Nordic Interior Redux

 

4/22/26 National Nordic Museum's interior

The National Nordic Museum’s current exhibition is an enchanting collection of reproductions from Finnish artist Tove Jansson’s “Moomin” children’s book illustrations. The exhibit also includes large photographs showing the artist’s fascinating, secluded life in a tiny house built on the rocky shore of a tiny island.

Sculptural bird suspended from the ceiling. 

After enjoying the exhibit, Roy, Mary Jean and I wandered around in the permanent collections to sketch. Whenever I visit the Nordic Museum, I’m just as intrigued by the building’s unusual architecture as by the exhibits. As I’ve done in the past, I stood on one of several “bridges” between the two sides of the museum and sketched across the length of the building from floor to ceiling (top of post). That’s MJ on the far “bridge” sketching a similar view from the opposite side.

At left is a closeup of one of several bird sculptures suspended from the ceiling.

Roy and I were passing back and forth a small concertina booklet to give to MJ for her birthday. For the booklet, I made the sketch below of MJ sketching a traditional Swedish carved Dala horse. Very untraditionally, it was whimsically painted with symbols of Seattle like the Space Needle. (I don’t have a scan of the sketch because we presented the filled booklet to MJ that day.)

Material notes: Restricted to pencil inside the museum, I happily pulled out my current pairing of warm/cool Derwent Drawing pencils, Brown Ochre and Grape. I love using Grape, which is almost a cool gray, but Brown Ochre seems a little too pale to show variations of values. I’m keeping the Grape for a while longer but swapping out Brown Ochre for something a bit darker.

One of many delightful reproductions of Tove Jansson's "Moomin" illustrations

Solo Art Play Date

 

1/7/26 Through windows at Seattle Asian Art Museum

I found a rare free afternoon on my calendar with no one to play with, so I took myself out for an art play date last week. My first stop was the Seattle Asian Art Museum, where I had fun sketching white on black a couple of months ago. This time, while I did look at some art I had missed last time, my sketching target was a tree I had spotted previously. The newish wing of SAAM is entirely glass on the side that faces Volunteer Park. Although most museum visitors wouldn’t consider this tree an “exhibit,” its wild and crazy branches reaching out toward the museum captured my attention. I appreciated being able to spend leisurely time sketching it while inside the comfy museum.

Lots of similar values

It was also an ideal opportunity to explore something I’ve been thinking about with my values-based palette. One big problem I have with any scene in flat, consistent lighting, like on an overcast day or indoors with lighting coming from all directions, is that most of the values look the same. This tree scene was typical (at right): Almost everything was the same midtone except the visible wing of the museum, which was light, and the foreground tree was slightly darker. To differentiate the foreground tree from the background trees, which are all about the same hue, too, I tried to use roughly the same values (exaggerating the focal tree a bit) but with different colors. (I pushed this idea a little further in the café sketch that I’ll talk about later.)

By the way, coloring the building with the pale blue I had picked out as one of my light values showed me that the choice was a fail. It was just too pale, so I mixed it with the midtone green just to make it show up on the paper. (When I got home, I immediately replaced the blue with a vibrant but light-valued green.) I also had to outline the building, which I have been trying to avoid with the more painterly approach I’m taking with crayons.

Black Sun, Isamu Noguchi (I have lately been using a very pale blue or pale yellow
Derwent Drawing pencil to write on black-paper sketches. I don't want the text to be
as bright-white as the sketch.)

On my way out of the museum, I stopped to make a quick sketch of Isamu Noguchi’s Black Sun by the parking area. One of my favorite sculptures in Seattle, it has appeared in my sketchbook many times, but this is the first time I sketched it white on black. (Even as I’m newly enchanted by wacky colors, I’m still obsessed with drawing with white!)

For the second part of my play date, I walked to Caffe Ladro. This was a fun scene to attempt with my wacky ideas because it was full of “nothing,” which made it easier to focus on values, it had striking contrasts between the lightest and darkest values, and it also had a lot of midtones that were hard to distinguish. Although everything outside was kind of the same value and in muted hues, I tried to use color (but not local color) to make distinctions. Another example is the man, who was mostly in silhouette against the windows. If I were using something like a single black marker, I’d have difficulty showing the difference between his face and his hat, which were the same dark value. But with the Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons, I tried varying the hues without changing the value (below).

1/7/26 Caffe Ladro, Capitol Hill

I suppose all this stuff I’m practicing is second nature to painters – but thinking like a painter is always a challenge for me! (And thinking like a painter has nothing to do with applying paint! I’m way more interested in the former than the latter!)

