good for. More than any other series, my sketches of people on public transportation document my day-to-day travels. Whether visiting friends, meeting up with other sketchers, or running errands, if I rode a bus or train there, I probably sketched other passengers and noted where I was going. In the same way I might note: “Went downtown” in a written diary, these sketches become my visual diary in a very literal sense. I like that.

12/27/25

1/9/26

1/16/26

1/24/26

1/28/26

1/31/26 I rarely use anything but a marker or brush pen for commuter portraits,
mainly due to expediency, but I have been enjoying Derwent Drawing pencils
so much lately that I gave one a try on this light rail ride.