My Symposium Tin Collection in the Limelight

 

If you follow the global Urban Sketchers organization’s Instagram account, you may have noticed something vaguely familiar: My symposium pencil tin collection! A sponsorship coordinator contacted me recently because she had heard that I owned a complete collection of the Cretacolor tins. They were promoting long-time symposium sponsors, she said, and a photo of my tin collection was just what they needed!

Of course, I was more than happy to oblige. How often does one’s pencil tin collection receive international attention?

Geek Flair

Vintage Caran d'Ache pin and CMYK pin!

Nothing brightens a dark winter’s day like new geek flair! My latest finds are from the shop Present & Correct across the pond. I had seen the vintage (1960s) Caran d’Ache pin on eBay years ago, but it was already sold, and I’ve been looking for one ever since. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that P & C was carrying a supply of them – and at half the price it went for on eBay! 

As for the CMYK pin . . . I’m flying my primary triad geek flag!

Also in my order: pencil "stamps"!

On the Other Side

 

6/24/21 Green Lake neighborhood

One year ago, I was constantly looking for safe neighborhood spots to sketch, and some of my favorites were a bunch of dead-end streets just on the other side of I-5. Safe from both cars and other pedestrians, I could stand in the middle of the street if I wanted to. (One such view was a row of ornamental plums, which led to my brief obsession with finding the right color to depict them.)

With nearly 90 percent of adults in my zip code now vaccinated, I’m no longer concerned about safety, but I still find myself crossing the freeway to look for sketch opportunities. The architecture on the north side of Green Lake is still mostly older, original homes; I don’t see nearly as many modern behemoths as I do in Maple Leaf. This classic Craftsman is typical of the lovely houses there.

There’s another reason to cross the noisy, unpleasant I-5 overpass: It’s one of few spots I know of where I can see both Rainier to the south and The Brothers to the west just by pivoting on my heels.

I’d like to pause here a moment to gloat: For these two or three months out of the year, Seattle is arguably the best place on earth (our "jaw-dropping," record-breaking heatwave notwithstanding).

Rainier to the south...

...The Brothers to the west.

Field Notes Releases Huskies Edition

Seeing double?

I’ve been a fan of Field Notes Brand pocket-size notebooks for years. The three-packs of paper-covered, stapled notebooks are available in standard editions that can be purchased any time as well as limited editions that are released quarterly. The company uses a variety of paper types, so I’ve found only a few editions that I like to sketch in, but I also use the other types for general notetaking. I carry one in my bag for memos and keep others around the house to track projects. They’re very handy.

When I first heard that Field Notes had collaborated with Graduate Hotels on a new edition, it didn’t mean much to me. It wasn’t until I saw images of the three notebook covers on Field Notes’ site that my eyes widened: Wasn’t that the interior of Suzzallo Library (parts of which I’ve sketched numerous times) on one of the covers? And hey . . . the building shown on a second book looked familiar, too! Then I read that the photographer had apparently shot the cover photos for this national chain in Seattle and Berkeley. . . it had to be Suzzallo! Indeed, two of the three cover images are of Suzzallo (the third shows a messy office piled with books – that one must be from Berkeley. I don’t know anything about the University of California, but surely the photographer could have found something more inspiring on that campus!).

A second book cover shows Suzzallo Library's exterior.

I ran right over to the University District, where a Graduate Hotel had opened last fall in the former Hotel Deca building. Although the Graduate chain renovated the interior, it retained many of the 1930s Art Deco details. It’s still a beautiful building.

After first explaining to the desk clerks what Field Notes were and that I was certain they had some for me to purchase (it took a while to find them in the storage room, and then another little while to figure out how to sell them to me), I was tickled to walk out with several packs. It’s not every day that Field Notes makes notebooks emblazoned with my alma mater!

The middle book's photo is the one apparently taken at
Berkeley... I'm ignoring that one.

Inside Suzzallo, I watched a young Asian woman in cap and gown with her proud immigrant parents posing for a professional photographer. Other grads in small groups took photos of themselves and each other. Although now I think of Suzzallo as the place where I struggle to capture its Gothic arches, I also always feel a wave of nostalgia for all the years I walked through its quiet, imposing hallways (I actually spent more time studying in the modern undergraduate library). Seeing the happy grads, I remembered fondly the slightly scary yet exhilarating feeling of leaving those hallowed halls for the last time as a student and marching into my future.

Officially this Field Notes edition is known as Graduate Hotels, but I’ll always think of it as the Huskies Edition. Go Dawgs!

Graduate Hotels has retained many of the 1931
building's original decor.

My Best Colored Pencil Geek Moment

A big moment for a colored pencil geek!

Please indulge me:

 

The other night we were watching the 2017 film, The Post, starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. Set in 1971, this excellent, Oscar-nominated film is about the Washington Post exposing the Pentagon Papers and, more broadly, about upholding the First Amendment. If you enjoy period pieces, you’d appreciate lead type being set, huge printing presses rolling, and typewriters on all the newsroom desks. The film is worth seeing in any case, but for me, it was worth seeing for this one moment:

About three-quarters into the movie, editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks) walks into his wife’s art studio and puts his drink down on a table. Shown for several seconds is a box of Eberhard Faber Mongol colored pencils! I have the same pencils in my collection! Can you imagine my excitement? How often do colored pencils appear in any film, let alone one with Streep and Hanks?

At right is my own set of Mongols, which I reviewed earlier this year.

Dinner and Show

7/13/17 ink, colored pencils

One of my favorite things to do on a warm summer evening is have dinner at a farmers market, and the best one for that is in the Queen Anne neighborhood. It has plenty of space for community seating, and a tent is set up for musicians and other buskers to entertain diners.

Last Thursday Greg and I picked up fresh produce and then circled around to all the food vendors for our dinner. We both ended up at Mystery Bay Seafood, which makes the most delicious grilled salmon sandwich ever. I knew this because I had the same sandwich a year ago when I sketched the vendor making it. Then we settled in to dine, enjoying the folk music of the duo I sketched (and with the sign there to remind me, I certainly remembered to tip them afterwards). 

When I looked back at last year’s blog post, I was reminded that summer was just barely getting started in mid-July. This year we’ve already enjoyed a month of consecutive sunny, rainless days with temps mostly in the 70s. After last winter’s record rainfall, I feel I’ve earned the right to gloat! We haven’t had a summer like this in many years.

Shady

4/18/16 inks, brush pen, colored pencils

Due to “a strong ridge of high pressure continuing to strengthen and build into western Washington” (according to KING-5 weather), we are experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures this week, breaking all kinds of records. All I know is that I found a shady table at University Village and that life is good, very good, today.

69 and Sunny in Maple Leaf

3/31/16 inks, brush pen

I know some of you are still feeling wintry, so I hate to gloat, but . . . oh, heck, I love to gloat! We’ve had a record-breaking wet fall and winter – we’ve earned today! J

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Why I Live in Seattle

I do my share of complaining about Seattle’s rain, cloudiness, traffic and everything else. But this time-lapse video by F-Stop Seattle shows why I live here.

Paraty, Here I Come

I’m in! I’m registered for the Fifth International Urban Sketching Symposium in Paraty, Brazil!

Compared to last year, when the registration time was 6 a.m. PDT, this one was a piece of cake – registration for me was 9 a.m. I started clicking the refresh button at 8:59 a.m., got into the site at 9 a.m. sharp, actually remembered my password from last year, and five minutes later, I was done. It was almost anti-climactic! But I know the fun is just beginning. Paraty, here I come!

Not to Gloat or Anything. . .

OK, maybe I will.