Neocolors at the cafe

Somewhere in a YouTube or maybe on his blog, James Gurney says that most artists are either line makers or shape makers and are rarely both. I don’t want to be locked into either line or shape; I want to be able to use whichever approach is better for the subject matter or whatever it is I want to convey.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been having a lot of fun with on-location comics, which I enjoy so much as a way to tell the stories of a place. The approach’s format – multiple tiny images on a page – makes simple linework essential, and it’s almost impossible to compose with shapes in such small spaces. Using larger tools like crayons (and, by necessity, a larger format) is really helping me to make this shift to a new approach to color. I haven’t stopped making on-location comics, but I’m ready to give this approach some dedicated focus.

Although I love having art play dates with friends, I realize it’s important to occasionally spend creative time alone to focus on ideas and try new things without socializing. It was a productive afternoon.

Bonus: Sketching the tree at the museum was my first trial of using my new tiny Sendak roll while standing – and it works! I opened the Sendak, folded it backwards and, as I did last summer with the Rickshaw Sinclair, propped it up inside my bag. It’s still a bit awkward, but the big benefit over the Sinclair is that the crayons are easily accessible.

This image might be a bit disorienting without much context: I was carrying my open bag on my shoulder, and this was the view looking down at its contents. The tiny Sendak, folded backward, is propped up inside. The slots keep the Neocolor crayons upright.

More Wacky Colors

 

12/31/25 Third Place Commons

Here are a couple more experiments using my wacky color palette. I’m diggin’ it!

I made the one above at Third Place Commons, where a few friends helped Natalie celebrate her birthday. The people I sketched were not part of our group; they happened to be sitting on the other end of the community table, and they were all sketching, too! In the background is the Honey Bear Bakery's mascot.

The one below is of Top Pot Doughnuts in Wedgwood. Most of the café space is filled with shelves containing old books, which form an interesting background pattern.

1/2/26 Top Pot Doughnuts, Wedgwood neighborhood

These values-based colors are fun to use in interior spaces. I haven’t tried using them outdoors, though – that will be next-level testing. Given all the rain and cold still ahead, though, it could be a while before I can get to that. In the meantime, I have more excuses to hang out in cafés.

Piedmont Café

 

12/30/25 Piedmont Cafe, First Hill neighborhood

At our last art play date of the year, Mary Jean, Roy and I met at the Piedmont Café on First Hill. Originally the historic Piedmont Apartment Hotel, this newish café is the most beautifully appointed coffee shop I’ve been to in Seattle (sorry, I forgot to take photos of the interior, but the links above include some images). 

What’s even more delightful, though, is the stellar customer service. After placing my order, I fully expected to hear my name hollered to come and get my drink. To my surprise, a server brought our beverages to our table! I can’t recall the last time I got table service at a coffee shop. In a city full of a thousand coffee joints, it’s exceptional. If only it were a little closer to home, I could easily call this lovely café my “third place.”

Beyond that unexpected delight, I also had enormous fun that morning doing more wacky palette color studies – this time on location (which is all-important to me). I’m especially pleased with the way the first sketch came out (top of post). It’s an unusual palette for me, but it was easy for me to interpret values with it. And it pulled me out of the “realistic” color rut – a fresh way to kick off the new year!

The Piedmont is a civilized place where patrons can slow down,
enjoy their beverages and sketch in a beautifully furnished space.

Café Javasti as Nocturne

 

12/6/25 Cafe Javasti, Maple Leaf neighborhood

I don’t sketch at Café Javasti, only five blocks away and my closest coffee shop, as often as you’d think I would. Although convenient (and they do make a mean scone), it’s small and tends to be a little dark. That dim lighting, though, gave me an idea: It would be ideal for practicing nocturnal sketching even indoors.

Sitting in back, I could sketch other patrons backlit by the large windows. I especially enjoyed sketching the chairs in this minimal way: a white colored pencil for the soft reflected light and a white Gelly Roll for the bright highlights.

Pushed Indoors Again in Columbia City

3/12/25 Empire Roasters & Records, Columbia City

Déjà vu: I recalled a USk Seattle outing in Columbia City way back in 2016 when heavy rain and wind pushed us all indoors. It wasn’t quite that bad on Wednesday, but it was definitely wet enough for our small group to retreat indoors.

Mary Jean and I decided on Empire Roasters and Records, where I had sketched with Roy and Kate just about a year ago. It’s a funky space combining a café and record store on three narrow floors. As I did last time, I admired all the furniture made from wood that still retained the raw edges, cracks and holes of the trees it came from.

I started with my current obsession: A color temperature study of the interior I faced. Using the tricks that seem to work best for me in Sarah Bixler’s class, which I had just finished, I looked for the warmest spots (the man’s face and the yellow painting on the wall) and the coolest area (his shirt). I noted that the light coming in through the window was on the cool side. From there, I just kept asking and comparing, Is this cooler or warmer than…? Eventually I want to bust out of this blue/orange (plus a little yellow) palette, but for now, it’s working for me as a learning tool. (I added the ceiling lamp at the library right before we had our throwdown.)

That done, I could relax and make a comics diary page to commend myself for unpacking my drawing table and filling my sketchbook bookcase (below).

It’s a shame that we couldn’t sketch outdoors because the Columbia City neighborhood is full of old architecture and fun business street fronts. But I was happy to have a comfy opportunity to work out color temperature concepts in a real-life location, not just a portrait from a photo. 

Colored Pencils are Back!

 

2/10/25 Seven Market & Cafe, Ravenna neighborhood

My most recent play date with pals Roy and Mary Jean was fun (which it always is) as well as another media shake-up. While we’re indoors for the winter, I’ve been using our sketch gatherings to play with media that are hard for me to use in the field. Last time I used Caran d’Ache Neocolor II. Another time I tried Caran d’Ache Neopastels and Derwent Inktense Blocks. Last week, inspired by my reunion with colored pencils in Sarah Bixler’s class, I put together a palette of Caran d’Ache Luminance pencils based on the colors I’m using in class. Even if the pencils are different, I enjoy using the same limited palette so that I can get accustomed to how the hues work together.

Caran d'Ache Luminance pencils in Sarah Bixler's recommended palette 

We met at Seven Market and Café, a small, eclectic venue in the Ravenna neighborhood in a former old house. Offering provisions like wine, canned fish, stationery, and their own roasted coffees, not to mention excellent pastries, we laughed about how we could live there for a long time! The sketch at top of post looks down the aisle of working antique refrigerators and wine.

Of course, I always like to record the outing in my sketch journal, which is currently a limited edition Field Notes containing turquoise pages. I thought this notebook would be an acceptable, temporary break from Uglybooks, but I must say that the latter’s 80-pound paper has certainly spoiled me. This Field Notes contains 24-pound Astrobrite, and I love the color, but I’m getting bleed-through with some markers and brush pens, and the surface pills under rough Posca markers. Unexpectedly, I’m also feeling cramped by the standard Field Notes size (3 ½ -by-5 ½ inches). You wouldn’t think losing a quarter-to-half-inch in page size would make much difference, but it does. I’ll finish this one up, but I’m already looking forward to going right back to my beautiful Uglies.

Breakfast at Seven Market and lunch at Isarn Thai Soul Kitchen 

I’d been neglecting my round robin Seawhite of Brighton concertina, so I hastily made a sketch facing the storefront with a window view of a Chinese pinwheel palm. After sketching in the book we each had that day, we made another rotation in our round robin. We already have plans for our next group project after the concertinas are full!

Through the front window

A learning opportunity: After I took my “trophy shot” (below) of the colored pencil sketch to share on social media, I frowned at how wimpy the colors and especially the values were. I thought the sketch was done, but sometimes I don’t see how easily I could improve it until after I take a photo. Something about a flat, digital image enhances flaws – which is very helpful! I went home and layered the same colors over different areas and added more contrast overall (the finished sketch at top of post).

Wimpy colors and values

One last highlight: In addition to colored pencils, guess what else is back in action? My beloved Peg & Awl mini Sendak (one of them, anyway)! My commitment to a small everyday-carry bag has prevented me from using any of my Sendaks regularly, which makes me very sad. On our mixed-media play dates, though, I always bring a larger sketchbook and enough additional media that I need to use an auxiliary tote bag anyway, so I’m thrilled to have a purpose for a Sendak again!

Mini Sendak back in action! (Photobomb by Weather Bunny adorning the cover of my concertina's slipcase.)

Empire Roasters and Records

 

3/25/24 Empire Roasters & Records, Columbia City

Kate, Roy and I decided to explore a venue new to all of us: Empire Roasters & Records in Columbia City in south Seattle. As its name implies, it’s a coffee roaster, café and a vinyl record shop. Most interesting to me, though, was that the third floor seating area was furnished with numerous tables, benches and chairs made of beautiful raw edge wood. The scribble you see at lower left, however, was not a piece of furniture – it was a potted aspidistra in front of a window that didn’t come out quite as I had intended. Still, a morning of sketching and chatting with friends is always a good time, regardless of the sketch outcome.

“Unique Line” Class Catch-Up

3/13/24 minimalism (photo reference)

3/13/24 maximalism (photo reference)

I’ve been so busy with 100 People, life drawing, cherry blossoms and other fun what-not that I’m two weeks behind in talking about my Gage class with Gal Cohen, Find Your Unique Line. With only one more class left, I feel like I’m just getting started with having my eyes opened to new ways of seeing, imagining and drawing.

Minimalism/Maximalism

The topic two weeks ago was minimalism vs. maximalism. As always, Gal began class by showing us numerous examples of contemporary art that could be described as either minimal or maximal. She chose interior domestic scenes as the subject. How little can be drawn and still evoke a sense of “enough”? Conversely, is a drawing that is densely packed with linework, marks and color ever “too much”? The point was not to determine whether one or the other was preferable or better but simply to ask how well a piece accomplishes its objective by taking one approach or the other. As always, we also discussed how the specific materials and techniques used helped to accomplish the artist’s intentions.

During class we used photo references of a couple of interior scenes and drew them either minimally or maximally (top of post). My natural style is to tend toward minimalism, so that exercise was easy for me. Going the max was a greater challenge; I kept thinking, “This is enough,” but then I pushed myself to keep going.

The homework was to draw either a domestic scene from life or from a photo with minimalism or maximalism in mind (below). She encouraged us to use color if the drawings called for it. I sketched a cluttered corner of my studio twice, once with each approach. The minimal approach was easy (and I chuckled about how I wished it were as easy to clear the clutter from my studio as it was to simply avoid drawing it). As expected, the maximal approach was more challenging, perhaps especially because I did it after the minimal version and was tired of doing it a second time. Still, I pushed myself to keep adding more and more stuff. I even added more clutter than was actually there!

3/17/24 minimalism (from life)

3/18/24 maximalism (from life)

Landscapes

Last week’s class focused on landscapes as the subject and pushing them toward abstraction with values and shapes (below). Making somewhat abstract drawings from a realistic photo reference is a serious struggle for me, so I especially welcomed this exercise. 

Using photos was hard enough, but I tried to imagine doing the same exercise from life – it’s so much harder to abstract what I “really” see! My trepidation meant that the exercise was important for me to do. Stay tuned for the results.

3/20/24 photo reference

3/20/24 photo references

3/20/24 photo reference

Outdoors and Indoors at Seattle Center

 

2/25/23 KEXP radio's cafe

After we had to make a last-minute venue change on a cold afternoon, we were afraid USk Seattle might have a small turnout at the Seattle Center, but as usual, our hardy members didn’t disappoint! Gathering at KEXP radio’s café (now managed by Caffe Vita), we had our choice of sketching anywhere at the Center or staying cozy inside the café.

Already chilled from sketching the rally in support of Ukraine before the outing began, I warmed up with a mocha and Ching’s company inside Caffe Vita (above). A huge venue with large windows on one side, it was a fun place to make a backlit sketch.

Climate Pledge Arena and Space Needle

Fortified, I wandered around outside for a while, looking for an interesting composition. It’s been so long since I’ve sketched at the Center that I was feeling sentimental about the Space Needle. I didn’t have to go far to find this view of it behind Climate Pledge Arena (left).

Chilled again, I was thinking about going back to Caffe Vita when I spotted Sugar Bakery & Café across the street (it’s hard to resist a café so blatant about its primary ingredient). I grabbed a table with an ideal view to make another portrait of the Needle. I know it’s easily recognizable even if I get it wrong, but I always think it’s important to get its proportions right. (It’s my civic pride as a native.) I suddenly realized that the top of the Needle is made up of five stacked ellipses (below) – no wonder it’s challenging to draw!

Sketchbook notes: This was my first sketch outing using only my A6-size Hahnemühle sketchbook. As I had anticipated, sketching across the gutter annoys me; I have to plan the composition to make sure the crack doesn’t land in an unattractive spot. But I must say it was really nice to carry my small and light fitness-walking bag instead of my larger, heavier bag. The A6 is also much easier to hold while standing than my usual A5 sketchbook.

A6 Hahnemuhle next to my mini-size Rickshaw bag 

It's not visible, but I also have a pocket-size Uglybook next to the A6 sketchbook. Less weight, less bulk, a much easier daily-carry. . . will I be able to stand the smaller sketchbook full-time?

Fat (and Sugar) Tuesday

2/21/23 Top Pot Doughnuts, Wedgwood neighborhood

Fat Tuesday was a good excuse to have a donut. The Wedgwood Top Pot was almost as quiet as the last time I was there, but I didn’t mind: The one patron who stayed long enough to sketch was beautifully backlit by the large front window. A high window on his right side complicated the lighting on his back, but I enjoyed the challenge.

I wish I could have worked on this guy
more, but he got away too fast.

An apple fritter and colored pencils... does it get any better?

This sketch also became a lesson in using watercolor pencils. As my primary color medium for going on seven years, watercolor pencils should be second nature to me by now, and yet they still present surprising challenges at times. I knew I wanted to leave the color on the man unactivated because I prefer the subtle gradations I can get with dry pencils (like that subtle shift on the back of his head). But to make the slivers of backlighting stand out on the left side of his face and shoulder, I had to intensify and darken the background bookshelves. 

When I activated the books with water, though, they stood out too strongly, so I had to go back in and intensify everything with more dry pigment. Ultimately, I think the whole sketch improved with my being “forced” to add more color, but it was one of those humbling moments when I see that I am still not a master of my medium and always have more to learn.

Mini Review: Uglybooks, No. 2 Wide

 

Uglybooks in the No. 2 Wide size

1/2/23 colored pencil in No. 2 Wide Uglybook
(all portrait reference photos by Earthsworld)

In the six months that I’ve been using Uglybooks, the colorful sketchbooks have become increasingly useful and inspiring to me. My enthusiasm has been for Uglybooks’ “No. 1 Tall” pocket-size edition, which has been especially handy for the quick urban sketches that I like to make while I take walks.

When I started my portrait practice last fall, I kept thinking that the brightly colored pages would be especially fun as the midtone between black and white for portraits, but the pocket size was a bit cramped for that. It was time to try Uglybooks’ larger “No. 2 Wide” edition. This mini review is an update to talk about the larger edition. (For comments on paper quality and other features that are common to both sizes, please see my original review.)

At 8 by 5 ¾ inches, the No. 2 Wide format is exactly double the size of the pocket-size edition. It’s just a smidge smaller than A5 (8.26 by 5.82 inches). The oddball format might annoy some, but I prefer that aspect ratio to the more common US format of 8 ½ by 5 ½ inches (such as Stillman & Birn). The format is called “Wide” because it is staple-bound on the short side, making it a landscape-format book.

Staple-bound on the short size, the landscape-format book has branding only on the back.

In addition to portraits, my primary interest in the larger Uglybooks is for urban sketching when color is not essential. Often when I’m sketching indoors and even outdoors on these gray, winter days, I’m looking for value contrasts and composition more than color, so it’s fun to let the midtone come from the page’s color. I enjoy the extra space in the larger size, especially for interiors.

1/4/23 Uni Pin brush pen and colored pencil 

In the past when I’ve sketched on location with a hardcover landscape-format book (or even Stillman & Birn’s softcover landscapes), the opened book has been awkward to hold, especially when standing. But the Uglybook’s stapled binding enables the book to fold back, which makes it even handier than the hardcover A5 Hahnemühle sketchbook I’ve been using in the field. With 48 pages, the Uglybook adds hardly any weight or bulk to my bag.

While sketching, I fold back the side I'm not using, making it easier to hold. I am enjoying the comfy real estate of the double-wide page compared to my pocket-size Uglybooks.

For both portraits and urban sketches, I had considered simply sketching across the gutter in my pocket-size Uglybooks, but I find the gutter disruptive, especially on portraits. The larger size is ideal for both uses.

The colors I chose are “Grunge” green and “Fern” orange, two favorites from my (admittedly large) collection of pocket-size Uglybooks. I also got a Mystery pack (because I can’t seem to resist a mystery) that includes another favorite from my pocket-size collection, yellow-orange! I can’t wait to bust that one open.

From top: Unnameable pale green, yellow-orange, Grunge green and Fern orange.

12/30/22 Colored pencil and graphite

The Mystery pack also included a pale green that had come in a Mystery pack of the smaller size, too. Not dark enough to be a midtone (white pencil and gel pen don’t show up on it), that green didn’t do much for me initially. And what color is it, anyway? Too warm to be mint, too pale to be lime or pistachio – it’s enough to keep me up at night!

However, I recently gave the pale green a shot in both sizes, and it’s starting to grow on me now. If I think of it as an alternative to white, it has interesting potential and sets off some colors in surprising ways. It won’t become a favorite, but it won’t get wasted, either.

Ugly is beautiful! Long live Ugly!

1/4/23 Caran d'Ache Neocolor I (I love the way that blue pops on orange!)

1/1/23 Maple Leaf neighborhood
Cd'A Museum Aquarelles (dry)

11/5/22 Green Lake
Museum Aquarelles (lightly activated)